Online Multiplayer Games (Synthesis Lectures on Information Concepts, Retrieval, and Services)

✍ Scribed by William Sims Bainbridge

• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 114
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This lecture introduces fundamental principles of online multiplayer games, primarily massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), suitable for students and faculty interested both in designing games and in doing research on them. The general focus is human-centered computing, which includes many human-computer interaction issues and emphasizes social computing, but also, looks at how the design of socio-economic interactions extends our traditional notions of computer programming to cover human beings as well as machines. In addition, it demonstrates a range of social science research methodologies, both quantitative and qualitative, that could be used by students for term papers, or by their professors for publications. In addition to drawing upon a rich literature about these games, this lecture is based on thousands of hours of first-hand research experience inside many classic examples, including World of Warcraft, The Matrix Online, Anarchy Online, Tabula Rasa, Entropia Universe, Dark Age of Camelot, Age of Conan, Lord of the Rings Online, Tale in the Desert, EVE Online, Star Wars Galaxies, Pirates of the Burning Sea, and the non-game virtual world Second Life. Among the topics covered are historical-cultural origins of leading games, technical constraints that shape the experience, rolecoding and social control, player personality and motivation, relationships with avatars and characters, virtual professions and economies, social relations inside games, and the implications for the external society. Table of Contents: Introduction / Historical-Cultural Origins / Technical Constraints / Rolecoding and Social Control / Personality and Motivation / Avatars and Characters / Virtual Professions and Economies / Social Relations Inside Games / Implications for External Society

✦ Table of Contents

Types of Online Multiplayer Games......Page 10
Preserving Game History......Page 12
Intellectual Approaches to Games......Page 14
Research Topic Areas......Page 18
A Tale in the Desert......Page 20
Dark Age of Camelot......Page 22
Age of Conan......Page 26
Lord of the Rings Online......Page 27
Star Wars Galaxies......Page 29
Latency......Page 32
Sharding......Page 34
Graphics......Page 37
Rolecoding and Social Control......Page 44
Systems of Rules......Page 45
Deviant Behavior......Page 47
Game Masters and Mentors......Page 50
Legal Regime......Page 53
Psychological Theories and Typologies......Page 56
Game-Based Theories......Page 57
Theoretical Debates......Page 60
Non-Player Character Personality......Page 63
Building a Bond with an Avatar......Page 64
The Quality of Avatar Relationships......Page 67
Secondary Avatars......Page 69
Facing the End......Page 72
Work in Star Wars Galaxies......Page 74
Production in World of Warcraft......Page 77
Division of Labor in Professions......Page 79
Emergent Social Organization......Page 84
Examples of Guilds......Page 86
Quantitative Research on Guilds......Page 88
The Online Game Penumbra......Page 90
What People Learn in Online Games......Page 92
Author's Biography......Page 96