Image Credit: Critical Role
This week we were discussing social anthropology, specifically the topic of communities of practice. As a fun challenge we were tasked with researching and writing an ethnography report based on a community that aligns with our interests and aspirations for the future. The UX communities I hope to join are mostly ‘in-person’ communities rather than online ones, so I decided to have a little fun with the brief and discuss the Critical Role (CR) community. “Critical Role is a weekly live-streamed show that uses roleplaying game mechanics as a means to explore and develop stories” (Critical Role 2023).
Sources: r/criticalrole, Campaign Youtube videos, Comiccon
“I only ask that you fight the knee-jerk judgement on anything in our game to consider the unknown elements, and write your thoughts from a place of genuine intent to banter, share varying ideas and thoughts, and present your own perspective in a way that is respectful of the cast, and your fellow community members.” (r/criticalrole 2015)
This is a quotation from Matthew Mercer, one of the cast members of Critical Role, which perfectly encapsulates the CR community. Because the creators specifically asked for interactions to be kind and friendly, the community has taken it upon themselves to be the nicest corner of the internet. Where one might expect trolls or general vitriol directed towards the cast, there is instead an enthusiastic bunch of people who just want to talk about how much they love the show. However, hate is also welcomed when it is directed towards the show’s bad guy. Kindness is such a pillar of the CR community that the creators even made a t-shirt with one of their favourite slogans, “Don’t forget to love each other.”
In the YouTube comments section, people discuss what they loved most about the current episode, often pointing out funny cast moments that would otherwise go unnoticed. Other individuals who enjoyed the same moment regularly help the less observant by providing time stamps for the moment in question.
The subreddit is primarily a space for the arts and cosplay communities to show off works in progress, completed works, or professional photoshoots based on CR. However, the community has a wide-reaching net, and artwork can cover many topics, including drawings, paintings, miniature painting, cosplay and music performance or composition. Comments and discussions around artworks are always friendly and admiring. In some cases, members share artwork intending to receive advice or help to improve their skills.
As it is a global community, in-person gatherings are few and far between. However, there are official events held at general pop culture conventions that the cast sometimes attends. At these conventions, the cast might play an episode of the game in front of a live theatre audience. Observing the recordings from these live events, the atmosphere is electric, and the audience is fully engaged with the cast and each other. During these live events, special announcements are made to take care of cosplayers to avoid damage to their costumes. Conventions also provide opportunities for panel discussions where the cast can share their opinions. Community members can also pose questions directly to the cast and receive an immediate answer.
One rule on the subreddit specifically bans ‘low effort content’ such as memes or screenshots from their YouTube videos. At first read, this rule seems harsh, but on reviewing the content posted to the subreddit, this rule has maintained a ‘high quality’ community. That is not to say that only ‘good’ art or opinions are shared, but that whatever is shared has had love (or hate) put into its creation. This rule ensures people aiming to have insightful conversations always have a safe place to turn to. But, understanding human nature, the moderators have included links to online spaces where memes and other such content can be shared and subsequently doom-scrolled to your heart’s content.
Despite being the nicest corner of the internet, the community moderators developed a new, 2-part rule addressing previous problems in the community. Many community members did not like the playing style of one former cast member. As a result, the YouTube comments were a place filled with hate directed at this actor. They subsequently left the cast for personal reasons but were still hounded by the community as he had ‘ruined’ a portion of the show they loved so much. Consequently, the remaining cast politely requested that the community stop, and since then, the subreddit introduced its witch-hunting/stop-complaining-about-that-guy rule. This is actively moderated in the subreddit and, by unspoken agreement, is also moderated in other community spaces.
Due to the storytelling nature of the show, the community is militant about spoilers. Any posts discussing the latest episode or theories are tagged as spoilers and therefore hidden unless someone chooses to read them. In that way, people who have yet to catch up to the latest episode can still enjoy and contribute to the community. In place of many individual posts, there is a dedicated discussion thread where people can wax lyrical about their theories on the storyline.
Surprisingly, this spoiler etiquette has carried over into the YouTube comments. Community members have developed a form of doublespeak where they discuss moments from the episode without revealing key plot points.
For an analysis of this task, please see Week 9: Communities of Practice.
References
CRITICAL ROLE. 2023. ‘Is It Thursday Yet?’ [online]. Available at: https://critrole.com/shows/critical-role/ [accessed 26 Mar 2023].
R/CRITICALROLE. 2015. ‘R/Criticalrole Rules’. reddit [online]. Available at: https://www.reddit.com/r/criticalrole/wiki/rules/#wiki_1._treat_each_other_with_respect_and_kindness_always [accessed 26 Mar 2023].
German vocabulary of the week
Is it Thursday yet? – Ist heute schon Donnerstag?