Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Games Research Articles

Motivation by gamification: Adapting motivational tools of massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) for peer-to-peer assessment in connectivist massive open online courses (cMOOCs)

In the first decade of the 21st century, distance learning (usually subject to course fees and resulting in formal certification) was complemented by free-of-charge open learning courses with unlimited numbers of participants and no final certificate. Termed massive open online courses (MOOCs), these soon fell into different categories, depending on their concept. Among them are connectivist massive open online courses (cMOOCs) which emphasise a collaborative approach to learning. However, while initial enrolment is indeed massive, completion rates are very low and cMOOCs notoriously lack an appropriate method of evaluating learning progress and motivational resources. The author of this article suggests that one way of addressing this problem might be to adapt motivational formative assessment tools used in massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) to cMOOCs. He argues that some characteristics of MMORPGs can be effectively incorporated in cMOOCs, thus benefiting from the motivational potential of MMORPGs. He cautions, however, that even if MMORPGs (and ongoing, low-stakes formative assessment in general) are motivational, they can only be applied to cMOOCs if the idea of formative assessment is not in tension with connectivist principles. Hence, the author argues for their compatibility, and builds on peer-to-peer assessment as a solution for resource allocation problems with low instructor–learner ratio.

The Popularity of Faerlina US - World of Warcraft Classic Server: Game Study Using Qualitative Research Methods on the World of Warcraft Classic Game Server

This research discusses the popularity of Faerlina US which is one of the game server of the game World of Warcraft Classic (WoW Classic), a MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) game version which is one of the World of Warcraft game version released on 26 August 2019. This study uses several qualitative research methods, namely participatory observation, in-depth interviews, and studies of previous studies. The results of this study indicate that the popularity of Faerlina US tends to be driven by the popularity of twitch.tv streamers who play on these servers. This research also shows that Faerlina has also become popular because it is interesting to be a place to conduct economic activities such as selling virtual items and conducting gold-virtual currency transactions into real money.

Gamer Girl Visibility: Networks and Their Gendered Ingroup Behaviours in Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games

‘Why can’t I just be a gamer? Why do I have to be a “female gamer”?’ While a generic term for all gamers may be looming on the horizon, there are still aspects of play which draw clear boundaries between male and female gamers. These boundaries, however, are often illusions. In Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games (MMOs), several networks exist within the game space, and one such network is that of ‘female character’. For male players to gain a part in this network, many gender-bend, and the gender of the character is what determines their actions not the gender of the players themselves. When men use female avatars, they engage in behaviours which they believe are typical feminine acts, (healing, fighting from a distance, etc.) but these are based on false perceptions about gender roles. Gaining access to this network is one which requires constant performance; however, it is a network which is often inhospitable for real-world women.

Problematic gaming behavior and the personality traits of video gamers: A cross-sectional survey.

Current psychological models for the development of specific internet-use disorders consider predisposing core characteristics (e.g. biopsychological constitution, psychopathology, early childhood experiences, and personality traits) that are involved in the early behavioral addiction process. The cross-sectional study discussed in this paper examined several likely relevant psychological variables in a group of 820 video gamers (217 women, 597 men), who visited the world's largest trade fair for video games in 2018. Standardized questionnaires were used to assess the extent of pathological gaming, Big Five personality traits, self-efficacy, depression symptoms, and general life satisfaction. In comparison to individuals with unproblematic gaming behavior, gamers with problematic gaming behavior scored significantly higher for neuroticism, depression symptoms, and time spent playing; and lower for self-efficacy, extraversion, conscientiousness, and openness. No difference was found in terms of agreeableness. Gamers who preferred to play massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) or first-person shooter games (FPS) presented particularly high levels of time spent playing and increased problematic gaming behavior. When considering the entire group of 820 video gamers, high levels of depressive symptoms and neuroticism, extensive time spent playing, as well as low levels of conscientiousness were identified as significant predictor variables regarding problematic gaming. In total, 238 of the 820 video gamers (29.0%) demonstrated problematic gaming behaviors.

