scholarly journals Players Imbuing Meaning: Co-creation of Challenges in a prototype MMO

2012 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
pp. 50-75
Author(s):  
Mirjam Palosaari Eladhari
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Personal Meaning ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Game Play ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
The World ◽  
Rule System ◽  
Difficult Situations

This article discusses how components in a game world can carry meaning relevant to individual players. The discussion is grounded in work with a massively multi-player online (MMO) proto- type where players in guided play-tests created their own opponents that they battled in groups of three. The opponents are called Manifestations, and can be compared to the “boss monsters” that in adventure and role-playing games pose the greatest challenges in terms of tactical game play, or battle. When creating Manifestations players define how these shall behave in play, and what they say under different circumstances. The game play mechanics in the world is centred on emotions and social relations. One of the design goals in the creation of the prototype was to cater for a system where tactical game play can be closely tied to the potential narrative contents. The Manifestations players created in the play tests were of four main categories; reflec- tions of persons they had complicated relationships with in real life, difficult situations, abstract concepts, or purely fictional entities. In several cases players brought material into the game that had personal meaning to them. These meanings were developed further when players saw how their Manifestation behaved within the rule system of the world. For example, one player created a Manifestation of an anticipated exam, while another made a Manifestation called “Mother”. The Mother cast spells called “Focused Aggression” and “Cold Ripple of Fear”. It was able to perform acts called “Blame”, “Threaten”, and “Disagree”. The group experimented with tactical choices, while reasoning about the Mother’s potential motivations. They managed to overcome the Mother by alternating between giving each other resistance and casting spells, the winning stroke being a rapid series of spells called “Forgive”.

scholarly journals A Cross-Genre Study of Online Gaming

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Davinder Ghuman ◽  
Mark Griffiths
Keyword(s):  
Real Life ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Online Gaming ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
The Social ◽  
First Person Shooter ◽  
Published Research ◽  
Achievement Levels

One key limitation with the contemporary online gaming research literature is that much of the published research has tended to examine only one genre of games (i.e., Massively Multi-player Online Role Playing Games). Three relatively little studied online games are First Person Shooter (FPS) Games, Role Play Games (RPG), and Real Time Strategy (RTS) Games. Therefore, the current study examines player behaviour and characteristics in these three relatively under-researched online gaming genres. The study examines the differences between the three different game genres in terms of: (i) the demographic profile of players, (ii) the social interactions of players including the number and quality of friends, and how gaming related to real life friendship, and (iii) motivations to play specific game genres. The sample comprised 353 self-selected players. The RPG genre had the highest percentage of female players. The number of hours played per week varied significantly between the genres. RPG players played significantly longer hours than FPS or RTS players. In relation to playing motivation, achievement levels were highest for the FPS genre with RPG genre having the lowest achievement levels. RPG players had the highest immersion levels. RTS players were significantly less likely to report having made friends than players of the other two genres.

Personality Impressions of World of Warcraft Players Based on Their Avatars and Usernames

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriella M. Harari ◽  
Lindsay T. Graham ◽  
Samuel D. Gosling
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Model Analysis ◽  
World Of Warcraft ◽  
Accurate Information ◽  
Lens Model ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
The World ◽  
Massively Multiplayer

Every week an estimated 20 million people collectively spend hundreds of millions of hours playing massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs). Here the authors investigate whether avatars in one such game, the World of Warcraft (WoW), convey accurate information about their players' personalities. They assessed consensus and accuracy of avatar-based impressions for 299 WoW players. The authors examined impressions based on avatars alone, and images of avatars presented along with usernames. The personality impressions yielded moderate consensus (avatar-only mean ICC = .32; avatar plus username mean ICC = .66), but no accuracy (avatar only mean r = .03; avatar plus username mean r = .01). A lens-model analysis suggests that observers made use of avatar features when forming impressions, but the features had little validity. Discussion focuses on what factors might explain the pattern of consensus but no accuracy, and on why the results might differ from those based on other virtual domains and virtual worlds.

A JOURNEY IN THE WORLD OF STRANGES AND THE WONDERFULNESS OF GERALD DARELLS HEROES – „MY FAMILY AND OTHER ANIMALS“

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 296-297
Author(s):  
Adelina Simitchieva ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Active Learning ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Interdisciplinary Collaboration ◽  
Cognitive Activity ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Sixth Grade ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
The World ◽  
Learning Flexibility

The article presents an interdisciplinary approach within a lesson in the sixth grade on Gerald Durrell’s „My family and other animals“. It draws attention to the possibilities of interdisciplinary collaboration between subjects, such as literature, biology and sports. The lesson combines the objectives of education in order to turn the compulsory learning content into an experience full of positive emotions. The lesson realizes important goals in all three disciplines – to enrich students’ experience in extracting moral messages from the studied text, to strengthen the importance of the role of man and animals in environmental terms, and to motivate the students to explain the relationship between movements in sports and animals and to make demonstrations. The change in the methods of traditional teaching and the educational environment are a prerequisite for a fuller understanding and empathy of the artistic text. Additionally, the implementation of interdisciplinary and sociocultural connections assists students in mastering knowledge about the world. The development of cognitive activity is stimulated by working on multimedia presentations, role-playing games as basic conditions for stimulating active learning. Flexibility and creativity are achieved through the application of an interdisciplinary approach and a variety of language, creative and research tasks: Interdisciplinary approach, interdisciplinary links, active learning.

