World of Warcraft: Neoliberalism in a Virtual World

• Main Authors: Yi-chen Wu, 吳宜蓁
• Other Authors: Amie Parry
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2018
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/e7rdxh

碩士 === 國立中央大學 === 英美語文學系 === 106 === Through first applying to Mark J. P. Wolf’s work to understand the intimate referential relation between the virtual worlds and reality, this thesis aims to explore the inherited neoliberal ideology in reality that works its influence upon the Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG), World of Warcraft. The acknowledgement of the interrelation between the virtual worlds and reality further indicates the development of neoliberalism extending from the realm of reality to the virtual world of World of Warcraft. Moreover, via employing the two of neoliberal paradoxes by Sealing Cheng and Eunjung Kim—the paradox of amorality with morality and the depoliticization of social risks with hyper-politicization of national security, this thesis investigates how neoliberalism penetrates subtly into the virtual world, World of Warcraft, both through the game narrations and the in-game setting system; as a result, this analysis further shows how the work of paradoxical neoliberalism operates together in a relentless loop by depending on each other as foundation.