Sims Fan Fiction as Innovative Literacy Learning: Stories From Three Young Women

• In Event: From Online to Off-Line: Examining Gaming Environments and Innovative Learning

Abstract

Objectives
Since Gee (2003) first legitimized gaming research, scholars continue to debunk the myth that videogames detract from young people’s literacy. We know more about gaming as a “constellation of literacy practices” (Steinkuehler, 2007), a “literacy of expertise” (Squire, 2008), and about adolescents’ reading performance with game-related versus school-related texts (Steinkuehler, 2011). Yet, work remains to be done to fully understand the nature of literacy learning around videogames. This paper explores the affordances of one videogame fan fiction site, with the goal of theorizing how literacy educators might design similar learning opportunities within classrooms.

Theoretical Perspectives
A sociocultural perspective of literacy informs this work, recognizing it is impossible to separate literacy practices from their social, cultural, political, and historical contexts (Street, 1984). Lankshear and Knobel (2006) define literacies as “socially recognized ways of generating, communicating, and negotiating meaningful content through the medium of encoded texts within contexts of participating in Discourses” (p. 64). Therefore, game-related practices, such as discussion board posts and fan fiction, are literacies.

Gee’s (2004) affinity space concept also informs this analysis. Affinity spaces are sites of informal learning where “newbies and masters and everyone else” interact around a shared passion (p. 85). Literacy research conducted within affinity spaces requires attention to numerous factors, including how they encourage self-directed, multifaceted, and dynamic participation (Lammers, Curwood, & Magnifico, 2012).

Data Sources & Methods
Some players of The Sims, a popular life-simulation videogame, create multimodal texts called Sims fan fiction, pairing images from the game with narratives they author. A two-year affinity space ethnography (Lammers et al., 2012) examined a website devoted to this practice, The Sims Writers’ Hangout (SWH). Data collection involved systematic observation, artifact analysis, and sustained contact with participants through virtual interviews. For this paper, data from three informants, ages 15-22, are included in the corpus. Using Erickson’s (1986) analytic induction method, assertions were developed and tested to make claims about the nature of literacy learning in SWH.

Findings
This paper asserts that SWH encouraged self-directed participation, allowing adolescents to engage in interest-driven (Ito, et al, 2010) literacy learning. Angela, an SWH newbie, had technology issues limiting her ability to produce high quality images. Through SWH’s network of passionate creators, she outsourced most of the image design work for her Sims fan fiction. Eve suffered from dyslexia and felt “slow and unwise” in school. In SWH, she found success as a popular author and shared her digital image editing knowledge through tutorials. Zarah was uncommitted to spending hours writing her own Sims fan fiction, but enjoyed reading it. Her SWH participation involved answering questions about Photoshop and finding custom content for others’ stories. Each engaged in different interest-driven practices, contributing to innovative nature of literacy learning around Sims fan fiction.

Significance
As this analysis reveals, what may initially seem like deficits are overcome through the self-directed participation available in videogame affinity spaces. Literacy educators can similarly create more connected learning (Ito, 2013) environments that lead to innovative literacy learning in classrooms.

Author

• Jayne C. Lammers, University of Rochester