Course

Second Life is an MMO sustained by user created content and emergent player goals. The content creation scripting tools have been made simple enough for accessibility to almost all players, while having the variety of customizations sufficient to cross the complexity barrier. The world of SL has dynamically emerged new systems of player psychology, sociology, and commerce. I will discuss examples of where emergent behavior is beginning, and give my predictions of what these earlier surprises may mature into.

Here are the conversations the players had for exchanging cultural items.
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Based in the following final rules Download file

An emergent behavior happened: someone got the 4 Universal Cultural Items. Zeke became the 1st Master in Exchanging Cultures, who will be next? What will be the next level? Exchanging Cultural Items from another Planets & Universes? To be continued…

Here are the notes from the last Playtest:

-Make sure to remind players they must turn in their items into admin instead of calling win/loss.

-More formal beginning to game.

-Maybe give full list of possible items to each player so everyone knows what items to look for or what items are possible to get.

-Awesome game. (Whitney’s Notes)

- It would have been better if we could steal items or create alliances with other players to win the game. The trading was good except there should have been a whisper option so not everybody saw what items were trying to be traded. Other than that it was a pretty fun game. (Squabs' note)
* Click Download file to check the Exchanging Cultures Dialogues of Negotiation that happen while the Playtest.
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This is the document with the updated combinations, rules and system of points for playing the 1st level of EC game. We are still working in some elements and playtesting.
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These were the main comments and suggestions of the players during the second and third playtest, the last one hgappened during the Massive, The Future of Networked Multiplayer Games conference:

- To have available all the time a table of possible combinations of cultural items and their points to keep track of them faster.
- To have a simultaneous system of exchanging so anybody can keep one of the item negociated during the transaction.
- To have the ability of observing the cultural items before exchanging and based the exchanging in an audiovisual not only in chatting.
- To have different rounds in the game so the players can develop more advance strategies and can learn better all the possibilities of the game: cultural items combinations, point system, universal items, privilegies, etc.
- To obtain some priviligies in the following levels once certain cultural items from a continent orfrom a category are obtained, for example becoming a master in food, dances, Asia, Europe, ... and get a special ability to exchange or show certain cultural items.
- To integrate in the game experience the possibility of learning about the origin, funtion and materials of the cultural items so that could become a etnographic game as well as a entertainment game.

1st Exchange Cultures Playtest Note:
Getting Started:
1. Enter the glass room where the four colored boxes are located.
2. Each player stands next to 1 of the 4 boxes.
3. When the moderator says to begin, right-click on your colored box and select "buy".
4. Now go to your inventory and find the box (if you are at the red box, it will be called RED BOX in your inventory, etc.) Contained within this box should be 4 items and a notecard with directions on how to play. Continue from there

1st Playtester’s Questionnaire
Here are a few questions that we would like you to consider while playing our game.
1. Are the goals of the game clear enough? What aspects do you think we should build on or eliminate?
2. Do you feel that trading items with other players is too easy/hard?
3. Is it easy to tell which items are from which continents?
4. Does playing the game actually motivate you to exchange the cultural items? 
5. Can you think of a way to make trading these items more exciting/fun?
6. Is there enough content/challenge in the game?
7. Did you find it too easy/difficult to obtain the necessary items?
8. Anything other comments/suggestions?

Thanks for your help, we hope you enjoyed play-testing our game.
-Exchanging Cultures Team

1st Playtesters Feebacks
- Rules within the cultural relationships or significant relationships between countries.
- One player who has to scrub up the others. Black market. Who is the smuggler? Traitor?.
- Add a limitation of exchanges.
- Increase level of complexity.
- Based in your items you decide what country or continent you want to collect.
- You can get one object from a free collection by turns.
- You cannot see all the items at the same time; you have to remember where you put them.
- Add more items or/and more continents or rounds.
- Named where the items are from and get points from it or exchange possibilities.
- Abundance of items and some of them are very popular and easy to identify while others do not. This will allow to the players to build different strategies to exchange.
- Limit the Resources.
- Knowing where the people are from or what they are looking for make the exchange very obvious.

Impossible Gladiators Playtest Guide

Behold....

....based on a true story

Here are the Powerpoints from Janet Murray's talk at the ZML on April 2, "Making Steven Cry."
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Designers play a huge role in determining who actually plays their game. They set different restrictions and enable options depending on their target audience. Taylor wrote about a lot of different qualities that a game can have: its impact on the players and the social environment that arises from them. Giving players the ability to create certain parts of the environment and using it in the game can increase player involvement. It seems as though designers can determine the amount of emergence they would also like their game to have. Of course the designer cannot perfectly predict what some players might do with the given tools, but the designer has a say in whether he or she wants innovative ideas from players to arise from his/ her game. The designer can also determine what kinds of themes to have in the game to instill some values within the game. I never thought about some of these things, but it was interesting to find that limiting the number of times someone can change a name can create a sense of responsibility within the game. At the same time, to create a more realistic feel to the game, a designer should create some freedom for the player. Taylor’s article definitely gave me more ideas on designing multiplayer games. As a designer I would be able to determine what kind of audience I want and what abilities I want them to have. Carefully analyzing this would give me some insight as to what kind of game is best for the target audience. Second Life designers took all these factors into consideration when making the game.

When I read this article I almost thought immediately of Second Life. Second Life offers so much freedom. Players can create a variety of items and objects using modeling and scripting tools. The game makes sure that if a player does not know how to do any of this, he or she can search the internet and find the exact answer. This makes emergence within the game a very common occurrence, with a variety of new and innovative ideas appearing often within the game. As a player in Second Life it is great to see that I can do exactly what the title of the game says: live a Second Life. I can create and use any item I would like and live out dreams. The designer furthered this experience by giving the players hundreds of possibilities with character customization. Putting all these qualities together makes Second Life a social experience that mimics that of the real world while allowing players to fulfill dreams that may have seemed impossible in real life.

What I liked the most of the Tayor's article "Intentional Bodies" was how he develop a compared vision of how virtual world organized socially through the aspects of immersion, identity and social responsibility and legitimacy. Taylor points out how "world builders" take into account these three main themes in order to develop the socio cultural context where the players will live and develop their relationships and personal experiences.

I'm still not quite sure what the purpose of second life is. There is no one single goal. Granted, SimCity proudly claims there is no "goal" of SimCity: however, there is an inherent need of survival which is making a prosperous city. In second life there isn't even survival. There is no time limit. There is no need to eat. There's no need to drink. There's no need to procreate. There is no need for shelter. Second life characters are not, Tamagachi. Perhaps, there is a need second life exploits that make us different from most animals: we need social interaction. Second life takes care of these most basic of Maslow's needs, including the private needs that our neighbor’s lingerie shop offers.

Wired 14.04: You Play World of Warcraft? You're Hired!

Gaming tends to be regarded as a harmless diversion at best, a vile corruptor of youth at worst. But the usual critiques fail to recognize its potential for experiential learning. Unlike education acquired through textbooks, lectures, and classroom instruction, what takes place in massively multiplayer online games is what we call accidental learning. It's learning to be - a natural byproduct of adjusting to a new culture - as opposed to learning about. Where traditional learning is based on the execution of carefully graded challenges, accidental learning relies on failure. Virtual environments are safe platforms for trial and error. The chance of failure is high, but the cost is low and the lessons learned are immediate.

The Cause and Effect of Art and Scripting takes place in a magnificent .pdf. Also called a tentative schedule.
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Exchanging of Cultures with the EC Game Mechanics updated. Download file

For info and registration, visit:
http://www.isr.uci.edu/events/massive/

Please check out the conversation intiated today by Nick Yee about both our articles in the inaugural issue of Games & Culture:
http://terranova.blogs.com/terra_nova/2006/03/play_as_product.html#comment-14737842

Here is the link for Games for Change, the group that promotes social actvism: Games for Change

Rules and Play description for Impossible Gladiators.

