Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Games Research Articles

Multi-Dimensional Prediction of Guild Health in Online Games: A Stability-Aware Multi-Task Learning Approach

Guild is the most important long-term virtual community and emotional bond in massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs). It matters a lot to the player retention and game ecology how the guilds are going, e.g., healthy or not. The main challenge now is to characterize and predict the guild health in a quantitative, dynamic, and multi-dimensional manner based on complicated multi-media data streams. To this end, we propose a novel framework, namely Stability-Aware Multi-task Learning Approach(SAMLA) to address these challenges. Specifically, different media-specific modules are designed to extract information from multiple media types of tabular data, time seriescharacteristics, and heterogeneous graphs. To capture the dynamics of guild health, we introduce a representation encoder to provide a time series view of multi-media data that is used for task prediction. Inspiredby well-received theories on organization management, we delicately define five specific and quantitative dimensions of guild health and make parallel predictions based on a multi-task approach. Besides, we devise a novel auxiliary task, i.e.,the guild stability, to boost the performance of the guild health prediction task. Extensive experiments on a real-world large-scale MMORPG dataset verify that our proposed method outperforms the state-of-the-art methods in the task of organizational health characterization and prediction. Moreover, our work has been practically deployed in online MMORPG, and case studies clearly illustrate the significant value.

EasySM: A Data-Driven Intelligent Decision Support System for Server Merge

As an independent social and economic entity, game servers plays a dominant role in building a stable, living, and attractive virtual world in massive multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPGs). We propose and implement a novel intelligent decision support system for server merge (SM) for maintaining the game ecology at the macro level. The services provided by this system include server health diagnosis, server merge assessment, and combination strategy recommendation. Specifically, we design an effective time series prediction algorithm to diagnose the health status of one server (e.g., user activity, online time, daily revenue) based on real game scenarios, and then select the servers with poor status from all servers. Moreover, to dig out the inherent development laws of servers from the historical merge records, we leverage a correlation measurement algorithm to find the historical merged servers that are similar to the servers to be merged and then evaluate the potential trend after merging, which can assist experts to make reasonable decisions. We deploy our system into practice for multiple MMORPGs and achieve sound online performance endorsed by the game operation team.

An exploration of MMORPG in-game virtual-item contribution to game enjoyment from the perspectives of purchase behavior and psychological ownership

In-game virtual items, which are an integral element of massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), are obtained by their players using real money, and they can be characters, gestures or “emotes” for a character, weapons, or costumes. MMORPG players can purchase such virtual items through the surprise-free direct purchase method, wherein the players would specify and know the virtual items they are buying. Alternatively, the players can make purchases through the surprise-packed loot box method, whereby they only find out the virtual items they have received after the purchase. This study examines the extent whereto players’ evaluation of in-game virtual-item purchase methods (loot box vis-à-vis direct purchase) and psychological ownership of their virtual-item collection contribute to perceived game enjoyment. A partial least squares analysis of 362 survey returns (comprising 204 samples of the loot box method and 158 samples of the direct purchase method) revealed similarities between both methods. The study found that players had similar perceptions of purchase method evaluation and psychological ownership. Furthermore, it established that purchase method evaluation and psychological ownership positively contributed to perceived enjoyment. However, there is also difference: intimate knowledge of the collection gathered via the direct purchase method is more influential on psychological ownership than that obtained through the loot box method. This study adds to the literature on psychological ownership, compares a relatively new loot box method with the direct purchase method, shows the importance of psychological ownership in game enjoyment, and confirms that the antecedent of psychological ownership is context-sensitive.

Behavior Pattern Recognition of Game Dragon Nest Using Bloom Filter Method

Dragon Nest is one of Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game (MMORPG online games. It has become the most popular online game played by people around the world. This work observes two examples of the MMORPG online games: the Dragon Nest INA and the Legend DN II. The purpose is to analyze the traffic data of the Dragon Nest to find and discern the patterns of behavior of the Dragon Nest INA and the Legend DN II using Deep Packet Inspection (DPI). A dataset is constructed by capturing traffic data from the testbed environment. Then feature extraction, feature selection, and visualization are performed during the experiments. Experiment results shows the traffic data of the Dragon Nest INA is higher than the Legend DN II. It is because of the difference in the number of entries in the game. Then, the Bloom filter method is used as a tool to check the existence of a pattern of the Dragon Nest in the dataset. The false positive rate of matching is 0.399576%.

