Wiki source code of Warcraft and Beyond

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1.1.1 Warcraft and Beyond

1.1.1.1.1 ~~Player Motivations and Interactions in Massively Multiplayer Online Games~~

1.1.1.1.1.1 Authors

* Pierce Edwards
* Joe Lilly
* Colin Rieger
* Janusz Strzepek
* Jacob Wisnesky

1.1.1.1.1.1 Abstract

As we progress into the 21st century, the field of digital and social systems is becoming more and more prominent as it starts to influence people, their work, and their recreation. Similarly, Massively Multiplayer Online games have become more prominent over the past several years. Although dismissed as a mere recreational activity to some, MMOs provide a useful environment for substantive study into topics of value to DSS. 

This research examines player motivations and interactions in MMO environments. While the reasons people start playing and continue to play MMOs are extensive, social interactions are the primary motivation among players. These social interactions can have a great effect on the game itself as users influence the game play as much or more as the developers themselves. 

1.1.1.1.1.1 Keywords

MMOs, motivation, interaction, digital systems, social systems, WarCraft

1.1.1.1.1.1 Statement of the Problem

What motivates players to participate in MMOs and virtual world environments?  What continues to engage players and keep them playing long after they've started?  How do players interact when playing these games?  What interesting, notable, or worthwhile social groups and communities arise from interactions in these games?

Over the period of the course, our understanding of the problem has been shaped by the fact that significant academic research has already been done into the areas of MMOs, something not all of us knew prior to beginning.   While we understood that MMOs could be useful in the study of DSS, we were surprised by the extent. 

1.1.1.1.1.1 Rationale

Games have become a integral part of popular culture. MMOs are becoming an increasingly popular entertainment medium that encourage creativity, participation and coherent user groups. MMOs, and games in general, drive many technological advances, particularly in computer hardware. Furthermore, MMOs are becoming a significant source of revenue for companies; World of Warcraft has over 11 million subscribers paying $15 per month to play.  As the financial draw of MMOs increase, research that may guide future MMO development and help increase their popularity and attractiveness will become more and more valuable.

1.1.1.1.1.1 Relationship to the Course

A major goal of DSS research is to produce social systems that people will use. MMOs are already very successful in that respect. They have provided a place where people can not only play and interact, but create their own community within the game.  MMOs also focus on many themes touched on in class: motivation, creation of social groups, and online interaction.

1.1.1.1.1.1 Contribution of Individual Team Members

* Pierce Edwards - Researched player interactions with people already known before playing MMOs and with people who were first encountered in these virtual environments.
* Joe Lilly - Performed and examined a case study using a newly released MMO.
* Colin Rieger - Gathered information from players through questionnaires; focusing on why they start playing, continue to play and their opinions on various communities within the game.
* Janusz Strzepek - Polled players and gathered data concerning how players make a decision about which game to play.
* Jacob Wisnesky - Focused on examples of notable player interaction, including events significant enough to receive media attention or be used in academic studies.  Also posed questions for further research based upon ideas raised by these notable events.

1.1.1.1.1.1 Description of Independent Research

Our research approach was multi-faceted.  We examined current literature to get a feel for the current state of MMO research, conducted polls of MMO players to get their input on what motivates them to play and continue playing, used objective 3rd party data to examine player interaction, participated in a brand-new MMO to get some firsthand experience with the genre, looked at examples of unique or noteworthy player interaction, and posed questions for further research.  

*Player Questionnaire* 

~~Why Start?~~ 

When asked this question, the overwhelming response of the players had to do with friends and community. 

__Friends__ 

Most commonly players would start because their friends are playing the game. Either they started voluntarily to keep up with what their friends are doing and spend time with them or their friends pushed and coerced them into playing so that they all could enjoy the game together. Some friends who live far away from eachother, also use the game as a means of keeping in touch while also having fun and playing together. 

"I started to play it out of friendship so that I could keep up with my real life buddies." 

"When I came back to the states, it was a fun/easy way to keep in touch with old friends around the world." 

__Family__ 

Similar to friends, another major reason people start playing is because of family. Usually a sibling or spouse will be playing the game and they will get involved because of them and wanting to be a part of what they are doing. 

"Oddly enough my wife started before I did and then got me involved." 

"I asked him to help me make a character on his account before he went into work. When he got home from work, I was still playing. Needless to say, he brought home my own copy of the game." 

