Online Games Multi Mass Player That Use Real Money

Massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) are emerging in the computer game industry as a very popular genre. These games have existed since the late 1990s, but in the last few years the market has become increasingly strong. This relatively new genre is attracting a widespread audience, bringing together those who previously enjoyed both pen and paper and computer role-playing games, as well as those who enjoy socializing with other players in a virtual environment. Game developers see MMORPGs as a potentially profitable business due to its widespread appeal, but the reality is that only a small percentage of MMORPGs that are released become a success. This article attempts to determine the many aspects that make a successful MMORPG; it also attempts to ascertain what new and innovative features are expected by the users from the next generation of MMORPGs. This is achieved by looking at and discussing past literature and surveying the MMORPG community's perception of previous and current MMORPGs, as well as their expectations of the next generation. An online survey attracted 122 participants to provide their perceptions of current and past MMORPGs. This article determines and outlines the respondents' preferences in the MMORPG genre, discussing what implications these could have on its future. The survey also gave insight into the respondents' expectations of the future of MMORPGs. We conclude this article with a discussion of aspects of current MMORPGs that the participants would like improved, as well as new features they would like incorporated into the next generation of games.

Figures - uploaded by Leigh Achterbosch

Author content

All figure content in this area was uploaded by Leigh Achterbosch

Content may be subject to copyright.

Discover the world's research

• 20+ million members
• 135+ million publications
• 700k+ research projects

Join for free

ACM Computers in Entertainment, Vol. 5, No. 4, Article 9. Publication date: March 2008.

Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games:

The Past, Present, and Future

LEIGH ACHTERBOSCH, ROBYN PIERCE,

AND GREGORY SIMMONS

School of Information Technology and Mathematical Sciences,

University of Ballarat, Australia

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) are emerging in the computer game industry as

a very popular genre. These games have existed since the late 1990s, but in the last few years the market has

become increasingly strong. This relatively new genre is attracting a widespread audience, bringing together

those who previously enjoyed both pen and paper and computer role-playing games, as well as those who enjoy

socializing with other players in a virtual environment. Game developers see MMORPGs as a potentially

profitable business due to its widespread appeal, but the reality is that only a small percentage of MMORPGs

that are released become a success [Kosak 2006].

This article attempts to determine the many aspects that make a successful MMORPG; it also attempts to

ascertain what new and innovative features are expected by the users from the next generation of MMORPGs.

This is achieved by looking at and discussing past literature and surveying the MMORPG community's

perception of previous and current MMORPGs, as well as their expectations of the next generation.

An online survey attracted 122 participants to provide their perceptions of current and past MMORPGs. This

article determines and outlines the respondents' preferences in the MMORPG genre, discussing what

implications these could have on its future. The survey also gave insight into the respondents' expectations of

the future of MMORPGs. We conclude this article with a discussion of aspects of current MMORPGs that the

participants would like improved, as well as new features they would like incorporated into the next generation

of games.

Categories and Subject Descriptors K.8.0 [ Personal Computing] General – Games

General Terms: Human Factors

Keywords: MMORPG, Multiplayer Games, Socialization, Game Development.

ACM Reference Format:

Achterbosch, L., Pierce, R., and Simmons, G. Massively multiplayer online role-playing games: The past,

present, and future. ACM Comput. Entertain. , 5, 4, Article 9 (March 2008). 33 Pages. DOI =

10.1145/1324198.1324207 http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1324198.1324207

__________________________________________________________________________________________

1. INTRODUCTION

Massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) are a fast-growing

computer game genre; they are multiplayer role-playing games (RPGs) played online

over the internet in a persistent world with hundreds, or even thousands of people

simultaneously connected to the same server. A persistent world is an online game world

that continues to function even when a player logs out and no longer participates in it. A

__________________________________________________________________________________________

The authors are with the University of Ballarat, University Drive, Mount Helen, Ballarat, Victoria 3353,

Australia. Email: l.achterbosch@ballarat.edu.au ; r.pierce@ballarat.edu.au ; g.simmons@ballarat.edu.au

Permission to make digital/hard copy of part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee

provided that the copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage, the copyright notice,

the title of the publication, and its date of appear, and notice is given that copying is by permission of the ACM,

Inc. To copy otherwise, to republish, to post on servers, or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific

permission and/or a fee. Permission may be requested from the Publications Dept., ACM, Inc., 2 Penn Plaza,

New York, NY 11201-0701, USA, fax: +1 (212) 869-0481, permissions@acm.org

©2008 ACM 1544-3574/08/1000-ART9 $5.00 DOI 10.1145/1324198.1324207

http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1324198.1324207

9: 2 ● L. Achterbosch et al.

ACM Computers in Entertainment, Vol. 5, No. 4, Article 9. Publication date: March 2008.

player can log back in at any time and continue from where he or she left off. While a

player is logged out, other players can continue to play in the virtual world.

A player assumes the role of a fictional character and then controls that character's

actions. This genre of games, like the single-player variety of RPGs, focuses on players

carrying out quests with distinguishable goals. Unlike the single-player variety, players

can accomplish their goals collaboratively with other players or may choose to compete

against others.

1.1 Statement of Purpose

The key aims of this research are to determine the evolutional aspects of MMORPGs by

analyzing literature related to MMORPG history and its influences and by exploring

MMORPG players' perceptions and expectations.

This research also aims to discover some of the commercially successful MMORPG's

innovative or evolutional features, and then see if they fall within the players'

expectations. We also explore players' (current and those who played MMORPGs in the

past and still have a keen interest in the genre) expectations of future MMORPGs.

1.2 Related Research

Current research in the area of MMORPGs fits mainly into one of four categories:

(1) The social interactions between players in MMORPGs. In online games,

socializing is a large component of how the game is built, especially in an online

role- playing game, due to the dynamics behind forming groups capable of

defeating enemies and advancing through the game together. Yee [2006] has an

ongoing study on socialization in MMORPGs, in which more than 40,000

people have participated over 6 years.. Yee states that the appeal of these games

is strong for a wide age range of players, who average 22 hours per week in play

[Yee, in press]. Other researchers such as Foo and Koivisto [2004] identified

players they termed "Griefers," who would intentionally disrupt another player's

experience in the game. Further on we will see how the participants of the

survey viewed socialization in MMORPGs.

(2) The different architectures to build MMORPGs. The architecture to build a

MMORPG can determine many different things: How many people can be

active simultaneously on one server? How much control over the game do the

developers maintain? And what up-front costs does a developer need before

launching the game to the public? Many of these questions have been

considered, for example, Kabus et al.[2005] looked at ways to reduce upfront

costs using a peer-2-peer model, rather than what many researchers thought of

as the traditional architecture: a client-server model {Kabus et al. 2005; Saha et

al. 2003; Yamamoto et al. 2005).

(3) The effects of latency on MMORPGs. The word latency is used to describe how

much time it takes a packet of data to get from one designated point to another.

If internet data traffic is congested, the packet may take longer to reach its

destination than normal, which causes delayed actions in the game, much like a

live satellite transmission delay. Even at a latency of 1000ms (milliseconds),

EverQuest, a popular MMORPG, still responded accurately to the player's

actions [Fritsch et al. 2005]. The authors [Fritsch et al. 2005] discovered that this

was so because EverQuest has an action queuing system, whereby many actions

can be queued, and are performed as soon as a previous action finishes. Each

action usually takes at least one second to perform, thus catering to the 1000ms

Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games ● 9: 3

ACM Computers in Entertainment, Vol. 5, No. 4, Article 9. Publication date: March 2008.

latency. Do MMORPG players believe that in the future latencies will need to

improve (decrease) to accommodate a new generation of MMORPGs?

(4) Problems that plague MMORPGs . There are many problems affecting

MMORPGs that need to be resolved to make the games more enjoyable. Some

research has focused on cheating within the game to gain an unfair advantage

[Golle and Ducheneaut 2005]; hacking an account and using it illegally [Chen et

al. 2005b]; and counterfeiting documents to obtain an account illegally ( Chen et

al. 2005a; 2005b].

The research reported in this study does not specifically fit into any of these four

categories, but attempted to use parts of the four aspects as a guideline to create a survey,

which helped to determine the players' perceptions of these features and issues.

1.3 Significance of the Study

MMORPGs represent a fast growing sector of the personal computer (PC) games' market,

so a study such as this may help inform MMORPG developers how to better meet user

expectations, and thus is significant.

As an example, one game in the genre, World of Warcraft (shown in Figure 1), boasts

over 8.5 million current subscribers worldwide [Blizzard Entertainment 2007]. The game

is purchased from a retail outlet at a regular price consistent with that of other PC game

prices; but to log in to the persistent world an additional subscription fee must be paid on

a monthly basis. At the time of writing the monthly fee was $15 USD, payable with credit

card, or a prepaid card purchasable from many game retail stores. The first month is free,

and there is a small discount if three or six months are purchased in advance.

Fig. 1. World of Warcraft.

9: 4 ● L. Achterbosch et al.

ACM Computers in Entertainment, Vol. 5, No. 4, Article 9. Publication date: March 2008.

However, the World of Warcraft is a successful MMORPG. There are many that are

abandoned before development has concluded or simply forgotten, if they make it to a

launch.

In an interview with Dave Kosak, Robert Garriott, a veteran of the game development

business, says:

"It's funny, a lot of companies look at our business from the outside and

say, 'Wow! This is a high profit business! We wanna get into it.' But the

reality is different. Everything looks greener from the outside. But if you

look at our business, how many companies are really making money in the

online game space? There's NCSoft, Blizzard... but outside of a few

companies it's questionable. To reach the sort of volume necessary to make

money, given the costs of development, and the time it takes -- there are a

lot more easier ways to make money than the online game space! Given

those risks, a lot of people have chosen not to invest in these experimental

projects." [Kosak 2006]

The research reported in this study aims to determine what it is that players liked in past

MMORPGs and what they want to see in future games. If developers and venture

capitalists can be further informed about players' interests, it will help to mitagate risk

and make MMORPG development more viable.

2. RESEARCH APPROACH

To meet the objectives of this study, the authors devised three approaches:

The first approach consists of reviewing some factors that had an influence on

MMORPG design and development (detailed in Section 3 of this study). This review

considers many MMORPG aspects and features and looked for their sources. With the

sources established, there is then a discussion of why these features (which also helped

formulate questions in the survey in the next section) were important to the evolution of

MMORPGs.

Taking the second approach, the authors looked at the evolution of MMORPGs, from

their beginnings to the present day (detailed in Section 4). The common current opinion

among many game developers and journalists is that MMORPGs have been through two

distinct generations. In looking through the history of this game genre, the authors

researched online timelines, game community postings, articles, and web blogs to

identify its evolutionary aspects from one generation to the next.

The third approach was a survey of player expectations for future MMORPGs. An

invitation to take part in the survey was posted at many MMORPG gaming web forums;

the results were used to investigate the MMORPG player community's current

perceptions and its expectations for future MMORPGs.

