Tomer Mor-Barak

For this weeks assignment, I decided to look at the dynamic of player types and how they apply to Dark Age of Camelot. From my perspective, this game is great for all the player types in different ways. As an explorer, you have three completely different factions that each have a different continent to explore. The reward of exploration is to see some pretty beautiful terrain and interesting themes based on the faction. Explore the Norse themed continent and you see unique monsters found in Norse mythology and enemy factions that are based on real factions found in the Norse time period. The terrain itself varies from desert, to lakeside, to mystical looking forest. And best of all, there are quests that send you through the vast continent to see some of these wonderful sites and gain experience or items. The expansion packs even send you through deep and dark catacombs or even to Atlantis. DAOC is an amazing environment for an explorer.

Achievers are present in almost any RPG and DAOC is no different. Having the best equipment for your level is usually a great achievement because of the costs involved. The highest level crafters are known throughout the server because of how much time is required to reach that level (a week or more in-game time) and the staggering amount of money needed (usually funded by a guild). The late game content challenges even the most dedicated of power gamers and the rewards are visible to anyone who looks at the player. And best of all, there are no killers to harass achievers outside of the PVP war zones.
Social players will also find a great deal to like in DAOC. Large group combat is almost necessary to both achieve in DAOC and to be an effective killer. And best of all is the downtime associated with either situation. Since regenerating health and mana takes a good deal of time in DAOC, players find themselves sitting down and chatting in groups while they wait for the health and mana to rise. Chatting while crafting is also a popular past time in the game given the extreme amounts of time it takes to craft a single item towards the later part of the game. Guilds are also a large part of the game and there is usually nothing more social in an MMORPG then joining a guild.
In my opinion, the best aspect (and my favorite aspect) of DAOC is PVP and that falls directly under the killers category. The realm vs realm dynamic gives a strong sense of community when you go out and attack members of the opposing realm in a group of your allies. The sense of community is even stronger when a large group (50 people +) band together to take down a castle. The best and most interesting part of PVP is how it relates with achievers. Since DAOC is a game based around the realm vs realm conflict, achievement occurs in being the best PVP player. People begin to recognize and respect you on your realm and fear you in the other two. For DAOC, I definitely consider myself a killer.

Posted by Tomer Mor-Barak at 12:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

For the MMORPG, I played Lineage 2. For Lineage 2, it is clear that my player type is that of the achiever. The only reason I play the game is to have a powerful character. I absolutely enjoy making my character powerful as quickly as I can. The specific server I am on makes it even easier to achieve since Experience and money are dropped at 25X and 35X retail rates respectively. I also marvel at the new and high end equipment that my achievement allows me to buy.

But the game does not lend me many options. Being an explorer is out of the question because there is nothing worth exploring. The environment for the most part is bland and uninteresting. The creatures look unique and interesting, but there is not enough variety for me to go out of my way to look for them. Even the dungeons have little of interest, visually, to make me find new ones.
In a classic MMORPG, the social aspect could allow me to become a socializer because there are usually thousands of players to socialize with. The server I am on, however, only has 50 or so people, so the social aspect is pretty low.
Lineage 2 also makes it hard for me to be a killer because of the game mechanics. Dieing in PVP carries a huge penalty. Not only do you lose a huge chunk of experience that could set you back several hours, but you have a good chance of dropping one or more items. Certain items could take days (real time) of killing monsters to get enough money to buy and enhance. The coupling of these two risks makes it too hard for me to become a killer.

For the MUD, I played LambdaMOO. For LambdaMoo and most other MUD's, it is clear that I am an explorer. Since the environment is not limited by a graphics engine or an artists limitations, it is so easy to get intrigued by the textual descriptions of the environment and scenery. Each room is different and elaborate and usually quite full of imagination. I could spend hours just walking in random directions and trying random things even if it didn't accomplish anything.
Being an achiever I find to be a bit difficult when it comes to MUD's. I am used to playing RPG's (the only games I consider being an achiever possible) with a graphical representation of both my statistics and my power. Achievement just feels empty and confusing in a MUD unless it comes out of exploration.
The social aspect of a MUD is an environment where it is easy to become a socializer since everything is done in text. My problem is that I usually prefer to do something other then socializing when I play video games so this aspect just does not interest me much.
Being a killer also feels empty for the same reasons that being an achiever feels empty. I enjoy seeing my handiwork in a graphical way that just cant be satisfied by text.