__Familiarity__ 

Lastly, players said they started out of familiarity with the game. Either they read about the game, heard about it or played similar games and saw it on the store shelf. 

"I played D&D all the time as a kid. I thought of it as online D&D." 

~~Why Continue?~~ 

There are numerous options for MMOs these days. Why continue to play one, especially a much older one, rather than move onto a newer one? Once again, the majority of responses had to do with friends and community. 

__Friendship & Community__ 

Not only do people continue to play because of the friends they started the game with, but also because of new friends they make in game. Players are able to form lasting friendships in MMOs that are sometimes stronger than friendships they form in real life. Friendships may also form that never would have been possible in real life. The games remove certain social barriers having to do with friendships and allow communities of people to form that never would have happened in real life. Maturity and personal character are still major factors but age, occupation, location and race may no longer play a role in forming a friendship. A 60 year old banker from Texas can be friends with a 30 year old factory worker from Maryland. 

"My old military friends quit long ago but I've made new online friends since." 

"Allows friendships to develop in social circles that otherwise would never happen in real life" 

"Married with 3 kids and no real babysitter types around, this allows my wife and I to still have a social life without breaking the bank." 

__Achievements and Investment__ 

Lastly, people continue to play because of the achievements and time investment they have put into the game. Some people spend multiple years building up their characters and helping their friends build up their characters. They enjoy working together with other people to accomplish a goal that otherwise might not be possible just by themselves. Through these achievements, they invest a lot of time on their characters and are hesitant to leave them for other games. They don't want to start from scratch and invest all of that time again in another game. 

"I love the collaborative achievements part of the game. You can accomplish things not possible just by yourself." 

"I am most likely never going to play another MMO because I won't allow myself to invest/waste that much time in any new game." 

*Player Data* 

~~Which One?~~

There are many MMOs from which to chose. Players chose to play one over another for several reasons. They may chose one because that is what their friends from real life or online play. Another factor is their familiarity with the in game world. Finally, people chose a game for how "fun" the online interactions are.

__Friends and Family__

As we have established that people begin playing MMOs because of friends and family, it also heavily affects which game they play. If people are playing a game for the main purpose of interacting with people they know already, they all must play the same game in order to have that interaction.Thus the same enticement that drew them to a MMOs in the first place will also draw them to a specific game. Additionally, once people have been playing a game and may have made friends within the game, it will tend to keep them with that game.

__Familiarity__

Like with Friends and Family, as well as being an initiating factor, familiarity with a game's world entices players to certain games over others. For example, World of Warcraft already had an extensive gamer fan-base from the previous Warcraft games. Thus, when given an opportunity to explore the world further, many quickly joined.

__Fun__ 

As with any game, people play it to enjoy themselves.If a game ceases to be fun, people will leave it. Some people have switched games because it became to easy for other players to get accomplishments that took them a lot of effort achieve. Thus, their relative game status is diminished in comparison with other players.


~~Playing Together~~ 

Many MMO players are perceived to be people who sit in front of a computer for hours on end with little to no interaction with the outside world. However, by looking at the data shown in figures 1 and 2, it becomes apparent that at least a quarter of all MMO players participate in their online spaces with a family member of some sorts. These players are in fact leveraging the unique atmosphere of a persistent virtual world to not only socialize with family members but also engage in recreational activities that could otherwise be impossible due to geographic restrictions.

[Figure 1|http://i38.tinypic.com/1zoc1z7.png]

[Figure 2|http://i34.tinypic.com/10xvwyg.png]

In addition to participating in these massive online worlds with family members, half to three quarters of polled players engage in MMOs with friends they knew from outside the game as shown in figure 3. Combined with the information about playing with family members, it becomes clear that a majority of users of virtual worlds utilize the game space as an online social environment. The players use the context of a game which can be shared with friends and family to strengthen and enhance existing social bonds.

[Figure 3|http://i34.tinypic.com/2vinwg6.png]

One notable advantage of internet communications is the ability to not only interact with people already known, but to meet and socialize with a wide array of different users from across the world. MMOs are no exception providing a forum for interaction and shared experiences that are not possible in other digital social systems. Whilst slaying the evil warlord with the sword of a thousand truths, it is common to discuss in the built in chat functions anything from the latest television shows to more personal real world issues. Figure 4 demonstrates this tendency to relate to people with roughly half of respondents saying they sometimes or often discuss real world personal issues with other players met online.