2.1 The Survey

The survey, written with MMORPG player expectations in mind, was the source of the

data for the third research approach. In order to gain a more accurate sample from both

the existing MMORPG community and also experienced MMORPG players who had

taken a break from the genre, the survey was restricted to the participants in those two

groups

The first part of the questionnaire was quantitative. This means that the majority of

questions were multiple choice. Some required the respondents to check as many answers

Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games ● 9: 5

ACM Computers in Entertainment, Vol. 5, No. 4, Article 9. Publication date: March 2008.

as were applicable, while others asked respondents to order the answers in order of

preference; the statistical results can be found in Section 5.

The second part of the survey was qualitative, with the opportunity for respondents to

express their concerns about the future of MMORPGs. These questions were optional;

some respondents wrote a couple of words, while others wrote or as much as an entire

paragraph. These answers had to be analyzed qualitatively, and were separated from the

rest of the survey results in Section 6.

2.2 Sample Size

Survey respondents were recruited by responding to an invitation to contribute to the

project, which was posted on a number of popular MMORPG forums, so the sample

represents a self-selected group. The project constraints placed a practical limit on the

sample size, as the survey was placed online for two weeks only, after which the

evaluation stage had to begin. During the two weeks, 122 people participated in the

survey.

3. MMORPG PRECURSORS

Today's massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) have evolved

from two definable areas: multi-user dungeons (MUDs), and computer role-playing

games (CRPGs), both single and multiplayer; they in turn borrowed concepts from pen-

and-paper Dungeons & Dragons (D&D).

3.1 Dungeons & Dragons

Dungeons & Dragons was built from the epic adventures in J.R.R. Tolkien's novels The

Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings series. The novels include a wonderful variety of

beings such as dwarves, elves, and hobbits, as well as humans. They are stories of good

and evil (the villains are creatures known as orcs, goblins, ogres, and other assorted evil

doers).

In 1974, a company called Tactical Studies Rules (TSR) financed and published the

Dungeons & Dragons game; this was the first tabletop role-playing game [Wizards of the

Coast 2003].

In some form, all MUDs, RPGs, and MMORPGs can be traced back to D&D, so the

game needs to be explained in full detail. Together with a group of friends you lead your

hero, usually referred to as a character, through treacherous dungeons. The only boundary

is your imagination. D&D provides a core set of rules and instructions to follow, but

within those rules anything is possible. When players create their character they must

make a number of choices that dictate the tasks they can perform, their strengths and

weaknesses.

First, players select a race or species for their character, which will determine some of

their strengths and weaknesses, as outlined in the D&D rules. For example, the human

species is considered well rounded, whereas Halflings, due to their small stature, may

have more dexterity but less strength. Dexterity and strength are just two of the attributes

in D&D used to determine the outcomes of many events (e.g., to determine how much

damage a player will inflict on an enemy, his or her strength score is factored into the

equation). Dexterity may be used to determine the disabling of a trap, where a player will

roll dice to determine whether the trap was successfully disabled or not.

Second, players select one of a number of predefined classes, which will determine

what a player's capacities will be. For example, the fighter class is designed for close

combat, so according to the D&D rules a player in the fighter class will be able to wear

heavy armor and wield any weapon, as well as have a large number of hit points. Hit

9: 6 ● L. Achterbosch et al.

ACM Computers in Entertainment, Vol. 5, No. 4, Article 9. Publication date: March 2008.

points refer to the number of hits a character can take before dying. The Mage class is

another example of a predefined class; it is all about magic spells. In this class, a player is

allowed almost no armor, has very few hit points, and can wield only a few weapons

(such as a staff). A player in this class will try not to enter into direct combat but will let

the fighter suffer the damage; meanwhile he/she will cast spells to damage the enemy by

possibly putting the enemy to sleep or via other nifty tricks.

The dungeon master (DM) is an essential component of D&D. He or she is

responsible for setting the scene and creating the story, and assumes responsibility for all

monsters and friendly characters (in comput er RPGs these are known as nonplaying

characters (NPCs)) that players may meet. There is no board to play on; it's all carried

out by role-playing a character and using imagination to set the scenes within the rules of

the game. There have been many adventures, called modules, created and sold

commercially that make the DM's job a little easier by providing a playing board and a

fully developed story with characters and monsters. A computer RPG is similar to a

module, with a pre-built story and world and a computer-controlled DM. It takes away

some of the imagination, but still allows role-playing and character development.

The D&D rules have served as a framework for the developers of computer games. It

made the transition to computers a seamless one, as the mathematical equations could be

translated into programming routines. Recently, the MMORPG Dungeons & Dragons

Online has been released by Turbine Entertainment (the creators of the successful

Asheron's Call MMORPG series) utilizing the D&D version 3.5 rule set. D&D continues

to have an impact on the RPG phenomenon, even many years later.

3.2 Character Development Models

As outlined above, D&D uses a class-based character development system. Most RPG

developers use one of two different systems, namely those that are class or skill-based (or

a mix of the two); this continues to be the case for MMORPGs.

3.2.1 Class-Based System. The player chooses an initial character class when he or

she first creates a character. The class chosen defines strengths and weaknesses: A

warrior or fighter class will generally be able to use many weapons, be equipped with

heavy armor, and fight at close quarters. Whereas a priest class will generally cast healing

spells and other beneficial effects to keep its group alive. The class-based system allows

developers to create a game that requires players to interact and help each other by

balancing their strengths and weaknesses. It forces players into taking one path in order

to advance--once a warrior class is picked, the player will always be a warrior.

3.2.2 Skill Points-Based System. The skill points system can be implemented in RPGs

in two different ways. In both implementations the character upon character creation has

no definable attributes. The first implementation will give skill points to a player as he or

she advances instead of levels of a class. Players can assign the skill points to various

skills and abilities in order to increase their strength using that skill. For example, players

might assign some points to "healing magic" to increase their ability with that skill. The

second implementation simply allows players to gain skill points in their chosen skills by

simply using those skills. For example, to improve "healing magic" a player may simply

cast healing spells more often.

This system generally allows for a more personalized character that is not locked into

a specific set of skills as defined by the class system. It can however become unbalanced

Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games ● 9: 7

ACM Computers in Entertainment, Vol. 5, No. 4, Article 9. Publication date: March 2008.

when players learn of a combination of skills that can make them more powerful than

another combination of skills. If this tactic is used, developers may have to make the hard

decision to balance one kind of skill against another, or not. Changing skills may cause

controversy among players who utilize them.

3.3 Multiuser Dungeons

The origin of multiuser dungeons (MUDs) can be traced to 1978 [Bartle[ 1990], when

MUD1 was developed by Richard Bartle and Roy Trubshaw. They created an entirely

text-based game that could be played simultaneously by multiple users. Game-play was

similar to the Dungeons & Dragons pen-and-paper tabletop game, in that players entered

a dungeon and fought monsters for treasures and experience. The experience would then

increase the character's level of play.

MUDs started off by focusing on the imaginative side of D&D and allowing multiple

users to interact with each other in any way they desired. For example, players could kill

each other openly, and murdering other players was a generally popular business [Cox

and Campbell 1994].

Later, MUDs took a new approach, employing more D&D rules and traits such as

grouping and class-based characters. This is important to note, as future MMORPGs

mainly follow this line of MUDs. Other MUDs such as TinyMUD, however, decided to

focus purely on social interactions between players [Cox and Campbell 1994]. While

current-day MMORPGs do not entirely focus on socialization only, it is important

because socialization is a key aspect in all MMORPGs that are available or in

development.

3.4 Single-Player Computer RPGS

Single-player computer RPGs brought a lot of innovative features to the RPG, many of

which continue to be used in MMORPGs.

Dungeon Master introduced real-time mechanics into the game engine [Wikipedia

2006a], instead of taking turns as in chess, all the action was instant and in real-time.

Wasteland offered open-ended game mechanics that allowed players to complete tasks by

a variety of means. Ultima Underworld was the first game to offer fully rotational 3D

[Gallear 2004; Wikipedia 2006d]. While the Elder Scrolls RPG series tried to immerse

the player into the world through the use of cultures, day and night cycles, as well as

weather effects. All these innovations are taken for granted in today's MMORPGs, but it

is interesting to see when they were developed.

Despite the fact that many MMORPGs fail [Kosak 2006], many are successful and

their profitability has encouraged many software development companies to concentrate

in this area, hence single-player RPGs are now less common. Even Bioware, the creator

of many critically acclaimed single-player RPGs, has recently announced that it has an

MMORPG in production [Bioware 2006]. A successful MMORPG such as Blizzard's

World of Warcraft can generate much higher revenue than any single-player RPG. But

the single- player game is not dead yet, as it still offers well-written stories revolving

around the player, something that is difficult in MMORPGs since there are thousands of

players in the same world.

3.5 Multiplayer Computer RPGS

Computer RPGs that offered some aspects of multiplayer games have in some cases

inspired the developers of MMORPGs. Such games were, and still are, generally played

on a local area network or on an online server. They are not considered MMORPGs

9: 8 ● L. Achterbosch et al.

ACM Computers in Entertainment, Vol. 5, No. 4, Article 9. Publication date: March 2008.

because they only cater to a small number of players. But they did implement a few

innovative features that have crossed over well into the MMORPG genre.

Neverwinter Nights (not the same as Bioware's 2002 game) is sometimes credited as

the first MMORPG (it ran from 1991 to 1997 [(Medar 2001]. The term "massively

multiplayer" does not suit the Neverwinter Nights' server capacity of 200 players. It was

more like a MUD than a MMORPG, as it only had very basic 2D graphics, and players

commanded their characters with a simple set of instructions. Even though the internet

had not really taken off at that time, Neverwinter Nights was a commercial success and an

early indication that an online game could be successful.

The first online RPG was not the only innovation of the multiplayer RPG genre. The

game Diablo and its sequel introduced randomly generated dungeons and items that

extended the life of the game by allowing people to replay the game with different

characters and to experience altered dungeons and items. And a new version of

Neverwinter Nights was developed that allowed players to create their own content. This

capability is being discussed by many developers and players of MMORPGs, as allowing

player-created content could extend the life and world of an MMORPG.

4. HISTORY OF MMORPGS

There is no definitive opinion that is agreed about what constitutes a first, second, or

future generation MMORPG. There have been many discussions about it, and the general

consensus is that there have been two generations already, and the third generation is not

far away. Some people dispute this, such as Richard Garriott (in an interview with Dave

Kosak [2006]:

"Here's my take on the result of the first-generation of games, which covers

everything from Ultima Online to EverQuest and even up through World of

Warcraft. WoW, by the way, was the pinnacle of these kind of games:

incredibly well refined, very good user-interface, totally polished. The

challenge/reward cycle is perfectly perfected. On the other hand, they still

fit the mold [of first-generation games]: the level grind."

Richard Garriott has been in the computer RPG and MMORPG business since their

beginnings, so his comments have weight. However, the fact is that for a long time now,

articles, journals, and most other information regarding the generations of MMORPGs

talk about two generations of MMORPGs; this article will continue to take this line

during the discussion of history.

4.1 First-Generation MMORPGS

The first generation of MMORPGs were the first graphical online role-playing games that

allowed many players to simultaneously play in the same universe. From an online

perspective, these games generally had only text-based MUDs to look to as models. The

other obviously influential factors were single and multiplayer computer RPGs. The

developers' idea was to take MUDs further by implementing a user friendly interface

without text commands and a graphical engine similar to the leading computer RPG's of

the time.

