MMORGS in the press

Comments

• Annekynn Member Posts: 1,437

  August 2004

  Good article. I think mmrpgs are a huge boost to PC gaming, especially with numbers like those, showing that a lot of money can be made off of them.

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  Played: AC1, DAoC, E&B, SWG
  Tested: AC1, AC2, DAoC, Eve, Planetside, Rubies, Lineage 2, MU Online, RYL
• Jimlee Member Posts: 12

  August 2004

  Check out the "see also" section of the webpage.. it's got some nice historical stories on MMORGS too (a start to our list?), including more research on Everquest from Dr. Castronova (a most unfortunate name, that makes me think of Casanova with a missing appendage).

  
  

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• Jimlee Member Posts: 12

  August 2004

  For anyone interested, I've tracked down a user-friendly listing of Dr. Castronova's articles;

  http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=277893

  you should be able to download the .pdfs from those links, for those of you who fancy trawling through journal articles...  There's some interesting findings in there.

  Jimlee

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• elate Member UncommonPosts: 72

  August 2004

  
  heh surely Dr. Stranglove by another name.

  
  I remember, some years ago, looking to find mmorpgs as an object of academic study and being very disappointed. Dr. Strangelove's study was the best there was by a long way.

  Not only were studies of mmorpgs lacking, but of computer games in general. And those that were studied were always, without exception, the big-budget, overly-hyped games such as Lara Croft Tomb Raider. And these games were objects of interest only insofar as they represented gender roles, stereotypes and various, uninteresting issues regarding violence.

  The only voice with any kind of relevance to my own experiences with computer games was an academic from Adelaide, Australia, called David Walden or David Waldren who played games and called for other academic 'gamers' to write about their own experiences, since what we have in print is inadequate. He also challenged those academics who don't play games but who write about Lara Croft to play from beginning to end the games that achieve the highest critical acclaim, and to participate in online forums, and be an active member of the games' communities. He mentioned a few games, one was Deus Ex.

  I have the main thrust of his argument written down, but I think it's in storage with my books and other junk. I remember him saying that it's unheard of in academia for so many to write about computer games when they themselves have absolutely no idea of the culture surrounding games (and here, you have to say, particularly mmorpgs). He's a professor of archaeology and he says it would be scandalous to write about another culture in another country without having lived among the people of that culture. It's standard practice. Why then, he asks, can academics get away with writing about computer games when they are unaware of the communities surrounding games and the 'culture' of 'gaming' or how games relate to other games or what 'gamers' think of Lara Croft.

  If one of the things that characterises academic writing is exhaustive, intellectual honesty, then it is fair to say that most academic writing about computer games isn't about computer games. It is about broad political issues that exist in our Western societies, with or without computer games. Computer games are just being used as an updated illustration of (the evolution of) gender representations etc.

  As I said, this was 2-3 years ago. If anyone at university is taking cultural studies, communication studies or technocultures, post here if you've come across anything relevant.

  If not, then get some academic credentials - mmorpgs are a relatively untouched object of study. With any kind of analytical vigour, you could easily make a small name for yourself in academic circles.

  Incidently, David Walden's argument was in a letter to the editor of a computer games magazine, not an academic article. As you might expect, it received a kind of glib affirmation from the editor. There was no follow-up in subsequent editions - nothing. Same old shite. 'Industry news', gossip and bogus reviews.

  Well I'm going to stop there because I'm already ranting.
• TianFeng Member Posts: 134

  August 2004

  Well, it looks like we MMORPG players are doing our bit to generate revenue (even if it is virtual), but what are these guys contributing to society/the community, apart from random research?

  hehe, its an interesting article. A 3rd world country eh? Well why exactly isnt it more? What isn't balancing right that means that our magnificent MMORPG nations are not on par with a large, leading, modernised nation? ... Ill tell you if you like ..

  Tertiary businesses and revenue generators. In economics, you have primary businesses (they deal with raw goods, so a milling or mining company). Then secondary (generally, they take the resources and make it into goods, like making computers, or a restaurant serving food). The one that MMORPGs are missing, is tertiary businesses. They are generally businesses that provide services, like telephone companies, or couriers.

  In MMORPGs, players cannot work or earn in this industry. Tourism makes a huge amount of revenue in many countries, but probably never will in MMORPGs. Until tertiary money is developed, MMORPG economies will never be on par with real life's top economic players.

   

  Rentantilus - heehee, I like it. It didn't really need explaining at the end though :P

   

  Another article on the BBC site was this one, about how male players cost more than female players when buying them with real money, from ebay etc.

  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3016434.stm

  They reason that this is 'odd', as sex gives no advantage. Well it doesn't but considering the majority of male players compared to female players, and taking into account supply and demand it makes sense! There are more male gamers (in theory) and therefore more demand for male characters, so fixed supply, forces the price of male characters, up a little.
  They also say that being male or female is no advantage to becoming rich and powerful. I disagree. There may be no ingame mechanism that allows this, but human mechanisms, Lust, love, desire etc, mean that peoples actions are swayed. I remember in AC1, I knew people who had female alts. They would use these alts to beg for money. A female character begging, was much more lucrative (for them) than a male character, begging. Sad, but true :P. Because of this, genders do effect your progress ... a lot. Im sure some people would bump someone out of their group to allow a female character to be in it. Through these two examples, you can see that it is quite possible that female characters have an easier ride

  Interesting articles. Thanks for posting them

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  MMORPGs: Treadmills that make you fatter.

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  MMORPGs: Treadmills that make you fatter.

  www.silkyvenom.com <-- a good site for Vanguard information