[Figure 4|http://i38.tinypic.com/fkw554.png]

The first step to socialization is communication. When combined with the opportunity for shared experiences unique to virtual worlds, this can lead to new social bonds that would otherwise have not occurred. Figures 5 and 6 demonstrate the capacity MMOs have to create player connections. About 70% of all players regardless of age or gender responded that they had become good friends with someone they had met through the game with an additional 8% of males and 25% of females reporting that their best friend was someone whom they had met through an MMO. These results reveal that persistent online worlds are highly successful digital social systems by facilitating these new social interactions.

[Figure 5|http://i34.tinypic.com/wh1fo2.png]

[Figure 6|http://i37.tinypic.com/295etkp.png]

MMOs have one thing that sets them apart from other video games: a large persistent world populated by many other people. Unlike instanced online games like FPS's where each game takes place and is then erased or offline games that offer more depth and better gameplay, MMOs allow players to interact in meaningful ways that have a lasting effect in game. Whether they are leveraged to improve existing offline relationships or utilized to form new social bonds, MMOs act as highly successful social systems. The combination of connecting players from all corners of the globe in a shared gaming experience that persists over time makes these virtual worlds a unique avenue for online interaction.

*Notable Interactions* 

Although nearly all in-game interactions are interesting to examine, much insight can be gained by focusing on interactions in which players "stretched" the boundaries of the game, engaging in activities not conceived of or officially supported by the game designers.  Many of these notable events were significant enough to receive attention from the media or be used in academic research.  These interactions not only provide insight, but also bring up new questions and avenues for further research.

~~Virtual Disease~~

In 2005, an outbreak of "virtual disease" hit World of Warcraft.  Blizzard Entertainment, the makers of World of Warcraft, released an in-game encounter that involved a particularly deadly disease.  Recognizing the threat it posed if released, Blizzard took steps to ensure that players could not spread the disease beyond the very limited location of the encounter.  Blizzard, however, made a serious oversight; while players were cured of this disease when leaving the area, player's pets were not.  These pets continued to carry the disease outside the intended area, and quickly infected thousands of players.  Serious enough to cause death to lower level characters, this outbreak became so severe that many players could not play the game without becoming infected near instantaneously.  Blizzard tried several methods to eliminate this plague, including quarantines, that failed.  The ultimate solution to this outbreak was to take down all servers, purge the disease, and redesign the encounter.

This event was unique in that it had been the first case of a major "virtual plague."  Although it received some media attention in sources such as BBC News when it occurred, its major accomplishment came when it was featured in a 2007 article in the journal ~~Epidemiology~~.  Physician Ran D. Balicer drew parallels between this virtual outbreak and real-world outbreaks such as SARS and bird flu.  Furthermore, he suggested that virtual worlds such as World of Warcraft could be used as an "advanced platform" for the modeling of infectious disease.  These thoughts were echoed by others, as a few months later, the journal ~~Science~~ published an article suggesting that Second Life could also be used as a platform for the modeling of disease and environmental pathogens.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also expressed interest in the outbreak, although the results of their interest have not been made public.

This virtual disease, while providing an interesting example of how player interaction affects a virtual world, also produces avenues for further research.  One possible avenue is to simply continue along the current research path: It is often dangerous or difficult to model disease in the real-world, so why not use online environments such as MMOs to do it?  Blizzard tried many techniques to remove and contain the plague, including quarantines.  Research could be conducted into how quarantines can fail, and how diseases can escape from certain locations in unexpected ways.  A second avenue for further study focuses on players and psychology rather than the disease.  During this outbreak, some players intentionally chose to spread the disease, knowing the effect it would have on other players.  Why not study the motivation behind this type of malicious behavior?

~~Funeral Raid~~

In 2005, a female World of Warcraft player died.  Many of her guildmates, being very close friends, decided to hold an in-game virtual funeral for her.  However, this funeral was held in an in-game location classified as "contested territory," an area where hostile players may attack each other.  Word of this funeral was spread to encourage players to attend, however, some used the knowledge as an avenue of attack.  The funeral was raided by hostile players, who killed everyone present.

The interesting thing to note of this funeral raid is that it was not the work of a few isolated people seeking to cause trouble; it was a pre-planned, well-coordinated effort by an in-game guild organization.  It was recorded in high-resolution video, and then used as a recruitment tool for the guild, indicating that they were, on some level, proud of their actions, viewing them as an accomplishment.  Many comments during the raid included death-related jokes and sarcasm that some would deem offensive.

