MMOG situated in multiple of networks that mediate players' identity development

Upon reflecting what I had learnt yesterday from the CRRP Conference 09 invited panel discussion, I realise that in trying to understand how players "read" and what they take away from playing an MMOG, we cannot solely look at culture and practices in the small "g" (g)ame and big "G" (G)ame, as Gee puts it. I figure that the MMOG under study is just one of many nodes in a network and that network too sits in a web of multiple networks. In Demerath words, negotiation and "orchestration" of competing discourses and social structures in these nodes and networks mediate players' identity construction. It will be quite difficult to see which node or network exerts the greatest influence on players' identity development. This is because very often it is not so much of the content that players are confronted with, but the social discourses that emerges from their interactions that mediates the meaning they take away.

I like to draw an example of a game that will definitely make many people in one particular country in the Middle East to frown in rejection (well, there could be many too who will rejoice :D). It is a game called Nijabigame. Below is a description of the game taken from its game website.

Ninjabi is an empowerment fantasy game set in the Muslim world, where a young woman dares to defy the rules and fight for her rights. The term Ninjabi is a combination of ‘Ninja’ and ‘Hijabi’ and is used by Muslim American women to subvert stereotypes. Ninjabi is a superhero who, like many Muslim women, sees her hijab as a symbol of strength.

In this platforming and fighting game, the player must collect support from the community by tagging the environment in order to make enemies vulnerable.

The main character, Layla, begins the game undertaking small acts of rebellion against the status quo. She sneaks begins her adventure by sneaking out at night, and tagging her neighborhood with her signature. This symbolizes mobility and claim to physical space as the a first step towards freedom. Layla’s adventures attract attention from the women in the neighborhood and she uses their support to confront their oppressors face to face.

Whatever lofty goals the developers of nijabigame hope to achieve, the process of shaping players' identity and worldview is not so simplistic. Players come into the game having armed with life experience, and exposed to real-world discourses as well as what they find in cyberspace pertaining to the central issue of the game. Negotiation of meanings from all these exposure can be reflective and kept with personal domain, but they can also be engaged in a social discourse. The two comic strips on the left are taken from nijabi.blospot.com and nijabi.com. They are just samples of many more available at their respective websites. Cartoon strip from nijabi.blogspot.com appears weekly on the Texan Daily. The descriptions read:

The ninjabi in this editorial cartoon is a fusion of this and a Texan identity. She reflects the voice of many Muslims who have experienced discrimination and struggle with defining their identites post-9/11.

It is an example of a node (if you wish to say so) or a network (if you look at the activities around the cartoon strips). And if nijabigame players are fans of the cartoon script, how they"read" and what they take away from the game will be mediated too by the node or network (cartoon script).
I am sure that there are many people out there who are confronting or exploring their subjectivity in various ways and means. Drawing cartoon scripts is one way. We can take the artists of these scripts as special individuals who are exploring and trying to come to terms with their identity as Muslims in a new found land. So drawing and sharing their arts and ideals can be so liberating and empowering, and can bring together like-minded people into constructive discourse. So if they too play the game, how they "read' and what they take away from playing will definitely be mediated with this new found space that liberates and empowers them to express what they truly fell.

So again, looking at what is within and around game is not enough. We need to see the multiple networks of nodes where the game sits in (and these networks and nodes are concerned too with central issue/themes of the game) in oder to understand what mediates how players "read" and what they take away from playing a game.