4.1.1 The First MMORPG . Meridian 59 (pictured in Figure 2) is often credited as the

first MMORPG, as it had many of the elements that players associate with MMORPGs,

at least in an early stage [GameSpy 2003]. Meridian 59 was published in 1996 by 3DO,

but went through a beta period in early 1996 which was supported by thousands of

Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games ● 9: 9

ACM Computers in Entertainment, Vol. 5, No. 4, Article 9. Publication date: March 2008.

Fig. 2. Meridian 59.

players [Kirmse], a number that was "massive" and the reason it's often considered the

first MMORPG. Meridian 59 also marks the introduction of the term massively

multiplayer. In 1996, 3DO used this term as well as "persistent world" to describe their

game to the press [GameSpy 2003]. Meridian 59 was also the first game to have a

monthly charging system, as opposed to an hourly rate [Kirmse].

Meridian 59 offered many features that MUDs did, but allowed users to see

everything occur on screen (such as another player waving to them). The communication

system although unrealistic (since it allowed players anywhere in the world to converse

with others), facilitated the establishment of a community. The interface had elements

that are still widely popular today, such as the mini-map (similar to a radar system) that

uses a small amount of space usually located in a corner of the user's screen. It also had a

dialog box, which, for example, allowed chatting and gave detailed information about

actions that had been performed.

With layoffs at 3DO bringing the development team down to one artist [Kirmse],

Meridian 59's graphics quickly became outdated, but the game had shown promise and

paved the way for other developers to jump into the new ambitious venture now known

as MMORPGs.

4.1.2 Ultima Online: The First Commercially Successful MMOPRG . The games

developer ORIGIN watched Meridian 59 with interest, and quickly moved half of its

9: 10 ● L. Achterbosch et al.

ACM Computers in Entertainment, Vol. 5, No. 4, Article 9. Publication date: March 2008.

team from Ultima IX (a single-player RPG of a very successful series), to a new project,

Ultima Online (UO). UO was released in 1997 and is credited with popularizing the

MMORPG genre, as it quickly gained 100,000 subscribers [Koster 2002] by using the

name "Ultima" (an RPG series that had attracted over 5 million customers [GameSpy

2003]), and by engaging one of the biggest games publishers, Electronic Arts, to do an

intensive marketing drive.

Although UO was the first commercially successful MMORPG, it had its share of

problems [Wikipedia 2006c]. Early on there were some technical difficulties, and later

new players were often surrounded and killed by other players for sport. UO was largely

centered on a PvP (player versus player) model, in which players are free to kill one

another and the losing player incurs penalties such as loss of gold. UO offered a large

persistent world to adventure in and created the popular MMORPG game mechanism

called crafting, which allows players to build their own weapons, armor, and other

objects.

Ultima Online is currently undergoing a transition to overhaul its graphics so it can

compete with today's market leaders. Figures 3 and 4 compare what a player sees now (at

the time this article was written) to what the developer Electronic Arts proposes for the

new graphic. Electronic Arts must believe that players find graphics important.

Fig. 3. Ultima Online original graphic. Fig. 4. Ultima Online new graphic.

Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games ● 9: 11

ACM Computers in Entertainment, Vol. 5, No. 4, Article 9. Publication date: March 2008.

Fig. 5. EverQuest .

4.1.3 EverQuest: A Blueprint for Future MMORPGS . In 1999, EverQuest (EQ), was

released; see Figure 5. In the Western world this is known as the second big game in the

MMORPG genre after UO. It had the backing of Sony, and set out to achieve everything

Meridian had tried to do

It created a massive world to explore, in full 3D with contemporary graphics, unlike

Meridian 59's outdated engine. It could also support a massive community, between

10,000 and 15,000 people per server [Fritsch et al. 2005].

Whereas Ultima Online popularized the genre for other developers to take advantage

of, EverQuest brought MMORPGs to the mainstream. At its peak it attracted over

500,000 subscribers [GameSpy 2003]. EQ's main drive was, and is, combat, exploration,

and character development; over the course of its life it has released 11 expansion packs

that detail new areas to explore and conquer.

EQ focused more on being a cooperative model rather than a PvP; it encouraged

players to work together rather than against each other, much like DikuMUD did many

years before it. It is also known as a player versus environment (PvE) model, which

refers to a player engaging in combat against a computer-controlled environment full of

virtual monsters and enemy characters, rather than PvP, where a human-controlled player

fights other human players.

EQ was so similar to the text-based DikuMUD that Verant (the developers) provided

a sworn statement [DikuMUD 2000] to scotch rumors that they had copied parts of

DikuMUD.

9: 12 ● L. Achterbosch et al.

ACM Computers in Entertainment, Vol. 5, No. 4, Article 9. Publication date: March 2008.

EQ also introduced the idea of "raids," which is a very large group formed to overcome

extremely difficult encounters that require the cooperation of many players

simultaneously (a maximum of 72). The players must work harmoniously together in

order to accomplish the goal. Many MMORPGs today have used EQ as a template in

order to achieve success.

4.1.4 Customizable Interfaces . Asheron's Call was published by Microsoft in late

1999. Although it was mostly another fantasy set game, it was known for the originality

of its creatures, as well as its friendly stance towards third-party software, which, for

example, allowed interface enhancements. This is an extremely important element, as

interfaces in MMORPGs can get very cluttered with statistics, menus, items, and

information. Third-party alteration allows for more customizable interfaces, which the

MMORPG community appreciates, as long as the rules and mechanics of the game are

not broken.

4.2 Second-Generation MMORPGS

Most second-generation-MMORPGs had their start in the new millennium. While on the

whole second-generation games are not very innovative (they copied the concepts created

in first-generation titles), they have evolved in most areas. Second-generation

MMORPGs have generally improved on the graphics and interface of the first generation,

since they were able to look back on the successes and failures of older titles and improve

upon them.

There is an extremely large number of second- generation games that have been

released to the market, many of which are never heard of again. This article will focus on

second- generation titles that have made an impact or brought some innovation to the

genre, or both.

4.2.1 Realm versus Realm Combat . The first successful MMORPG of the 21st century

was called the Dark Age of Camelot , released in beta format in early 2001. It quickly

outpaced Asheron's Call , becoming the third most popular American MMORPG [Koster

2002]. The Dark Age of Camelot brought PvP combat back to the genre. It also required

less time for players to gain a character level, meaning it was more accessible to casual

players. But its most innovative feature was realm-vs-realm (RvR) combat, which

allowed massive battles of human-controlled players among the three different kinds of

beings.

4,2,2 Instances . Anarchy Online was released in June 2001. It fought to eliminate

problems created in other MMORPGs by creating "instanced dungeons," more

commonly referred to today as "instances," which are special zones that generate a new

copy, or instance, for each group that enters the zone. This allows players or groups a

private copy of the zone, and ensures that there will be no competition for resources or

for opportunities to kill enemies in that zone. This sort of competition had become a

problem in previous MMORPGs, as players would "camp" (patiently wait in one area for

a resource or a creature to spawn) so they could acquire the resource or the kill before

anyone else. The new "instance" averted this behavior and gave everyone a chance to

experience the content; it also allowed for more personal groups to have a bit of fun

together, without the fear that all their work could be undone by a "camper".

Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games ● 9: 13

ACM Computers in Entertainment, Vol. 5, No. 4, Article 9. Publication date: March 2008.

Fig. 6. Final Fantasy XI .

4.2.3 Multiplatform Support. Final Fantasy XI (FFXI), shown in Figure 6, was

released in 2000. It scored a number of firsts: it was the first successful console-based

MMORPG; and the first to have servers that shared populations from both console and

windows-based PC users. These were innovative features technically, but what about in-

game innovation?

Final Fantasy XI divided its goals into two categories: quests and missions. Quests

are like ordinary jobs--the player performs a task to acquire rewards and/or in-game

money. Missions, however, advance the storyline and the progress of the player-

character, gaining the player new privileges such as access to new areas or an increase in

rank.

FFXI has a very dynamic character-development system. Characters choose a "job,"

which is another word for class. Unlike other class-systems that lock the player into that

specific class, FFXI allows the player to change his or her job at any time within their in-

game private quarters. Changing a job allows the player to experience the game

differently, and eventually a player can acquire a support job. This system allows for a

good mix of attributes, something players look for in an MMORPG.

4.2.4 One Server for All. In May 2003, Eve Online (pictured in Figure 7) was

released. This game chose to ignore the popular fantasy-themed setting and instead based

itself in a fictional galaxy 24,000 years in the future. The game revolves around space

exploration, trading, and of course, space combat. Although Eve Online has not achieved

the subscription records of some MMORPGs, it does have a loyal fan base that continues

to grow.

9: 14 ● L. Achterbosch et al.

ACM Computers in Entertainment, Vol. 5, No. 4, Article 9. Publication date: March 2008.

Fig. 7. Eve Online .

Because Eve Online is set in space and much of the graphics is empty space, it does not

require a hefty computer system to run. Hence the developers were able to have all

players log in to one galaxy, or one server. The record stands at 23,811 players playing

concurrently on a single server [CCP Games 2006]. For future MMORPGs, as games

grow in size and worlds become larger (like the galaxy in Eve Online ), a larger

population per server needs to be implemented for a good player per area ratio.

4.2.5 Player Economy and Crafting . Star Wars Galaxies (SWG) was released in June

2003. Set in the Star Wars universe, the game initially attracted a large audience. SWG

also had the most extensive set of emotes, moods, and associated animations, which, due

to the way it allowed players to express themselves, later MMORPGs also implemented.

A big feature of the game is that almost every item in-game is created by players, from

blasters to starships, creating a completely player-driven economy.

The unique crafting system was also SWG's undoing: players learned to go into

combat with only the best equipment and enhancements, which made characters far more

powerful than intended by the developers. A major update was done to the game to try

and balance this, which left many players with items that were now useless and with a

whole new combat system to learn. SWG subscriptions have never recovered [Tierney

2006].

4.2.6 Highly Customizable Characters . The City of Heroes , an innovative MMORPG

of the second generation, was released in April 2004. Completely avoiding all other

settings, it is centered on super heroes controlled by players, battling the villains of the

Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games ● 9: 15

ACM Computers in Entertainment, Vol. 5, No. 4, Article 9. Publication date: March 2008.

Fig. 8. EverQuest II .

Paragon City. City of Heroes is said to have the most extensive character-creation

system; it is able to customize everything from facial features to the superhero's outfit.

Such customization allows players to be visually distinguishable from one another, which

many MMORPGs fail at: many players with the same equipment end up looking the

same. There is a lot of concern over this particular element; this topic is discussed further

in Section 6.1.4.

4.2.7 Refining the MMORPG . EverQuest II (EQ2), shown in Figure 8, was released in

November 2004. It was designed to keep the best features of the original and remove the

worst, as well as to add new features and implement those that had become standard in

the single-player games market. One of the biggest new features was that players could

become tradesmen by spending all their time crafting items to sell to the game

community rather than adventuring and leveling up a character class.

To try and match the production levels of single-player games the initial release of

EverQuest II contained complete voice-overs for all NPCs [Sony Online Entertainment

2004], by enlisting Hollywood talents such as Heather Graham and Christopher Lee

[Wikipedia 2006b]. Its graphics were also a huge improvement over first-generation

titles, unfortunately hampered by the need for an extremely powerful PC, beyond the

level available at the time EQ2 was published.

