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Sarah Wood

Professor V

UWRT 1104

February 10

Discourse Communities

Playing RuneScape was a new experience for me. I have not played video games much growing up.

I was not sure what to expect. I thought I was going to hate it and that an hour and a half were going to go

by so slow but it did not. I had never heard of RuneScape until just recently. Video games do not

necessarily interest me, but I was ready to try it out. My experience was more negative than it was positive.

The game was not as bad as I was anticipating. But playing video games is still not something I enjoy to

do. I had trouble figuring out how to play, and how to play well. I did not know what many things in the

backpack were for and what some of them meant. In the beginning, I was not even sure what the objective

and goal of the video game were. Personally, I do not think I gained much while playing the game. I

understood how to play better by the end of it, and I was exposed to something new and different. My

personal literacy skills helped me throughout this assignment. Gaming and gamers are a discourse

community that I have never participated in. I believe there is always a benefit when exposed to new

things. You may find something you really enjoy or are skilled at. My experience was more negative than it

was positive. The game was not as bad as I was anticipating. But playing video games is still not something

I enjoy to do. Playing this game gave me insight into a discourse community. For anyone who has never

been a part of this discourse community, or never played RuneScape there are many things you would need

to know. Not all games are fun for everyone, but there is a wide variety of different games as well as

gaming devices. One would need to know the best technology to use. One would want to have some
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experience in gaming. Gaming is considered a discourse community because it consists of a group of

people who have a certain set of skills, basic values, and assumptions. Swales definition of a discourse

community is “groups that have goals or purposes, and use communication to achieve these goals".

There are many discourse communities. It could be a group of people working together in a

particular company, athletes playing a certain sport, students studying a subject, musical performers, etc. I

learned that a discourse community can be defined by John Swales six different characteristics. The first

requirement is that a discourse community has to have a broadly agreed set of common public goals. This

helps members share their values which should be similar in order to fulfill their goal. Two, a discourse

community has to have mechanisms of intercommunication among their members. A community has to

have good communication, to really be connected and share goals. Three, a discourse community must use

its participatory mechanisms primarily to provide information and feedback. Feedback is always important

and helpful. Whether it is positive or negative it can help better something, and for the community to grow.

Four, a discourse community must utilize and possess one or more genres in the communicative

furtherance of its aims. This means that the community needs to have different ways of communication.

Five, a discourse community has to acquire some specific lexis. This means that the group needs to have its

own lingo. Lastly, a discourse community has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of

relevant content and discoursal expertise.

When playing RuneScape with my teammate I had a different experience than when I did playing

by myself. When I had to play by myself I would get very bored, confused, sometimes frustrated, and time

went by really slow. When playing with my partner I had someone to talk to, ask questions with, compare

levels, quests, and characters. Having a teammate made it a little less stressful because it made time go by

quicker, and I enjoyed it more than when I played it the first time.
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I am apart of some discourse communities. I am apart of being a freshman at UNC Charlotte. We

all have the same goals which are to succeed in our classes and graduate. As a freshman, I often share some

of the same courses with other people. I also am apart of my building and my floor. I am also newly apart

of working out. Working out and going to the gym is a discourse community. There is a variety of ways

and routines people work out, stay fit, and be healthy. What makes a community a community is support,

trust, respect, openness, challenge, collaboration, and the list goes on. Working out and eating right is new

to me, and I am new to the community. My friends and I decided we were going to do it and stay

committed. We support each other, as well as encourage each other to not give up, keep going, and to push

harder. It is easier when we all have the same goal, to get fit and healthy. When I am at the gym I noticed a

lot of people have a work out buddy or a friend to go with. Some people go alone, but I do not see it as

much. Working out and eating right is a community because so many people are apart of it. Nobody within

this community wants anyone to fail. Everyone has a goal, and people within this community are

supportive of everyone's goals. Everyone within this community has a goal, and values doing better for

their body. Many people in this group are athletes. I am not. Athletes have to work out and stay in shape.

Their sport might be their motivation, while someone else wants to lose weight, or someone wants to gain

muscle. There is a variety of reasons why someone makes it to the gym. I also considered curly hair to be a

discourse community. I have long wavy/curly hair. I get it from my dad, as well as my two brothers.

Having curly hair is a discourse community because we all are looking for the best products, and finding

ways to keep our curls looking good and healthy. If you go on Youtube and search for anything curly hair

so many things will come up. So many different people doing hair routines, showing their favorite

products, how to reduce frizz, and much more. Some people hate their hair and recently I have been trying

to embrace it.
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I never thought of anything as a discourse community. Mainly due to the fact that I was recently

introduced to the topic. This assignment made me realize how many discourse communities there are, and

how they are so important. I would never think of working out as a community but it is. It is a large group

of people who share a common goal. Being introduced to a discourse community such as gaming was a

great experience. I had to play the game, learn skills, and learn new vocabulary. I would have never done

this on my own time but I enjoyed trying new things and experiencing new things. I would consider

gaming, or working out to just be a hobby rather than a community. But after diving deep into both of these

activities it showed me that they are more than that.

It is very important for writers to understand discourse communities. To make your writing

effective, you want to know your purpose and who your audience is. Your writing should have an intended

message that also fits within the discourse community you are writing to. Discourse is how we

communicate socially where we live and work in. When participating in a discourse community there are

many things to know and understand. You must know their language, how they use the language, what

knowledge they possess, and what interests and motivates that community. Discourse communities can be

formal or informal, small or large, academic or not. It does not matter as long as they fit John Swales six

criteria that I explained previously. This criterion is very important for a well and successful community. A

discourse community is not some random group of people playing video games together. It is a group of

people who motivate and support each other. These people share a set of values and goals that everyone is

striving towards. Learning how to be accepted in a discourse community of your choice is very important

when it comes to success. Being apart of discourse communities helps you connect with people. We

communicate with social groups within our communities. Joining a discourse community can help you

grow as a person, and learn many skills and knowledge that could help you be successful later in life.
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Living the experience would give someone a chance to share with people, argue with them, but then they

could reach a conclusion that could change their way of thinking and seeing life.