Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University proudly showcases the work of undergraduate honors students by sharing this collection exclusively with the ASU community.
Barrett accepts high performing, academically engaged undergraduate students and works with them in collaboration with all of the other academic units at Arizona State University. All Barrett students complete a thesis or creative project which is an opportunity to explore an intellectual interest and produce an original piece of scholarly research. The thesis or creative project is supervised and defended in front of a faculty committee. Students are able to engage with professors who are nationally recognized in their fields and committed to working with honors students. Completing a Barrett thesis or creative project is an opportunity for undergraduate honors students to contribute to the ASU academic community in a meaningful way.
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- Creators: Ingram-Waters, Mary
Description
This thesis examines two electronic games, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) and Fortnite, which rose to popularity as battle royale-style videogames, to question whether they are viable candidates for success as esports. In his 2018 Barrett Honors Thesis, Noah Hilliker developed a model for assessing electronic games as successful esports. His thesis, titled “Ambassador Communities, Hybrid Spectatorship, and Other Indicators of Success in eSports” applied his model of indicators of success to League of Legends, Overwatch and Hearthstone. In this thesis, I have applied his indicators to (PUBG) and Fortnite, which differ significantly from the games he previously analyzed, precisely as I argue here, because they are battle royale games. These indicators fall under three categories: the nature of fans, the overall design of the game and the relationship between game developers and fans. The data that was examined for this investigation included academic literature on esports, posts on online platforms, news articles, YouTube content and forums. The following indicators were analyzed in their application to the collected data for both games: self-organization, spectator-player hybridity, ambassadors, clear center of action, demonstration of skill, mechanical variance, game balance, character of fan/developer relationship and feedback to fans. Through this project, I apply a previous approach to analyzing esports success to two games, Fortnite and PUBG, in order to analyze how well the model fits battle royale-style games.
ContributorsSmith, Brenden (Author) / Ingram-Waters, Mary (Thesis director) / Schmidt, Peter (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Video game culture, permeated for decades by blatant sexism and discrimination, is a toxic community for many individuals. Though its humble beginnings and early games did not overtly focus on the male gaze or demographic, troubled advertising, representations, and the lack of diversity within video game companies has formed the gaming culture into an increasingly hostile and unwelcoming place– especially for women. Those who identify as women or females are often harassed, heckled, and threatened with both verbal and physical violence. Game content and marketing continues to view women as objects of sexuality and violence rather than strong protagonists. Companies have brainwashed society to embrace their commonly held belief that men and boys are the only demographics that play and enjoy games, though this is empirically proven false. The aim of this project is to examine these offenses against women within the video game community– first by exploring video game history and how it fell into its toxic present state as well as the formation of the “gamer” identity and its ramifications for women. I then recount contemporary stories and issues of harassment against women within the community. The project also includes a short student survey that was sent out to gather more data on college-aged women and their gaming habits, which yielded important data supporting previous evidence citing specific gaming communities that struggle the most with these issues. The thesis is concluded by a look into the culture of game development and its hypermasculine nature as well as justification for why companies should care about the plight of women for both ethical and fiscal reasons.
ContributorsGulbransen, Alexis C. (Author) / Eaton, John (Thesis director) / Ingram-Waters, Mary (Committee member) / School of Film, Dance and Theatre (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
The purpose of this paper is to identify if there is a relationship between the year-over-year success of a Division 1 college football team and numerous academic and financial indicators of the host university. College football has become the lifeblood of major university athletic programs as it is consistently the top revenue generator for university athletic programs across the country. The purpose of this paper is to not only identify the correlation between the success of these teams and financial indicators but to also identify if there are non-financial aspects that are affected by the football team’s success and how a university can capitalize on these.
Specifically, this paper focuses on the Arizona State University Sun Devils football team’s year-over-year results from 2006-2016 and uses this dataset as a comparison against multiple academic and financial measures from the university. This paper also attempts to define what a university's “brand” is and discuss the effect that these teams have on a student’s experience at the university. Based on these findings and results, we attempt to draw conclusions surrounding this information on if there are certain correlations between football success and university indicators and how strongly these indicators affect the university and its brand.
Specifically, this paper focuses on the Arizona State University Sun Devils football team’s year-over-year results from 2006-2016 and uses this dataset as a comparison against multiple academic and financial measures from the university. This paper also attempts to define what a university's “brand” is and discuss the effect that these teams have on a student’s experience at the university. Based on these findings and results, we attempt to draw conclusions surrounding this information on if there are certain correlations between football success and university indicators and how strongly these indicators affect the university and its brand.
ContributorsRaysik, Bailey (Co-author) / Whiteley, Andrew (Co-author) / Roberton, Sean (Co-author) / Ingram-Waters, Mary (Thesis director) / Eaton, John (Committee member) / WPC Graduate Programs (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Being Sparky will be a sports documentary about the life of Walker McCrae as Arizona State University’s mascot, Sparky. The idea behind this documentary is to outline all that encompasses being Sparky from events themselves to student life, as well as the time commitment needed for such a role. The purpose is to show the impact Sparky has not only on the university but on the people who are Sparky. While it can just be wearing a costume and getting really sweaty, the work one puts in to it will always reap rewards. To most people, Sparky life seems simple and straightforward but the reality is that it is much more complex and that is what we want to demonstrate in this documentary.
