User:TobiasSocialWeb

„Massively Multiplayer Online Role Play Game“ or in short „MMORPG“ is a type of game with the focus on playing together with people all around the world. The aim is to improve (RPG) the own character by either completing certain objectives alone or together with other player. The life of MMORPG’s began with “Ultima Online” in 1997 and has since then developed further. The biggest jump for the MMORPG market was the game “World of Warcraft” with its massive amount of followers.

Pastime
Typical RPG’s have a high amount of customizations for the characters. These customizations can range from equipment to titles and cosmetic items. These customizations are typically the result of different kind of progressions within the RPG’s and are provide a heavy amount of pastime. In MMORPG’s the number of customizations is increased even further. This increase is based on the constant release of add-ons and new content.

Difficulty
The philosophy of standard MMORPG’s is to give a bride range of difficulty to approach different type of players. Every kind of player can find their own type of content they want to challenge. Usually for players with a high amount of time and skill are so-called raids in the game. Players with less amount of time (“casuals”) can either play these raids on a lower difficulty or play other parts of the game.

Anonymity
Certain players play games to escape their reality but still want to participate in a social environment. Gaming itself is predestined to escape the reality. The online aspect of MMORPG’s helps them building a new social environment within the game. MMORPG's also allow the players to create their own avatar. The control over the appearances serves as a social function. Players can decide to present the avatars like they are themselves or how they want to be perceived, resulting in a more personal experience.

Social Aspect
Players of the online games usually have at least 1 matching kind of interest: The game itself. This makes it easier to interact with each other and make new acquaintances. MMORPG’s push these interactions even further by requiring a group of people doing certain tasks together. These interactions can make the virtual world of the game livelier resulting in an overall better experience than single player games.

Social Groups
MMORPG’s are based around the interaction between different people. Because of this requirement there are certain types of social groups forming inside and outside of the game.

Guilds/Clans
Guilds are usually a group of people with the same kind of interests. In most MMORPG’s there is no realistic limitation for the amount players within a guild. The technical side of guilds makes it easier to interact with each other by having a joined chatroom and other certain perks. New people in these guilds have an easier time to make new acquaintances within the guild than by playing alone.

To increase the solidarity in the guilds, the guilds themselves often plan certain type of events inside or outside of the game.

Small Groups (3-10 people)
Certain tasks ask for a small group of players. The different functions within the game allow searching for members for these tasks. Depending on the task the difficulty rises. This results in groups with a different type of structure. Another result of the rising difficulty are sometimes ridiculous requirements to join the groups.

Based on the method with which those groups were created, different interactions between the players can be seen.

1. Groups that were randomly mixed together use the lowest possible amount of communication.

2. Groups which are created by the players themselves are more open to communication and have a higher amount of success.

Huge Groups (>10 people)
Highly difficult tasks need a heavy amount of players. These tasks can range from defeating difficult bosses over doing certain events to fighting other players within the game. Usually these groups have a small group of players taking on a leading position to make the coordination of the group easier.

Most of the time a different type of communication is needed to challenge the objectives. The groups themselves usually use some kind of voice communication tools like “TeamSpeak”, “Ventrilo” or “Mumble”.

Forums / Videos
Players can exchange information and opinions by using forums and videos in the internet. The forums are either run by the company of the game itself or by other media-sites.

Small groups of people are forming in these forums who know each other based on the part of the forum they participate in.

Events
There are 2 types of events outside of a MMORPG. These events make it easier to improve the bond between players.

Conventions like the Blizzcon 7 are held so that players can meet themselves and the developers of the game.

Self-made Events like camping are organized by the players themselves. This makes it easier to approach a bigger range of people within the group to meet.

Social Environment
The social environment outside of the game is a group that shouldn’t be forgotten. MMORPG-Players often have a responsibility towards the other players within a social group in the game. This means, that the players have to compromise their lives outside the game with their time playing the game. This is especially reflected in younger players and their responsibility towards their family.

Decline of the social interaction
In the recent years the social interaction within MMORPG's has declined rapidly. At the beginning of the MMORPG-Genre players on their respective servers knew and respected each other. There are different reasons to why the interaction between players declined over the time.

Popularity of the Genre
Before the big boom of MMORPG's the community on servers were relatively small. People knew each other because they played together/against before. With the amount of players exploding it made it harder to remember all the people someone played with.

Development
Online games nowadays have matchmaking, that forms groups based on a algorithm to play together. These matchmaking-systems are finding their ways into the MMORPG-market. To get decrease the time players have to wait for a group to fill, the developers are introducing tools to form the groups automatically. These tools are using the matchmaking-algorithm with a huge pool of players to search in. Different servers are linked for the matchmaking, to increase the size of the pool. Out of this evolution players developed a mentality of clearing their objective in the fastest way possible.

Change of internet culture
The mindset of the typical internet user has changed over the years. At the early beginning of the internet, the mount of people with access to it was very little. Thus it was easier to form social groups within communities. With the change of the internet over the years, more and more people are approaching an individualist philosophy.

Danger of MMORPG’s
The different aspects of an MMORPG have not only benefits but can also be dangerous to the players.

Addiction
The most known danger of MMORPG’s is the risk of addiction. Usually MMORPG’s don’t have an end. As a result the players can always have a goal in the game they chase. Based on the never ending goals players usually invest a high amount of time in the game. Coupled with the different reality they find themselves within the game, players of MMORPG’s have a higher risk of getting addicted.

Money
MMORPG’s can have different types of monetization. The most common are subscription based models and ingame shops. Certain players are getting addicted to buying stuff in the ingame shop and thus invest a high amount of money.

Children/Teenager
A wide range of players with different age play online games. Often the language within online games is getting out of control. Because of that, children, who can be easily influenced by other players, learn bad behavior within the game.

The other side of the coin is the bad behavior some children/teenager bring into the game. Players with bad background often don’t behave mature enough to play with other people, resulting in online gaming communities often being bad mouthed.