Online gaming

Online gaming was the subject of this weeks lecture, and as an IT person myself, even though I dont play a lot of these sorts of games, a lot of my friends do.

One of the main criticisms levelled at computer games, the Internet et.al is that it reduces social activities and the ability to develop social skills and abilities. Although this is occasionally true (the stereotypical "nerd" with his/her lack of social skills, and fumbling awkwardness in social situations, is actually pretty factual, and I could introduce you to any number of them), I see these social changes being brought about as a result of the Internet being a revolution rather than a reduction. That is, the social elements still exist, and just because more of them take place online rather than in any face to face real life sense, doesnt make them any less valid, or any less "real"

For example, a lot of my friends at my new job (both the ones that knew me before I started working there (and got me the job), and ones that I met on the job), play what is currently the biggest selling, and most popular, online game, World Of Warcraft. Many game companies rated it as one of the best games of last year, and it is based on the popular Warcraft series of games. Set in a Tolkien-esque universe, players can create characters of a particular race, and then do quests, and attempt to increase their personal level through acquiring certain skills and weapons. All of the guys at work talk about their characters, particular skills they have gained, and discuss certain experiences theyve had with their characters. The levels of their characters is also a source of pride, indicating time spent in the game, and effort applied to reach a certain level.

Heres the interesting part. There are certain quests in the game which require multiple characters, with different skill sets. The guys at work often do these quests together, even though they are at different levels, and if they are not able to complete a quest together, or dont have the required skills, they will sometimes put each other in touch with friends they have made within the game to help each other out. For example, Michael needed to team with a mage of a certain level to do a quest, but didnt know anyone of that level, so Sam, who had completed that quest previously, put him in touch with the mage who had done the quest with him, and that person agreed to repeat the quest, in return for a small in-game fee. Neither Sam nor Michael have ever met the person behind the mage character in real life, as he is from another country. So I ask you, is this sort of interaction reducing the social skills, or introducing a new social sphere, one where geographical conditions are no boundary to social interaction? This idea of new kinds of social relationships is also touched upon in the readings.

We also touched on online gaming in last weeks chat session. John described the situation where Neverwinter Nights, a similar online game, had released a development kit, so that fans could generate their own content, (see my entry from week 6, april 13), however people who downloaded the kit had (often unknowingly) agree to let the company take whatever content was produced and use it for their own benefit. In the chatroom, we agreed this behaviour was unacceptable, especially as most people were not even aware they had agreed to let the company do this.

Added links to World of Warcraft website, and also to Everquest website, which was discussed in the lecture.