ContributorsMcCrae, Walker (Co-author) / Millon, Ellie (Co-author) / Ashby, Ben (Co-author) / Lizzy, Baxter (Co-author) / Ingram-Waters, Mary (Thesis director) / Bonfiglio, Thomas (Committee member) / Schildkret, David (Committee member) / Eaton, John (Committee member) / Scott, Jason (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
In June of 2016, the United Kingdom held a referendum for its citizens to decide whether to remain a part of the European Union or take their leave. The vote was close but ultimately the U.K. decided to leave, triggering the two-year process of negotiations that would shape the U.K.’s departure (Brexit). The question of what will become of the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland is heavy with implications for the national identity of people living on either side of the border, and this makes it one of the more pressing concerns in Brexit discourse. This research analyzes how national identity is used as a rhetorical tactic in media to influence and persuade readers to vote in accordance with the author’s political goals. It does so by evaluating how borders shape national identity and analyzing newspaper articles from the two highest circulating Northern Irish daily newspapers (The Irish News and the Belfast Telegraph) during the week leading up to the June 23rd, 2016 referendum. In analyzing news articles relating to the Irish border issue of Brexit from The Irish News and the Belfast Telegraph during the time frame of June 16th-23rd, 2016, four analytical categories of how identity-related rhetoric was used were discovered: fear, self-interest, Irish Nationalism, and a negative association of the past. Further, it was hypothesized and confirmed the political leanings of the papers influenced which type of rhetorical tactic was used. In the broad realm of Brexit and media related discussion, this research could help strengthen understanding of how traditional media uses national identity to persuade readers to and influence voting behavior in the midst of such a divisive referendum.
Key Words: Brexit, Irish border, national identity, rhetoric, newspapers
Key Words: Brexit, Irish border, national identity, rhetoric, newspapers
ContributorsCaldwell, Tara (Author) / O'Flaherty, Katherine (Thesis director) / Ripley, Charles (Committee member) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor, Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
This thesis interprets and discusses the concept of representation of marginalized groups on television. The focus is on the character of Piper Chapman from the Netflix original series Orange is the New Black, and how her depiction is a unique kind of approach to the idea of The Burden of Representation. This idea theorizes that where there is representation, there is a duty held by the creators to tell a story that will not damage the communities it represents, as those stories shape the way the people who consume them think about said communities in real-life situations. However, if the creators were to construct a character or narrative that is perfect and “to-good-to-be-true,” that narrative may not be true to what is experienced by people in day-to-day life. One approach to this problem of non-damaging representation vs. genuine representation, is to create a character or narrative that is imperfect, but still a positive depiction. Not all “good” representation has to be perfect representation.
Through the examination of Piper Chapman’s character development, the narrative structure of Orange is the New Black, and the historical context of its representation in comparison to previous iterations, this thesis analyzes the unique way in which the show approaches its characters, setting, and storylines. The main subjects of analysis are Piper, and her girlfriend Alex Vause, each representing the bisexual and lesbian communities, respectively, and the major tropes that will be discussed are “the experimenting bisexual,” “the criminal lesbian,” “the vampiric lesbian,” and “bury your gays.” Each trope plays a significant role on the show, but the way the show uses its narrative structure and character development creates a new approach to the subversion of said tropes. Orange is the New Black focuses on telling a more human story rather than creating a perfect representation, while it still maintains a positive image for its characters.
Through the examination of Piper Chapman’s character development, the narrative structure of Orange is the New Black, and the historical context of its representation in comparison to previous iterations, this thesis analyzes the unique way in which the show approaches its characters, setting, and storylines. The main subjects of analysis are Piper, and her girlfriend Alex Vause, each representing the bisexual and lesbian communities, respectively, and the major tropes that will be discussed are “the experimenting bisexual,” “the criminal lesbian,” “the vampiric lesbian,” and “bury your gays.” Each trope plays a significant role on the show, but the way the show uses its narrative structure and character development creates a new approach to the subversion of said tropes. Orange is the New Black focuses on telling a more human story rather than creating a perfect representation, while it still maintains a positive image for its characters.
ContributorsMcdermot, Kathryn Lynne (Author) / Miller, April (Thesis director) / Ingram-Waters, Mary (Committee member) / School of Film, Dance and Theatre (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
DescriptionThe Autobiography of a Mary Sue is the fictional autobiography of a fanfiction author, detailing her experiences in fandom and how they made her into her ‘more perfect’ aka more realized, modern self.
ContributorsTerasaki, Kimberly Midori (Author) / Ingram-Waters, Mary (Thesis director) / Cruse, Markus (Committee member) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Fantasy football exists as a thought-to-be male dominated space, particularly with respect to the linguistic practices of players. Heteronormativity runs rampant, and fantasy players are not held accountable for the implications of their language. This essay analyzes what the dynamics of fantasy football leagues are, how current linguistic practices shape them, and suggests that women’s participating in fantasy football leagues functions as a type of trash talk that encourages men to address their internalized heteronormativity and create a more welcoming and progressive experience for people of all genders.
ContributorsValov, Jacob John (Author) / Ingram-Waters, Mary (Thesis director) / Ferderer, Brandon (Committee member) / Hugh Downs School of Human Communication (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05