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In the Bartle reading, “Players Who Suit MUDS”, he touches upon the fact that there are several types of gamers. There are the achievers, explorers, socialisers, and killers. Such gamer types can be applied to players of MMORPGs. The games I chose to describe are World of Warcraft and The Matrix Online. My experiences on both of these games were very different. Upon starting WoW, I opted to choose the warrior, because I felt warriors were a class that was less dependent on others for help. At this point, I would consider myself an achiever because my whole purpose of playing was to gain high levels with my character. I would always go on quests alone and basically play on my own time and leisure. If I wasn’t questing, I would usually be grinding, just so I could reach the next level. I would always catch myself looking at my stats way too much; constantly monitor the “next level up” numbers. However, I reached a point where achieving in this game was more accessible when done with a group of people. I remember joining someone’s party out of boredom one day and realizing that we go a lot more done than I would have on my own. Difficult enemies became easily manageable, and the experience division was curbed by fighting more enemies. WoW forced me to mix my achiever type with the socialiser type because it was needed in order to form effective groups.
The Matrix Online yielded a different experience for me. Unlike WoW, the Matrix didn’t really lend itself to the socialiser type, or even the explorer type. I felt the world was constructed in such a monotonous way that any interest in exploring would be ruled out. Solo play was the favorable choice for me and most people I knew who also played the game, simply because of the way the missions were set up. There was never a time when I played when I found myself saying “I can sure use some help completing this mission”. Constant deaths would just lead me to believe I needed to improve my level and stats. Usually in towns and other areas in WoW, you would find many players interacting with one another, many requesting a warrior, priest, etc, to add to their parties. I found no such interaction in the Matrix. People congregated in these hubs only to upgrade their stats and buy items. This game mainly made me an achiever; because that was the only way I could play the game and have a small amount of interest.

Social metaphors of many types lie at the heart of most of the games we play today. Upon looking closer at games down to its basics, one can basically see the parallels to our social lives the game possesses. For example, if someone takes The Sims and breaks it down to its core gameplay, they might realize that it is a doll house with more features. Looking at some of the role-playing games I play, some of those games boil down to office “excel sheet” handling and organization. The game basically teaches me how to optimize and organize, just like an office setting would.
The game I chose to play was sissy fights. In this game, you are a kid in a school yard environment and you interact in groups of other kids, trying so kick people out of the group. This is done by insulting the other kids. One can defend themselves, attack someone individually, or choose the option of teaming up on someone. When you get hit to many times, you lose the game.
The social metaphor in this game basically is the schoolyard environment where bullies and mean girls used to run rampant. The way the game mechanics work, it is easy to relive the feelings associated in the schoolyard environment. Upon starting this game, I came into the Sissy Fights world on my own. It was clear to me from the moment I started playing that people like to run together in little cliques, much like I remember from elementary school. In some of the games I joined, it was pretty much a free-for-all, not many alliances were evident. Other games I joined had blatant alliances that basically would always team up on the new guy and make their initiation to this game a hard one. It was hard at first for me, but I convinced my brother to come on and play also. Since he was just a room away from me physically, we had a better chance going around and winning some games. The fact that I had to result to that shows how closely this game mirrors the school yard experience.

In the reading Flow, it discussed a state of gameplay by the same name. This can be described as the happy median between boredom and difficulty level. In other words, a game can bring a player into a state of flow if the game reaches the right difficulty level as well as keep the player entertained. In First person shooters, this can readily be seen, since the requirements for flow are always fluctuating.
The game I chose to describe is Counterstrike. Upon searching for my Counterstrike fix (when I was addicted), twenty-five percent of the work was finding the right server that suited my mood and play style. I would randomly select a server, maybe “Dust 24/7” or “Fragfest”. Upon entering, I would leave for one of two reasons: either the server was too easy and inept (i.e. a newbie server), or the server was way too difficult. The only time I would stay on a server was when I was truly enjoying myself, a feeling that only came to me when experiencing the perfect difficulty and challenge. I would always bookmark servers that provided this sensation, but even those servers had its bad days. Eventually, my reason for logging off would mainly be dependent on the status of the server. The people who frequented the server are the main reasons to play, so when there isn’t enough regulars playing, it may be time to log off.

impossible gladiators
design document

I don't know if anyone has had a look at the IGDA report on workforce demographics in the game industry that was released last October, but it can be found at:

http://www.igda.org/diversity/report.php

In addition to the report, I also highly recommend reading the Comments Report. A quick survey of this document explains a lot about why the game industry is 88.3% and 83.3% white.

EC is a diplomatic game within Second life with both short term and long term goals.
Short term: Interact with and complete the games within EC
Long term: Create virtual communities and relationships based on the exchange of cultural items such as dances, art, recipes, clothing, and images of other places for travelers/explorers.
Each player becomes a diplomat who must attempt to understand the cultures of the people that he/she is building relationships with, as well as share elements of his/her own culture.
Power Point Prototype Presentation now available right here right now
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The most important part of Taylor's “Intentional Bodies: Virtual Environments and The Designers Who Shape Them" is that only a few people are actually in charge of designing a video game artwork. But it is these few people who are able to decide what millions will look like. This is significant because I'm about to design a version of second life videogame. If I want, I can script the look of the characters into the game. This reminds me of a counterstrike level where if you hide for too long behind your scope on your rifle, you turned into a chicken.

Designer values play a huge role in game development. As Taylor points out, no matter how far-fetched and fantasy-oriented a game is, it always has some basic rules, constraints, and consequences. This is the framework that dictate what is and what is not possible in the game environment. Adhering to this basic framework, users are then often able to take the game in whatever direction they please. At this point, the user has a certain amount of control in deciding his or her path throughout the game. Oftentimes, as Taylor notes, there is a great deal of “disjuncture between what designers intended and what actually got produced.” However, let’s not forget that the game designers were the one’s who put the constraints on the environment in the first place. The user has control over what to do within the game environment, but the designers have control over the rules and constraints of the game environment itself. The designer’s values are important because they influence the choices of the designers as they are designing the game.

While playing games I rarely think of exciting and innovative ideas to add. As a person who does not like to break the rules in real life, I struggle with finding ways to change a gaming experience. I figure the designers planned the game to be played a certain way so changing the rules would detract from it. Second Life allows players to customize their avatars with various hairstyles and clothes. While some people’s avatars are original designs, I like my avatar to represent who I am. Because I wanted the avatar to represent me, I found the customization process very personal. It made me examine what I wanted to look like but also forced me to accept who I am as a person. I had to use some appearance settings to really make my avatar imitate my appearance. I did add one abnormal setting to my avatar. I added a pair of black wings as a representation of Final Fantasy 7, one of my favorite games. In the end I realized that changing rules or not including any is good for players and keeps them entertained. I enjoyed customizing my characters and look forward to designing buildings and vehicles.

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As the title suggests, Second Life allows players to live another life in a user created land. Because the game has neither a specific plot nor a large number of rules, emergent behavior is prominent in Second Life. “In games, emergence arises through the interaction of the formal game system and decisions made by players” (Salen, Zimmerman 164). Second life contains emergence, in that players can design and create simple cabins to floating clubs with complicated passageways. In some cases players will create extremely elaborate vehicles for others to ride and enjoy. Flying through the world I saw some interesting things, including some mature vehicles and locations. Although this might seem inappropriate for some people, these products are all results of the emergent properties of Second Life. It is these properties that manage to keep players interested in the game.

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Flow in Pacific Assault (PA)

Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault is moderately successful is balancing boredom and anxiety from level to level, but it wholly succeeds in flowing through techniques that are not easily measured. An immersive story and multiplayer AI squad interactions create a wealth of challenges and game priorities for the player to flow along their own path.

Sissy Fight recreates schoolyard popularity and bullying, a social metaphor that adopts the paper-rock-scissors game mechanic to facilitate competition. Socializing to create battle plans and taunting your victims are just two of the elements that are shared between Sissy Fight and real schoolyard girl bullying. ..(cont.)

Chatlog from our in-world Second Life Scripting 101 Tutorial

List of web links referenced in our Second Life tutorial today:

In all the games I played, the designers played an important role in all of the games. Designers are the ones that control the organizational factors and are basically the advocates for the player. The game designer’s role is to have a vision for the game and to have engaging game play. The game designer must also consider the technical limitations as well as the different consequences of their game whether it is intended or unintended.
In Puzzle Pirates, the designer needed to consider their target age group and how they wanted to organize the game. The overall design can be seen in the game as focusing the game on puzzles and a more social aspect. The prominent themes of immersion, identity, social responsibility, and legitimacy start to become evident in this game. The player can customize their avatars to a certain extent and they have a sense of social responsibility in that they cannot just change their names unless they delete their limited number of accounts and this would cause the player to lose all that they have.
In Counter Strike, the designers were the basis behind the unintended popularity of the original modification from Half Life. The premise and storyline behind Counter Strike is what made the game so popular because it had good flow. There was also a sense of social responsibility because you could get banned if you chose to hack and cheat. There would be no way of getting back in to the server once banned.
In World of Warcraft and Guild Wars, designers spent a considerable amount of time trying to get players to feel immersed and to make the game balanced. Players are also socially responsible as people are able to gain reputation through their different actions that they can have. There are also a lot of technical limitations in the hardware as there are large varieties of computers. While designers want to make the game look nice for those who have higher end computers, they also had to consider the people with older computers.
In this sense, the designers have a very important role overall in the game world. Second Life illustrates this as the game world is based directly on game designers creating their own games and designs. There is also a sense of responsibility as players can get banned from certain areas or kicked out if they do not follow the different roles.

