Kristine Ask

Biography

With a background in Science and Technology studies Kristine Ask has approached games with a wish to highlight the material, the moral and the know-how. Compared to many other game studies scholars, her passion for computer games is a relatively new one. But, what was initially motivated by academic interests has turned into a central part of her life also on a personal level. For the last year Kristine's general interest for MMORPGs turned into a ethnographic study of raiding communities, studying the technologies and practices used to create and share knowledge.

In her master thesis Real life in a synthetic world? Sociotechnical constructions in online games she explored the relationship between online and offline interaction, and in what ways both the game and everyday life needed reconfiguration. For her PhD work entitled Synthetic cooperation and teamwork. Knowledge-production and -sharing in online games,/em> she has continued the study of MMORPGs, but now is turning an eye to the ways in which players create expertise and how they communicate.