4.2.8 World of Warcraft . EverQuest II never achieved a large market share because,

unfortunately, it was released at the same time as World of Warcraft (WoW), shown in

Figure 9,, which currently has 8.5 million subscribers. While largely incorporating first-

9: 16 ● L. Achterbosch et al.

ACM Computers in Entertainment, Vol. 5, No. 4, Article 9. Publication date: March 2008.

Fig. 9. World of Warcraft .

generation ideas, its graphics are a huge improvement over those of the first generation.

With a lower system requirement for the graphical engine, an intuitive interface, along

with an easy learning curve, WoW was accessible to almost anyone, and opened the

genre to a much wider audience.

Although a great success, WoW copped some criticism, with one case of a child

suffocating while the parents went to play WoW at a local internet café [Gibson 2005].

Later that year the Chinese government enforced strict rules and limits to playing time

[BBC News 2005].

4.3 Summary

In general, first-generation games were an experimental phase, during which developers

created a new genre out of older ones. The second generation is happening now:

developers are currently releasing much more polished games based on first-generation

ideas. There is still a little bit of experimentation taking place, but the major innovations

appear to be in graphics. In order to create a third generation, developers will have to

continue to evolve many MMORPG game mechanisms, and the improvements will

include, but not be limited to, graphics.

5. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This section will discuss the results of the survey's quantitative questions, which was

conducted to gather information about what the players' expected of MMORPGs.

Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games ● 9: 17

ACM Computers in Entertainment, Vol. 5, No. 4, Article 9. Publication date: March 2008.

What MMORPG(s) are you c urrently play ing?

4

4

5

5

6

7

7

7

8

8

11

16

18

22

38

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

Other - Beta Testing

Other - Ot her Genre

Lineage 2

Other - Futuris ti c

Everquest II

Guild Wars

Silkroad Online

Star W ars Galax ies

City of Heroes/Villians

Saga of Ryz om

Other - Free M MORPG

Other - Fantas y

Eve Online

None at the M oment

World of Warc raft

Fig.10. MMORPG(s) the respondents were playing.

5.1 Distribution of Respondents

The 122 respondents to the survey had very different tastes. As expected, respondents

who played World of Warcraft constituted the largest percentage of players: 31% of all

respondents were currently investing time and money in World of Warcraft . The chart

below (Figure 10) shows the distribution of the survey respondents and the games they

were playing. As we can see, the total number of games played exceeds 122, as some

respondents were playing more than one game at the same time.

Some MMORPGs were played by a few respondents only, so the researchers sorted

games with fewer than five players into the "Other" categories. Figure 10 shows five

categories classed as "Other," for example, "Other – Fantasy" is made up of a few

MMORPGs with a fantasy setting.

The other thing of note here is that a large percentage of currently-played MMORPGs

fall within the fantasy genre, with a smaller percentage of respondents turning to

futuristic and/or science fiction MMORPGs. It is interesting to see that 22 of the

respondents (18%) were not playing any MMORPG at the time they submitted their

survey. They took the time to participate, and hence are interested in MMORPGs and

their future, so are these respondents ready for something new?

The respondents were also quite experienced in the genre: over 80% had played

MMORPGs for two years or more, and 73% had played more than four games in this

genre.

5.2 Favored Genres

Respondents were asked what other game genres they liked to play; the results can be

seen in Table I.

9: 18 ● L. Achterbosch et al.

ACM Computers in Entertainment, Vol. 5, No. 4, Article 9. Publication date: March 2008.

Table I. What other Game Genres do Respondents Play?

What other game genres do you pay? Frequency Percent

Role-Playing (Single Player) 107 87.7

Strategy 105 86.1

Adventure 84 68.9

Action 83 68.0

Shooter 83 68.0

Fighting 54 44.3

Simulator 54 44.3

Puzzle 42 34.4

Racing 36 29.5

There are two genres that stand out. The single-player variety of role-playing games

and strategy games were played by almost the entire survey base. The next three most-

played genres were action, adventure, and shooter games, played by 68% of the

respondents. The rest of the genres failed to attract more than 45% of interested players,

suggesting that those games would not be a good avenue for a new innovative

MMORPG. They may, however, fill a niche market, as long as the developers are willing

to accept this early on, and plan for it when purchasing equipment and servers.

MMORPG players may like a bit of strategy in their role-playing game, as evidenced

by role-playing games and strategy games being the respondents favored genres. The

strategic element already occurs in some second-generation games, where players are

forced to work cooperatively with a variety of different character types in order to

achieve a goal, such as defeating a dragon. The strategies for reaching such goals can

sometimes be very complex, and there are many guides on the internet to help players do

so, as well as videos showcasing strategies on free video-hosting websites like "Google

Video Australia" and "YouTube Broadcast Yourself".

Action, adventure, and shooter genres can sometimes be mixed together very

effectively, so it is no surprise that they had very similar (numbers of) responses in the

survey. There are also many games currently in development combining MMORPGs

with first-person shooters (FPS). This sort of innovation may be something the

MMORPG community has been looking for, considering just over two-thirds of those

surveyed enjoy these genres.

5.3 Respondents' Preferences

In the survey, respondents were asked a series of questions which aimed to discover their

preferences for various aspects of all MMORPGs, not just those specific to a particular

generation. The questions required the respondents to select only their top five responses,

rather than selecting every response they agreed with. This forced respondents to

prioritize; for example, to the question "What are the features you like the most?" there

were 16 features available, but the question requires respondents to choose, in ranked

order, only the five that are most important to them.

Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games ● 9: 19

ACM Computers in Entertainment, Vol. 5, No. 4, Article 9. Publication date: March 2008.

Table II. MMORPG Game Settings: Respondents' Top Five Preferences

Setting

Fantasy/

Medieval Futuristic

Post

Apocalyptic

Outer

Space Contemporary

Other

Setting

Mean Rank 1.69 2.69 3.30 3.33 4.10 2.64

The first question, 'What game setting in MMORPGs would you prefer to play?'

contains only five settings to choose from, but respondents were allowed to create their

own "Other" category as well. With a small number to choose from and only 36 of 122

respondents citing an "Other" category, the settings from the survey were ranked

according to the top five settings. Table II shows the mean rank of each setting, which is

the average rank that respondents assigned to each setting. The order of preference for the

game settings are fantasy/medieval with a mean rank of 1.69; futuristic at 2.69; followed

by post-apocalyptic and outer space both at approximately 3.3; and lastly, contemporary,

with a mean rank of 4.1. It seems it would be a poor choice for a developer to make an

MMORPG set in a modern world.

Looking at Section 5.1, most respondents are either playing MMORPGs set in a

fantasy world or a futuristic world. As shown in Table II, these players do not want to

change, with most ranking fantasy and futuristic settings as their first or second

preferences. The first generation of MMORPGs (Section 4) consisted of fantasy-based

games only; the second generation, while encompassing a large number of games, is still

mainly set in a fantasy world, but also includes futuristic settings. The preferences

outlined in Table II show that these setting are still popular with MMORPG players, as

the majority of respondents preferred them, and the market for them is still strong.

Even if more settings were available to choose from, it is doubtful that there would

have been much difference for the top two, as only 36 respondents chose the "Other"

category. These respondents very rarely ranked their own "Other" setting as their number

one preference, instead they chose either fantasy or futuristic settings. The most popular

among the "Other" settings was the historical one, with 11 people adding it to their

rankings. If the historical setting were given as a sixth choice, it would be interesting to

see if more respondents ranked it highly. The rest of the "Other" options such as

cyberpunk, horror, and alternate reality, or a cross of fantasy and futuristic genres did not

fare as well, with only three respondents citing each of them.

The respondents were asked "What are the features in MMORPGs you like the

most?" They had 16 features to choose from, with the choice of selecting a feature that

was not on the list by using the "Other" option. But the question required respondents to

choose in ranked order only those five features that were most important to them. Table

III outlines their responses.

Looking at the "Total" rows will help determine the number of respondents that

included a given feature in their top five. Of 122 respondents, 78 chose to rank "Lots of

Class/Skill Options" as one of their top five features; it received the highest rating, with

22 of 78 respondents rating it as the top feature to be included in an MMORPG.

The top five features that respondents found important were "Lots of Class/Skill

Options," "Graphics and Effects," "Large World to Explore," "Player versus Player

Combat," and finally, the "Socialization" aspects of MMORPGs. The "Lots of Content"

9: 20 ● L. Achterbosch et al.

ACM Computers in Entertainment, Vol. 5, No. 4, Article 9. Publication date: March 2008.

Table III. Respondents' Top Five MMORPG Features

Frequency

Lots of

Class/Skill

Options

Graphics

and

Effects

Large World

to Explore

Player vs

Player (PvP) Socialization

Lots of

Content

Rank 1 22 12 13 19 16 9

Rank 2 16 11 10 10 11 16

Rank 3 21 16 19 10 11 6

Rank 4 8 15 6 11 8 14

Rank 5 11 17 12 8 7 6

Total 78 71 60 58 53 51

Elaborate

Crafting

System

Solo

Content

Player vs

Environment

(PvE)

Rich World

History and

Lore

Small Group

Content

Extensive

Story

Telling

Rank 1 6 5 0 7 2 1

Rank 2 12 6 7 5 4 5

Rank 3 5 6 7 5 3 3

Rank 4 9 10 11 4 3 5

Rank 5 7 11 10 5 9 5

Total 39 38 35 26 21 19

Low

Latency Instances

Raid

Content

Low System

Requirements

Other

Feature

Rank 1 2 3 0 1 5

Rank 2 1 0 3 0 5

Rank 3 3 1 0 1 4

Rank 4 4 4 7 2 1

Rank 5 4 2 0 1 5

Total 14 10 10 5 20

feature cannot be ignored either, as it only fell two votes short of "Socialization," in fifth

place.

The features that failed to attract much interest were "Instances," "Extensive

Storytelling," "Low Latency," "Low System Requirements," and "Raid Content". This

does not necessarily mean all players would like these features removed, but that

respondents do not rate them as highly as other features on the list.

A further question that respondents were asked to rank is "What are the worst issues

that plague MMORPGs?" There were nine issues to choose from, with the option to state

an issue not on the list by using the "Other" feature. While there were not as many issues

to choose from as there were features in the previous question, it still required the

Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games ● 9: 21

ACM Computers in Entertainment, Vol. 5, No. 4, Article 9. Publication date: March 2008.

respondent to prioritize what they considered the most serious issues; Table IV outlines

their responses.

The "Total" row will show how many respondents included a given issue in their top

five worst issues.

Of all the issues, "Exploits, Cheats and Item Duping" was selected by 100 (82%) of

the 122 respondents' as one of the top five issues; it was also most frequently ranked as

the number one issue. Considering this, developers should be extremely careful and

implement security measures to stop players from exploiting the game system to gain

unfair advantage over other players. The other three high-ranking issues were "Running

Out of Game Content," "Player Griefing," and "Real-World Services". 'Running Out of

Game Content' was an important problem for MMORPG game players, and "Lots of

Content" was valued highly by them. This means that players are interested in bigger

game worlds with enough content to keep them happy for years. As MMORPG players

are already playing these games for long periods of time, they want to see many more

activities and goals within these worlds.