Second Life is the ultimate game to demonstrate the concept of emergence. The game was developed with certain parameters. (This may not seem to be true upon first glance!) These include the basic constraints of the game such as land ownership and money. However, as I soon discovered, these parameters were few and far between. The game allows for a number of impossible feats such as instant teleportation, the ability to fly, and immortality. Even a plunge from the clouds left my avatar unscathed. Because the game allows so much, it is impossible to tell how it will evolve. With each additional possibility comes exponentially more game complexity. Because few games have more possibilities than Second Life, Second Life has emerged to be an enormously complex game.

Emergence applies to player identity. While I started out as an ordinary looking Joe, the games incredibly detailed character customization system allowed me to alter my avatar according to my desire. From a tall bald guy wearing a penguin shirt to a short fat white-haired dwarf to a giant behemoth of a man with hair growing out of every part of his face, character customization allowed me to gain control over the game. Most games offer a limited number of pre-determined avatars with limited customizable options. This gives the player a very limited say in how he or she will experience the game. With Second Life, however, there is an infinite number of avatars available to players. This adds unlimited complexity.

Emergence applies to the game environment. The game authors designed the basic set of rules for designing objects and implementing them into the environment. Once these rules got into the hand of players, however, there is no telling how far they may carry the complexity of the game. This is a perfect example of how a great deal of complexity emerges from a “’modest number of rules’ applied to a ‘limited collection of objects.’” Essentially, the authorship of the game was put in the hands of the players, who can direct the game in whatever direction they choose (so long as the direction is possible within the basic parameters of the game: for example, one cannot bulldoze someone else’s house to make room for a new development). It is the players, not the designers, who now control the direction of the game. The ability for players to create their own unique structures from anything they can find in the game world means that there is no telling what someone might build next. I stumbled upon creations ranging from alien spaceships, to waterslides, to sonic the Hedgehog slot machines. Second Life has emerged and will continue to emerge as an extremely complex game.

Setting simple rules and watching unpredictable results occur...

I think that emergence in a system happen in relation ship with other systems. In the case of Massive Multi-user On line Games (MMOG) there are a lot of systems in relationship, not only into the virtual game but also in reality that surrounds the player experience. I believe the environment where the player experience the game is very important in the development of emergent experiences. In fact I believe that only external input of a preprogrammed system are the real cause of the emergence. I think, as Salen and Zimmerman described in Rules of Play (p. 152) “emergence arises out of a complexity” but I think the real emergence arises from the complexity of two systems interacting with each other or when a system is so complex that it becomes several overlaid systems. In my case I changed from one real space to another while playing, where there were different Internet connections, and I was able of looking around but I was not able to keep going straight or backwards so I had to log out and log in the game again to continue my experience. That was an emergent experience of the system because that determines my player experience in an unexpected way.

The two mmorpg’s that I played for this assignment were World of Warcraft and Diablo II. I am going to discuss WoW first because I think the elements of our reading pertain to it more then Diablo II….

For my first person shooter I chose the game Battlefield 2. This is the sequel to Battle field 1942 but is very similar in its gameplay and player interactions. I had played this game a lot in single player, but this was my first time playing online with others. The setting is modern day warfare as opposed to WWII in Battlefield 1942. There are a variety of maps and each map a number of “control points” which each side tries to capture. Each team starts with a set number of points and each time a player is killed, that team loses a point. If one team as more control points then the other teams points slowly goes down, even if they are not being killed. When you die in this game you are dead for a few seconds, then you respawn at one of the control points that your team has. You can choose between different characters such as infantry, sniper, anti-tank, or medic, and you can select what type of character you are each time you respawn. Each team can also select a “commander” who can call in artillery strikes, UAV’s and supply drops; a player applies for this position and the rest of the team votes if they want him to have the position. There are about ten different maps available for play, and a number of mods that you can download that offer different maps and characters.

Sissy Fight is a browser based mmog where you go head-to-head with other players on a virtual playground. Sissy Fight is an extremely simple game that takes little time to set up or play. Once I registered I got to choose which playground I wanted to play on (meaning which server). Once in a playground you customize your own girl by selecting her face shape, hair style and color, and skin color. These allows everyone to personalize their player but the number of options is not overwhelming so after a game or two you’ve seen just about every variation of character.

In the online game world of Second Life, the overall game play is very intriguing and amusing. The overall interface is very easy to use as it is a combination of the controls that are pretty standard in mmorpgs and first person shooters. The first overall impression of the game is that the world was really open to exploration. The ability to fly around and look at everything whether it be up in the air or on the ground or in the water just kept me occupied for a period of time. The lack of health and deaths in this world also made it easier to explore as I would not fear dying when I suddenly decided to drop my guy from very high to the ground and stop him from flying.
Once I got finished with testing out how my character moves and works (through repeated flying and dropping), I decided to move on and to teleport from the training area into the town. Once I got into the town, this was when I notices a lot of changes.
The overall avatar customizing tool is very powerful in all the selections that can be done. However, with all the options, it also became very difficult to figure out completely what is going on. As a new player in the Second Life world, I asked and talked to many people as I went from place to place. People were pretty friendly overall and I could tell that there was a wide range of players and that it was geared towards an older generation simply by the way people had their avatars dressed and the way they communicated with one another. As I finalized my avatar, I decided to try to make it have some sort of a resemblance towards my real body, yet make it so that it looks different enough that you would not be able to tell. This was to make it so that while I will grow somewhat attached to my character, I will not be at a loss if anything should happen to it as I am exploring.
One thing I noticed right away is that there is a pretty strong economy in the game. While you can buy in game money with real money or play random casino games and gamble, it all takes a lot of effort or time either way. It also takes a lot of money to buy different equipment and to further your status in the world. However, in seeking out different areas and exploring, I was able to get a lot of free stuff from people whether through talking or through trading.
I realized that in playing a role of a student exploring the world and then writing about it, people were willing to help me a lot because of the thought of helping out. In terms of emergence, the world is very intense in that anyone can create their own items and their own games. There are basically no limits except maybe in the amount of time people have to design the world.
One of the games that I played was called tringo. It was a combination of bingo, tetris, and some form of puzzle game. The goal of the game was to form cubes and to get the highest score possible. While it was a simple game overall, the people were all very nice and helpful in answering any questions that I had and even helped me take some pictures. The game was simple yet captivated a lot of people because it was quite fun at the same time because of the competitive nature. The game also demonstrates the emergence of a spin off of Conway’s Game of Life where certain rules were applied to a simple puzzle game.
I made my first two friends in Second Life while playing tringo and they helped me get along. One of the guys shared a lot about his personal background and why he was playing the game. He was working pretty hard in his real life and seemed very honest and real in that he did not try to change his real life personality in the Second Life world and would therefore be a disliked by other players sometimes. He talked about how some of the people in Second Life were very fake and that this was their form of emergence in the world similar to that of how people wanted to be a part of the mob or gangster in the Sims Online.
In my personal emergence in the Second Life world, I found that I wanted to make my character look cool and to have fun through the whole process. As I traveled to different locations whether it be mature or non mature content, I found that people has decorated and built their houses and areas to what they liked and catered to people with similar interests. One place I visited had UFOs and airplanes while another had a bar and were serving drinks. There was yet another where there was a gun shop and many other vehicles that were available for purchase. It was at this weapons dealership that I met another guy who was looking for a way to get at his neighbor. The guy owned 3/4s of a mountain and had built a very nice mansion. However, his neighbor was ruining the real estate look simply because he built a shack there. This stark contrast angered the guy I met and he was looking for some way to get the neighbor to either leave or change. It was through this interaction that I saw how people wanted to emerge in the virtual world creating the ideal environment that they may not be able to have in the real world. The massive amount of body shops and body changing areas was also amusing in that people wanted to design their avatar to be perfect a lot of times even though they themselves may not be in real life. Through exploration, the social aspect of my character has started to emerge in the Second Life game world. In following other actions, the other parts of my identity eventually begin emerging in the rest of the game world.

