http://taxdollars.ocregister.com/20...earch-squandered-3-million-critic-says/70884/
lol just another thing for the UC system to waste money on. Even wrote a book on it ...
Anthropology and sociology are, in simplest form, the study of people interacting with each other and their environment.
World of Warcraft is tens of millions of people worldwide engaging in cooperative or antagonistic behavior for personal benefit.
The $3 million wasn't a waste - the researchers travelled all over the world, mostly visiting "cyber-cafes" in which people will play WoW for ten or more hours a day. Understanding why and how people engage in this behavior is, IMO, just as important as any other issue of sociology. Either the whole field is bupkis, or it isn't.
Incidentally, have you looked at any psychology studies? If you're not familiar with psychology, most of the studies seem pretty stupid. One study I participated in had a multimillion-dollar budget, and consisting of the following elements:
1. Play an obnoxious shape-matching game on a PC.
2. Drink water until I can't drink any more water. Then go to the bathroom, and drink some more water.
3. Play obnoxious shape-matching game again.
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