The least problematical issues for the respondents were "Downtime Between Battles,"

that is, the time it takes to recover from a battle in order to initiate another encounter, and

"Competition for Resources," competing with other players for resources to help win the

game. In fact some players were adamant that this was not a problem at all, but was a

feature, suggesting that competition was a healthy part of MMORPG.

Table IV. Respondents' Top Five MMORPG Problem Issues

Frequency

Exploits,

Cheats, Item

Duping

Running

Out of

Content

Playing

Griefing

Real-World

Services

Camping Rare

Items/Spawns

Rank 1 32 21 18 19 4

Rank 2 29 16 21 13 17

Rank 3 16 16 10 14 14

Rank 4 13 14 16 19 14

Rank 5 10 22 19 14 9

Total 100 89 84 79 58

Downtime

while LFG

Ninja

Looters

Downtime

Between

Battles

Competition

for

Resources Other Issue

Rank 1 5 2 5 0 16

Rank 2 12 3 5 1 4

Rank 3 15 22 6 3 4

Rank 4 15 11 7 5 4

Rank 5 7 10 16 7 3

Total 54 48 39 16 31

9: 22 ● L. Achterbosch et al.

ACM Computers in Entertainment, Vol. 5, No. 4, Article 9. Publication date: March 2008.

When respondents ranked problems in the "Other" column, "High Latency" was

among the top five. As a feature, however, "Low Latency" was not ranked very highly.

We assumed that respondents felt that there were more important features to evaluate, so

they cited latency as a problem instead; in most cases they ranked it as number one.

Respondents agreed on a few "Other" problems: In particular, they felt the

level/monster "grind" was a concern, as it became "repetitive and boring" to kill monsters

over and over again using the same basic strategy in each battle so that their character

could gain experience and access to new abilities and spells. A few respondents also

placed "Lack of Role Playing Support" among their top five problems; although it seems

actual role- players (those who tend to act within character at all times (e.g., if a player

undertakes the role of a knight, that player expects everyone to address him as 'Sir') are

declining as MMORPGs are being accepted and enjoyed by a much wider audience.

Class- and skill-based character development models are discussed in Section 3.2. In

the survey, respondents were asked which style of character development they preferred,

with the option to choose a combination of the two methods. The respondents were

strongly in favor of either the "Skill-Based" or the "Combination of Class- and Skill-

Based" as shown in Table V. Less than 10% of respondents preferred a system that is

totally class-based. Class-based games are very restrictive, in that depending on the class

a player chooses, he or she is limited to a specific set of abilities defined by the class. It is

apparent from these results that players do not wish to be restricted in such a manner:

they either want to build up the skills of their choice, or if they enjoy belonging to a class

of characters, they like to be able to differentiate themselves from others by choosing

abilities within that class.

The results of the respondents' preferences reflect a mostly male audience, as only 6 out

of the 122 respondents were female. In particular, the few females who responded

preferred adventure, strategy, and role-playing games. Interestingly, none of the females

ranked graphics very highly; the most popular features were solo content and

socialization, which is contradictory, suggesting that the sample size was too small.

6. QUALITATIVE DISCUSSION OF FUTURE MMORPGS

This section discusses in some detail the answers that respondents gave to the open

questions at the end of the survey. Many of the respondents' answers were short and to

the point (e.g., "Improve PvP"), which did not leave much room for discussion. But some

answers were quite detailed, providing insight into respondents' expectations. The

comments contained a lot of jargon and abbreviated English, so for readability the results

are presented in summary form.

Table V. Respondents' Preferred Character Types

Character Type Preference Frequency Percent

Class-Based 13 9.8

Skill-Based 54 40.6

Combination of Class/Skill 55 41.4

Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games ● 9: 23

ACM Computers in Entertainment, Vol. 5, No. 4, Article 9. Publication date: March 2008.

6.1 Improving Existing MMORPG Features

This section summarizes the response to the following question: "If your perfect

MMORPG were to be released tomorrow, what three EXISTING features would you like

to see improved?"

6.1.1 Player versus Player Combat ( PvP). Many respondents spoke out more

strongly about PvP than any other feature that they would like improved. In fact, 27

respondents, a little less that one quarter, at least mentioned that PvP needs improvement,

and some were more vocal and outlined their concerns. PvP was also among the top five

features that respondents liked, so it is no surprise that they want it to evolve beyond its

current level.

There were a few noteworthy comments as to how PvP could be improved. Some

respondents wanted the PvP rules to be less restrictive; another suggested that PvP was

not truly balanced between classes; the balance of classes in PvP combat usually follow a

"rock, paper, scissors" format, where class A will always beat class B, which in turn can

beat class C, which can finally beat class A. The respondent suggested that this needed to

change, with all players having an equal chance to defeat each other.

One of the common themes in comments on PvP games was the need to motivate

large-scale battles. For example, why do factions fight each other? Some suggestions for

motivation include gaining territory (e.g., one faction can besiege a castle and take it over

from another faction).

6.1.2 The Level Grind . Respondents were quite vocal about "The Level Grind". In

order to advance their character's level, and hence access newer and harder content,

players had to repeatedly kill monsters, using basically the same strategy over and over

again; players call this level grinding , or simply grinding . They see it as a major problem

that needs improving.

Some respondents commented that they know the grind is inevitable, but developers

should take greater care to cover it up, rather than sending players on multiple quests that

are simply "Kill X amounts of creature Y".

One respondent commented that the grind is simple repetition, which forces the

player into a routine like this: player enters outpost and stocks up on healing items;

player kills as many monsters as he/she can; when the player is low on resources he/she

returns to the outpost for more supplies; the cycle repeats.

While many respondents simply answered "Improve Level Grind," with no real

suggestions on how to do so, this issue is something to which developers need to pay

special attention.

6.1.3 Storyline, World Lore, and Immersion . This category received more detailed

answers than most other categories. Roughly 20 respondents commented on storyline,

world lore, immersion, or a combination of these. In particular, respondents were

concerned with the way questing was handled by the MMORPGs they play. Quests allow

a player to break away from the "grind" and become immersed in the plight of the NPC

that issued the quest. However, as stated in Section 6.1.2, many quests are more like

chores, forcing players to "grind" by killing X amounts of creature Y.

One respondent suggested that developers should distinguish a quest from a job; a

few others tended to agree. One respondent wrote:

9: 24 ● L. Achterbosch et al.

ACM Computers in Entertainment, Vol. 5, No. 4, Article 9. Publication date: March 2008.

"Need to earn money? Get a job (used to be called quest) to kill some rats

or pickup the job givers Dry Cleaning. Have quests be very special and

meaningful from a roleplaying point of view."

The respondent suggests that jobs can be us ed to earn in-game currency, and can be as

simple as picking up or delivering an item, or a military task that requires killing certain

creatures, or escorting an NPC. A quest, however, should be story-driven and more

meaningful within the lore of the game world. In any case, the respondents are asking for

improvements in questing and in the storyline.

Other comments referred to developing the worlds further via ecosystems that allow

hunting and harvesting in order to give a greater sense of immersion in that world.

6.1.4 Graphics and Effects . Graphics is another category that many people would like

improved. Apart from a few interesting comments, many respondents failed to explain

what aspects needed work: 25 respondents stated that graphics needed improvement, and

as it ranked number two among the MMORPG's top features, it is no surprise that many

respondents want it to evolve with the genre.

Although the information in Section 5 shows that having MMORPGs with low

system requirements is not a priority, a few respondents commented that they would like

to see graphics improved, but not at the expense of requiring newer technology. This is a

problem faced by many current MMORPG developers. They are trying to reach a

graphics standard for single-player games, but with all the technological requirements for

an MMORPG, a stable acceptable frame rate is harder to achieve.

Fig. 10. Oblivion : A recently released single-player

RPG. Fig. 11. Lord of the Rings Online: A recently released

MMORPG.

Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games ● 9: 25

ACM Computers in Entertainment, Vol. 5, No. 4, Article 9. Publication date: March 2008.

With reference to single-player games, a few respondents commented that such games

have much better graphics than do MMORPGs (Figures 10 and 11), and they would like

to see the gap close, especially artistically as opposed to technically. What they mean is

that the artwork in these games is poor, even when the game engine is capable of

producing much better-quality graphics at no performance cost to the consumer.

Finally, much was written about the customization of a character's visual appearance.

The respondents are fed up that their heroes may look exactly like every second person

who shares the same armor or character class as them. Respondents are asking for full

customization of facial features, shape and skin tones, body shape, and the ability to

customize armor and weapons.

6.1.5 Content and Updates. A few responders mentioned improving the rate at which

new content and updates were released, but provided only a couple of detailed comments.

The first respondent looked at raid content, which in MMORPGs can only be completed

with a lot of players banding together. The respondent felt that raid content needed more

engaging battles, with strategies to defeat the enemies, rather than everyone in the raid

using their full arsenals to overpower the enemy as quickly as possible.

Another respondent was concerned about the amount of time developers took to fix a

game bug that could potentially alter the game experience. Many MMORPG developers

make updates at long intervals of a month or more, as opposed to fixing bugs as they are

found. However, this turn-around time is still much faster than for single-player games,

which may or may not even have their bugs fixed. The problem is that MMORPG players

are committed on a long-term basis, not just to the game but financially as well. Due to

the subscription fees (or other revenue models in place), players expect more from the

developer, especially faster response times.

6.1.6 Classes and Character Skills . The option of having many classes and character

skills was the number one feature selected by the respondents. They simply loved the

ability to play many different kinds of characters, so it was surprising that there were not

a lot of comments on how to improve these features.

Many short comments simply stated that a skills-point system should be used to for

character development rather than classes; this reflects the results in Section 5.3. Another

comment was against this, stating that classes in combination with skills should continue

to be used, but that this could be implemented without the use of levels. We assume that

this means that instead of gaining experience points that would increase the character's

level, the player would gain skill-points, so as to assign and increase the capabilities of

his or her class.

The other big problem with classes is that they are not balanced for all types of game-

play. One class may have an advantage in PvP combat (in which the player fights against

human opponents) while being disadvantaged at PvE combat (in which the player fights

against computer-controlled opponents). A result of this is that some classes are much

more desirable than other classes for groups attempting PvE content, and vice-versa for

PvP content. The respondent wants this area looked at, giving all classes some balance.

However, skills may be suited to this in-balance-- after all, players with this character

development system choose their skills, and henc e the type of combat they will excel in.

9: 26 ● L. Achterbosch et al.

ACM Computers in Entertainment, Vol. 5, No. 4, Article 9. Publication date: March 2008.

6.1.7 Technical Enhancements . Some respondents found the artificial intelligence

(AI) of the computer-driven NPCs unacceptable. Twelve respondents stated that the AI

needs improvement. In particular, one comment states:

"NPC subroutines need to be either thoroughly upgraded or done away with

entirely. As it stands, NPC interaction, or the lack of such, serves only to

support the static nature of contemporary MMO[RP]Gs."