UNDERSTANDING SOCIAL ENGINEERING THREATS IN MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER ONLINE OLE-PLAYING GAMES: AN ISSUE REVIEW

In this developing virtual era, the recreational activities like online games have turned into very intriguing tasks by giving whole new identities and avatars to individuals. This allows the individual to interact and also do anything that seemed possible as well as impossible in real lives. This virtual identification sometimes crosses into the real world, as they allow gamers to sell virtual game items for real-world money in markets and sometimes even requires use of real money to create or purchase personal property in their online world. This has created an opportunity for virtual crimes involving social and technical risks. The widespread adoptions of such Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) have not only become a dedicated activity for gamers but also act as a platform for social engineers. Social Engineering is considered as an art of collecting sensitive data/information by persuasion or manipulation of individuals and is the first step involving social risk in virtual crimes. MMORPGs were found to be highly socially interactive environments providing the opportunity to not only form relationships but also to be targeted by social engineers. In this study, we are reviewing and evaluating social interactions and psychological factors of MMORPG gamers which are making them vulnerable to social engineering threats. Various studies have assessed the psychological factors making an individual vulnerable to social engineering on social network interactions and also few studies have analysed the behaviours and relationships of gamers in online interactions. Observing such factors, in this study we analysed how the social engineers, disguised as fellow gamer, would target similar psychological vulnerabilities in the gamers by using social interaction platform on MMORPGs to gather personal and sensitive data from the targeted gamers.

A study of motivation and team member selection in online games

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate impact of playing motivation on team member selection (TMS) in online games specifically related to Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game environment.Design/methodology/approachA self-administered questionnaire was developed and administered to an online sample of 9,335 CR3 players.FindingsThe findings of this research indicated that social and immersion motivations have a significant effect on TMS. Additionally, it was discovered that achievement motivation has a positive relationship with dispositional TMS, a negative relationship to bond-based TMS. The moderation effect of frequency and gender is also demonstrated.Research limitations/implicationsThe study verified the relationships of the theoretical model of the game motivation and TMS.Originality/valueThis study provides advice to operators of online games when motivating players to work in groups.

MMOmuseums: A Proposal for the Creation of Experiential Memory Archives

The visibility and longevity of popular and well-known massively multiplayer online (MMO) communities (World of Warcraft, Second Life) eclipse a greater number of virtual worlds that have been abandoned. While hundreds of inactive and closed-down massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPGs) have been documented, most online virtual worlds are not included in archival and preservation initiatives due to issues relating to intellectual property and proprietary technologies, and most MMORPG ghost towns are not even accessible online. Their evaporated geographies live on only in the memories and stories posted by players to archived message forums. What if these worlds could be booted up once again, not to play in, but to explore as virtual archaeology sites, sites redesigned to host stories and memories from the players that once inhabited and originally populated these architectures with action, conflict, cooperation, and event? Such virtual archive spaces would feature player experiences and emergent narratives, represented as embedded narratives in a simulated recreation of the computer-generated geographies that they took place in, so that visitors to such sites experience a sense of presence as they receive a combination of both experience and story that preserves these spaces as lived worlds. Using the now-defunct City of Heroes MMO as an example, this paper discusses ways of directly involving diasporic communities of players in the memorialization of virtual spaces that they once inhabited.

An Influence of Game Avatar on Real World

The aim of this study is to examine the influence of gamers’ avatar self-identification in massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) play on their real lives. By proposing the concepts of avatar self-identification, this study explores a model that develops the antecedents of avatar self-identification and the role in influencing gamers’ real lives. For empirical analysis, this study gathered data from 228 university students in South Korean by a survey method and analyzes the data with AMOS 24. The results show as follows. First, social interaction and social support that gamers perceive in MMORPGs increase their avatar self-identification. Second, the gamers’ avatar self-identification increases their social capital and self-esteem in real lives. Finally, social interaction that gamers perceive in MMORPGs increases their social capital in real lives through their avatar self-identification. And, social support that gamers perceive in MMORPGs increases their self-esteem in real lives through their avatar self-identification. The research contribution on game research is to pay scholarly attention to the positive effect of MMORPGs in the perspective of avatar self-identification.

Reliable, Constant-Time, Robust Models for Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games

The view of Scheme has envisioned setting free grammar, and current examples recommend that the examination of electronic to-straightforward converters will before long create. In this position paper, we support the improvement of correspondence. With a particular ultimate objective to beat this issue, we show a novel methodology for the advancement of red-dull trees (MokyPutt), which we use to nullify that the producer client issue and 802.11 work frameworks [1,2,3] can team up to comprehend this mission.

