Information Behavior and the Formation and Maintenance of Peer Cultures in Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games: A Case Study of City of Heroes

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Adams Suellen
2005 DiGRA '05 - Proceedings of the 2005 DiGRA International Conference: Changing Views: Worlds in Play

Within Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) players have the ability to create anonymous personae that do not have to adhere to the social conventions of the offline world. Nevertheless, small groups, with their own rules and mores (such as guilds, clans and teams), are clearly created and maintained within game worlds. The purpose of the research to be conducted is to examine how the conflation of play theory and information behavior theory, predominantly meaning-making, serve to explain the development and maintenance of peer cultures within the virtual world of the game or games. This paper is a brief conceptual framework for this research. Included in this framework are sections on various conceptualizations of MMORPGs, role vs. identity, play theories, and information behavior and meaning-making theories. All of these pieces of the framework will, I believe, ultimately aid in the final analysis of the research now being conducted.

 

Enhancing Player Experience in MMORPGs with Mobile Features

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Wenninger Christian
2005 DiGRA '05 - Proceedings of the 2005 DiGRA International Conference: Changing Views: Worlds in Play

In this paper, we explore how current Massively Multi-player Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) can use mobile features for enhancing player experience and increasing pervasiveness of these games. We identify six different categories of how this can be done, and review our findings with MMORPG players and developers.

 

From Catch the Flag to Shock and Awe: how World of Warcraft Negotiates Battle

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MacCallum-Stewart Esther
2007 DiGRA '07 - Proceedings of the 2007 DiGRA International Conference: Situated Play

Within the MMORPG World of Warcraft, attitudes towards warfare are expressed in conflicting ways. This is partly a result of the difficult relationship modern Western society has with warfare, and the various political agendas that surround this. Within World of Warcraft, this is expressed specifically in the minigames known as ‘Battlegrounds’, which allow players to fight against each other in teams. The way in which these popular areas have been developed in the game is symptomatic of increasingly accepting attitudes towards warfare.