Since Second Life, in various ways can be classifies a "God Game" or "Sim" because it immerses its players in an large interactive environment, in which the characters create the narrative,"manipulat[e] variables"(26), and can greatly affect their social arenas and those of other avatars. In Second Life, each player has control over his or her avatar's social network through friend request (alllowing an avatar to locate another on the map), clique formation, and gathering location. People will only move their avatars in "flocks" (26) by choice, otherwise the program has allowed each avatar to move independently. In Second life, each player can form relationships eith other players. When I played I was teleported to a fountain area where there was a large gathering of returning players and a few new players. Their conversation was very casual, sexual, and comical. There were two players, a man and a woman, who were dressed similarly. They seemed to be the leaders of the crowd and controlled its dynamic. To my surprise, the online conversation was so real. For instance two women were dancing, doing the "eagle" dance from Nelly's song "Drop Down and get your eagle on girl". Another avatar who was watchin told them to "get low", which are lyrics of "Get Low" by Lil' John and the East Side Boys. I just wasn't expecting there to be flirtatious and sexual behavior since the avatars aren't human. As a "sim" game, players can develop both positive and negative relationships with one another in Second Life. On the contrary to the roleplay/adventure genre, Second Life allows its players "generate his or her characters or story elements"(22).This feature maintains the convention first seen in Dungeons and Dragons because it allows people to create avatars using the provided archetypal traits. In Second Life, I had some difficulties when creating my avatar, so my desired appearance has not been accomplished yet. My avatar's name is Devon Malady, and although she has my first name, he fashion style and physical appearance do notmimic mine yet. There was a woman dressed in Dominatrix outfit and her name is Demonique Keeper and there was a man who looked like Jason. They were really scary looking. It's interesting because even as an avatar, I would control my avatar's ineractions with others based on my pre-judgment of their personalities due to theirappearance. Because the creators of Second Life did not create a "pre-structured story", the players can create their own storylines, ""dynamic drama"(22). Therefor the players have a great deal of freedom. Second Life fully utilized the the producer/consumer relationship because the creators have given the consumers a lot of freedom and have created a realistic world based on media influence and societal ideals. For insatnce like Sim City, second Life has incorperated mature areas and content in their games, which is reflective of our sexually oriented society. Therefore, the players have become "co-author[s]" within Second Life (21). In addition, there iis no closure in Second Life, which casues the players to want to return to the game and it also maintains complexity. I believe that the players in the Second Life have the ability to reach the "complexity barrier" because the players are given so much freedom. The storylines, relationships, hobbies, etc. are unlimited.This creates emergence because the social environment of Second Life is unpredictable because the rules are scarce. Second life is "nonlinear" and "context dependent", and therefore it was complex task for the designers to create this game system, a second-order design. The game designers of games like Second Life could not anticipate the players' behavior because the players have the ability to manipulate, use, and sometimes "outsmart" the rules of the game.

The following is my conversation with an Avatar named Troy Alexander, who is a Second Life Mentor. Even though he is not a creator, as a player he has helped facilitate the success of the game by helping new players. When players assist one another they are ultimately influencing the social network by helping one another become acquainted with the online world and people.

Troy Alexander: hi
Troy Alexander: here
Devon Maladay: thanks
Troy Alexander: I am behind you in black
Devon Maladay: where r u
Troy Alexander: turn around
Troy Alexander: cross the path
Devon Maladay: can you walk up to me??!!
Devon Maladay: i c u now
Troy Alexander: right here
Troy Alexander: k
Devon Maladay: this is my first time on
Troy Alexander: welcome
Devon Maladay: thank u
Devon Maladay: im having a hard time
Troy Alexander: dont mind the freaks
Troy Alexander: lol
Devon Maladay: hehe
Devon Maladay: im trying
Troy Alexander: how can I help kitten?
Devon Maladay: not sure, how do i settle in? go shopping? if i want to
Troy Alexander: ok to see shops and such
Troy Alexander: or find just about anything
Troy Alexander: use the find button at the bottom
Devon Maladay: ok, thank you
Devon Maladay: how did u get the title "SL Mentor"?
Troy Alexander: you use find and check places tab and make sure you check look in mature
Troy Alexander: because I help new people out for the games creators
Troy Alexander: I am a building instructor as well
Devon Maladay: oooo thas cool
Troy Alexander: *smiles*
Devon Maladay: and how do i request a friend?
Troy Alexander: you just made one
Devon Maladay: *smiles* back at you !!! lol
Troy Alexander: heheh
Devon Maladay: :)
Devon Maladay: another question
Troy Alexander: ok
Devon Maladay: i have no idea what my face looks like! are there mirrors???!!
Troy Alexander: holding the alt keay use your mouse to look around
Troy Alexander: you look a bit underfed sweetie
Devon Maladay: thank you...don't know if I did it rite! Does my face look aright to you because I became furstrated when I was creating my avatar?!!
Devon Maladay: hehe
Devon Maladay: thanx, my face or my body?!!! or both
Troy Alexander: looks like there is a texture on your face
Devon Maladay: really?!!!!! lmao
Devon Maladay: no wonder no one will talk to me
Devon Maladay: besides you since its your job
Troy Alexander: it doesnt look bad just like a screen or something
Devon Maladay: !!!
Devon Maladay: j/k
Troy Alexander: I choose who I talk to
Devon Maladay: ooooo ok
Devon Maladay: well then I appreciate it
Troy Alexander: I am a vulunteer and I help out when i can
Troy Alexander: what you need is a greeter
Devon Maladay: well homie...i gotta go. Thank you again :)
Troy Alexander: ok take care
Troy Alexander: your very welcome anytime
Devon Maladay: one sec
Devon Maladay: a greeter?
Troy Alexander: greeter will help you further than I can
Troy Alexander: I answer basic questions
Devon Maladay: oo ok
Devon Maladay: thank you
Troy Alexander: look for the second life greeter above the head

I have never been a big fan of PC games let alone MMORPGs. I have probably played MMORPGs for a total of 15 minutes in my life. To me these games took up a lot of time since they were made for massive amounts of people (as the name implies). After downloading a free MMORPG titled FLYFF, short for Fly For Fun, I found my assumptions to be truth. I was immediately deeply immersed in the game once I figured out the controls with the help of a random avatar. After looking around and examining other avatars I found that Bartle’s types held true for this game. I myself am a “Socializer” and an “Achiever” by Bartle’s standards. I tend to want to interact with other people and go around leveling up to increasing my skills and abilities. Unfortunately in Flyff there are not that many people who will take the time to answer questions. I could be standing in the middle of a town with 50 people around me, and not one would answer a simple question. I ran around asking questions and found only two people who would answer my questions. However, once the helpful players began speaking with me, they began telling me more information about the game. It is a game made for achievers, socializers, and explorers. It is rare to see two avatars fighting. As the title implies, Flyff requires players to reach level 20 by acting as achievers and then obtain the ability to fly. Once this ability is obtained, players can then soar through the large map and do even more exploring.

X- Men Legends 2 is a multiplayer co-operative game for the Gamecube that provides an excellent gaming experience. Players must team up and travel through maze- like levels and solve puzzles, all the while leveling up and maintaining the X- Men and Brotherhood skill points. Although it is not an MMORPG, this game is great for all of Bartle’s personality types. Achievers can level up the characters to excel in a certain ability, explorers find ways around the levels to advance in the story, socializers keep the team together, and killers get to beat on Apocalypse and his minions. The best thing about this game is that it encourages those players who specialize in a certain type to expand into the other player types. Killers must become socializers in order to succeed in victories. Achievers must cooperate with killers to gain levels and increase skill points. Explorers and socializers must communicate with killers in order to make it through the maps. X- Men Legends 2 is truly a great game because it brings player types together and encourages them to cooperate with each other in order to succeed.

Adopting Bartle's 4 types of players to MMORPGS Ragnarok online and Shattered Galaxies

By playing World of Warcraft and EverQuest I realized that although the games have many differences, they are similar in regards to Bartle’s player types. Both of these games emphasize the “players” through the vast communication and ability for simultaneous players. For instance World of Warcraft attracted over 5 million players and EverQUest attracted 700,000. These games stimulate character interaction and they allow players’ avatars to affect those of others. When playing, I enjoyed the open communication, but found the class system to be restricting. Therefore I would consider myself a socializer in the sense that enjoy communiccating with other players. In addition, as a new player to these games, it was difficult to find a social niche and learn the rules. As a magician, I could exhibit certain powers, but also had limitations. The strike in World of Warcraft is a prime example of the influence the players have on the game and one another. World of Warcraft is great for the killer type due to the competition and combat that violence/war create. In addition, these games emphasize “acting” through the importance of the class system. The class system is extensive as well as the race factor. In addition to class and race, skills and powers of the avatars affect their status within the community. Therefore my achiever side is timulated through these games because their are "rewards" for exceling within the community and I can gain various abilities and accesories/weapons. “World” emphasis is apparent only through its largely developed community within EverQuest, but on the contrary, interaction is common and stimulated. In EverQuest, my ability was rated by endurance, levels achieved, societal status, etc, which sets restraints, but also allows me freedom in my attempt to climb the social status. I believe that Bartle is through in his examination of player types and has not overlooked any. I feel that as I become more experienced in online games, I may be able to better identify other types.