The Integrative Model Of Motivation In Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game

This study is to investigate the motivation factors in the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). This study suggests the integrative model of intrinsic and extrinsic motivators, and includes environmental moderators for the engagement in multiplayer online role-playing game. For empirical analysis, this study gathered data from 228 university students in South Korean by a survey method. The results showed the followings. First, the results of intrinsic motivation show that the more fantasy, diversion or arousal participants pursue in MMORPG play, the more they are engaged in MMORPG. Second, the results of extrinsic motivation show that the more completion, challenge or social interaction participants pursue in game MMORPG, the more likely they are to be engaged in MMORPG. Third, regarding social presence, the positive relationship between diversion and engagement in game is shown to be stronger for gamers in MMORPG platform higher rather than lower in social presence. Finally, regarding social capital, the positive relationship between challenge and engagement in game is shown to be stronger for gamers in MMORPG platform higher rather than lower in social capital.

High school students involved and not involved in MMORPG: Creativity and innovativeness

The paper presents a theoretical and empirical analysis of involvement phenomenon in massively multiplayer online role-playing games among high school students. The characteristics of the virtual world are analyzed; its role in the life and activity of modern people is substantiated. The main features of the games that make them the most attractive to users and contribute to their active involvement in the game process are highlighted. The advantages of mass multiplayer online role-playing games are substantiated. On the basis of the theoretical analysis was formulated the aim of the study: to identify differences in the manifestations of innovativeness and creativity in high school students involved and not involved in MMORPG. Hypotheses about the existence of significant connections and differences in the manifestations of innovativeness and creativity in those involved and not involved in this type of games are formulated. The study involved 120 students of 10-11th forms and was based on the following methods: 1) questionnaire to assess the degree of enthusiasm in role-playing computer games; 2) questionnaire for the study of gaming activity, experience and gaming genre preferences of the individual; 3) self-assessment scale of personal innovative traits; 4) a multidimensional questionnaire “Innovativeness of a personality” - MQIP; 5) “Creativity” test. As a result of the study those involved in computer games are characterized by higher originality, imagination and creative thinking than their peers not playing massive multiplayer online role-playing games. The article presents a number of recommendations on the use of the plot potential of multiplayer online role-playing games for the development of high school students’ personality in modern teaching practice.

MMORPG Game Framework Based on Learning Style for Learning Computer Netwoking

The widespread use of computer networks and high demand for computer networking skills in business and industry led to computer networking courses becoming popular in higher education institutions. However, conventional learning has not succeeded in developing the understanding and relevant skills at the expected level. Students’ performance in computer networking courses has shown a significant drop. Preliminary survey found that majority of students feel that the teachings do not match their learning styles, so boredom seems to be the main cause of decreasing performances. Therefore, this study aims to examine the effectiveness of using a Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) designed based on learning styles in motivating and helping the learning of Computer Network courses. The objectives of the study are to develop a Computer Network course learning framework using online games that take into account student’s learning style, verifying and validating the framework through implementation in game prototype and assessing student acceptance of the game. The IPGame prototype designed based on constructivism, adult learning, flow and engagement theories and scaffolding techniques was developed, while the learning styles used are sequential and global. The results showed that the game has a high motivational value to students and thus the framework can be used to guide development of educational games with similar content.

Fetishism Towards The Visual Appearance Of The Character's Avatar In The Online Mobile Game Of Ragnarok: Eternal Love

Advances in communication technology and the internet, video games developed into games that can not only be played by two people, but many people at once, even up to millions of people. Massive multiplayer online role-playing game or abbreviated as MMORPG is a video game that is played by many people at once and is set in a virtual world. MMORPG generally gives players the freedom to create their own avatars, ranging from race, skin color, hair color, to costumes. In Ragnarok Online Mobile: Eternal Love or usually likened to RoM: Eternal Love, players must pay a sum of virtual money to get (randomly) unique costumes to enhance their character's visual appearance. Players are willing to spend up to millions of rupiah to buy the desired costume. Commodity fetishism is now no longer limited to material objects such as luxury cars, expensive watches and branded bags, but also to virtual commodities and video games. As in the phenomenon of RoM: Eternal Love, fetishism is a virtual commodity.

