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Online Multiplayer Games Copyright© 2010byMorgan&Claypool Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmittedin anyformorbyanymeans—electronic,mechanical,photocopy,recording,oranyotherexceptforbriefquotationsin printedreviews,withoutthepriorpermissionofthepublisher. OnlineMultiplayerGames WilliamSimsBainbridge www.morganclaypool.com ISBN:9781608451425 paperback ISBN:9781608451432 ebook DOI10.2200/S00232ED1V01Y200912ICR013 APublicationintheMorgan&ClaypoolPublishersseries SYNTHESISLECTURESONINFORMATIONCONCEPTS,RETRIEVAL,ANDSERVICES Lecture#13 SeriesEditor:GaryMarchionini,UniversityNorthCarolina,ChapelHill SeriesISSN SynthesisLecturesonInformationConcepts,Retrieval,andServices Print1947-945X Electronic1947-9468 Synthesis Lectures on Information Concepts, Retrieval, and Services Editor GaryMarchionini,UniversityNorthCarolina,ChapelHill OnlineMultiplayerGames WilliamSimsBainbridge 2010 InformationArchitecture:TheDesignandIntegrationofInformationSpaces WeiDing,XiaLin 2009 ReadingandWritingtheElectronicBook CatherineC.Marshall 2009 HypermediaGenes:AnEvolutionaryPerspectiveonConcepts,Models,andArchitectures NunoM.Guimarães,LuísM.Carriço 2009 UnderstandingUser-WebInteractionsviaWebAnalytics BernardJ.(Jim)Jansen 2009 XMLRetrieval MouniaLalmas 2009 FacetedSearch DanielTunkelang 2009 IntroductiontoWebometrics:QuantitativeWebResearchfortheSocialSciences MichaelThelwall 2009 iv ExploratorySearch:BeyondtheQuery-ResponseParadigm RyenW.White,ResaA.Roth 2009 NewConceptsinDigitalReference R.DavidLankes 2009 AutomatedMetadatainMultimediaInformationSystems:Creation,Refinement,Usein Surrogates,andEvaluation MichaelG.Christel 2009 Online Multiplayer Games William Sims Bainbridge SYNTHESISLECTURESONINFORMATIONCONCEPTS,RETRIEVAL,AND SERVICES#13 M &C Morgan &cLaypool publishers ABSTRACT This lecture introduces fundamental principles of online multiplayer games, primarily massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), suitable for students and faculty interested bothindesigninggamesandindoingresearchonthem.Thegeneralfocusishuman-centeredcom- puting,whichincludesmanyhuman-computerinteractionissuesandemphasizessocialcomputing, butalso,looksathowthedesignofsocio-economicinteractionsextendsourtraditionalnotionsof computerprogrammingtocoverhumanbeingsaswellasmachines.Inaddition,itdemonstratesa rangeofsocialscienceresearchmethodologies,bothquantitativeandqualitative,thatcouldbeused by students for term papers,or by their professors for publications.In addition to drawing upon a richliteratureaboutthesegames,thislectureisbasedonthousandsofhoursoffirst-handresearch experience inside many classic examples,including World of Warcraft,The Matrix Online,Anarchy Online,TabulaRasa,EntropiaUniverse,DarkAgeofCamelot,AgeofConan,LordoftheRingsOnline, Tale in the Desert, EVE Online, Star Wars Galaxies, Pirates of the Burning Sea, and the non-game virtualworldSecondLife.Amongthetopicscoveredarehistorical-culturaloriginsofleadinggames, technical constraints that shape the experience, rolecoding and social control, player personality andmotivation,relationshipswithavatarsandcharacters,virtualprofessionsandeconomies,social relationsinsidegames,andtheimplicationsfortheexternalsociety. KEYWORDS onlinegame,MMORPG,virtualworld,roleplayinggame,human-centeredcomputing, socialcomputing vii Contents 1 Introduction......................................................................1 1.1 TypesofOnlineMultiplayerGames..........................................1 1.2 PreservingGameHistory....................................................4 1.3 IntellectualApproachestoGames............................................5 1.4 ResearchTopicAreas .......................................................9 2 Historical-CulturalOrigins.......................................................11 2.1 ATaleintheDesert.........................................................11 2.2 DarkAgeofCamelot........................................................13 2.3 AgeofConan..............................................................17 2.4 LordoftheRingsOnline ....................................................18 2.5 StarWarsGalaxies .........................................................20 3 TechnicalConstraints............................................................23 3.1 Latency .................................................................. 