The Transdisciplinary Encounter of Narratology and Visual Art in MMORPGs

The aim of this paper is to present and analyze visual elements of MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game) storyworlds as important aspects of both world-building and the immersion capacity of virtual worlds. MMORPGs are characterized by multi-user environments called ‘open worlds’, in which maps and geography of space play an important role. Geography and maps that represent these geographical forms in the game play a significant role in creating the worldness of virtual space and the narratives located in them. The same goes for the features of architecture, natural or outer space expanses. Visual elements contribute to the narrative in numerous ways, which is analyzed in detail using a transdisciplinary approach – the narratological apparatus and especially the shift towards postclassical narratology. Another, but not less important visual aspect that will be presented in the paper is the importance of character appearance, as well as clothing (armors) and equipment in the context of building character identity for themself (the player) and the way they present themselves to other players. All of these aspects indicate that visual space (geographical and architectural) as well as visual characteristics of the characters have an important role in storytelling, supporting the transmedial praxis of contemporary narrative forms. Article received: December 23, 2021; Article accepted: February 1, 2022; Published online: April 15, 2022; Original scholarly article

Gender Differentials and Factors Leading to Youth Participation in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs)

The goal of this paper is to examine the gender gap and the factors that influence youth participation in Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs). This study used a quantitative method to collect data from respondents aged 15 to 30 who actively play online games on Facebook using a purposive sampling method. Purposive sampling was used to select the respondents. The questionnaire was filled out willingly by 50 people. There were 52 percent males and 48 percent females, and the survey took about one month to complete. The results show that there are two internal factors that lead to youth participation in MMORPGs, which are addiction, a source of income, and as a stress reliever. While the external factors include peer group social influence and mass media influence. To summarize, youth participation in gaming activities, particularly multiple role-playing games, is increasing, and many factors contribute to that participation. Stakeholders such as the Ministry of Youth and Sport or the e-sport team should improve their programmes to attract and recruit more youth to be professional e-sport players so that they can turn their passion into a career and represent the nation later. The findings of this study can be used as a future reference for more in-depth studies that should focus more on the effects of youth involvement in MMORGPs.

Sex Differences in Competitiveness in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs).

Sex differences in the use of competitive tactics have been well established. Although many factors may contribute to these sex differences, according to social role theory (SRT), stereotypes and expectations about men's and women's typical social roles are crucial. We addressed the potential impact of social roles by studying massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), a setting where individuals represent themselves with avatars and thus enjoy the opportunity to compete without regard to the typical expectations and behaviors associated with men's and women's roles. We surveyed players via MTurk (63 women, 191 men) and Reddit (166 women, 1,326 men) regarding their frequency of engaging in five competitive behaviors and the sex and role of their primary avatar. As expected, there were reliable sex differences in competitiveness: men were more likely than women to engage in player-versus-player duels (MTurk d = 0.19; Reddit d = 0.51), do solo runs of difficult content (0.30, 0.35), and work to acquire expensive items (0.32, 0.19); women were more likely than men to seek in-game awards (-0.38, -0.36) and spend real-world money on expensive microtransactions (-0.16, -0.27). Contrary to SRT, these sex differences in forms of competitive behavior were generally unrelated to players' chosen avatar sex or avatar role. These results instead indicate that sex differences in competitiveness largely reflect evolved predispositions.

“Immersed in World of Warcraft”: A Discursive Study of Identity Management Talk About Excessive Online Gaming

Online excessive gaming has been associated with negative player identity constructions depicting an abnormal life-style. Up-to-date, there is limited insight into player identity management talk about excessive online gaming. To address this gap, drawing from discursive and rhetorical psychology, we investigated naturally occurring talk of 134 players of World of Warcraft (WoW) -a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG)- from three publicly available websites and of five players from one focus group. The analysis illuminated participants’ dilemmatic and contradictory ways of constructing the player identity, while displaying immersion in the game. Participants invoke identity constructions like ‘nolifer’, ‘hardcore’ or ‘clean’ player, which they disavow or assign to themselves and to each other depending on the conversational context, while attending to concerns about (ab)normalcy. The study’s findings highlight a dynamic process of player identity construction in talk, occasioned by and exemplifying the contingencies of the discursive context.

Cheating and Detection Method in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game: Systematic Literature Review

Recently, despite massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) based on the PC implementation environment in mobile games, related fraudulent and illegal activities are still prevalent in response to the extension and diversity of the online gaming market. For game users who enjoy the game as leisure or cultural content, these issues inhibit the game’s immersion or cause seceding from the game, thus negatively affecting the overall online gaming industry. This systematic review provides an overview of substantial studies on the occurrence of cheating behavior, countermeasures, and detection methods. We aimed to scrutinize the scope of generable cheating behavior due to the structural characteristics of a stateful game server. Furthermore, we focused on providing the basis for the key mechanisms of online games based on the conceptual attributes of the MMORPG. A comprehensive literature research was conducted, and the classification of countermeasures and detection methods were systematized. The results of the systematic literature review contribute to the current understanding of how to correctly manage detection techniques and methods for cheating behavior in the MMORPG.