Fight robotic cogs with gag weapons in Toon Town. Disney's version of the multiplayer 3-D environment closely follows the conventions of an RPG. The style of attack uses role-playing game turns instead of real time fighting. Also there's no way to speed up the gameplay. Your skill level is increased with killings. If you win the battle, your character does a celebratory dance. To help connect the real world with the virtual, the login for Toon Town takes place on its web site where users can see news and forums. The music is happy and upbeat. To teleport between the playground or your house you throw a hole in the ground, which is eerily similar to Mario. After reading Bartles “Hearts, Clubs, Spades, and Diamonds From Space: Players Suit MUDs,” I assumed that I would be an explorer. After all, I've never seen Disney's online multiplayer game tune town before. After walking around the map for 30 minutes I realized that there was a very clear goal: destroy robot cogs. That was a very obvious goal as the game keeps pointing out, however there are other portions of the game that I could not understand at first. For example you are given a house. Also you can give gifts, such as furniture, to your online friends.

I live in Fluor Tower and every night there are video game marathons. The guys on my floor always play and some of their favorites include Smash, Halo 2, and the new addition, Dead or Alive. I have played each of these games a couple of times in the past, but I am least experienced in Halo 2. Halo 2 has been difficult for me, but my skills are progressively improving. Although I am new to the game, I have experienced flow at certain times. I become engulfed in the virtual world because I have to fulfill my responsibilities and duties as a member of a team. Halo 2 is fast-paced because I must constantly move and be aware of my surroundings. This is my means of protecting myself from the other team because I would become an easy target as a stagnant and predictable player. The competition is at the forefront. For instance, I play Capture the Flag and Team Slayer. The goal of capture the flag is to capture the opposing team’s flag and return it safely to the base. In Team Slayer, the goal is to kill the avatars from the other team as quickly as possible because the first team to obtain 50 kills is the winner. Halo 2 is so intense and stimulates my senses. At times, I have played for hours. Sometimes I have felt flow, but my frustration and outside elements have become distractions. In my attempt to master the game, I am acknowledging that I am playing a game. On rare occasions, I forget external elements as means of more efficiently communicating with my teammates and excelling within the game. When playing Halo 2 “time becomes distorted” because my reality becomes the game. As a first person shooter I experience, the first person point-of-view. This realistic perception of the virtual world allows me to experience flow because the tv screen serves as my eyes. Sometimes I become anxious and nervous when playing because I anticipate the attacks. This obstructs flow because my focus and concentration are disrupted in my attempt to improve my gaming abilities. In regards to achieving flow I need a lot of improvement, which will develop as I become more confident I my skill and more comfortable with the game, my surroundings, and my emotions.

Although I have never played the Traveler, based on the reading, I believe that the Traveler is a better representation of reality. Although the Avatars in the Traveler are only heads, the avatars in Puzzle Pirates seem so far from reality because their physical appearances are fashioned after pirates. Although the Puzzle Pirates’ Avatars are human figures, the facial features and bodies are simplified. Even though pirates exist, I view them as being part of a fantasy world. Therefore as a player it was difficult to engulf myself in the virtual environment. As a social metaphor, Puzzle Pirates creates a community that correlates to the theme of the game. For instance, pirates travel on boats, and therefore there are gatherings at the dock. I was asked by a pirate to make a trade. On the dock, as a new player I felt like an outcast. The other avatars were not friendly. I clicked within a circle of pirates to join the conversations, but I was told that there was no room for me to join the chat. I spoke to one avatar named Louina who was friendly. Based on this experience, I believe that the avatars mimic real life in their acceptance of other characters. In real life, people may exclude those who are unfamiliar and need time to become acquainted. Similar to life, avatars form peer groups in Puzzle Pirates. As a player in the game, it is interesting because each player has an “omnipotent” in the sense that he or she can see his or her own avatar as well as those of others. In real life, we are not able to step outside of ourselves and observe our behavior. In addition, when I was standing on the dock speaking to Louina, I could not see her facial expressions or my own. I did not feel a personal connection. This is different from the Traveler because a sense of intimacy is not created through text communication. There is a lack of voice-synchronization and facial expressions. In reference to Lazzaro’s 4 keys, Puzzle Pirates allows the players to experience “hard fun” by including puzzle challenges. There is strategy involved and it creates direct competition between characters. When winning a puzzle challenge, I felt “Fiero” due to my accomplishment. Players can experience “Easy Fun” by doing activities such as furnishing your avatar’s home or going to the store. I am assuming that some players experience “altered states”, but when I played Puzzle Pirates I became bored due to the lack of complexity and realism. This game is not “therapeutic” nor did I get mentally lost in the virtual world created by Puzzle Pirates. In regards to the “People Factor”, I believe that as an avatar of Puzzle Pirates I could form relationships through interaction with other players if I were to play more often. Overall Puzzle Players was not that interesting and as a novice, I found it a bit difficult to navigate and learn the rules of the game.

I went to my neighborhood cibercafe at Korea town looking for playing a Mmpog videogame and the most related game that I founded, from the suggested, was Warcraft III. I had played once before World of Warcraft so I had the opportunity of compare how the administrators of both games “…maintain a balanced relationship between the different types of player” (Brandies R. (1996), Players who suits Mud’s p. 5). I felt between the achiever-explorer type of player more than a killer or a socialiser. The control menu that Warcraft III offered was no clear for me neither for the purpose of learning easily how to achieve the goals and being part of the purpose of the game. I was killed very easily and fast. It took me a lot to learn how to move around and kill others, or at least to defend my avatar so I could be useful for my team.

After I was killed seven times and I had just killed once I felt the fast killers, and my ignorance of how to develop my skills, “were driving me away the game” (p.5). However, I kept trying once more and I realized I could get more info about how to manage my skills, in the world and through the battle, using the chat but I did not. I felt embarrass of being a new Warcraft gamer asking for help in a chat room full of “Double killed” comments (p 4-5), I did not want anybody killing me because my ignorance.

Many gamers like myself at times love mmorpgs and at times also hate it at the same time. The traditional online game has changed into either addictive first person shooter games or mmorpgs that take countless hours to complete and to perfect even as the game is constantly changing with new patches and expansions. In play testing many mmorpgs until I found one that I liked, I realized that in many instances my player type changes depending on each mission and each character that I have. My style of play also depends a lot on which one of the mmorpgs I am playing and how their system is set up.
In the game Guild Wars, the overall interface is relatively easy to understand and to play. I started playing as an elementalist because I wanted to first explore and to achieve at around the same level. Overall, my player type would probably be of the achiever type according to Bartle in that I try to complete the game as much as I can so that I can see the whole storyline. While a warrior or ranger might have been a better choice for just that as an explorer, I also wanted to be able to do well later on in the game and to eventually play more competitively as both a killer in pvp and an achiever in being able to finish the storyline of the game. The storyline and game play in Guild Wars also helps contribute and foster an environment for socializers in that a lot of the missions require groups. In many of these missions, it often takes some time to form groups and to have a certain amount of trust in the abilities of the other people on your team and should the team be successful in beating the especially tough missions, then there is a common bond that is essentially formed even if the other players are from different guilds. The guild factor of the game also plays a major role in the way that the game has towards socializers because the recruitment of the members is not just skills but also communications with even some guilds that are often just groups of friends meeting up online and playing. In playing through most of the games and spending several hundred hours in only a few months, I eventually achieved two characters at the max level of 20 and two more in the process of getting there. For the killers in the game, the pvp segment strongly appeals to them. The pvp world is a playground for both killers and other groups alike. The option to choose a pre-built max level character or to use your own character from the pve world is significant in that it allows a completely different game play and style that has a balance in some of the explorers going to the pvp area and the killers with a certain amount of prey at all times. On my pvp only character, I found that I was very excited when killing other people and this was very exciting to me in playing in the role more of a killer.
In World of Warcraft, the game seems to be slightly less complicated in the way that the system is set up. I chose to be a mage simply because that was what I started off with in Guild Wars so I assumed that it would be a similar style of play. However, because the area and world is so vast, I changed my style from achiever to explorer. The constant need to run back and forth and random drop quests was just very tedious to me making me not want to achieve and diverting my attention. In the process of exploring, I realized that there were a lot of areas where my level was simply not high enough and I was killed instantly. In other cases, I was killed when I accidentally hit attack on someone from the Alliance. I realized that WOW encourages more of killers on certain servers like the pvp ones and encourages other development on other servers. It is also pretty interesting trying to socialize in the game because I became a little worn from trying to level up so much. In this sense, I was also slightly discouraged in becoming an achiever and in turn simply became more of an explorer and socializer where I even tried communicating with someone from the Alliance to see what their reaction would be because I found that they could not understand across the two sides. I also met several other people like that in which they were just playing around and dancing a lot of times at random areas and became quite fun.
In changing to a different game type from Guild Wars to World of Warcraft, I found that my playing style also changed due to the different environment and the way that the balance between the systems was set up. This was cool in seeing how each player may have a main style but will switch with minor changes in the environment. While World of Warcraft was intriguing and entertaining, I found that it was a little weird transitioning and only temporarily playing on a borrowed account so I did not get as submerged into the game play as I could have otherwise. Had I invested more time and effort into the game, I may have changed my style back to the achiever and gotten a better glimpse of the game.