This statement refers to the reduced immersion in the game world which can lower a

player's suspension of disbelief. These NPCs are not serving their purpose. In Section

6.2.10, respondents talk about new ways to improve NPC interaction.

There were also a few comments regarding upgrading the game engine so as to

include collision detection and game physics. Many single-player games such as Oblivion

and the faster-paced Half-Life 2 have these features, and the MMORPG community is

asking for them also.

6.1.8 Item Crafting and Player Economy . In some MMORPGs, players gather

resources as they adventure in the game world, and with these resources they can create

their own items by means of a crafting system.

The current crafting iterations seem to be either undervalued or poorly executed.

Respondents claimed that the goods they craft are sometimes of less value to other

players than the resources used to create them. The items that can be obtained by

defeating enemies in most MMORPGs are generally more powerful than any item that a

player can craft, which devalues the crafting systems.

Other respondents claimed that executing crafting simply makes it a minor diversion

from the main game. They believe that the time taken to learn a craft should be time well

invested. For example, one respondent wrote:

"Meaningful crafting: Currently you get part A and Part B to make item C.

Why not add tools, plans and other concepts to make for variety [with]

different results."

Most responders acknowledged the importance of economy in a game, but some were

concerned about the stress it could create by pressuring the players to "grind" for in-game

money just to support the various costs such as personal housing in the virtual world.

6.1.9 Combat and Skill. Many respondents stated that playing combat system in

current MMORPGs does not require a lot of skill. One commenter goes so far as to say

that the combat system in the game he/she plays requires him to press a button and then

he can go to sleep while the character auto-attacks the enemy to death. Such respondents

would like some personal skill to be involved in determining the outcomes of battles.

There were some suggestions to alter combat systems: one was to allow patterns and

unique combat moves from various key- and mouse-click combinations.

There were other comments about reworking the combat system entirely. One

respondent suggested that players should fall unconscious first, before dying, thus

allowing other players to save them before death can occur. Another comment was that

Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games ● 9: 27

ACM Computers in Entertainment, Vol. 5, No. 4, Article 9. Publication date: March 2008.

enemy NPCs should function more like human-controlled players, and hence provide

more interesting battles, since NPCs currently behave predictably in combat.

6.1.10 Downtime . There were some respondents who commented on the time,

referred to as downtime , that is wasted in MMORPGs by looking for a group of players to

quest with, in travelling between places, and in preparing for combat. Concerned

respondents want to see this improved. Downtime while looking for a group and

downtime between battles do not rate highly as separate issues in Section 5, but

combined as downtime they make more of an impact. This has been a problem since the

early MMORPGs, and needs looking into by developers. Some respondents report that it

can take hours to find a group that has the same objectives as them. To resolve this

problem one respondent suggested the following:

"When I have 1-2 hours to play, I don't want to wait an hour to find the

perfect group. If you could rent the services of henchmen, it would solve

that problem."

With the ability to hire an NPC henchman, or possibly a whole team of henchmen, the

player would be able to complete objectives when he or she does not have the time or the

patience to look for a group.

6.2 Adding New MMORPG Features

This section summarizes responses to the following question: "In your perfect

MMORPG, if it were released tomorrow, what are the three new features you would like

to see that do not currently exist in MMORPGs?"

6.2.1 Player Impact in the Game World. Many respondents believe that their

characters should be able to make an impact in the game world that would completely

change it forever. In many current MMORPGs, creatures and NPCs that are part of a

quest are reset each time a player completes the quest so that the next person can attempt

to do the same. This is commonly referred to as respawning. When a creature that was

killed is reset in the world in full health it is said to have respawned. One respondent

suggested that the developers permanently alter the world so that creatures or quests did

not respawn. The problem is that sooner or later there would be no quests left to complete

and no monsters left to kill, as the players would have completed or killed them all. The

developer would have to constantly create new content quicker than the players could

complete it. This is simply not feasible.

Many respondents did, however, make some feasible suggestions that could be added

to an MMORPG. Quite a few respondents wished to have some sort of seats of power, a

faction leader or a king, for example. With this in mind, they wished to be able to

overthrow the existing faction or kingdom and become the leader (if only until the next

player overthrows them). This also promotes healthy PvP with a goal in mind. Other

respondents suggested that killing a leader could be made permanent; but the developers

would be forced to alter the story or lore to suit such a scenario.

MMORPG players want to standout above the crowd, especially when they achieve a

goal that they feel deserves attention, but as one respondent put it: "How can thousands

of subscribers all feel like the hero?"

9: 28 ● L. Achterbosch et al.

ACM Computers in Entertainment, Vol. 5, No. 4, Article 9. Publication date: March 2008.

6.2.2 Player-Created-and-Controlled Content. Many respondents suggested the need

for content that is created by the players. The suggestion is due to the perception that

developers cannot create content fast enough to satisfy demand. This is apparent from

"Lots of Content" falling just short of the fifth position in the top five features of

MMORPGs. Respondents simply want more content, and some respondents would be

happy if the player-base helped achieve this. One respondent suggested that it should be

easy and efficient to implement player-created quests. For a PvP, for example, a player

could place a bounty on another player from a different faction. Those who carry out the

bounty are rewarded appropriately. Excluding PvP, a player may place a request for a

certain amount of resources; those who deliver this receive the reward.

Some respondents suggested more dramatic changes to allow players to create

content, as follows:

"Allow players to change world content. Why not have an ability for a city

to build a bridge to cross an area, rather than taking an hour to get around

it?"

This should cause concern, however. Where does the developer draw the line? In

Ultima Online, for example, at one stage the entire world was covered in player-built

housing simply because it was allowed. The developers had to enforce a one-house-per-

account rule, with additional houses "decaying" and disappearing after five days once the

game was patched with this new rule [ORIGIN 2002].

So as well as letting players develop new content, the content will have to be

inspected before any implementation is to occur, or at least a set of rules must be in place

to prevent the content detracting from the game experience.

6.2.3 Technical Enhancements . Many respondents suggested including a voice

system in MMORPGs, to allow players to talk to each other during the game. These

voice programs currently exist in third-party iterations, and it is quite common for many

players to use them. However, at times players do not share the same program, and hence

cannot talk to each other. The respondents suggested that a voice system be programmed

into the game, so everyone in that game can use it. In addition, one respondent stated that

some players pay extra money per month on top of the game fees to support a third-party

server for themselves and their friends:

"It's about time they implement a voice system built in-game. I'm tired of

having to pay an extra 10 bucks a month just to support a ventrilo [voice

over IP server] for my guild."

6.2.4 Mini-Games. There were only a few comments regarding the implementation of

mini-games into MMORPGs. But they are interesting enough to talk about, as the

implementation of mini-games would in fact serve to increase the amount and variety of

content in an MMORPG, something that players are asking for. Take the single-player

Final Fantasy RPG series from the consoles for example. The developers added

diversions from the main storyline in the form of little games known to keep people

occupied for hours. Final Fantasy VII had a casino with many little games that players

could spend hours on to earn casino cash and buy unique items; Final Fantasy VIII and

Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games ● 9: 29

ACM Computers in Entertainment, Vol. 5, No. 4, Article 9. Publication date: March 2008.

IX had two different card collection games, as well as multiple activities tied to their

iconic animal, the (the large chicken-like) Chocobo.

6.2.5 Item Crafting and Player Economy . Respondents wanted item crafting to go

much further than it currently does. Instead of having weapons and armor looted from

corpses – especially when it doesn't make sense (a sword found on a spider's corpse?),

some suggested that these items should all be crafted by players. One respondent takes it

further, to say:

"Why not have a class that are [a] specialist in making vehicles which you

can ride and maintain?"

Another respondent suggested that players have the ability to invent their own items

by altering attributes of the item and its mechanics.

Of course, all this would affect player economy, as players would be more reliant on

each other to provide services, so either barter would be in order, or there would have to

be ways to earn money.

6.2.6 Player-Aging and Death . Because of the amount of time players invest in their

characters, just to have a character die of old age without any benefit to the player would

not be a good development. So the main suggestion brought by respondents on this topic

was that when a player's character dies it should leave a legacy of some sort for the next

of kin. The player would then be able to hand down wealth, experience, or some ability to

the "offspring".

This makes for a very interesting idea, but we do not know how the player base would

react. If, for instance, a player were committed to a particular character and the character

died, the player might lose interest in the game and the developer would lose a customer.

On the other hand, the player could enjoy starting fresh with a new character, but still

retain some of the original character's traits or wealth. The topic of permanent death is

often debated among MMORPG players, but it is rare for them to agree on very much.

6.2.7 Dynamic Environments . Rather than players affecting the world, as indicated in

Section 6.2.1, many respondents suggested instead that the world change on its own via

natural environmental occurrences. The examples include fires that destroy forests, floods

that drown the land, the growth of vegetation, and the decay of man-made structures and

paths, and so on. This would create a much more immersive world, just as the simple

addition of night and day cycles and changes in weather have in the past. The burned

forests could eventually regrow, floods could subside, and NPCs could maintain decaying

areas so that the world does not change so dramatically that entire quests, NPCs, and

events have to be altered.

6.2.8 Dynamic Content and Quests. Rather than having exactly the same quests

available to anyone who plays MMORPGs, some respondents suggested that quests

should depend on certain factors such as the player's past actions, the background of the

player's character, and the choices the player made in the game. The player's actions

could change the quest he or she receives from the NPCs, and the quests the player

completes could change his or her character.

9: 30 ● L. Achterbosch et al.

ACM Computers in Entertainment, Vol. 5, No. 4, Article 9. Publication date: March 2008.

Some respondents said that the dynamic questing and role-playing aspects could in

turn create dynamic content. One respondent stated that

"In-game choice and instances could be used to create content on the fly.

Devs [developers] seem to think in terms of random dungeons as putting

rooms and halls together. Why not use story to base the generation [of

these dungeons]?"

So this respondent suggests that when a player enters an instanced dungeon, the game

refers to the choices the player made in the past to alter the story and the quests

connected to that dungeon or even the dungeon's layout. These dynamic aspects would

make implementation more difficult for the developer, as there would then be multiple

paths within the MMORPG; but for exactly the same reason, it could encourage more

players to restart the game with new characters and attempt a different path than their

other characters.

6.2.9 Realtime Combat and Damage . Respondents want new combat systems in place

of the old ones that MMORPGs have used for over a decade. Many of the current

systems have the player target an enemy with the mouse cursor and select the action or

attack they wish to inflict on the enemy. Some attacks take longer than others, with the

sensation that the player and the enemy are taking turns at hitting each other. Many

respondents want a new real-time system, as in first-person shooter games (FPS). In fact

there already are a few new games like this being produced, some coined as MMOFPS

(massively multiplayer online first person shooter), claiming to be a cross between a

MMORPG and an FPS [Webzen Games 2006].

Respondents also noted that the damage system could use an overhaul. In particular, a

few respondents said that one should be able to kill a character by targeting specific body

parts, rather than acquiring the number of hit-points required to kill the enemy. Players

would gain advantages depending on the body part (e.g., targeting legs would slow the

enemy down). This sort of damage system would suit the FPS-style combat, as it requires

players to have quick reflexes and aim at moving targets.

