Letting the Geek Flag Fly

While my classmates discuss generalized knowledge communities, I'm going to once again let my geek flag fly proud as I delve into one of my more intricate and ålesser-explored knowledge communities. For all you game players out there, as few as there may be that actually read this blog, this one is for you.

So I'm talking about knowledge communities. Right from the start that phrase may be a little confusing. Maybe a knowledge community is just a group of Cryptics sitting around sipping tea and reading oversized books while their monocles fog up with steam from their teacups. On the other hand, however, the surface meaning of a knowledge community could be something more complex. Perhaps the knowledge community is a multifaceted array of facets and functions that tie in together through a font of shared information that correlates. The latter seems more scholarly and likely, but the two options are similar regardless of simplicity of explanation.

Jenkins explains new knowledge communities as groups that congregate “through voluntary, temporary, and tactical affiliations, reaffirmed through common intellectual enterprises and emotional investments” (27). Think of this as players that shift from one genre to another. Someone could start out on VtM and quickly shift to WtA after observing the lack of a manipulative and political structure and the presence of comradeship within a system of likeminded characters. The system changes, but people tend to shift within a fluid section. This means that they participate in knowledge communities that typically have overlapping ideas, but some portions of each may be outrageously different and require a move and shift in knowledge culture.

Now think of the nWoD people. Most individuals experienced in the realm of oWoD. This is where things get interesting. With Jenkin’s example of Survivor spoilers, the knowledge communities were composed of individuals either wishing to take the next step in finding out information about the popular television series or those stating that spoilers were going too far as to ruin the entertainment value. Think of nWoD players as the knowledge community that wished for spoilers. The knowledge community “spends a great deal of time debating exactly where you draw the line” (37), but boundaries are still pushed and people step further and further away from original intentions to get what they want.

Ideologies come into play with the focus of opposing knowledge communities or even with the mere existence of knowledge communities. Obviously oWoD is superior, but some people prefer nWoD because of the way all of the systems can be pulled together. In much the same way, these knowledge communities of players are gathering information and spreading it through whatever means necessary to share it.

Spoiling is like a combination of breaking a character and metagaming. People have become so attuned to finding out what happens next and sharing this information however they can that the only step left is to manipulate, find, or create the next big thing based on the shared knowledge base. People make their own “points of contact” (57).

Part of the anatomy of a knowledge community is not only the base system, but also the means by which one spreads and shares the ideas and knowledge. Through this post, the most visible means of facets of the knowledge community are the general base belief or system and the group of individuals that share the ideas. What is potentially even more potent than those two pieces is the means by which the knowledge is spread. Knowledge communities in the digital age spread. Yes, all of the cherished oWoD and nWoD books are printed on pen and paper, but how many people actually go out and purchase a slew of $25 books?

I believe that I speak for many when I say that 4shared.com is probably the most popular database on which one gains their WoD information regardless of new or old system. As part of the knowledge community, the digital portions assist in the spreading of information. The WoD wiki and even Wikipedia itself stores information that the community cherishes. Online chatrooms also perpetuate the discussion of how to gain information on the systems and how to get to 4shared if one should not know how.

Basically, the knowledge community is the Weaver’s web. We all partake in its temptations and it stores so much for us that we cannot help but delve into the array of information that the knowledge community has to share.