Posted by Tomer Mor-Barak at 12:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Of all the multiplayer games on the market, Counter-Strike has to be the game that is most likely to cause moments of Flow for me. The way the game is paced makes it inevitable. You spawn in your base with the rest of your team. You all move out as a group and tension builds as you approach the opposing team. You know that you can only take 2 or 3 bullets before dieing so you focus your hands and eyes for the coming battle. The first enemy comes into view. All hell breaks loose as you attempt to be the first one to pull the trigger while both allies and enemies try to do the same. During these moments, nothing else matters but the game. You try to aim for the head and hope that you do not run out of bullets. You glance at the radar to see how the rest of your team is doing while pushing forward or falling back accordingly. In an instant, it can be over and you could be dead wondering how your opponent managed to outshoot you. At this point, all tension washes out of your body as you watch the rest of the round unfold and soon you will find yourself starting the cycle again.

From my experience, Flow is caused in Counter-Strike by the brief and intense action as much as it is caused by the long periods out of combat. The periods of quiet help build up the tension for the players since they know that a single bullet can put them out of the action. It puts great emphasis on a players life in the game because of how much death takes away from the player. When you die, you may have to wait a long time before you can jump back into the action. The concept of "The quiet before the storm" can sometimes be more intense then the storm that ensues can be seen because of this emphasis on death.

In a normal First Person Shooter deathmatch, you do not experience Flow mainly because there is no emphasis on death. If you die, you immediately spawn again and you are thrown back into the action. There is no penalty in death other then losing your weapons and that is no big deal since they are scattered all over the place. There is a much lower feeling of accomplishment when you kill someone because they can kill you 5 seconds later. There is also no build up in tension because of how short the moments of quiet are in such scenarios.

Posted by Tomer Mor-Barak at 05:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

For this weeks assignment, I chose to play Puzzle Pirates. As far as social metaphor's go, it felt like playing on a professional sports team where you were always free to choose to play a different position or on a different team . Just like in real life, you were paid to play a position on the team. The better you performed in your position (as part of a crew), the more money you were paid. The better your team as a whole played, the more money everyone would earn.

From my perspective, the broader goal of the game is to make money and buy clothing or ships. The best way to do that is to get a job on a ship. You choose a position (bilge pumper, carpenter, gunner...) and play a mini game associated with that position. The better you perform, the more money you make. At first, you take jobs on the public ships that are provided by the game. This in essence is the minor leagues. You do not make much money and get little fame, but there is no difficulty getting a job.

Getting a job on a player owned ship is usually the next step. This in essence is the major leagues. The money earned is many times the amount made on a public ship, but the risks involved make getting the job more difficult. The players who own the ships will want a good crew manning it because more money is made with a good overall crew. At first, your skills with all the associated attributes will be low, so no good captain is likely to hire you aboard. As you become better in the various positions, your rank with the associated skill will go up making you desirable for the good captains.

Another social metaphor that I noticed while playing the game is found in the various islands where people chatted. It felt like being in a medieval aristocracy. Everyone tries to show off how much money they have by buying expensive articles of clothing. I almost felt intimidated trying to chat because of how poor I looked compared to the other players around me. This fact was the driving goal for me to earn money at first. The mini games on the ship encouraged me to continue mking money.

Posted by Tomer Mor-Barak at 06:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Monopoly: When we played Monopoly, it was a frantic and fast paced game due to the time constraints. Until most of the properties on the board were purchased, the social dynamic was simple. You rolled the dice and then decided whether you bought the property or not. If you took too long doing either, people would inquire politely ("PASS THE DICE!!!"). After enough of the properties were purchased, vigorous and liberal trading began. If someone had a property you needed for a monopoly, a hasty trade was set up giving both players a monopoly. Little time was available for banter and socializing because of the 20 minute constraint in class.
Normally, Monopolly is a game with a leisurely pace. Players take their time rolling the dice, buying property and trading. Since there is time to consider and offer trades, complex alliances can be formed as well.

Scrabble: Scrabble in 20 minutes actually made the game a bit more friendly. If you helped your opponent come up with a word quickly, you would get the chance to play more words. The aspect of challenging another player's word because they misspelled it was almost non-existant because of that fact. If someone misspelled it, you told them and they came up with a new word. The main problem with exploring the social aspect of scrabble is that the rules of the game give little incentive for players to help one another because there is little to no benefit to doing so. Scrabble is mainly social because you are playing it with other people and ussually talk while you wait for an opponent to play a word.
Normally, Scrabble is less friendly because challenging a misspelled word would result in that player losing a turn and points.

Posted by Tomer Mor-Barak at 05:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)