I identify with Bartle’s player types in World of Warcraft and Guild Wars.

In World of Warcraft, I find myself to be predominately an achiever. From the day World of Warcraft came out (I skipped school on this day) to the day I canceled my account a few months ago, my primary goal in World of Warcraft was to create a powerful character by doing quests, killing monsters, and collecting all types of “godly” treasures. When I cancelled my account in September, I had maxed out two characters at level 60, and had another at level 50. One key component of creating a powerful character is, of course, leveling. I wanted to make sure that I gained levels in the most efficient way possible. I greatly preferred to do quests and kill mobiles on my own rather than in a group. Whenever I grouped with another player, I always felt like he or she was slowing me down, getting in the way, or “stealing” my experience and items. Many players (particularly socialisers) often were puzzled at my desire to work alone rather than in a

Powerponts for 1/23 Lecture on the History of Multiplayer Games.

A History of Multiplayer GAmes

Half life 2 is more an agnostic game, based in the categories of world’s games Roger Caillois developed and Czicksentmehiya cited (page 72) in his article “The conditions of flow”. This kind of games are based in the competition, in this case, the principle of seeking together to increase the personal potential and skills, is more based in the relationship human-computer. The player predetermines the level of competition with the computer by selecting one level of difficulty of another, in my case low was difficult enough for my first experience.

I felt Half Life has good sense of flow if I follow the general definition that the article describes (page 74), about how a flow activity is an experience that provides “a sense of discovery, a creative feeling transporting the person into a new reality”.

My first encounter with counterstrike began in a LAN café next to a local community college. My friends all got a free pass for two hours playing most high-tech computers. We were going in there to team up and kill everyone else. There was just one major problem: I had never played counterstrike while all of my gamer friends spent their whole lives online. Counterstrike is a first person shooter made as an online modification to Half-Life where one side is terrorist and the other side is counterterrorist. The objective is to either rescue hostages or prevent a bomb from being blown up. The team that successfully meets its objective or kills all players on the other team gets money. Every 30 minutes the map changes.

It must have been several years since the original release of Half Life and the release of the Counter Strike mod. I still remember running Counter Strike at LAN parties back in elementary school and in middle school off of my insanely slow computer, which would have a 4092 ping even on a LAN server. Back then, the challenge and the flow was very different in that I had to get accustomed to 28.8 k modem lag and eventually to 56 k. By this time I had a slightly better computer although it was not much faster in comparison and would barely cut the minimum specs. However, it was in these dark days that my humble roots as a gamer started and where my friends influenced me into playing. I eventually got pretty decent in that I would get kills even though I would probably be the one lagging servers whenever I joined but it was indeed a challenge. Trying to predict where people were represents not just skill but also luck because it requires either the other player to be bad and not move for a long time or the other player to simply get shot by my bullet.
In Counter Strike, there is agon plays a major role as players compete against one another to get the best scores and best kill to death ratio. Because there are usually players that are better than you, this keeps the level of play constantly competitive and lets the player become more skilled and higher as you try to perfect the use of a specific weapon.
While school and other games have gotten the better of me and caused me to neglect the original Counter Strike, my revisit was very pleasant. I saw many new changes in the game that I had played many years ago. The Flow reading states “Flow is a powerful motivator it does not guarantee virtue in those who experience. Possibility that enjoyment of life is at expense of someone else” definitely applies in competitive games like first person online shooters such as Counter Strike. When I was playing back in the day, the fact that I was using an old computer and using a dial up modem made other people able to capitalize on my disadvantage. However, after I got a newer computer and play on the fast connections at USC, I am now taking the enjoyment of life on the people on slower connections like those still on dial up or even dsl and cable now. While I am a bit rusty after playing other games so much, I was able to quickly pick up from where I left off a couple years ago.
In the same way as the tennis example, Counter Strike definitely creates an experience of flow to the point that I had to stop myself from playing a lot of times because I was so captivated by the game and did not want my grades to suffer as a result. There is so much to do and explore a lot of times. While I was an average player, many of my friends were addicts that would play with me and try to just get me to play at my highest level. It was not because they wanted to see me get killed more but because they wanted an elevated game play. At one point, I was even in a clan where coliberation was pretty high in that we wanted each other to do well because we would play other teams. This improves the experience of flow because it requires another skill set as it is critical to work together in teams and makes one person not enough to save the whole team as random lucky shots can kill people. With this social aspect in the game, it further creates more opportunity to experience flow in the game.
In playing on different servers and clan servers, there are also many modifications from Warcraft 3 mods to low gravity mods to surfing maps. With all the different parts in just the original modification of Half Life, Counter Strike has evolved steadily through the years. While the graphics is starting to become outdated, the impact of the game design and flow has become an integral part of the way most first person shooters are designed today.

Since I lack any basic dexterity and skill for first person shooters, I decided to play Counter Strike as a model FPS.

I have never been a fan of first person shooters for the fact that it takes a large amount of coordination and map knowledge to succeed. However, I really enjoyed my first real experience while playing Halo 2. My friends and I linked up to three X-boxes and played 5 –on- 5 Team Slayer matches. This can be extremely fun, as most flow experiences happen while with friends because of their positive impact on us (Csikszentmihalyi). Our group constantly encourages teamwork and camaraderie to defeat the opposing team. Shouts of “good job” and “way to go!” can be heard down the hall in other rooms.

The game itself definitely produces feelings of flow for me. When I play it seems as though nothing else matters because I am in Lockout trying to defend towers and teammates. Although theoretically as a Spartan I should be more agile, the fact that the game limits some movement adds to the realism. Characters do not perform insane moves to the point where one can get bored. Instead, everyone is limited to the gameplay and thus has to develop their skills. When I first started I kept receiving beat down and assassination messages from the game. I could be holding an energy sword in my hand and still fall flat on my face from a head on collision with an elbow. I had no idea how to move properly let alone use the radar for help. However, I did not start off playing by myself at the easy level. I played with more experienced players who motivated me to improve my skills. Now, even though I still receive thorough beatings, I enjoy my time playing Halo.

Halo possesses qualities that mostly fall under the Agon class of flow. Games such as juggernaut, king of the hill, and capture the flag focus on competition. These really drive a player to contribute to his or her team so that they can suppress the enemy. Halo also falls under the Mimicry class for its science fictional environments. Aside from the fact that Spartans are more powerful than the average human, players also have the chance to experience massive levels that can only be seen within the world of the game. The most exciting level I have played on is Ascension, a level that seems to be suspended in the air with two towers and rotating pillars in the center of the level. There are many hiding points, yet at the same no one is safe from dreaded snipers. Such a map could only appear in the Halo setting.

Overall, I say Halo 2 has been an enjoyable First Person Shooter experience. I definitely had the feeling of flow while competing with my friends. The fact that a player can do slightly more than a human but still be restricted to certain abilities evens the playing ground for the beginners and urges them to perform well. Once a player starts this game there is no end, for the game produces total captivation and immersion.

I experience a great deal of flow while playing Half Life 2: Deathmatch. However, I don’t necessarily get a sense of the flow each individual time I play, it is more of a drawn out process over several months.

When I first began playing Half Life 2 Deathmatch, I was pretty terrible (as can be expected of any new players). I joined some random server and figured out how everything works. I had beaten the single player mode of Half-Life 2, but learning how all the guns are balanced, the new maps, and the effective strategies for online play took some time. I certainly experienced a great deal of anxiety as I struggled to compete with the more experienced players. Rarely do I experience boredom. Even though everytime I play I have the same goal, kill as many people as I can and die as few times as I can, no two games are the same. I never know what the other players are going to do. It is difficult to get bored when each game, each player, each situation is always different. Because I rarely get bored, I’ve spent a good chunk of my time playing and increasing my skill level. Before long, I ascended into one of the elite players online. I became a merciless killing machine, pumping my enemies full of shotgun shells, sniping from afar with the crossbow, and hurling toilets left and right using the gravity gun. I came to dominate pretty much every game I joined.

