MMORPG is a game genre that involves a combination of massively multiplayer online games and role-playing video games, where there are complex interactions and collaborations of players within a virtual world to achieve structured goals. Players assume characterized roles within a fictional setting, as such, exercise control over many of the character’s actions. Played throughout the world, MMORPGs allow a large number of players to interact at the same time in the persistent world and continue to evolve even when the player is away from the game. The standard features involved in the MMORPGs include social interaction within the game, persistent game environment, level progression and system architecture. Moreover, most MMORPGs are based on traditional fantasy themes, which are sometimes merged with science fiction and crime fiction, whilst others draw their ideas from American comic books. The players choose their roles from a set of professions provided, each profession with its strengths and weaknesses, and this often requires players to collaborate in order to achieve the goals set within the environment; communication between the players is usually through typed chat, expressions, and animated gestures.
MMORPGs create socially interactive environments that provide the players with opportunities to build strong friendships and emotional relationships; also, the games allow players to express themselves in ways that they would not have felt comfortable with in real life situations due to certain limitations like gender, appearance or age biases (Clark, 2012). The relationships built by the players, however, only exists in the virtual world, and this would not be possible in the real world as the characters in the game are self-built in a manner that does not necessarily reflect the actual persons. The social and cultural aspects of these games are considered the main incentives to play them, leading to strong bonding and positive feelings between the players and also, a promotion of teamwork. According to the cognitive mediation theory, engagement in the MMORPGs helps develop internal mechanisms which improve the players’ logical and mathematical capabilities.
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Different phenomena occur in the set environments of MMORPGs that would not take place in a face-to-face game; this is because there are vast differences between the created virtual world and the real world in which other games exist. For this reason, there are different activities that occur in the context of MMORPGs that would not happen in real world games such as checkers. (Forgas & Fitness, 2008) The players of MMORPGs constantly interact in the created environments through their virtual characters, whilst the completion of different set tasks requires cooperation between players. This is contrary to what happens in a face to face checkers game, where only two players are involved at a time, with the game following set guidelines that should be observed during its course. Moreover, there is no constant interaction between the players after the checkers game as compared to MMORPGs where there is constant interaction between the characters even when offline.
In MMORPGs, the character’s actions are restricted and guided by the players’ intentions, mediated by the hardware and software infrastructure of the game. The player has to abide by the set guidelines of the game, and this is usually monitored by an independent third party. In addition, there is role-playing in the MMORPGs, where the player can choose the character that they want to become, with specificity on gender, race, age, and height amongst other features. This enables the anonymity of the real player of the game to other players (Forgas & Fitness, 2008). In a game of checkers, there are rules to the game which the players abide by; no third party is required to monitor the game, and any interactions after the game are at the liberty of the players as the game is not necessarily built on friendship or romantic relationships. Furthermore, unlike in MMORPGs, there is no anonymity in checkers game as the two players face each other across the table; there is no impersonation.
The two types of games, however, share some similarities as they both enhance social interactions; playing them is a way of emphasizing socialization. Moreover, they both enhance the players’ creativity, thinking capacity and problem-solving skills as the two games highly depend on the brain’s ability to be creative and sharp. Addiction is also a vice that is prone to the players of the two games, in that the players might invest a lot of their time and resources in the games. As such, caution is required to establish limits in regard to the games.
MMORPGs environment affects the players’ ability to play Spades. This is because MMORPGs provides tasks that are to be completed either individually or collectively as a group, and each player is assigned a task to be completed as a character. In a game of spades, personal effort determines who wins the game, and there is no progression in levels as it is in MMORPGs; there is no role playing in spades, and therefore, personal abilities are highly required. The players in MMORPGs are motivated by the need to progress in levels by completing the assigned task, with no end but instead a series of levels of progression. The result is the basic drive in any game of spades. Also, MMORPGs are usually based on role plays which do not translate well to other forms of games generally, as there are restricted choices.
The user interface in games usually involves fiction, an element where there is an avatar of the actual player based on personal preferences. The quality of the user interface is crucial to the success of a game, as the primary purpose of the video games is to maximize the interaction of the player with the interface of the game software (Clark, 2012). It is, therefore, crucial for game developers to continuously improve the interface design that will stand the test of time and develop into something that is recognizable among the users. Moreover, a graphical user interface design, which is more dynamic and familiar to the real world environment of the players, is a formula that will last in regard to the longevity of a game. The need for the players to picture the real-world in games should be incorporated into the virtual world in terms of the MMORPGs, as this makes the games more successful and practical.
The heuristic evaluation examines the interface and checks for compliance through usability principles. The principles are; user control and freedom, error prevention, recognition, flexibility and efficiency of use, recovering from errors, minimalist design, and match between the system and the real world (Sadikov, Kononenko & Bratko, 2005). The principles are fast, cheap and lead to improvements in user interfaces. As human life continually relies on the interactions with computer systems, its unique value is to investigate, develop and venture into a new area of possibility so as to enhance human activity and experience. The rise of collaboration, mobility and new types of user devices act as the driving forces of the human-computer interactions
MMORPGs players have highly invested in the virtual world created by the games, as such, the social phenomena occurring in those environments shape and restructure their relationships in the real-world. Therefore, it is important to create a virtual world that has similar aspects to the real-world in order to ensure that the players do not find it difficult to balance between the two environments. Moreover, the players of MMORPGs have extended from teenagers to grown-ups and even to the married; it is of the essence to ensure that the games have benefits regarding qualities and skills that the players can simulate in their real life, instead of just existing in the virtual world. This will make the MMORPGs of more benefits in real life apart from just being a leisure activity.
References
Clark, P. (2012). Systems implications for MMORPGs: A meta-synthetic review and proposed theory development. Irvine: Alliant International University, California School of Professional Psychology.
Forgas, J. P., & Fitness, J. (2008). Social relationships: Cognitive, affective, and motivational processes. New York: Psychology Press.
Sadikov, A., Kononenko, I., & Bratko, I. (2005). Propagation of heuristic evaluation errors in game graphs: Doctoral dissertation . Ljubljana: A. Sadikov.