Does the social platform established by MMORPGs build social and psychological capital?

Online social capital is a key topic, and numerous studies have examined various outcome variables of online social capital in game research. However, few studies have explored the relationship between online social capital and psychological capital in game research. Psychological capital is a valuable asset for individuals coping with psychological challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, this study primarily explores the effect of online social capital (bonding and bridging) on the four dimensions of psychological capital (hope, optimism, self-efficacy, and resilience). Moreover, this study explores the effect of learning and online and offline social interactions on online social capital. An online questionnaire survey was administered to a sample of 548 massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) players. Structural equation modeling was applied to test the proposed model, and it reveals that all hypotheses are supported. The results indicate that learning and online and offline social interactions help players to establish online social capital, which in turn improves their psychological capital.

The WoW factor: Psychopathic traits and behavior in a massive multiplayer online role-playing game

The current study investigated the relationship between psychopathic traits and in-game behaviors in World of Warcraft (Kaplan, Pardo, & Chilton, 2004). In line with Hare's (1993) suggestion that psychopaths are “social predators” who exploit the cooperation of others we expected that players with psychopathic traits would engage in more exploitive behaviors in the game and that success in the game would be related to Factor 1 traits (interpersonal/affective). As expected, psychopathy was positively correlated with manipulation/cheating in (and outside of) the game, and negatively with altruism within the game. Finally, individuals with characters that had achieved a high level in World of Warcraft scored higher on the Interpersonal/Affective component of psychopathic traits.

Portraying Informal Digital Learning of English from Management, Beliefs, and Practices

In a couple of years, massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) previous works reported various informal digital learning of English (IDLE) activities within and around video games that could enhance student-gamer vocabulary outcomes; receptive and productive language skills; and language socialization. The lack of multidisciplinary literature reviews between IDLE and language policy (LP) gives this study to open discussion on both areas. The urgency of this study is the high adoption of IDLE framework without considering LP where the reason for student’s engagement from MMORPG activities can be explained. This study aims to portray IDLE practitioner's activities in MMORPG from language management, beliefs, and practices. Following the long-term process, the data were generated from auto-ethnography and photo-elicitation that were taken from in-game and out-of-game activities. This article found three major findings. First, the management of MMORPG provoked gamers to communicate as a part of the game mission, and the guild could potentially develop top-down and bottom-up LP. Second, the value of language in the community played role in the decision-making language use from the negotiation process. Third, English and Mandarin dominated language practices from different interlocutors in various forms such as language in MMORPG’s context, code mixing, and abbreviation from multilingual sides giving various reading texts in contexts. The high status of English is still dominated by out-of-game language practices. There are two major implications in theory and praxis that would be discussed in this study.Keywords: Auto-ethnography, IDLE, language policy, MMORPG, and multilingual environment

Co-Designers Not Troublemakers

Players in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) generate long-standing histories with their characters, but cannot express or see traces of their adventures in the game worlds. We are interested in designing game systems where players shape and contribute their own narratives as game content. Study one designed and playtested three Virtual Tabletop Role-Playing Game (VTTRPG) prototypes where we found that structured, graphical representations of players' traces support co-design and narrative analysis. We also identified four categories of traces: environment, build, memory and object. We introduce Play Traces, a novel analysis method for representing and co-designing with players and their narratives. A structured observation including Play Traces studied 17 players over 16 four-hour sessions in the third VTTRPG prototype. We found that players successfully (and enjoyably) co-designed novel narratives. We identified three themes for how traces can affect and support players in shaping new interactive narratives. We present four design implications describing how player-created narratives in MMORPGs should first Reveal & Pull Attention from other players, Invite & Push further exploration, Guide & Assist toward endings, and optionally Show & Hide traces. Finally, we discuss how treating players as co-designers offers a promising approach for developing the next generation of MMORPGs.

Gender imbalance in MMORPG: the case of World of Warcraft in Brazil

ABSTRACT The present article addresses the dynamics of the Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPG) with the objective of investigating gender imbalance, focusing on female members of the virtual community. In detail, we seek to understand which factors can influence or inhibit female participation in games and virtual communities. A netnography was employed, collecting about 1000 players’ statements from the World of Warcraft (WoW) gaming community. The results indicate that a dominant male share of players enforces sexism and other male-concepts onto the female players. Although not all female players perceive such behaviours, it does affect a large share of them and thus influences their choices and behaviours in the MMORPG.