6.2.10 Nonplayer Character (NPC) Interaction . There were a few respondents who

wrote that there was extremely little NPC interaction. This follows on from much needed

AI improvements from Section 6.1.7; but in this case the comments suggested new ways

to make NPCs more immersive.

Respondents said that NPCs were too static, hence to help with game immersion the

NPCs should go about some daily routines, as they do in single-player games like

Oblivion and the Gothic series. In most cases, friendly NPCs stand around day and night

waiting for players to talk to them. In such cases they have only one purpose, be it a

quick one-line statement, a store to buy items, or to give the player a quest. Enemy NPCs

tend to stand around waiting to be killed. One respondent suggested that

"NPC[s] could be hired to do a range of task[s] from resource gathering to

guarding buildings"

According to some respondents, the NPC would then have a purpose other than just

standing around. Another respondent said that players should have the option to play as

NPC enemies for small intervals of time, to make them less predictable, like a dungeon

master in Dungeons & Dragons for instance.

Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games ● 9: 31

ACM Computers in Entertainment, Vol. 5, No. 4, Article 9. Publication date: March 2008.

6.2.11. Evolution . There were a few suggestions that MMORPG should evolve along

with its timeline. This would allow races to evolve biologically and technologically: as

they evolve they would gain new abilities and skills. Obviously, developers would have

to have a timeline written and planned so changes could be incorporated at regular

intervals; this could also provide a new an interesting dynamic.

7. CONCLUSION

This section summarizes the results of the survey by highlighting its most important

aspects.

The survey clearly shows that the majority of the respondents preferred to play

MMORPGs set in fantasy and medieval worlds or in futuristic settings. As outlined in

Section 4, the most successful or influential MMORPGs belong to one or both of these

categories. The trend of setting MMORPGs in fantasy or futuristic worlds continued

throughout both the first and second generations. Developers would do well to continue

this trend for the next generation of MMORPGs, keeping in mind the many features that

the respondents would like improved or added.

It is interesting to note that more than half of the respondents enjoyed playing games

belonging to other genres, like first-person shooter, action, and adventure games, but

especially strategy games. MMORPG developers should consider incorporating some

aspects from these genres, especially the style of combat in first-person shooter games.

The respondents made many comments regarding the combat in MMORPGs and how

more player skill could be incorporated to alter the mechanics of combat. There were also

comments on placing more emphasis on the strategies that ought to be necessary to defeat

enemies instead of merely repeating the same patterns.

The level grind was also a major concern for many respondents. They were outspoken

in their criticism of having to repeatedly kill the same enemies over and over by utilizing

the same strategy just to gain an experience level and access to new capabilities. They felt

that the mechanics used to increase a player's level needs further refinement.

Respondents were also disappointed that developers used quests as a way to force players

to grind. Some of the respondents thought that quests should be reserved for story-driven

content that immerses a player into the game world and its lore, instead of quests that

require players to kill X amount of Y creatures.

The survey identified the top five features of interest as "Lots of Class/Skill Options,"

"Graphics and Effects," "Large World to Explore," "Player vs Player" combat, and

"Socialization".

The feature called "Lots of Class/Skill Options" attracted the most response, both as

the number one feature among the top five for many respondents and in general as the

option most commonly picked to be among the top five. But it failed to attract many

comments for its improvement, other than from a few respondents who asked that

developers consider a skill-point character development system over a class-based one,

and make sure that any system used is balanced so players have an equal chance to defeat

each other.

Balance was a key factor for respondents commenting on "Player versus Player"

battles: specifically that "rock, paper, scissors" scenarios should be avoided. The

respondents disliked the fact that, in many MMORPGs, some classes or sets of skills can

easily defeat other classes or skills with no competition. Player versus player type

comments garnered the largest number of comments and suggestions made by respondent

on all topics in the survey. The more detailed responses were on the topics of balanced

systems, mentioned above, or the purpose of player versus player combat. Developers

9: 32 ● L. Achterbosch et al.

ACM Computers in Entertainment, Vol. 5, No. 4, Article 9. Publication date: March 2008.

need to concentrate on providing more motivation for this style of combat (e.g., a large-

scale siege of a castle or a conquest for territory between warring factions). Such large-

scale battles would serve as a good versus evil scenario with players on both sides.

The topic of "Graphics and Effects" was very important to almost all respondents.

They expect that as the genre matures so will the graphics, both technically and

artistically. On the technical side, respondents are looking for improvements like those in

single-player games; with real-world physics, collision-detection, and dynamic

environments. On the artistic side, respondents want to see more variation in their

characters, in both personal appearance and in the armor they wear, so that each character

has a unique visual appearance.

The "Large World to Explore" and "Lots of Content" topics were important to most

respondents. They were not only concerned with the size of the world but its content as

well. Some respondents wished that players had the capability to create their own

content, thus reducing the workload for the developers and extending the worlds. They

also wanted to give players a little more control over the games in which they had

invested so much time. Others simply wanted more involving content that fit the lore of

the world, with more interaction from NPCs and the environment; "Running Out of

Content" also rated highly as an issue for MMORPGs.

The final feature that players enjoyed (it was one of their top five) was

"Socialization". It is a large part of an MMORPG. Even those who generally preferred to

play solo were affected by the communities in MMORPG, especially in the form of

player economy and crafting systems. Some respondents want to see the items that can be

crafted increase in value to the players, so as to compensate for the time spent in-game to

learn the craft. A large percentage of respondents agreed with the statement that

MMORPGs need more options for socializing, but they did not offer further opinions.

It is apparent that although many of the respondents are content with the progress

MMORPGs have made over the last decade, it is definitely time for developers to start

creating the next generation. This time developers will need to take a new approach, as

the method of using first generation MMORPGs, or even the successful second

generation, as a blueprint is lacking in innovation. Respondents want to see both new

concepts and features and improved existing concepts and features incorporated into this

growing genre. The fact that 18% of the respondents were not even playing an

MMORPG at the time of the survey, but took the time to complete it indicates that there

is unmet demand within the player community. It is hoped that this study will help to

inform developers of the next generation of MMORPGs.

REFERENCES

BARTLE , R. 1990.. Early Mud history. http://www.ludd.luth.se/mud/aber/mud-history.html . Retrieved April 30,

2006.

BBC NEWS. 2005.. China imposes online gaming curbs. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4183340.stm.

Retrieved Sept.19, 2006.

BIOWARE . 2006. BioWare Corp. announces new "BioWare Austin" studio.

http://www.bioware.com/bioware_info/press_releases/2006_03_15_Austin/. Retrieved May 5, 2006.

BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT .2007. World of Warcraft®: The Burning Crusade™ continues record breaking

sales pace. http://www.blizzard.com/press/070307.shtml . Retrieved May 2, 2007.

CCP GAMES. 2006. Eve News. http://www.eve-online.com/news/newsOfEve.asp?newsID=338 . Retrieved

September 29, 2006.

CHEN , Y.-C., CHEN , P. S., HWANG , J.-J., KORBA , L., SONG , R., AND YEE, G. 2005a. An analysis of online

gaming crime characteristics. Internet Research 1, 3, 246-261.

CHEN , Y.-C., HWANG , J.-J., SONG , R., YEE, G., AND KORBA, L. 2005b. Online gaming, cheating, and security

issues. Paper presented at the International Conference on Information Technology: Coding and Computing

(ITCC'05, Las Vegas, Nev).

COX , A. AND C AMPBELL, M. 1994. Multi-user dungeons. Interactive Fantasy 2 , 15-20.

Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games ● 9: 33

ACM Computers in Entertainment, Vol. 5, No. 4, Article 9. Publication date: March 2008.

DIKUMUD. 2000. Sworn statement. http://www.dikumud.com/Everquest/Sworn.aspx . Retrieved May 17, 2006.

FOO , C. Y. AND KOIVISTO , E. M. I. 2004. Defining grief play in MMORPGs: Player and developer perceptions.

Paper presented at the 2004 ACM SIGCHI International Conference on Advances in Computer

Entertainment Technology (Singapore).

FRITSCH , T., RITTER , H., AND SCHILLER , J. 2005. The effect of latency and network limitations on MMORPGs:

A field study of everquest2. Paper presented at the 4th ACM SIGCOMM Workshop on Network and

System Support for Games (Hawthorne, NY).

GALLEAR, M. 2004. The computer role-playing game genre.

http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Arena/8461/crpg1.html. Retrieved April 23, 2006.

GAMES PY . 2003. Massively multiplayer online games: The past, the present, and the future.

http://archive.gamespy.com/amdmmog/. Retrieved March 15, 2006.

GIBSON, E. 2005. Child dies as parents play WoW. http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=59697 .

Retrieved Sept. 19, 2006.

GOLLE , P. AND DUCHENEAUT, N. 2005. Preventing bots from playing online games. Computers in

Entertainment 3, 3.

KABUS , P., TERPSTRA, W. W., CILIA , M., AND B UCHMANN, A. P. 2005. Addressing cheating in distributed

MMOGs. Paper presented at the 4th ACM SIGCOMM Workshop on Network and System Support for

Games (Hawthorne, NY).

KIRMSE, A. Meridian 59. http://ieatcode.com/meridian/ . Retrieved March 10, 2006.

KOSAK , D. 2006. Richard and Robert Garriott: What's ahead for massively multiplayer.

http://www.gamespy.com/articles/688/688964p1.html.Retrieved May 16, 2006.

KOSTER , R. 2002. Online world timeline. http://www.raphkoster.com/gaming/mudtimeline.shtml . Retrieved

March 15, 2006.

MEDAR. 2001. The history of NWN. http://www.bladekeep.com/nwn/index2.htm . Retrieved March 15, 2006.

ORIGIN. 2002. House ownership and decay changes. http://update.uo.com/design_418.html . Retrieved Oct. 9,

2006.

SAHA , D., SAHU , S., AND SHAIKH , A. 2003. A service platform for on-line games . Paper presented at the 2nd

Workshop on Network and System Support for Games (Redwood City, CA)

SONY ONLINE ENTERTAINMENT . 2004. Everquest II sets new standard in multiplayer online gaming with

voiceover for nonplayer characters. http://sonyonline.com/corp/press_releases/033104_EQ2_voice.html .

Retrieved May 16, 2006.

TIERNEY , K. 2006. The pursuit of a mythical audienc e .

http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm?setview=features&loadFeature=714&gameID=6&bhcp=1.

Retrieved Aug. 20, 2006.

WEBZEN GAMES . 2006. Huxley. http://www.webzengames.com/Game/Huxley/default.asp . Retrieved Oct. 9,

2006.

WIKIPEDIA . 2006a. Dungeon Master (computer

game).http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeon_Master_%28computer_game%29 . Retrieved April 23, 2006.

WIKIPEDIA. 2006b. EverQuest II. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EverQuest_II . Retrieved May 15, 2006.

WIKIPEDIA. 2006c. Ultima Online. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultima_Online . Retrieved May 15, 2006.

WIKIPEDIA. 2006d. Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultima_Underworld:_The_Stygian_Abyss. Retrieved April 23, 2006.

WIZARDS OF THE C OAST . 2003. The history of TSR. http://www.wizards.com/dnd/DnDArchives_History.asp .

Retrieved May 7, 2006.

