MMORPG
Overview
A MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role playing game) is a game in which players from all over the world take control of unique (often self-designed) avatars in an online gameworld. Games in this genre frequently take place in fantasy or sci-fi settings much like other Action/Adventure games. MMORPGs, like other role-playing games, are what Simon Egenfeldt Nielsen et al. might call "process-oriented games:" instead of giving the player one, ultimate objective, the game offers a system with which the player can endlessly interact [1]. For example, in World of Warcraft, a player may complete a quest-line in an area in the game, but might continue to slay monsters for the sake of leveling up or saving up for a new item. In MMORPGs, then, there is no ultimate goal beyond what the player prescribes for him or herself.
Narrative is usually incorporated in to MMORPGs through quests, tasks that the player can complete in order to gain a reward, whether that reward be in-game currency, experience points to improve the character's abilities, or items. In MMORPGs where there is a main storyline for the player to follow, quests might be linked together to form a long narrative; however, these "main quests" are often accompanied by "side quests" shorter, optional narrative units that are not essential for progression in the game. In this way, the narrative of MMORPGs are non-unilinear, a term videogame scholar Sebastian Domsch uses to describe narratives that the player can shape by choosing the order in which (or whether or not) they complete quests.
--grinding
-guilds/social aspects
History
The ancestor of all MMORPGs as we know them today is the pen-and-paper role-playing game, Dungeons and Dragons
--MUDs
--Neverwinter Nights
--Ultima Online
--WoW
Prominent Examples
Neverwinter Nights
Star Wars: The Old Republic
Star Wars: The Old Republic (or SWTOR), was released in 2011 as was the fastest growing MMORPG of all time, accruing 1 million subscribers only three days after its launch mid-December [2].
World of Warcraft
Significance and Criticism
--popularity
--social elements and pop culture significance (Felicia Day's The Guild)
--Everybody hates grinding
--Women and online gaming? (maybe?) (do I want to open this can of worms?)
References
- ↑ Understanding Video Games, Simon Egenfeldt-Nielsen, Jonas H. Smith, Susana P. Tosca
- ↑ Star Wars: The Old Republic Jumps to Light Speed