BeXplorer: Visual analytics of dynamic interplay between communication and purchase behaviors in MMORPGs

With the rapid development of massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), a huge amount of fine-grained data on the in-game activities of players have been recorded by MMORPGs operators. These data provide considerable opportunities with which to study the dynamic interplay between player behaviors and investigate the roles of various social structures that underlie such interplay. However, it is challenging to model and visualize these behavioral data. This study proposes a novel influence-susceptible model to measure the dynamic interplay between behaviors. Based on this model, we introduce a new visual analytics system called BeXplorer. This system enables analysts to interactively explore the dynamic interplay between player purchase and communication behaviors and to examine the manner in which this interplay is bound by social structures where players are embedded. Three case studies and a task-based evaluation are conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness and applicability of our method.

How to measure and model QoE for networked games?

In this paper, we investigate methodologies for modeling quality of experience (QoE) for networked video games, focusing on massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), and using Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft (WoW) as a case study. In two user studies, involving a total of 104 players, we investigate system, user, and context parameters and evaluate their impact on QoE and related quality features. We also discuss some methodological questions related to measuring gaming QoE, which can be used as guidelines for future gaming QoE studies. We further analyze a set of quality metrics “beyond MOS”. Having evaluated different modeling techniques, we present and evaluate four linear statistical models and three (non-linear) machine learning models for estimating MMORPG QoE. Finally, we make our datasets available to the research community to foster further analysis and reproducibility of results.

Migrant gaming girls in Beijing: Urban solitude, play, and attempts to integrate

Individuals are said to be free to desire and free to choose their ‘urban dreams’ in China. This is not true. Drawing on participant observation and in-depth interviews with members of a WoW guild, we examine the lived stories and daily practices of these well-educated migrant gaming girls. The girls have usually been ‘taken’ to the metropolis, and their vulnerability lies in the fact they may not get adequate emotional or social support. It’s all because of their ‘outsider’ identities rather than lack of requisite suzhi (‘human quality’). A back-and-forth shuttling between popular massively multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPGs) like WoW and the ‘real world’ can help them regain or alter themselves. These enterprising-selves are ultimately thus accomplished. The desiring-selves part, to the contrary, is unable to be empowered by the digital real.

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%.

Computer game licences: The EULA and its discontents

This article considers the legal efficacy of terms found in the end-user licences (EULAs) of Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs). The article focuses on selected terms in the EULAs of well-known MMORPGs, Everquest and Runescape as well as a more recent MMORPG, Path of Exile. Although there are many examples of inappropriate and unenforceable terms in EULAs, computer games provide a particularly salient example. Eager for access to a game, players accept the EULA without question and, unaware of their rights or keen to avoid costly litigation, rarely challenge the terms. Given the value of the games industry to the international economy, the article recommends that international guidance for EULA content is needed.

French gamer-speak: new conceptualizations of text production, virtual spaces, and social stratification

This article discusses the significance of French gamer idiolect, here called “gamer-speak,” for the French gaming subculture. Two Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games (MMORPGs), World of...

Not Only for the (Tom) boys: Gender Variables as Predictors for Playing Motivations, Passion, and Addiction for MMORPGs

Background. Research on playing motivation and passion for MMORPGs and gender has so far mainly focused on biological sex and neglected variables related to social gender such as masculinity and femininity. As some playing motivations and obsessive passion are assumed to be related to problematic game play, problematic game play is still considered a male phenomenon, often based on mainly male samples and disregarding underlying causes in problematic tendencies that could explain or extent findings on biological sex difference. Method. This survey based quantitative study investigated the impact of masculine and feminine personality on game play motivations, passion, and problematic game play. Massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) players ( N = 375, 44.3% female) were recruited via Facebook and online games. Feminine and masculine personality traits were assessed along with game play motivations, passion, and problematic game play. Results. Stepwise regression analyses revealed that gender traits add significant value for almost all variables of interest. Negative masculine traits were positive predictors for achievement as game play motivation while positive feminine traits predicted social interaction. Harmonious passion was predicted by positive masculine traits. Negative feminine traits were found to predict immersion as well as obsessive passion and were also important for problematic game play. Conclusion. Gender traits add valuable information to mere biological sex concerning different game related concepts such as motivation, passion, and problematic game play. Despite the idea that problematic game play is a male phenomenon, negative feminine traits seem to be linked to problematic tendencies. We suggest including gender and personality variables for future games and/or media studies.