Soon after, I discovered a certain server where all the most skilled players play. Just as I was starting to get bored and search for new challenges, I discovered that I was not the greatest play of all. It was almost as if I was starting over relearning the game. My kill/death ratio plummeted, which left me feeling, just as Czikszentmehiya writes, “anxious and frustrated by [my] relatively low skill level.” My options were now to increase my skill level or to stop playing altogether. From that point on this server was the only place that I played. I learned the maps forward and backwards, I created a number of strategies for myself, including lurking in the massive projectile-filled room with the gravity gun, and keeping to the area where there are a lot of health and shields and relying on my trusty crossbow to pick enemies off from near and far.

At the moment I am among the elite players on the server. The name “meaty” is known and feared by many other players who play there. In the race to 50 frags, I managed to win about half of the rounds I play, a tremendous feat given the number of other highly skilled players that play there. However, getting to 50 frags first is only my secondary goal. I am most concerned with my efficiency, which I believe is the true measure of a player’s skill level. For example, I would much rather end with a score of 40 frags, 12 deaths, than be the first to 50 frags but have 20 deaths. I should point out that this server has a program that tracks the stats of players who play on the server. At anytime I can type “/stats” and see my total kills, total deaths, and my overall ratio. The level of challenge I experience keeps on rising as I raise my goals. When I first began to concentrate on my efficiency, I set a goal of 3 frags per death. This proved to be quite a challenge at first, but in order to stay in the “flow channel” of the game, I had to increase my skill level and adapt new strategies to meet the new challenge. Once I began to score at this level regularly, I again raised the bar to 3.25 : 1 and eventually to 3.5 : 1. As soon as began to reach my goal regularly, I had to set a new goal to avoid getting bored. 3.5 is challenging to me right now, but I have already raised the bar. I am currently ranked 11th on the server out of over 400. The 10th ranked player has a ratio of 3.71. I’m sitting close behind, currently at 3.63, and I really want achieve my most ambitious goal yet, to ascend into the server top 10.

The experience I receive from this game is almost entirely under the category of Agon, because I feel extremely competitive while playing. I challenged myself with my lofty ratio-related goals, but when I discovered the new server other players provided great challenges too. I have come to recognize a number of players that play on that server as very high threats, I do my best to avoid them because even though I may be able to kill them 60% of the times, that is not the ratio I’m looking for. I wouldn’t be surprised if they try to avoid me as well. Playing with such skilled players certainly requires me to be on top of my game and play to my full potential.

I also experience ilinx (vertigo) to a certain degree. As soon as I start playing, I feel physically different. I need to focus more. Everytime I get a kill, or narrowly escape death I feel really good. Everytime I make a poor play, miss and easy shot, or get killed unfairly I feel a lot of anxiety. Sometimes when it’s a really close game (perhaps I’m tied with another play at 47 frags in a race to 50) I get really tense. When the round ends I can feel my heart beating quickly and blood pumping. No other game has been able to give me a rush like Half-Life 2 Deathmatch.

My experiences with Half-Life 2 Deathmatch are a perfect example of flow. Over and over, I experience more difficult challenges, either from more skilled players or my own ratio goals, a strategy which requires me to become a better player and to stay within the “flow” of the game.

I really like to customize my pet although I wanted one, which was in a limited edition, and I felt frustrated not being able to pick it up. I immediately associated the idea of Neopet with Tamagochi and I though it could be a kind of simple game but after going through the directory and visit the different alternatives the game offers I changed my mind.
My Neopet is called VirtualSoul and his species is Scorchio.

First of all I review how to get food because VirtualSoul was hunger. After I satiated my neopet he told me he was thirsty but I could not find a place to get drink for the amount of money NP I had so I tried in the Mac Donald’s place. After too much advertisement and investment some time looking for a free soda or something I was tired of the basic interactivity the Mc was offering so I got bored and I logged out.

Next time I logged in...

In the game Puzzle Pirates, you are given many options to play as a character that you customize and that you create to your personal liking. While I have not played mmog that are browser based for a long time, I found that Puzzle Pirates was very engaging and yet was not all too difficult to learn and get used to. When I first logged on, it briefly asked for simple information and came up with a missions list. From this point on, the game becomes very focused on the social metaphor because while most of the games are individualized puzzles, most need interaction with other people because it requires some sort of a team to run the ship. While the communication is through keyboard and typing out responses instead of the voice communication like in Traveler, there is still quite a bit of communication going on throughout the game. This communication goes on whether it is through playing a game with a NPC or with another human. This aspect was especially interesting when some strangers came inside of my house and were just looking around. One of them even asked if I had a girlfriend. This was quite amusing to me as I told her that I was doing this for a class assignment, after which she left. The ability to interact and chat with other people using avatars that you can dress up and tailor to adds on to the social metaphor of the game. It becomes a part of the game mechanic in that the purpose of the game becomes more of a place where players can just hang out if they choose to not play any of the puzzles and games. It also acts as a possibility for people to play fictional roles should they choose.
Being able to talk plays a key role as players start to become engaged in some of the puzzles. This helps drive the game mechanics because one of the key features of the game is working together in teams on different ships as pirates and traders. There are several key jobs on each ship that are made up of different puzzles so it is pretty important to be successful. There are also ratings for how each player is doing in each puzzle at every checkpoint making it more important that the player does well as to be seen as a competent player and not just some random new player who does not know what is going on.. The way that the social circles where the player’s ability to chat in is also a key part of the game mechanic in that it helps to let people know who they are talking to similar to the feature in Traveler where the different 3D sound and visual effects work. The design of the game is also significant in that the characters and avatars are purposely designed to be like cartoon instead of photo realism giving players a sense of the fantasy world while maintaining a safer environment than real life pirates would be like. There are even bad language filters that change cuss words to words substitutes to keep the environment cleaner for younger players.
The social metaphors relate directly to Lazzaro’s four keys of hard fun, easy fun, altered states, and people factor. In the case of hard fun, players want to raise their experience to become essentially the best pirate with the most skills. However, they face many different challenges like the puzzles and people around them who may have been playing for a longer period of time or are simply older and more skilled of a gamer. While not all gamers on Puzzle Pirates have this goal, some players are drawn in by this aspect and continue to play even as they get older. For the gamers that are looking for easy fun, the fact that there are so many different islands and different types of games and puzzles to explore. The fact that there are so many people around to play with and compete with comes together in some of the challenges that you can do with other pirates like sword fighting. While there may be some players who offer money for beating them, most players simply enjoying the challenge of playing games with complete strangers to test out their skills and take no offence even when they get completely defeated by a college student doing their homework. The third key of having altered states is clearly demonstrated by players who are simply playing for the sheer emotional pleasure. Even as a player testing out the game for an assignment, I felt the pleasure of beating out other poor players and for doing well on puzzles and achieving even the supposed highest rank of incredible on some of the status checks. The fourth key of the people factor was clearly demonstrated in the girl that I talked to who asked if I wanted a girlfriend. She clearly did not know that I was a college student. However, she demonstrates the point that some people are playing the game with other deeper intentions like getting hooked up online or something even though that may be quite dangerous in and of itself.
To conclude, Puzzle Fighters clearly demonstrated many of the social metaphors that were mentioned in the article and appeals to many gamers that are looking for all four of the key features from the Lazzaro’s article.

NeoPets Online is a browser-based MMMOG focused on raising and customizing pets, playing mini games and interacting with others through battles, guilds, forums and games.

In 7th grade my classmates introduced me to Neopets, a game very similar to Pokemon, but one that really focused on collecting goods and earning more of the Neopian currency, Neopoints. I decided I would try my luck with Neopets once more to see what the site had evolved into. I remember not having access to multiple locations because Neopets had just begun running and the site was looking to create more mini-games and markets. The food shop and the wizards shop were always closed for renovation. Over the past few years the game steadily received growing popularity by creating PS2 games and McDonald happy meal toys. Unfortunately my old account had expired so I had to create a new account. I suppose my old pets were probably in bad shape and wanted the account deleted as opposed to sitting there unhappy in their virtual world.