This event has naturally produced lots of discussion on forums, blogs, message boards, and other locations.  While there are many opinions on the event, often nuanced, there are some general divisions that are pretty common.  Some players found the event extremely funny, while others thought it was extremely offensive and inexcusable, making calls for those involved to be banned.  Some took a sort of middle ground, acknowledging that the raid was probably not the best idea, but that the funeral planners held some of the blame by holding the funeral in an area where such an event could occur.  Beyond these opinions, one more major division was apparent: One group believes that real-life events have no place inside a virtual world, the other believes that real-life events should always trump the virtual world.

This event poses some interesting questions.  To what extent should the real-world and the virtual world of MMOs mix?  Already there is significant interaction between the two; companies have virtual showrooms and advertise and sell real-world products in Second Life.  The IRS has pondered taxing in-game transactions in games such as World of Warcraft, as the fact that people sell the in-game currency for real money implies it has some real-world taxable value.  As MMOs become more and more intertwined and involved with the real world, the question of where the line is drawn between the two may become fuzzy.  The event also poses an interesting avenue for research on players.  Few people, if any, would "raid" a real-world funeral.  How differently do people behave when they are safely anonymous in a virtual world and do not have to see those they may harm face-to-face?  

~~Ron Paul Rally~~

On January 1, 2008, World of Warcraft players held an in-game rally for Presidential hopeful Ron Paul.  It was no surprise to some that Ron Paul, who already enjoyed a fairly significant "cult" following in online communities and set a few online fundraising records, would be the first presidential hopeful to have this sort of event held for him.  Depending on the source, between 200-400 players showed up.

This event has intriguing questions for politics and further research.  Could MMOs and virtual worlds be used as a new avenue for political outreach?  Over the past few elections, online advertising has only increased.  Some have speculated that president-elect Obama's victory was in part due to his outreach and advertising on the internet.  Social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook already have significant political advertising on them.  It seems a logical progression that MMOs and virtual worlds could someday also be a battleground for votes, especially when millions of possible voters frequent these games.

However, these questions and avenues for research are not merely limited to politics.  Many traditional, non-MMO games already have advertising for products and companies in them.  However, these games are static; once you buy the disc that the game comes on, the content cannot be changed.  The advertisements age, even if the game stays around for many years.  MMOs would provide a unique advantage in this case; their content is always changing and being updated.  New advertisements in MMOs would be very feasible, as a mere patch or minor update could bring new advertising content.  As written above, it seems to be a natural progression that advertising will someday embrace MMOs as a powerful new way to reach potential customers.

Overall, MMOs are truly unique in the way that player interaction can shape the world in ways the designers never conceived.

*Case Study* 

*Conclusions* 

Gamers have been largely portrayed and viewed as anti social, sitting in basements by themselves and playing games to get away from people. In fact, gamers are very driven by the community and friendship aspect of MMOs. Having a community and meeting new friends is as much important to them as the game being fun.

MMOs are often viewed simply as games, with no redeeming qualities beyond simple recreation.  However, they provide interesting insight into areas of interest to DSS such as motivation, social groups, and user interaction.  As MMOs continue to grow, they will not only serve as a landscape for academic research, but also a broad range of other activities, such as advertising, politics, and psychology. 

1.1.1.1.1.1 References

* Balicer, Ran D. "Modeling Infectious Diseases Dissemination Through Online Role-Playing Games." Epidemiology 18.2 (2007): 260-61.
* Holden, Constance, ed. "Playing With Epidemics." Science 316 (2007): 961.
* GP Covers the Ron Paul World of Warcraft March." GamePolitics. 2 Jan. 2008. 2 Dec. 2008 http://www.gamepolitics.com/2008/01/02/gp-covers-the-ron-paul-world-of-warcraftmarch.
* Yee, Nick. "The Daedalus Project: The Psychology of MMORPGs." The Daedalus Project: MMORPG Research, Cyberculture, MMORPG Psychology. http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/.
* "Waralytics War Servers." Waralytics Pages. 29 Nov. 2008. 3 Dec. 2008 http://www.waralytics.com/warservers/index.
* "Terra Nova." Terra Nova. http://terranova.blogs.com/.
* "Google Trends: world of warcraft, age of conan, warhammer, everquest." Google trends. 2 Dec. 2008. 2 Dec. 2008 http://www.google.comtrends?q=world+of+warcraft,+age+of+conan,+warhammer,+everquest.
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