This paper summarizes results of the participative ethnographic researchi nto a warlike community (so-called “guild”) that occurs in the virtual settings of the game Guild Wars 2. The attention is paid especially to the organization and adaptation mechanisms of the players as well as to the analysis of their functional modus operandi (sophisticated organization of so-called “rushes” and emergency mechanisms of offensive group formation). The article deals also with the analysis of cultural production of virtual communities (so-called “machinima”, guides/gameplays“ and playing modification of electronic encyclopaedias), which significantly falls outside the inter-subjective scope in the form of (theoretical and practical) correlation with the development of contemporary warfare - in particular with the conception known as “swarming”.
The Research Centre of the Oriental Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences at Academia Sinica in Taiwan (RCT) was established on December 3, 2015. It is designed to act as a branch office of the Oriental Institute of the CAS and is intended to serve as a platform facilitating and strengthening academic exchanges between Czech and Taiwanese scholars as well as institutions. The Centre is a part of a long-term interdisciplinary research project entitled Power and Strategies of Social and Political Order. Czech research fellows are expected to participate in conferences and hold colloqiums with their Taiwanese colleagues. In cooperation with the Academia Sinica, the Institute plans to organize annual joint workshops and publish their proceedings. It will concomitantly continue building the network of patner institutions and thus create a solid foundation for further scholarly exchanges. In cooperation with Charles University in Prague it will also support doctoral students wishing to conduct research at the Centre. and Táňa Dluhošová.
While in the past customs and rituals formed completely natural part of people’s lives, as the old social structure fell apart, the original groups of bearers of community customs (young people working on the farms, recruits, etc.) disappeared and had to be replaced by organized bodies such as voluntary fire brigades. When some of the old traditions vanished, the need arose for new cultural elements to be created. thus organizations inspired by the legacy of
their ancestors started their activities focused on saving residues of local traditional culture. Folk culture has a unique ability to represent people. This happens on three levels: communal, club and individual. Communities use traditional culture to express their uniqueness and belonging to an ethnographic region. The second level relates first of all to voluntary fire brigades for whom traditional events mean chances to take active part in the retention of annual customs, to show themselves in the most festive manner, and to raise money for their own activities as well as for public purposes.
Individual efforts to keep traditions and to participate in creation of local identity constitute the third level. What makes people retain and renew old customs is the need to socialize, to share community values that distinguish them from other groups.
Traditional culture is a source of self-identification and representation.