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MMOs and gaming psychology, part two: Interview with a researcher
Following yesterday's article discussing current research on psychology and MMOs, we have today our conversation with Dr. Rachel Kowert herself, the lead author on the paper that originally prompted these articles. Kowert, unlike many other researchers in her field, has established gamer cred; her earliest experiences were playing basic games on a Tandy computer with her brother, but the first game to really grab her was Super Mario Brothers. Her favorite game of all time is Final Fantasy 6 (Final Fantasy 3 in the US), and most recently she's played Banished and The Sims 4. Late in Kowert's Master's degree studies, her supervisor told her about an influx of parents expressing concern about their children's gaming habits. Finding information on the topic to help ease concerns proved difficult due to a severe lack of on-point research. This is what prompted her to switch her research focus to game studies.
MMOs and gaming psychology, part one: The research
Last month, Massively wrote a short article about research on the relationship between shyness and online game friendships. The topic is of interest to me not just because of the MMO connection but because I myself am someone who used to identify myself as shy but believe online games help me cope with and surmount it. Games are what I rely on to help myself meet new people as cultural and language barriers prevent me, an American, from making strong attachments in Japan, the country where I live and work. In preparing for this two-part article, I spoke to the research paper's lead author, Dr. Rachel Kowert, who helpfully provided me with a reader's digest version of recent research in this subfield of psychology. Tomorrow, we'll tackle our interview with Dr. Kowert herself, but today, we'll have a look at the research to bring us all up to speed.
Working As Intended: There's nothing wrong with soloing in MMORPGs
A Massively community member recently wrote into the podcast to tell us that he prefers to solo, to craft for himself, to avoid group quests, and to skip guilds. Still, he told us, he loves MMOs and doesn't want to leave them to play single-player RPGs. "What the hell is wrong with me?" he asked. Nothing. Nothing at all. There's nothing wrong with soloing in MMORPGs.
One of Pathfinder's 'core philosophies' is socialization
The first Pathfinder dev blog of 2014 concerns itself with points of interest and outposts. In a broader sense, GoblinWorks uses the piece to speak about one of the primary design objectives for its fantasy sandbox. That objective is socialization. Or, as GoblinWorks says, "one of our core philosophies is to maximize meaningful human interaction." A major example of said philosophy is the firm's plan to create "a hierarchy of social structures so that many people have a chance to try their hand at leadership and management." This hierarchy starts with outposts, which are the "heart of the in-game economy" and connected to the aforemention POIs. Click through the links below to learn more!
Camelot Unchained on building community
Creating an atmosphere and incentives for players to rely on and help each other out is paramount to building a strong community, says Mark Jacobs in his latest Camelot Unchained dev blog. "Part of our job as the designers and developers of CU is to put systems in place to create interdependency that encourages players to work together so that they not only have the most fun but also enjoy the quickest ways to success within the game," Jacobs writes. His post explains how the team is using both crafting and housing as ways to bind players together organically rather than force them to group due to sheer necessity. Even if players don't want to engage in these systems, Jacobs envisions a connection between such straight-up warriors and the crafters/builders as all can benefit from helping each other out.
The social aspect of WoW
I always remember sitting in Shattrath. Sometimes for hours, scrolling through trade, seeing the same messages over and over again. "LF1M Shadow Labyrinth, CC." Every so often, the discussion comes back to how grouping tools are ruining World of Warcraft's social aspects. The arguments are usually the same, talking about how before the Dungeon Finder people had to have active guilds or set up groups via trade, how the servers had a sense of community, how you have to get out there and put groups together and make friends in order to play WoW, and how that's lost now. And whenever I see this argument, I remember sitting in Shattath, sometimes for hours, trying to get a group for Shadow Labyrinth. People never really seem to remember those times when they're talking about this. Now, I've made a lot of friends in WoW over the years. Through server x-fers, through tiers of raiding, through old school days of dungeon running. I talk to a lot of these people to this day, and I've raided actively since the days of Molten Core. And yet, when people bemoan the tools that have been added to this game all I can remember is sitting in Shattrath, doing the "LFG Shadow Labyrinth" shuffle, looking at other people also looking for groups. Watching those groups demand that any new DPS have CC (warriors didn't) and that any new tank be an AoE god (warriors weren't) so they didn't have to use that CC they wanted you to have.
Flameseeker Chronicles: What to do when zombies chew your face off
I've been having something of a Guild Wars renaissance of late. Part of it has to do with a few friends getting into the game again (mostly for Hall of Monuments reasons), and part of it has to do with having time to breathe, which means time to play Guild Wars. Mostly, I feel, it has to do with the sound of time's wingèd chariot hurrying near: I know that after Guild Wars 2 releases, the likelihood of going back to the home I've made in Guild Wars is pretty slim. Sure, it'll still be there, and diehards like me will still be logging in, but the stage will have a new star (if, in fact, it doesn't already), and that's kind of sad. So I'm taking what time I have to enjoy Guild Wars as thoroughly as possible. And that's how I found myself dashing madly through the Shards of Orr.
Free for All: So, what does "MMORPG" mean?
As a reader of Massively, you should have a pretty good idea what MMORPG means. Not just what it stands for, but what it feels like, looks like, and behaves like. The problem is, despite common definitions, the games keep coming in different shapes and sizes -- and from all over the world. While I receive many comments about the Western coverage that Massively features, I would only be doing half my job if I reported on only the latest half a dozen games to break the multi-million-dollar budget mark in America. The world is a smaller place, especially now. And across the world there are MMORPGs that are being played and enjoyed in many different ways. There are PvP games, games that place players into instance after instance with only a handful of other players, all while offering the potential to hang out with thousands of other people. Is an instanced combat game still an MMO? How about a game like Mabinogi, which maintains a persistent world, but is broken into several invisible channels for players to skip in to and out of? This is impossible, but I think I will try to define exactly what MMO means -- now, in this current market.
The Digital Continuum: Socialize, now
Socialization is dead! Isn't it? Well actually, that's a tough one. Certainly, the perception that socialization is becoming a lesser factor to more and more developers has become the norm among most people. That doesn't necessarily mean they're correct. So, let's examine the general landscape of yesteryear and beyond to see what's really going on when it comes to human interaction in our massively multiplayer online games.
Ways of designing social into virtual spaces
One of the strongest glues between a person and their favorite MMO is friendship and community. However, those two things don't come without strong socialization, which in turn is something that doesn't happen in an MMO entirely by accident. A recent blog post by Raph Koster discusses the many ways of making virtual spaces more social by thoughtful design, a subject that we here at Massively take a lot of interest in, strangely enough.While the first two chunks of Raph's post are arguments for actionable design to encourage socialization, it's the last piece of the post where the fleshy part resides. While there are numerous good suggestions for designing better social opportunities, the ones that strike us as our most desirable for MMOs are gifting, mentors, looking for conversation tools and alternate advancement systems for social elements. Those four items are certainly something that more titles could use -- especially as more and more games integrate web tools similar to Facebook.It's hard to say whether or not we'll actually see any of these taken to heart in many MMOs, but it's nice to wish for things -- and maybe if we pester developers hard enough they'll figure it out sooner rather than later.
Fanfest details emerge on EVE's Walking in Stations expansion
In further news coming from EVE Fanfest 2008, CCP Games has given a press-only presentation detailing the upcoming Walking in Stations expansion for EVE Online. While this is an aspect of the game that's so far been a divisive issue among EVE players, the expansion will allow players to step out of their ships and interact as highly detailed avatars in ship station interiors and captain's quarters aboard their own ships (presumably while docked in a station hangar). Walking in Stations is a project that's drawn on the talents of "special effects artists from the world of television and movies into the video game medium, a number of whom have been brought on to the team at CCP," writes Jon Wood of MMORPG.com, reporting from Reykjavik.
The Daily Grind: How will Ambulation change EVE Online?
Going purely by the recent NY Comic Con video, EVE Online's upcoming expansion Ambulation will be an incredible addition to the game universe. Aside from the sheer fun to be had in designing your avatar, the socialization component has the potential to cause players to reevaluate their interactions with others, both friends and enemies.There will likely be some über-hardcore, there-from-the-launch, "back in MY day" kinds of users who will feel that this ability to step outside of the ship is a dilution of what makes EVE great. There is also something to be said for the argument that this could possibly attract more people to try out EVE, by adding something familiar (a controllable human avatar), thus inflating the population to the point where things no longer feel the same -- sort of the "bridge and tunnel crowd" attitude. What are your thoughts? Are you for or against this new expansion? What do you think its effect on the game will be?