“This is like an RPG where you pick up friends along the way”

2021 ◽  
pp. 122-151
Author(s):  
Sylvia Sierra
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Identity Construction ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Oregon Trail ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
Constructed Dialogue ◽  
The Oregon Trail

This chapter examines how Millennial friends in their late twenties appropriate texts from video games they have played to serve particular social interactive functions in their everyday face-to-face conversations. Speakers use references to the video games Papers, Please, The Oregon Trail, Minecraft, and Role Playing Games (RPGS) to shift the epistemic territories of conversations when they encounter interactional dilemmas. These epistemic shifts simultaneously rekey formerly problematic talk (on topics like rent, money, and injuries) to lighter, humorous talk, reframing these issues as being part of a lived video game experience. Overlapping game frames are laminated upon real-life frames and are strengthened by embedded frames containing constructed dialogue. This chapter contributes to understanding how epistemic shifts relying on intertextual ties can shift frames during interactional dilemmas in everyday conversation, which is ultimately conducive to group identity construction.

scholarly journals Not Only for the (Tom) boys: Gender Variables as Predictors for Playing Motivations, Passion, and Addiction for MMORPGs

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Kneer ◽  
Sanne Franken ◽  
Sabine Reich
Keyword(s):  
Role Playing ◽  
Game Play ◽  
Personality Variables ◽  
Obsessive Passion ◽  
Biological Sex ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Almost All ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Gender Traits

Background. Research on playing motivation and passion for MMORPGs and gender has so far mainly focused on biological sex and neglected variables related to social gender such as masculinity and femininity. As some playing motivations and obsessive passion are assumed to be related to problematic game play, problematic game play is still considered a male phenomenon, often based on mainly male samples and disregarding underlying causes in problematic tendencies that could explain or extent findings on biological sex difference. Method. This survey based quantitative study investigated the impact of masculine and feminine personality on game play motivations, passion, and problematic game play. Massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) players ( N = 375, 44.3% female) were recruited via Facebook and online games. Feminine and masculine personality traits were assessed along with game play motivations, passion, and problematic game play. Results. Stepwise regression analyses revealed that gender traits add significant value for almost all variables of interest. Negative masculine traits were positive predictors for achievement as game play motivation while positive feminine traits predicted social interaction. Harmonious passion was predicted by positive masculine traits. Negative feminine traits were found to predict immersion as well as obsessive passion and were also important for problematic game play. Conclusion. Gender traits add valuable information to mere biological sex concerning different game related concepts such as motivation, passion, and problematic game play. Despite the idea that problematic game play is a male phenomenon, negative feminine traits seem to be linked to problematic tendencies. We suggest including gender and personality variables for future games and/or media studies.

Games as Inhabited Spaces

2004 ◽  
Vol 110 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernadette Flynn
Keyword(s):  
Computer Games ◽  
Social Space ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Game Play ◽  
Bodily Experience ◽  
Computer Screen ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
Spatial Practice

This paper introduces questions about how space might be considered in studying computer games. It argues that established concepts of media aesthetics and narrative are no longer adequate for understanding the inhabited spaces of the computer screen. First, it considers a communications ‘post-narrative spatialisation’ as a foundation for game play. Second, it reads the work of social space theorists Lefebvre, Massey and De Certeau into a discussion of how the navigation of space is a cultural act. Third, building on the evidence of role-playing games and Merleau Ponty's notion of embodiment, the paper suggests that gameplay is a form of spatial practice that is grounded in the player's lived-in bodily experience and subjective viewpoint.

Sociaal contact in een MMORPG

2011 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie De Vocht ◽  
Jan Van Looy ◽  
Cédric Courtois ◽  
Lieven De Marez
Keyword(s):  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Social Contact ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
World Of Warcraft ◽  
The Third ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
The Social ◽  
Character Identification ◽  
Strong Competition

Social contact in a MMORPG. An exploratory study into the motivations of playing World of Warcraft from a uses & gratifications perspective. Social contact in a MMORPG. An exploratory study into the motivations of playing World of Warcraft from a uses & gratifications perspective. The results of a study on motivations for playing Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPG), c.q. World of Warcraft (WoW), on 1691 gamers have been described in this article. The research hypothesis states that the social contact in-game is the main motivation of playing WoW. After a factor analysis, eight motivations can be defined: ‘escapism’ (α= 0,694), ‘arousal’(α= 0,573), ‘social contact in WoW’ (α= 0,794), ‘challenge’ (α= 0,758), ‘immersion’ (α= 0,765), ‘skills’ (α= 0,907), ‘social contact in real life’ (α= 0,739), ‘strong competition’ (α= 0,771). ‘Social contact in WoW’ ends on the third place. Still, 89% of the respondents think that the multiplayer aspect is important. Two other dimensions have been found: ‘character identification’ (α= 0,749) and ‘character importance’ (α= 0,826). By distinguishing a group ‘High Character Involvement’ and ‘Low Character Involvement’ there have been found interesting differences with regard to the motivations.

