虛與實性別化身研究：以魔獸世界探討為基礎

Virtual and Physical Avatars: A Study Based on MMORPG Players in World of Warcraft

在線上遊戲中，玩家得使用遊戲提供的「化身」進行遊戲、與他人交流互動，身體被虛擬的結果，是否讓線上遊戲形成一個脫離世俗價值的世外桃源？我們想了解玩家在化身中介的虛擬空間，如何進行性別建構，及這樣的建構與線下世界的差別。研究目的有以下四點： (1) 化身與玩家性別的關聯。 (2) 玩家如何看待其他玩家化身，及其與性別的關聯。 (3) 玩家性別如何透過化身之間的互動展現？ (4) 玩家在看待上述問題時，產生的性別建構是線下的再製或賦權？本研究使用網路民族誌，藉參與式觀察與深度訪談了解魔獸世界玩家如何透過化身進行性別建構。本研究發現以下三點：魔獸世界玩家對化身認同，缺乏身份實驗，對性別的印象延續自線下刻板印象，因此線上性別建構偏向再製線下；共用化身、缺乏文字線索的性別模糊現象，及女性結盟的事實，為線上破壞性別疆界的契機；線上遊戲類型會影響玩家組成、遊戲表現及遊戲心態，因此不同的線上遊戲之間會有不同的性別建構。

This study is a game study. We use the concept of avatars to explore the relationship of MMORPG players, MMORPGs and gender. The aim is assess how players practice their avatar gender, how players use their avatar to interact with other players and the difference and relationship of gender construction between on-line and off-line. We explore how players construct gender in World of Warcraft by observation and interviews. In World of Warcraft, avatar gender is fixed. So, they are lacking of identity experiments. Players’ points of view of gender come from stereotype off-line. Therefore, the gender construction on-line is copied off-line. But, we also found the gender blurred by sharing avatars, by a lack of text clues and the fact of woman alliance, and that all of above present chances to destroy the boundary of gender in the on-line world. Finally, we foundthat the genre and type of OLG influence its member and their game exhibits, so it is likely that there is different gender construction between different games.