23 3.2 Sharding..................................................................26 3.3 Graphics..................................................................28 4 RolecodingandSocialControl....................................................35 4.1 SystemsofRules ..........................................................36 4.2 DeviantBehavior..........................................................38 4.3 GameMastersandMentors................................................41 4.4 LegalRegime.............................................................44 5 PersonalityandMotivation.......................................................47 5.1 PsychologicalTheoriesandTypologies.......................................47 5.2 Game-BasedTheories .....................................................48 viii CONTENTS 5.3 TheoreticalDebates .......................................................51 5.4 Non-PlayerCharacterPersonality...........................................54 6 AvatarsandCharacters...........................................................55 6.1 BuildingaBondwithanAvatar.............................................55 6.2 TheQualityofAvatarRelationships.........................................58 6.3 SecondaryAvatars.........................................................60 6.4 FacingtheEnd............................................................63 7 VirtualProfessionsandEconomies................................................65 7.1 WorkinStarWarsGalaxies .................................................65 7.2 ProductioninWorldofWarcraft .............................................68 7.3 DivisionofLaborinProfessions............................................70 8 SocialRelationsInsideGames....................................................75 8.1 EmergentSocialOrganization..............................................75 8.2 ExamplesofGuilds........................................................77 8.3 QuantitativeResearchonGuilds............................................79 9 ImplicationsforExternalSociety..................................................81 9.1 TheOnlineGamePenumbra...............................................81 9.2 WhatPeopleLearninOnlineGames .......................................83 9.3 ResearchOpportunities....................................................87 Bibliography ....................................................................91 Author’sBiography.............................................................105 1 C H A P T E R 1 Introduction Thislecturewillemphasizethedominantgenreofonlinegames,so-calledMassively-MultiplayerOn- lineGamesorMMORPGs,ofwhichWorldofWarcraftisthemostfamiliarexample(Bainbridge,W., 2010b,c;Nardi,B.,2010).Althoughtheboundariesoftheconceptarevague,thecoreideaisasome- whatrealisticcomputer-generatedworldinwhichtheuserisrepresentedbyanavatarorcharacter, interacting with other characters, under the constraints of rules and to achieve goals set by the MMORPG’screatorsandbytheplayers.Thetruthis,thesearefarmorethanmeregames,because theyprovidevirtualenvironmentswherepeoplemaysocialize,explore,andtovaryingdegrees,create things,andwellasundertakeformalquestsandengageinduelsorbattles. 1.1 TYPESOFONLINEMULTIPLAYERGAMES RefiningcategoriesproposedbyRogerCaillois,GonzaloFrasca(2003),suggestthatelectronicgames can be described as either ludus or paidia. Ludic virtual worlds are ruled-based games involving direct competition between players,whereas paidic worlds emphasize free play and creativity with lessemphasisonrule-constrainedcompetition. AttheludicendofthespectrumstandsEVEOnline,inwhichthechiefactivityofadvanced players is warfare where one corporation of players seeks to seize or defend solar systems of a vast galaxyagainstothercorporationsofplayers.AtthepaidicendofthespectrumstandsTaleintheDesert, a virtual ancient Egypt in which people mainly do work of the kind real people might have done inthelandoftheNilethousandsofyearsago,anddirectaggressionbyoneplayeragainstanother is outlawed. Most popular multiplayer games fall between these extremes, and they give players considerablefreedomwhethertheypersonallywanttoemphasizetheludicorpaidicqualitiesofthe virtual environment.However,a great variety of multiplayer online games exists or are emerging, withsomebutnotallthecharacteristicsofMMORPGs,insuchroughcategoriesasthefollowing. Strategygames differfromMMORPGschieflyinlimitingthenumberofplayersinteracting with each other, currently from two to sixteen, depending on the game, and by representing the userbysomethinglikeanarmyoraneconomicsystem,ratherthanbyasingleavatar.Thehistorical model for strategy games is the highest-prestige board game,chess;although,the online strategy gamesthatemphasizeeconomicexchangecancountMonopolyastheirancestor.Agoodexampleis Warcraft:OrcsversusHumans,theancestorofWorldofWarcraftbutlimitedtotwoplayerswhocontrol anumberofsoldierswhonotonlybattleeachotherdirectlybutalsoseizeterritoryandresourcesto builduptheirrelativestrength.Theanalogyinchessisthataskilledplayerseekstoachieveagood positionforhisorherpieces,quiteapartfromcapturingtheopponent’spieces.Thespace-oriented younger sister ofWarcraft,StarCraft,innovated by having three competing forces,andWarcraftIII hadfour.Computerizedstrategygamesoftenlettheuserplaysolo,competingwithsimpleartificial
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