Gamers_as_Co-Creators
Erin Tainsh 17:05, 15 Oct 2004 (EST)
Massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) are highly graphical 2- or 3-D videogames played online, allowing individuals, through their self-created digital characters to interact not only with the gaming software but with other players all around the globe. Popular MMOGs can have thousands of players online at any given time interacting with each other in a virtual world. These virtual worlds are unrelenting social and material worlds, loosely structured by open-ended fantasy narratives, where players are free to do as they please whether it is slaying orges, sieging castles, bartering goods in town, or shaking the fruit out of trees.(wordIQ.com)
Because of the intensity of immersive play and interactive experiences associated with MMOGs, the sector is finding that their increasing popularity is beginning to dominate the entertainment industry. In 2002 it was estimated that global revenues in the games sector were US$28 billion and in the USA, the Entertainment Software Alliance, which represents the major players in the games industry, found that sales of computer and video games software were US$7 billion in 2003. This current turnover for the games industry is bigger than Hollywood box office revenue. (Flew and Humphreys, 2002)
The interactive gaming industry is at the forefront of many of the most significant innovations in new media. These games are ideal cultural analysis of the social and material practices attending them. Given their wide-spread and growing popularity with people of all age groups, ethnicities, and economic classes, their increasing domination of the entertainment industry, and professed addictive quality for players, MMOGs are quickly becoming the form of entertainment and a major mechanism of socialisation for young and old alike. Despite consistent public dismissals about how video games produce violence, gender biases and perhaps the biggest concern obsessive playing behaviour; videogames do constitute to a complex and nuanced set of multi-model social and communicative practices. (Steinkuehler, 2003)
Computer games have been and continue to be an area of new media that drives innovation. As Humphreys (2003) points out computer games are more than repurposed ‘old’ media, they are structurally different texts that exploit the multi-directional feedback loops offered by the medium(p.2). Massively multi-player online gaming is participation in a discourse space that expands with continued play. Online gaming is no longer confined to the traditional boundaries of ‘old’ media technologies; it has expanded into the virtual world and beyond. Although gaming can be a solitary entertainment, many find it is something to do with other people. Online games are proving to be an increasingly social affair with statistics showing that between 40-50% of computer game players are women, and the average age of players is increasing-currently standing at mid to late 20’s. (Flew & Humphreys, 2002) Gaming fan communities have been formed in all sizes such as; websites, chat rooms, e-mail and even life activities off screen such as telephone calls and face to face meetings. Fansites are web pages created by hard-core gaming fans that are used to provide vital information about the best possible methods to play the game. Most of these fansites are fundamental resources for both the consumer and producer. For the producer it is essential to get the players socially involved and furthermore creating a long-term relationship between the player and gaming community. For the player the vital information on the fansite is crucial to play the game. Everquest one of the most popular MMOG’s has 450 thousand subscribers a year. LAN (Local Area Network) parties are also another dimension of the MMOGaming community. It is where people get together in larger public spaces and create networks of computers to play with each other. These virtual communities function as a major mechanism of enculturation for those engaged with them; playing one’s character and living in these virtual worlds becomes an important part of life. This social interaction created by online games is the main focus area of new media that drives innovation, thus making MMOG’s so unique.
Reference List
WordIQ "MMOG's compared to other computer games," retrieved October 10, 2004, from http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Massively_multiplayer_online_game
Flew, T. & Humphreys, S. (2002) Games: Technology, Industry, Culture, South Melbourne, Vic.: Oxford Press
Steinkkuehler, C.(2003) Learning in Massively Multiplayer Online Games, Madison: Teacher Education Press
Humphreys, S. (2003) Online Multiuser games:Playing for real, Australian Journal of Communication 30(1):79-91
Erin Tainsh 13:30, 28 Oct 2004 (EST)
