Santiago Sere

OMDE 610
Section 9040
July 15th, 2016
Assignment 4 OCoP Fleur de Lis
For this assignment I decided to pick and online community of practice (OCoP) that I am
hoping others would not have picked. After much consideration of various ones, I decided to
focus on an OCoP from an online-based video game that I have used in the past in my social
studies classes to teach supply and demand, the value of resources and colonization. Not many
people might consider my choice as an OCoP but it meets all the qualifications of a professional
one as the Global Education Network (GEN) and Wikipedia (Harasim, 2004). In previous
courses I have done projects on other OCoPs like GEN, ISTE, Edmodo, ePals, iEARN, Global
SchoolNet and more. I decided focus on a video games OCoP for two major reasons. First, to
demonstrate and prove that learning occurs in different ways, through different means and in
different contexts. Even silly video games have complex learning communities where people
from around the world can engage in the learning process. The other reason was to push and
apply the idea of OCoPs to an environment or a setting that many would not consider a
community of learning.
CoP vs. OCoP
An OCoP is identical as a Community of Practice (CoP) but it is held online. The idea of
CoPs dates back to our cavern days where we met to discuss strategies for cornering pray, the
shape of arrowheads, or which roots were edible (Harasim, 2012, p. 144). The purpose of CoPs
has not changed much since those times. Humans engage in CoPs for one reason and that is to

communicate and build our knowledge to create a shared knowledge database. There are certain
elements that are common in CoPscommon language, common goals, common experiences,
and common interests (Harasim, 2012). With the advances in technology and thanks to the
internet, CoPs have been transported to an online setting making them OCoPs or Online
Community of Practices. Placing communities online has its advantages and disadvantages. For
instance, people are now able to participate in global communities from anywhere in the world.
This global arena allows members to interact with others who are able to provide different
perspectives to solve problems or look at topics in new ways. Other benefits include: place
independent discourse, time-independent discourse, many-to-many discourse, text-based and
multimedia discourse, and internet-mediated discourse (Harasim, 2012). At the same time, as
with anything, there are drawbacks to having online communities. People may choose to
domineer conversations, stir them away from the topic or choose to troll other members. Other
possible drawbacks include the influence that technology, and in particular the internet, has had
on the doubling effect of information we have as a society (Siemens, 2004). Though a good
thing, having to replace, relearn and update information presents several drawbacks.
Brief Description of the Game
The game is called Elvenar and it is a free, browser-based game open to anyone who has
access to a computer and the internet.
The purpose of the game is to build a
large city and establish a strong and
efficient economy system. In the
game, a player will need to build
structures such as homes, workshops, resource specific shops (stone, plank, and mineral shops)

as well as battle creatures to expand the land. Although the game can be played completely
independently, a big part of it is its collaborative fellowship/guild system. As a player, one can
either join a guild or start one from nothing. To join a guild, one must ask permission or be
invited. This is the OCoP.
Online Community of Practice: Fleur de Lis
This guild, Fleur de Lis, consists of 24 players with a common purposeto help each
other by contributing to each others
economies, placing fair trades in the market,
and as a place where people can chat, build
friendships, gather game and real world
knowledge and support each other. The basic
premise of being part of a guild is to help each
other advance in the game by providing resources, advice and knowledge. The guild was started
a year ago by the leader and is now ranked 86 in the entire game (there are over 10,000 guilds).
Each guild is different and as such has different requirements, purposes and expectations. For
this guild, members must help every other member at least four times a week, post fair trades,
and continue to grow their city. The guild leader is able to track members contributions, trades
and weekly growth.
Not all members in guilds behave the same but while doing the course readings, this guild
kept coming up as a good example of an OCoP. My experiences with this particular guild have
demonstrated what a strong community these 24 individuals have created online. For example,
one member of the guild has some type of terminal cancer and the support from these strangers
for this individual was staggering. When I took time off to celebrate my wedding, the amount of

support and well wishes left me speechless. Despite geographic boundaries, these individuals
have come together to support one another both inside and outside of the virtual world.
Besides the communal support, members are constantly teaching things and learning
from each other. Most of the knowledge is game related like what do with the Ancient
Wonders or how to best create an offensive battle army, but a lot of it is not. There have been
several instances where the topics have turned to current events like Brexit, LGBT rights, and
even Trumps unique campaign. The chat function of the game enables players in the guild to
interact and reach out to each other. This particular guild is made up of people from England,
Greece, Canada, various parts of the U.S., the Ukraine and more. The chosen language of
communication is English. This mix of people have created some interesting dialogues through
perspectives different from my own.
In order for the survival of this OCoP, members must adhere to three rules: 1) grow your
city, 2) visit other members cities and provide help at least three times a week, 3) post fair
resource trade offers with a ranking of 2 or 3 stars. Members who are not able to meet these
requirements and do not tell the leader of planned absences are let go so that more active
members can apply to join. Being in a high ranking guild provides members with support,
experience and resources more easily than lower ranking guilds. Recently, to keep members
engaged, the leader created a helping system for certain buildings that are unlocked and hard to
advance in the higher levels. This system constitutes of providing two knowledge points to
another members building. From there, a higher rank than you puts three in your own building
promoting collaboration and growth within the guild. Lastly, to keep this OCoP alive, current
and growing the leader must check each members contributions to the guild to ensure that

everyone is following the requirements set by this particular guild. As a member, I can continue
to participate and do my part to remain in the guild and to help others when they need it.
Conclusion
OCoPs are great ways to gather shared knowledge in a community of people that share
similar goals, interests and characteristics. There are thousands of OCoPs around the world
some professional and some for pleasure yet all for the purpose of sharing information. They
range from educational ones like GEN, to hobby-based like scuba diving ones, to video game
ones such as Fleur de Lis. As we continue to gain more information and having to replace it,
communities where people can share, debate and expand are vital to continue our global
collection of relevant information (Siemens, 2004). Although the majority of the knowledge
gained in the guild is not relevant to a profession and will not do much to change the way we see
the world, vast amounts of it is being shared daily through in-game interactions between players.

References
Harasim, L. (2012). Learning theory and online technologies. New York: NY, Routledge.
Siemens, G. (2004). Connectivism: Learning theory for the digital age. Retrieved from
http://elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm