MMORPGs/Online Gaming as Social Networks
October 4, 2006 at 9:50 am Tyler Rousseau 8 comments
Sure, Myspace is fun in the fact that anyone can make a thousand friends. You can even add music, videos, customize the backgrounds and, did I mention, make a thousand friends. Eventually, it all becomes a little static. Ultimately, it is a personality profile… a really cool one at that, but all communication is done through typing and emails.
But actual Cyberworlds, now that is where the fun is to be had!
Massively-Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game-sites (MMORPGs) like World of Warcraft or Runescape (a free version of WoW) are not as much a collection of social introverts as people think. It’s not about sitting in their chosen room of darkness and defeating dragons of varying levels of difficulty… well, not completely.
The success of these games has little to do with storylines. There are challenges offered in order to advance a character’s levels and abilities but there really isn’t a true definitive end, just harder and harder challenges. The worlds are more about the social encounters, creating clans, rivalries, and alliances. It’s social cliques along with the action; real-world interactions within fantasy settings.
But it is more than that. Business deals have been made and sealed within the realm of WoW, marriages have been acted out here and then taken place in real life, virtual funerals have been held for teammates who died in real life but were too far away to pay respects. In fact, some of my friends from high school are held a reunion in WoW a week ago.
So, its not just about challenges, it is community as well. People’s personlity plays a big part in whether or not they are part of one clan or another, connections build a large part of success. Social networking is as integral as it is fun for players in these games, in obth the cyberworld and realworld (remember the business deal?).
Is it time to start changing our premonitions of gamers as social introverts?
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Library Garden 
1.
holly | October 10, 2006 at 11:48 am
Runescape != free version of WoW. It’s a free MMORPG and while similar, it is completely unrelated.
2.
Tyler Rousseau | October 10, 2006 at 1:05 pm
True… I meant no affiliation between the two other than to state they are both MMORPGs.
3.
Tyler Rousseau | October 10, 2006 at 1:05 pm
True… I meant no affiliation between the two other than to state they are both MMORPGs.
4.
Tyler Rousseau | October 10, 2006 at 1:05 pm
True… I meant no affiliation between the two other than to state they are both MMORPGs.
5.
Tyler Rousseau | October 10, 2006 at 1:05 pm
True… I meant no affiliation between the two other than to state they are both MMORPGs.
6.
Tyler Rousseau | October 10, 2006 at 1:05 pm
True… I meant no affiliation between the two other than to state they are both MMORPGs.
7.
Anonymous | October 14, 2006 at 3:55 pm
I’m not exactly sure why this post is on the “Library Garden”, but found it interesting as someone married to a MMORPG geek — his preference is City of Heroes, which I do believe is another game that fits the definition. I also just have to ask: did you watch the South Park episode about WoW?
😉
8.
Anonymous | October 17, 2006 at 1:08 pm
but dontcha know, MMORPGs are a very popular thing in libraries right now. Teens, Tweens, and Adults can be found playing them on the library computers. At my former library, we had a problem of kids skipping school in order to log more hours (since we did not have a truanc policy policy).
Totally about libraries 😉