scholarly journals Game Balance: Designed structure and consumer agency in an online game

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Elizabeth Haynes
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Physical World ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Consumer Identity ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
The North ◽  
Game World ◽  
Consumer Movements

<p>Massively multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPGs) attract millions of people every year and are now a major industry. Using the internet, these games connect players and give them goals to pursue within virtual worlds. This thesis examines the early life of one such game, the North American version of TERA, based on participant observation on a player vs. player server. TERA’s players met and interacted within a virtual game world controlled by the company which developed the game, and although players constructed their own social groups and factions within this world they were constrained by software that they could not change. Everything from the combat rules to the physics of the environment was designed, and players could only take actions that were accounted for and allowed by that design.  However, TERA launched as one of many available MMORPGs which were competing for the attention of the same audience. Its players tended to be experienced and well-informed about the genre, and used their knowledge to evaluate and critique TERA both privately and in public forums. Aware that game companies’ chief concern was for profit, players exercised agency by embracing a consumer identity and pressuring developers in their own commercial terms. To retain players’ loyalty and continue receiving their fees, companies were obliged to appease their customers. This allowed players to see the game world develop and change in accordance with their desires despite the fact that they lacked the access or the expertise to change it themselves. I link this approach to agency to the rise of consumer movements in capitalist societies, and show how the virtual world of TERA can serve as an example for other situations in the physical world where contemporary technologies are used to both enable and constrain agency.</p>

scholarly journals Game Balance: Designed structure and consumer agency in an online game

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Elizabeth Haynes
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Physical World ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Consumer Identity ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
The North ◽  
Game World ◽  
Consumer Movements

<p>Massively multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPGs) attract millions of people every year and are now a major industry. Using the internet, these games connect players and give them goals to pursue within virtual worlds. This thesis examines the early life of one such game, the North American version of TERA, based on participant observation on a player vs. player server. TERA’s players met and interacted within a virtual game world controlled by the company which developed the game, and although players constructed their own social groups and factions within this world they were constrained by software that they could not change. Everything from the combat rules to the physics of the environment was designed, and players could only take actions that were accounted for and allowed by that design.  However, TERA launched as one of many available MMORPGs which were competing for the attention of the same audience. Its players tended to be experienced and well-informed about the genre, and used their knowledge to evaluate and critique TERA both privately and in public forums. Aware that game companies’ chief concern was for profit, players exercised agency by embracing a consumer identity and pressuring developers in their own commercial terms. To retain players’ loyalty and continue receiving their fees, companies were obliged to appease their customers. This allowed players to see the game world develop and change in accordance with their desires despite the fact that they lacked the access or the expertise to change it themselves. I link this approach to agency to the rise of consumer movements in capitalist societies, and show how the virtual world of TERA can serve as an example for other situations in the physical world where contemporary technologies are used to both enable and constrain agency.</p>

scholarly journals Copyright and Paratext in Computer Gaming

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Burk
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Information Technologies ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Physical World ◽  
Computer Gaming ◽  
Transmission Of Knowledge ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
On Line ◽  
Game Developers ◽  
Population Counts

Adoption of information technologies is dependent upon the availability of information to be channeled via such technologies. On-line multiplayer role-playing games have become an important social and business feature of the Internet. The virtual worlds that game players inhabit now encompass population counts and economic activity greater than that of many nations in the physical world. The activity of players participating in an on-line game community is closely tied to paratexts that may include magazines, websites, and even devices that lie outside the formal boundaries of the game, but which are intimately bound up in the transmission of knowledge and culture surrounding the game. In this paper, I examine the legal structures that foster or inhibit particular gaming paratexts. Such laws are in some senses extrinsic to the "magic circle" of the game, but these external rules are deployed as constraints to enforce the internal logic of the game. Typically this occurs in cases where violation of the game's internal parameters would affect the owner's external marketing or business control. Commercial game developers may use copyright and related anti-circumvention laws to enforce preferred readings of the game, largely by dominating the paratexts associated with their product. Examining the control of paratexts yields important insights into the logic of legal rubrics governing on-line gaming.

Interoperability, Learning Designs and Virtual Worlds

2010 ◽  
pp. 193-206
Author(s):  
Helen Farley
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
World Of Warcraft ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
Collaborative Activities

Given the relatively high costs associated with designing and implementing learning designs in virtual worlds, a strategy for the re-use of designs becomes imperative. IMS LD has emerged as the standard for the description and expression of learning designs. This chapter explores some of the issues associated with using the IMS LD specification for learning designs in virtual worlds such as Second Life and multi-player online role playing games such as World of Warcraft. The main issues relate to the inadequate description of collaborative activities and the inability to alter the design ‘on-the-fly’ in response to learner inputs. Some possible solutions to these problems are considered.

scholarly journals An Exploration of Entrepreneurship in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games: Second Life and Entropia Universe

2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stéphane Kieger
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Necessary Conditions ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Current Paper ◽  
Venture Creation ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
The Future ◽  
Massively Multiplayer

Virtual worlds represent a new market with a distinct economy andmany individuals are trying to exploit this very new technology in thesearch of profitable opportunities. The current paper proposes to studyentrepreneurship in the Massively Multiplayer Online Role-PlayingGames (MMORPG) Second Life® and Entropia Universe® in whichmonetary trades are possible. A survey was proposed to the community of players of both games, and from a sample of 244 players, nineteenentrepreneurs were contacted for a second survey. The traits of theentrepreneurs were compared to those of the players andentrepreneurship was observed in Second Life® and Entropia Universe®.  In fact, all the necessary conditions are present for entrepreneurship: a new technology giving new sources of revenues, an entrepreneur willing to invest money in order to increase his wealth, and a market with an economy well understood. The different entrepreneurs have developed successful ventures in several markets, and they had well defined the strategy they wanted to adopt. They have examined the different markets in which they have entered although they did not use all the tools known in the marketing fields. Further, some steps in the process of creation of the venture may not be important and some may be done relatively swiftly, thus the venture creation in MMORPG may be relatively easy. In conclusion, the venture creation may be relatively undemanding in virtual worlds, and this opens new possibilities for the future.

