Fellowship Funds Year-Long Study of Asian Game Culture

Spending a year studying the culture of gamers in East Asia sure sounds like a lot of fun even if you had to pay for it yourself, but imagine how much better it would be if the whole trip was paid for by a fellowship grant.

Lawrence University senior Alex Winter (pictured) finds himself in the enviable position of realizing just such a scenario, as he is the recipient of a $25,000 fellowship from the Thomas J. Watson Foundation. Winter’s proposal, entitled “Video Game Culture Studies in East Asia, Korea, China, Japan,” was selected from 150 finalists and was just one of 40 proposals awarded a bestowment.

Winter’s trip will kick off in July with a stop in Hong Kong, followed by a five-month stay in Japan. In January he will move on to Beijing, visiting a government-run videogame addiction treatment facility before moving on to South Korea for five months. Winter will wrap up his tour with a trip to Shanghai.

Winter, a biology major, talked about what will make up the bulk of his studies:

I intend to spend time studying cyber athleticism, performance, economics and addiction in places where they are exceptionally visible, such as Internet cafes, gaming centers, arenas and conventions. I want to immerse myself in the culture, performing observational studies and interviews whenever possible.

Winter on how the study of biology relates to his project:

A background in biological science is fundamentally an education in methodical parsing of cause and effect. Human culture can be examined as a complex system with confounding factors. My background in science gives me a scaffold on which to build this study and dig into the new sociological frontier presented by East Asian gaming.

A full list of the all the Watson Foundation Fellowship winners, can be viewed here.