Wanna Talk? Let's Play A Game.
The Kingdom of Loathing and Toon Town both encouraged social interaction. Toon Town had more interaction communication thank KOL because it aloud players to play the game together and at the same time they could talk to each other. Though KOL had a much more limited interactions, the players could still talk to each other on chat but their game play is pretty much done solo. Bigger groups are more likely to happen in Toon Town due to the design, while in KOL the big groups can still exist in guilds, but the groups would be smaller due to the nature of the game play. My first assumptions about Toon Town was that it was going to be dull and repetitive and only little kids were going to get into it because they like Disney. I was wrong, the game was fun, its fun to do things when you are given tasks or missions to complete so that you can move higher up in the ranks. Like in the book, A Theory of Fun by Ralph Koster people would enjoy doing things if its made into a "game" but when it comes to the real world they won't do it because people in real life are lazy. From the name, Kingdom of Loathing, I was expecting some really dark and gruesome stuff, boy was I wrong! Despite from its border line generic designs, the game is still fun. The game is fun because it makes you use your imagination while playing it while than just doing the imagination for you; this game makes you think and read! Above that, you can't be dumb to chat for it makes you take an English test before you are allowed to even talk to other players. I give the game "props" for making people read and giving them a certain amount of limited play so that they could go outside to play. Both games follow the COPPA - Child Online Privacy Protection Act and DOPA - Deleting Online Predators Act. They follow COPPA in that they make sure that if the child is under 13 years of old, they do this by asking for their birth date (in which case the kid can still lie), and if they are the people of the game will send their parents a letter asking for wriiten consent for their kids to use their game. For Toon Town I am pretty positive that they will do this because it is Disney and Disney has enough money to run such a campaign, for KOL I would assume that they simply wouldn't allow kids under 13 (those who honestly confess to it) to play because it does not look like they could afford such a maneuver and some of the content ( i.e. drunkenness status) would not be appropriate (as if they care). The game social system in KOL does a good job to support, enable , encourage and punishing different social behaviors. The do this by setting certain guidelines such as you have to know English and to not bother people by asking for meat or being excessively rude. Toon Town does a good job of inducting new members into their society by giving them tasks to complete for their "training". This lets the players know the ropes of the game and makes them familiar of the ways of Toon Town. Both games foster a sense of belonging in that in KOL you have group in which you choose guilds to be with and you bond and form relationships with your "compadres". Toon Town is the same way in which they have given their players a feature which enables them to make friends with other players and lets them know when the other player is on so that they could meet up and talk and play with each other. The two games are social game and with social games come social players. There are four types of players; Explorers, Achievers, Killers and Socializers. Due to the nature of the two games the Killers are limited in that they are only limited into only killing the enemies in the game; or by in the case of Toon Town by making the "cogs" laugh. The social experience from these two games compared to the games we played in class are different in that in the games we played in class we get to communicate with the other players face to face, while in the internet you don't know who you are conversing with it may even be the stereotypical middle-aged overweight male living with his mother in a dark basement. Either way, playing these games are fun because it lets you make friends with people from afar and you get to talk to strangers.