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.

Questing for Standards

2011 ◽  
pp. 81-97
Author(s):  
Mark G. Elwell
Keyword(s):  
Second Life ◽  
Computer Games ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Role Play ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Source Material ◽  
Social Dimensions ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
Life Issues ◽  
Role Playing Game

This chapter reports on movements toward de facto standards for role playing games in the freely accessible and configurable shared virtual environment of Second Life. All users can not only freely join, but also construct and implement role playing games of their own design. Consequently, new games are constantly emerging, and others either persisting or failing. The resulting body of practice has implications for business, technological, and social dimensions of computer games. To elucidate these implications, this chapter presents the case of the Role Play Nexus, a venue created for role playing game designers, managers, and players to share experiences, questions, resources, and proposals for sustainable ventures and communities in Second Life. Issues, controversies, and problems are identified, and solutions and recommendations discussed. Source material is drawn from transcripts of public lectures, discussions and demonstrations, from interviews, and from participant observation.

Second Life

2012 ◽  
pp. 285-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Galen Grimes ◽  
Michael Bartolacci
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Second Life ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
World Of Warcraft ◽  
Online Behavior ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
Learning Platform ◽  
Security Training ◽  
Information Security Training

Virtual worlds have become increasingly popular with the growth of high speed Internet access worldwide and online gaming. The popularity of massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPG), such as World of Warcraft, and virtual worlds, such as Second Life, has created an opportunity for educators to build a learning platform that students can readily relate to. This paper explores some of the possibilities of utilizing one particular virtual world (Second Life) as a platform for network and information security training with a focus on the profiling of online behavior. In particular it describes the initial attempts of its use at one of the Pennsylvania State University’s campuses.

Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games as English as a Foreign Language Learning Environments

2019 ◽  
pp. 162-182
Author(s):  
Hélder Fanha Martins
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
English Language ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Role Playing Games

The objective of this chapter is to gain a better understanding of the usefulness of massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) for promoting English as a foreign language (EFL) acquisition. To accomplish this goal, the author analyzed specific categories of interaction occurring between English language learners while playing an online game entitled Eve Online. Previous research has proved that there are positive outcomes on EFL acquisition from the interaction that takes place while playing video games known as MMORPGs. These games immerse players in virtual worlds that are inhabited by hundreds and even thousands of other players, and all are partaking in the game in real time. Learners who choose to play the game in a foreign language are exposed to target language input in a context-rich environment where they can interact with native-speakers and other language learners.

Comparing situated sense-making processes in virtual worlds

2012 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
CarrieLynn D. Reinhard ◽  
Brenda Dervin
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Sense Making ◽  
Media Technologies ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Media Reception

What happens when a person engages with a virtual world? Are there unique processes of engagings that occur? One approach to understanding how a person makes sense of a virtual world is to compare the engaging processes with other media technologies, focusing on situated performative and interpretive sense-makings. This article reports on a study conducted to compare how novices make sense of four media technologies: film, console videogames, massively multiplayer online role-playing games, and social virtual worlds. Using Dervin’s Sense-Making Methodology (SMM) and our conceptualization of media reception situations, we extracted five potential overlapping sense-making concepts to make comparisons that do not presume a priori the influences of characteristics of technologies and other structures. The five comparative concepts all focus on situated sense-making processes. Our purpose in this article is not to present a full study report but rather to illustrate the methodological approach used in the data collection/production and analysis of the study. Results of our analyses indicate the complexity of media reception situations, how they converged and diverged, and how they involve multiple potential influences on media reception outcomes.

scholarly journals Learning to Reflect in Online Fantasy Role-Playing Games

2009 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-162
Author(s):  
Tunç D. Medeni ◽  
Kazunori Miyata ◽  
Mustafa Sağsan
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Communities ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Reflective Learning ◽  
Background Information ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Interviewing Techniques ◽  
Gaming Communities

The online role-playing games and their virtual communities, which are free and run by volunteers, attract much attention from business and academics, although studies on smaller gaming communities are still limited. One of these small online fantasy roleplaying communities, the world of Wold, is researched, using participant observation and Internet interviewing techniques within an e-research framework. After providing background information about the research, the paper then presents the conceptual framework, which consists of three main parts: (1) use of asynchronous communication tools for learning and reflection, (2) conceptualization of reflection, and (3) role of roleplaying and storytelling in reflection and learning. In the light of this framework, research findings about the learning and reflection that occurs at (1) intrapersonal, (2) personal and (3) interpersonal levels in online role-playing games will be discussed. The paper will then be concluded by research implications and limitations. It is hoped that, relating to learning in terms of developing sustainable virtual communities for reflective learning, this research will provide insights into the function of multiplayer games for serious purposes like learning and socialization, as well as the role of hard technology for soft purposes like reflective learning and practice.

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