Remembering my favorite Neopet in 7th grade, I picked up a yellow Shoyru and named it Seraphyr32. The game really takes care of its young players with clear directions as well as suggestions not to create more than one Neopet at the outset. It proves difficult to keep even one pet happy. I immediately noticed the large number of locations available to Neopet owners. The game has improved dramatically since the late nineties with the inclusion of 12 new lands located in the water, the desert, and even outer space. All shops are up and running and restock every few minutes. The battle domes have opened up, allowing interaction between Neopet owners. Unfortunately, I noticed a few problems with the game. The home page advertises multiplayer game play and interaction with other Neopet owners, but at the beginning the options are very limited. An owner starts off with a measly 250 Neopoints and is encouraged to earn Neopoints by playing a variety of games or simply click and refresh the Money Tree. Only then can they have enough Neopoints to purchase 3,000 Neopoint items and weapons to engage in multiplayer battle dome games.

The games section offers many different games, many of which are variations of each other. Without any weapons or skills, the only multiplayer games one can play resemble conventional board games. One example is Kacheekers, which is simply checkers with the Kacheek Neopet on the tokens. However, there is no way of talking to a Kacheeckers opponent, and the only way to communicate is through clicking a button that says “Your move.” The single player mini- games are very similar to past video games such as Galaga and Pong, but they include small changes and the use of Neopet characters. The rest test how fast you can hit the keypads or click the mouse. None of these mini- games involve multiplayer action, but they still possess some of Lazarro’s Four Keys. The games within the land of Neopia are mostly “hard fun” and “easy fun” games that ask for complete attention in order to experience Fiero, the feeling of triumph. Many of the games seem simple and easy, yet once played they present some challenge to the player. Their resemblance to past video games keeps players hooked and attracted. Frustration also comes in the form of purchasing food and items for pets, but there is a sense of satisfaction once an owner purchases a meal. The Money Tree holds various items that other users have donated. One might find strawberry jelly or a bag of Neopoints, but most everything else are “Old Rotten Shoes.” The process to getting started is extremely time- consuming and tedious. Sometimes the games can become a chore, but in the end it is worth it. This is Neopet’s way of using “hard fun.” Once enough points are gathered, a player can buy weapons to equip to their pet. Then he or she can engage in battles with other Neopets and aim to make their own pets stronger.

The Battle Dome in Neopia allows Neopet owners to pit their battles against other pets. The player sends a challenge to a known Neopet and awaits the response. Once accepted, a sword symbol appears in the top left corner of the browser. In battle, a user tells his or her pet to perform an action and it is acted out on the screen. Below that is a box in which you can type a message to the person you battle. This is the Neopian social metaphor and essentially the only way that one can communicate to other players. Seraphyr32 took on a pet named Pugogo, a Neopet that was obviously much stronger and much more experienced. It relentlessly pummeled Seraphyr32 and only allowed my Shoyru one hit. This is the most player to player interaction within the world of Neopets, but it certainly keeps a player attached to the game. Much like Pokemon, the battle dome encourages an owner to search for abilities and weapons to strengthen the Neopet and conquer opponents.

Overall, Neopets is a game that we will see for awhile. Its browser based style makes it easy for young children to play while its mini- games give the older children a variety to choices to stay entertained. Other sidequests within Neopia ask for a user to roam the world in exchange for unique prizes. The game possesses qualities that make a game popular and fun to play. The only place where it fails is having a more interactive and social environment. Neopets has lasted long because it utilizes two of the four keys that induce emotion in players, an aspect that is vital for games to stay popular. It will be interesting to see Neopets develop into a more social game in the future.

Sissy Fights is a turn- based online game where players pretend to be schoolgirls and attack each other's "self-esteem" points. The object is to bring down the other girls’ self-esteem points before losing all of your self-esteem using methods such as grounding, scratching, group teasing, tattling, and blocking by sucking a lollipop or cowering. When your schoolgirl avatar loses, you can choose to stay and watch the current game or go back to the chat room to join or create another game. If you stay to watch the game, then you're allowed to communicate with the other players still in that game.

The social metaphor of the game is that each player, represent my avatar, looks like a schoolgirl.

I will be using Puzzle Pirates to relate to the assigned pieces.

First of all, Puzzle Pirates attempts to be a social metaphor in several ways. It employs many techniques to create a social atmosphere in which a player can interact with other players.

The most basic of these techniques in the ability to chat. When I carried on conversations with other players, I felt connected to them through the game. I could ask them questions about how to achieve certain goals in the game (such as how to level up my sword fighting skill, where to find a certain island or port etc).

The use of avatars gave me the impression that I was being social with other people. Although I’m sure that the avatar types, being restricted to pirates, were far from what the actual players looked like, it still adds a social element. It feels much more realistic to challenge an image on a pirate to a sword fight than to challenge the text of someone’s name.

As I soon discovered, Puzzle Pirates also offers players the ability to interact with one another through challenging one another at various puzzles. For example, I challenged a player to a sword fight, and quickly realized that my skills were not up to snuff. Despite being bested by a player with avatar name “Muffynz,” I enjoyed the challenge. I even wagers 10 gold pieces on it to give him some incentive to play. After he beat me so easily, he said “good game mate” and gave me my 10 gold pieces back (A testament to how poorly I preformed during the puzzle). Being able to challenge players adds a great deal of competition to the game. The very first puzzle I attempted was the Sailing puzzle. Although it was simple to find out and very fun, I felt that I wasn’t achieving anything because it was me vs. the computer. Even though I didn’t enjoy the sword fighting puzzle as much, I spent most of my time on it simply because I could play against other players rather than the computer. I felt the desire to learn the puzzles, and eventually to master them. The idea of developing a reputation among other players as a deadly foe to sword fight or “that fat bald pirate who can hold his liquor” provides incentives for a player like me to continue playing. I feel like every time I play, I can achieve something that will be there when I log on tomorrow (or in a few hours!)

Players can also form social networks. Upon inspecting one player, I noticed that he or she had a rather prestigious title. It did not surprise me that when I challenged him to a sword fight, I was rejected. I’m sure someone with the title “Officer and Bilge Rat of The Cartographers Member of the Flag Silver Dawn,” has much better things to do that deal with common rabble such as my character. Giving players the option to join a network such as the Flag Silver Dawn adds a great deal to the social aspect of the game. When a player logs on, he or she frequently sees the other players in the network. Although I did not get the chance to join one myself, I can see how joining a network would be beneficial. Players in the same network can help each other get better at the various puzzles, take on challenges together, or just chat about the real world. It’s fun to log on and see and socialize with other players that enjoy the game as much as you do.

Puzzle Pirates also relates to Lazzaro’s 4 keys.

For the players who play predominately for “hard fun,” the multitude of puzzles provides a great deal of strategy and skill. Being able to challenge other players of different skill levels helped me discover how good I really was at certain puzzles. There are even tournaments with cash and clothing rewards that are really good at separating the skilled players from the novices. Because there are so many puzzles, I felt like I had multiple objectives. For example, there were certain puzzles I didn’t like at all. I found them difficult to learn and unamusing. That’s ok though, because I can still become the greatest sword fighter in the land.

For the “Easy Fun” players, Puzzle Pirates offers a new world to explore. There are a number of islands to visit and towns to explore. Although I’m not sure how far into the game it continues, there is an initial story line and the player gets certain missions to complete (such as learning how to sail). There were a number of things that I saw and had no idea what purpose it served. For example, I saw a pirate decked out in black gear, and he had a tri-tip hat with a black feather. I went to inspect him, and accidentally clicked on the “inspect trinket” button. I discovered that the avatar was carrying around a skull for whatever reason. There are also a number of shops and skills that I have yet to understand. Having so many things to figure out makes puzzle pirates intriguing to players seeking “easy fun.”

Puzzle Pirates does a fairly good job of altering the players state of mind. The various puzzles really forced me to devote all my attention to the task at hand. Also, the sense of accomplishment I felt after beating a certain puzzle (especially the sailing puzzle) could fall into the “made me feel better about myself” category. Although I found many of the puzzles to be tedious learning experiences and unamusing, I can see how different types of players would really enjoy them. While these puzzles didn’t do a good job or keeping me from bordem, they certainly could do just that for someone who understands the puzzle better.

The ability to create and join networks is the biggest reason why the “People Factor” is well developed in Puzzle Pirates. When in a network, a player gets a chance to meet other players. Because you are in the same network as some other player, talking to them or performing tasks with them seems much more productive than talking to or performing tasks with players not in your network. For example, you can talk about a previous conversation or recall the difficult tasks you took on together. In other words, (depending on how much you play) you are going to see this person fairly often so it is worth being friendly towards them. Competitions such as challenging another player to a puzzle enhance the people factor, as does the opportunity for teamwork.

CTIN 482 - Course Syllabus - Spring 2006