Scoring Alien Worlds: World Music Mashups in 21st Century Sci-Fi and Fantasy TV, Film and Video Games

This article provides three case studies of the use of world music resources to build alien worlds in mainstream screen media with Sci-Fi or Fantasy settings. The case studies—the TV series Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome, the film Avatar and the Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) video game World of Warcraft—show how composers and associated music professionals in the early twenty-first century increasingly draw on such sonic materials to generate a rich sense of sonic otherness and note the means they employ to sidestep such music’s existing geographical and cultural references. Each case study explores a contrasting subject position—composer, music consultant and consumer—to better trace not only the creation of such soundtracks but also what senses disparate groups of ordinary listeners subsequently make of them. The examples suggest that outside the sphere of big-budget cinema there is a growing confidence in both the creation and reception of such sonic projections, and that, when sufficiently attracted by what they hear, listeners may actively seek out ways to follow-up on the expressive characterisations put forward in such soundtracks. Three broad types of mashup are uncovered, those that work with world music ingredients by insinuation, integration and creolisation.

Escaping the Escapism: A Grounded Theory of the Addiction and Recovery Process in Online Video Gaming

The purpose of this grounded theory study was to describe the experience of people who struggled with self-described addiction to World of Warcraft™ (WoW). WoW is a massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), and many players have shared their stories of compulsive use and recovery efforts on two different websites: www.wowdetox.com, and a Reddit forum called /r/noWoW. We analyzed 140 unique posts on these sites to develop a process model describing how posters experienced addiction and recovery from WoW. We used grounded theory methods to create a model with categories including, time sink, impairment in work and relationships, and realization of loss. The process of recovery from compulsive WoW use included a series of realizations and the gamer “coming to themselves.” Implications for clinicians and researchers who study internet gaming disorder and related issues are offered.

Exploring Narrative Structure with MMORPG Quest Stories

In this paper we present a corpus of quest stories taken from a popular commercial Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG). These stories are open-ended narrative, but anchored to formal, in-game actions and entities, providing valuable constraint as a narrative corpus. We present two preliminary experiments establishing baselines for evaluating similar patterns and content across the corpus.

Learning English Vocabulary via Computer Gaming

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, educators have opted for online discussions and classes in which the teaching and learning sessions occur beyond the classroom environment. As various forms of technology such as gaming can be potentially used as platforms for online teaching and learning, the study aims to investigate the use of vocabulary learning strategies (VLS) in a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) among Malaysian English as a second language (ESL) players. Data were obtained via a 12-hour online game-play recorded sessions of Guild Wars 2 involving four Malaysian ESL players. The participants consisted of experienced online gamers aged between 24 and 25 years. The game-play sessions were also observed to provide supporting details on how the players utilised strategies when learning English vocabulary. The outcome of the study revealed that the ESL players employed different VLS during their game-play sessions. Gu and Johnson’s (1996) categorisation of VLS, which are metacognitive, cognitive, memory, and activation strategies, was subsequently modified to accommodate the MMORPG context. The results showed that the top five strategies used by the players were meaning-making, consultation, using online dictionary, word comparison, and incorporating words with real-world contexts.

Factors Influencing The Involvement Of Malaysian Youths In Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs)

Massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) is an online game that requires a massive number of players that interact to one another in a virtual world. The combination of role-playing video games and massively multiplayer online games that enable youth to interact in virtual world has made this game as one of the most popular online games in this era. This study focused on factors that influence the youth in MMORPGs. The main focus of this quantitative study is the youth at the range of 15 to 30 years old who actively play online games through Facebook by using purposive sampling method. A total of 50 respondents were willingly answered the questionnaire and duration to complete the survey was around one month. From the result, this study shows that there are two factors which are internal and external factors that influence the participation in MMORGPs among youth. Stress reliever, excitement, addiction, source of income and the attempt to escape from reality are some internal factors that influence youth to involve themselves in MMORGPs. As for the external factor, this study found that social influences such as social interaction, social control and mass media had played a huge role. The findings of this study can be used as a future reference for in-depth studies that should focus more on the effects of involvement of youth in MMORGPs.

NPCs as Social Mediators in Massively Multiplayer Online Games

Previous research demonstrates that social experience is a key motivation for continued play in online games. We argue that there is an untapped potential for NPCs to act as social mediators in online games by stimulating social interaction between players. For example, a social mediator NPC could ask in chat, “How is everyone’s day?” to encourage conversations between players. We suggest two potential applications for social mediator NPCs in online games by examining social experiences in two contemporary massively-multiplayer online role-playing games (MMOs): Guild Wars 2 and World of Warcraft.