Executive Summary

Star Wars is a very well-known multimedia franchise created by George Lucas. The franchise began in 1977 with the release of the film "Star Wars: A New Hope". The franchise has been ever-expanding since then with various films, television series, video games, novels, comic books, theme park attractions, and themed areas. This fictional universe quickly began to build a large fan-made community better known as a fandom.
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Research Question: “How does being a part of a Star Wars community affect how you view Star Wars? “
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‍Observation/ Interviews: for our research, we chose r/StarWars, a Discord server which has 54,300 members as of November 29, 2021. In order to answer our research question our team observed the interactions between members of the r/StarWars Discord and we interview four members of the discord. Throughout our observation and interviews, four common themes would pop up often, escapism, making personal connections, debating, and speculation.

Key Takeaways:

Being a part of a community enriches the experience of being a Star Wars fan. Before joining the community Star Wars fans have experienced very little part of the franchise universe just like being in hyperspace.
Joining the community allows members to come out of hyperspace and experience the universe in its entirety.
Members can experience as little or as much of the community as they would like and may only experience a single part of the community.
The community is used to share experiences, opinions, theories, artwork, collectables, and to make connections with others and have conversations about the franchise they love.
The ability to escape, make personal connections, debate, and speculate about the Star Wars franchise is why so many people join the server and the Star Wars community in general.

Introduction

Star Wars is a very well-known multimedia franchise created by George Lucas. The franchise began in 1977 with the release of the film "Star Wars: A New Hope". The franchise has been ever-expanding since then with various films, television series, video games, novels, comic books, theme park attractions, and themed areas. This fictional universe quickly began to build a large fan-made community, better known as a fandom.Our research revolves around the fandom and the question "How does being a part of a Star Wars community affect how you view Star Wars?" To find an answer to this question we observed the r/StarWars Discord. Discord is an instant messaging platform. There are 54,300 members as of November 29, 2021 the /r/Starwars, members can talk about their general opinions about Star Wars, discuss theories, participate in community events, share their artworks, and discuss their personal lives and create friends. This ethnographic study is conducted by Sam Biggs, Marina Hernandez, Jennie King, Furqaan Muhammad. We conducted this study because we wanted to know more about the community and about how the views of a fan can change by being a part of a large community. We chose the r/StarWars for many reasons. 1. Because we wanted to look at a large community. 2. Because of how welcoming the community is. 3. Because Discord is a platform we are all familiar with.

Method

For this study, we used virtual ethnography to conduct our research on how being a part of a community can influence one’s opinion. Ethnography is the study of culture and participant observation is a primary feature of its methodology. The ethnographic method is a patient approach that documents social life within a specific setting or culture. Ladner states in her book that ethnography is understanding the meaning, not just the details [1].

Each group member completed twelve hours of virtual observation within the r/StarWars Discord server for a total of forty-eight hours between our four group members. Virtual interviews were conducted with members of the Discord server. These processes and findings are outlined more in the Observation and Interview sections of the report.

Field Work

Observations

Over the course of 48 hours, our team observed the interactions between members of the r/StarWars Discord community closely. The community would talk on a huge range of topics, whether it be Star Wars films, video games, comics, or books, or about liking the way characters look, about leaked information, sharing their theories and other Disney properties in general. All of these conversations are used to expand their views and relationships with the Star Wars universe and to come out of Hyperspace and see the universe as a whole.

Interviews

We interviewed four people from the r/StarWars Discord community. Our team leader sent a message to the moderators of r/StarWars for approval to interview and observe the members of their server. Once we were approved, one of the moderators sent out a server-wide announcement about our project and advised members to contact Marina if they were interested. Each interviewee was required to sign a consent form before having the interview. Our team curated a set of questions that we felt covered all aspects of being in a Star Wars community.

Analysis

After immersing ourselves in the community and completing interviews, we have found many ways that being a part of the r/StarWars Discord server community has changed member’s views on Star Wars by providing them with a space that makes them feel safe to be themselves. Whether they are hanging out in the main chat channel focused around the franchise or are getting to know each other on a more personal level in the off-topic chat, they are gaining appreciation for the franchise they love because they are in a community where they feel like they fit in. The Discord server has also changed some members' opinions about Star Wars. Through debates and conversations, their eyes are opened to ideas they may not have considered before or viewpoints that differ from their own. While some debates can become heated, most are full of respect for one another and this helps shape the way users’ view Star Wars. Our overall analysis is that being a part of the community enhances the Star Wars experience as a whole and helps people to escape and immerse themselves more in the space based fantasy world.

With all the new ideas and opinions available within, joining the Star Wars community is like coming out of hyperspace and seeing the universe as a whole. Not only are members exposed to the views of other members, but they are also informed about resources they may not have known about, can view fan art that they would not otherwise see, and can engage with theories that only exist within the community. We have found that this enriches the experience of being a Star Wars fan because there is so much more to view and discover, the universe has opened up and there is just so much for members to behold.

Conclusion

With how expansive and special the Star Wars universe is, fans all over the world can take creative liberties to make their own Star Wars based world. Joining the Star Wars community is like coming out of Hyperspace and viewing the universe as a whole. This can best be seen via the r/Star Wars Discord server. The r/StarWars Discord has built up a place where fans of any region or media can feel welcome. There’s a spot to talk about the games, books, and tv shows. There’s a spot to share Star Wars related art you would find online, as well as being able to share your own fan art. There’s even something for fans of the niche side of things like a built-in discord card game bot called Tykhe. On top of all of that, there are community events where everyone can join and be a part of such as a Star Wars meme contest.

Star Wars Communities

"How Does Being a part of a star wars community affect how you view star wars?"