Taking New World Notes: An embedded journalist's rough guide to reporting from inside the Internet's next evolution

First Monday ◽  
2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wagner James Au
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Development Platform ◽  
The World ◽  
The Web

In 2005, persistent online worlds — sometimes saddled with the unwieldy acronym MMORPGs, for “massively multiplayer online role playing games,” or somewhat less clumsily, MMOs — made the leap from niche entertainment to global mainstream medium. On a popularity metric, Worlds of Warcraft became the first game to surpass a million U.S. subscribers, while gaining a global audience over 4.5 million and counting (with a third of that from mainland China.) On an innovation scale, Second Life suggested the potential for MMOs to also be a development platform for commercial, educational, and research projects. As broadband and high end PCs saturate the international market, it’s time to consider MMOs as the likeliest candidate for the Internet’s next generation, supplanting the two dimensional, semi–interactive portal of the Web for an immersive, three–dimensional, fully interactive Metaverse of data. But a new medium requires new guidelines for understanding it, and it is here that many questions loom. What happens as users continue to employ MMOs for purposes beyond gaming or light socializing, when they become the first true meeting space for the world, where cultural, commercial, and political intercourse is conducted in real time in an immersive setting that feels real, even hyperreal? When they have a direct, measurable impact on real world news? And who will do the reporting to understand this profound shift? Unlike the Web revolution of the ’90s, documenting the emergence of online worlds is something that will be conducted from the inside, immersed within the media itself. Some tentative guidelines are therefore proposed, a new kind of journalistic ethics for a world where reality and identity are mutable and anonymity is both hazard and godsend. Based on nearly three years as Second Life’s official embedded journalist, the author suggests several principles, with the object to preserve a separation between real life identity and virtual being, while sustaining the fantastic, otherworldly nature of online worlds. Paradoxically, it’s argued, maintaining the illusion increases the value of online worlds as a journalistic tool, enabling a direct, intimate form of communication with diverse people throughout the world. At the same time, it enables us to see these worlds as model and microcosm for the socioeconomic realm of the world at large. In either case, these worlds can help us understand the conflicts and values of our own material world — and for good and ill, begin to shape them. To emphasize how crucial the need to understand this next dramatic shift for the Internet, the author offers five likely futures in which online worlds directly impact national and international politics and the global economy — a time when MMOs help decide the outcomes of real–world elections and influence long–established jurisprudence, while authoritarian government attempt to repress them, and they become the next theater for terrorist and counterterrorist infiltration.

The Ethics Project

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 285-302
Author(s):  
Jason Brennan ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Opportunity Cost ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Strategic Decision ◽  
Ethical Principles ◽  
Entrepreneurial Activity ◽  
Strategic Decision Making ◽  
The World

This paper describes the “Ethics Project”, a semester-long entrepreneurial activity in which students must make real-life decisions and then reflect upon their decisions. The Ethics Project asks students to think of something good to do, something that adds value to the world, and then do it. Along the way, they must navigate problems of opportunity cost or feasibility versus desirability, must anticipate and overcome strategic and ethical obstacles, and must ensure they add value, taking into account their costs. Rather than role-playing through case studies, students live through real-life case studies which result from their own choices. When properly administered, the Ethics Project trains student to be principled leaders who integrate ethical principles into strategic decision-making, and who can discover and overcome their own moral limitations.

Entertainment Technologies

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig Hayden
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Mass Communication ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
International Studies ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
Networking Technologies ◽  
The Impact

Entertainment technologies are not new, and neither is their relevance for international studies. As studies evidence, the impact of entertainment technologies is often visible at the intersection of “traditional” international relations concerns, such as national security, political economy, and the relation of citizens to the nation-state, and new modes of transnational identity and social action. Thus the study of entertainment technologies in the context of international studies is often interdisciplinary—both in method and in theoretical framework. Moreover, the production, regulation, and dissemination of these technologies have been at the center of controversies over the flow of news and cultural products since the dawn of popular communication in the nineteenth century. These entertainment technologies include video games, virtual worlds and online role-playing games, recreational social networking technologies, and, to a lesser degree, traditional mass communication outlets. In addition, there are two primary emphases in the scholarly treatment of entertainment technologies. At the level of audience consumption and participation, media outlets considered as entertainment technologies can be discussed as means for acquiring information and cultivating attitudes, and as a “space” for interaction. At the more “macro” level of social relations and production, representation can work to reinforce modes of belonging, identity, and attitudes.

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