Possible outline
This is a possible outline of my thesis
A)Intro
(In all cases my introduction should both tell my readers what my project is about and be linked to the conclusion)
-I could tell a Hami story as an epic battle between good and evil
-I could talk about why I started raiding in the first place
-I could talk about game studies as a disciplin
-When you think about an anthroplology paper you think...
My thesis question, topic, hypothesis goes here
I guess I set out to talk about a game as a society
After presenting my thesis topic I would then present the plan for my paper
B)Lit review
I will recognize that there are bodies of litterature out there written about the topics I am covering but will only discuss works that seem relevant to me.
B.1) Relevant works in the field
This will include authors like Dave Myers, Nick Yee, Alex Golub, Sherry Turkle and others
B.2) This is for more theoretical works I find relevant
I will place authors like Clifford Geerts, Sean Gurd, Lila Abu Lughod, Thomas King... authors who say things that I find relevant to my project but that don't or have not done work in the field I'm in, this is where I will talk more about the anthropological basis for my work
C) The field setting
This is a critical section for me as I will want to be able to explain my field site to others.
-I need to define what is an MMORPG
-I need to introduce City of Heroes and talk about how the game is played
-server, chat, channel, global name, supergroup, archetype, zone are things I will mention
- I may put a small lexicon here but I will also footnote any terms I feel need to be explained and will also provide a glossary.
-Then I will talk about how I got my data and this will lead into my discussion about ethics.
D) my data
I guess I will present my data along several themes and this is kind of what I was imagining with my themes going from the particular to the more general
- social interaction
- relationships
- roles
- hierarchy
- alliances
- social order
I'm not fleshing these concepts out at the moment because I will provabably need to go over them some more. These themes are outlines but I've got more concepts I'm planning on using when I code my data
E) Analysis
I think I will be analyzing my data mostly in terms of binaries but will also use some additional concepts, again nothing fleshed out so this might change
- interaction v connection
- explicit v implicit
- cooperation v conflict
- effort v recognition
- public/private
- self perception/reputation
- online/ offline
- sense making
- trust
- otherness
- dissent
- motivation
F) Conclusion
My conclusion will have a summary of my findings.
I will also probably include a small discussion of things I learned but critically my conclusion will have to link back to my introduction
I'd like to talk a little about the relevance of my work
In my conclusion I will try to bring a sense of closure to the work and also link back to the introduction so I might put
-a reference to my epic story
-a diuscussion of what I learned personally
-a discussion of why my paper is important
In any event this is a preliminary outline