Students Blog

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.