YAMAMOTO , S., MURATA , Y., YASUMOTO, K., AND ITO, M. 2005. A distributed event delivery method with load

balancing for MMORPG. Paper presented at the 4th ACM SIGCOMM Workshop on Network and System

Support for Games (Hawthorne, NY)

YEE , N. 2006. The Daedalus project. http://www.nickyee.com/index-daedalus.html. Retrieved June 2, 2006.

YEE , N. 2007.. The demographics, motivations and derived experiences of users of massively-multiuser online

graphical environments. In PRESENCE: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments .

Received June 2007; accepted August 2007

... A study pointed out that new generation mobile games are more challenging and players choose to play challenging games (Balakrishnan and Griffiths, 2019). In recent years, Massively Multiuser Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPG) have been the most popular and challenging games (Achterbosch et al., 2008;Scott and Porter-Armstrong, 2013;Sourmelis et al., 2017;Raith et al., 2021). Previous studies illustrated that MMORPGs are more addictive to men than women due to their interactive, collaborative and competitive nature (Liu and Peng, 2009;Barnett and Coulson, 2010;Laconi et al., 2017). ...

Background Nowadays, the youth are more engaging with their more advanced smartphones having high-quality graphics and gaming features. However, existing literature depicts that adolescents suffer from several forms of psychological problems including mental health, depression, loneliness, insomnia and low self-control due to mobile game addiction. Therefore, this study aims to find the prevalence and motivating factors for mobile game addiction among university students of Bangladesh. Methods A cross-sectional survey was carried out to collect the required information from 1125 students of three universities in Bangladesh. Descriptive statistics, χ2 test and ordinal regression model are employed to meet the objective of this study. Results The findings reveal that male students are more likely to show addictive behaviours than their counterparts in the context of mobile game addiction. The results depict that loneliness, duration of using smartphones and playing mobile games, and source of entertainment are the main cause of mobile addiction. Also, more than half of the respondents (54.3%) are severely addicted to mobile games who were influenced by friends and YouTube gamers to play games. Moreover, students are suffering from several physical problems such as headaches, eye discomfort, blurry vision and ear discomfort. Conclusion Considering the findings of this paper, the authors suggest that the authorities should consider this immediately and arrange a positive entertainment environment to prevent students from mobile games. Furthermore, it is necessary to encourage students to participate in sports or other extracurricular activities that may be helpful to lessen mobile game addiction among students in Bangladesh.

... Besides, the players were also dissatisfied with the avatar created in the game. They want their avatars to be similar to themselves including the selection of skin tone, physical shape, abilities, and many more (Achterbosch, L., Pierce, R., and Simmons, G, 2008). However, the MMORPGs game has improved a lot today, including the average graphics quality over the last 10 years. ...

• Yuza Haiqal
• Nur hafizah Yusoff
• Ng Cai

Massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) is an online game that requires a massive number of players that interact to one another in a virtual world. The combination of role-playing video games and massively multiplayer online games that enable youth to interact in virtual world has made this game as one of the most popular online games in this era. This study focused on factors that influence the youth in MMORPGs. The main focus of this quantitative study is the youth at the range of 15 to 30 years old who actively play online games through Facebook by using purposive sampling method. A total of 50 respondents were willingly answered the questionnaire and duration to complete the survey was around one month. From the result, this study shows that there are two factors which are internal and external factors that influence the participation in MMORGPs among youth. Stress reliever, excitement, addiction, source of income and the attempt to escape from reality are some internal factors that influence youth to involve themselves in MMORGPs. As for the external factor, this study found that social influences such as social interaction, social control and mass media had played a huge role. The findings of this study can be used as a future reference for in-depth studies that should focus more on the effects of involvement of youth in M

... Moreover, the thrill of the upgrade progress increases with each release. According to Achterbosch's research, "level grind" is a common weakness of MMORPGs [55]. The FF14 developers are making the leveling progress less boring by regularly adding challenging instance quests. ...

Due to the advent of the Internet, massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) have been enjoyed worldwide by many players simultaneously, and game publishers' revenues have reached billions of dollars from subscriptions alone. Frequent updates (e.g., versioning) and new contents (e.g., quest system) are the typical strategies adopted by developers to keep MMORPG experiences fresh and attractive. What makes such strategies attractive and retains the interest of players in MMORPGs? This study focuses on one aspect of a popular MMORPG: the player's experience of the quest systems of Final Fantasy XIV (FF14). The different quest systems were analyzed considering Bartle's players' classification, specifically for the explorers and achievers. From an information science perspective, such an analysis can be achieved via game refinement (GR) theory, which formulates the information of the game's progression into a measurable model of game sophistication. On top of that, we used the concept of motion in mind, which was derived from concepts in physics. It maps game progression information to enable the possible quantification and approximation of players' mental movements and affective experiences in the game. Based on the analysis of the collected data using the proposed measures of GR and motion in mind, the impact of regular updates on players in long-term games is discussed. Insights from the study provide guidance and suggestions for potential improvements in long-term game design.

... In WoW, linear, circular and shared temporalities are connected with the game practices that are specific to the game. However, empowering, meant as a means for evolving the player's character, farming, meant as an activity for regularly collecting items, and raiding, meant as a form of collective endeavour, are typical MMORPG game practices and are shared by almost all MMORPGs (Achterbosch et al., 2008;Lin & Sun, 2015). The proposed model, therefore, may be applicable to MMORPGs other than WoW, allowing for the analysis and understanding of how engagement is elicited in highly engaging video games. ...

• Amon Rapp

Researchers and developers constantly seek novel ways to create engaging applications that are able to retain their users over the long term, make them desire to spend time using the application or go back to using it after a break. With this aim, video games can be an insightful source of inspiration, as they are specifically designed to maximise playing time, increase players' intentions of playing during the day or enhance their willingness to replay. In a gaming context, 'time' is an important factor for engagement because game designers can design the game time to retain players in the game environment. Drawing on social practice theory, which is increasingly used in Information Systems (IS) research, I conducted an ethnographic study in World of Warcraft (WoW) to understand how various temporalities are produced within a video game and the effects that they have on players' engagement. The findings show that game temporalities stem from the complex interaction between the design features of the game and the norms, routines and expectations that are part of the game practices. Moreover, these temporalities can engender temporal experiences that may stimulate engagement in various ways. The study contributes to IS literature by proposing a novel understanding of how time can be intentionally designed to sustain user engagement. Finally, it suggests that 'time design' in video games could inspire designs in broader IS contexts, such as in the gamification of online communities, crowdsourcing platforms and crowd working systems.

... In recent decades, the growing popularity of online video games, as a common form of entertainment, has caused major concerns about the potential consequences of excessive gaming (1). Massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) are network-based, threedimensional, interactive, and narrative environments, which are both permanent and (2,3), contributing to the mass appeal of gaming (4). ...

Background: Due to the increasing spread of massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) and their addictive potential, scholars assert that understanding the factors underpinning Internet gaming disorder (IGD) is crucial, considering the psychopathological classification. Objectives: This study aimed to explore the motives predicting IGD in MMORPG players with different personality risk profiles. Methods: An online survey was conducted among 202 MMORPG players (mean age = 27.85 years, SD = 6.49). A cluster analysis was performed to classify the samples, according to the substance use risk profile scale (SURPS), distinguishing a sensation seeking (SS) group from a group prone to negative emotions (PNE), including anxiety, hopelessness, and impulsivity. Also, the gaming motives, which were determined using the Motives for Online Gaming Questionnaire (MOGQ), were considered as independent variables in analyses. The regression analyses indicated different combinations of gaming motives, predisposing the two groups to IGD. Results: The escapism motive and male gender were the main risk factors for SS players, whereas the sociability motive predicted addiction tendencies in the PNE group. Also, the competition motive was a strong predictor of IGD in both groups; this motive was found to be associated with the male gender and the specific game genre. Moreover, the PNE players were significantly more addicted to MMORPGs and were less satisfied with their life, compared to the SS group. Conclusions: Based on the present results, clustering gamers in terms of personality traits allowed us to understand the mechanisms underlying IGD for overcoming a reductive approach, which considers MMORPG players as a uniform group.

... As one's avatar attains higher and higher levels of advancements, quests and other game play becomes more sophisticated. Much like good instructional design, good quest design keeps the player in his or her zone of proximal development (Vygotsky, 1986), providing the "just right" level of rigor to stretch and grow the player as he or she develops conceptual knowledge and becomes more skilled (Achterbosch et al., 2008;McGonigal, 2011;Sourmelis, 2016). ...

A focus on disciplinary literacy may hold promise for increasing student engagement and achievement. This chapter focuses on the use of the "quest" (a mechanic common in video games) as a means to increase learner agency, engagement, and motivation. Quests may further be beneficial in developing the disciplinary literacy of students, due to their highly contextualized interactive narratives that allow for student role-playing, and the development of problem-solving skills and discipline-specific habits of mind (e.g., what does it mean to work, think, and communicate like a historian, mathematician, or scientists, etc.?). A variety of tools for implementing quest-based learning are examined, as well as ways in which the quest mechanic is being used in the design of instructional sequences in the digital app Adventure Academy, an educational massively multiplayer online (MMO) video game, in order to develop disciplinary literacy.

This paper presents a computer tool for collaborative narration creation based on graph rules hierarchy that was developed and tested with collaboration of students of Jagiellonian University in Poland. The tool is made of two modules: internal representation of game world graph model and animation system: The former describes the narration points and story arcs and the latter uses basic animations and blends them together to create animated sequences. The opportunity to develop the system as a group effort allowed to identify and address workflow bottleneck and proved that using layered graph representation of the functional elements of the story, characters, locations, and objects is viable method to design plots and quest for video games. Dynamically changing graph can be visualized at any stage and helps to perceive the story as animated sequences. This on the other hand if used for video games story design enables to observe character actions, possible paths the player can take and quickly iterate on the story components. The contribution of this paper is to propose an innovative tool which allow the designers and animators to work together within one platform.

• Deborah A. Scigliano
• Thomas T. Peters
• Terrie R. Dew

In this chapter mentoring is defined as a sustained relationship between reflective practitioners. The purpose of this relationship is to build capacity to manage the complex classroom environment in ways that bring about instructional improvements. Where there is a difference in experience between these practitioners, what matters for the mentor's effectiveness is expertise with applying reflective practices. Reflective practices within a virtual (distance) mentoring setting are identified and explored. Developing trust from a distance and understanding representational preferences are essential virtual mentoring practices. These practices were developed as ways to provide ongoing support to field-based instructional coaches charged with improving mathematics and science instruction in South Carolina middle schools. They are applicable in any P-12 classroom mentoring setting.

RESUMO O artigo está vinculado à pesquisa Gamificação na Perspectiva dos Multiletramentos, desenvolvida nos anos iniciais do Ensino Fundamental. Tem como objetivo analisar as epistemologias presentes na literatura sobre gamificação. A pesquisa foi realizada com base em revisão sistemática de literatura, conforme os princípios propostos por Yin (2016). O presente trabalho baseou-se no tema de estudo, problema da pesquisa, resumo, palavras-chave, introdução, principais resultados e considerações para análise de dados das dissertações, e como critério de seleção a gamificação na educação. Nesse contexto, as questões epistemológicas são relevantes, na medida em que são elas que estabelecem os critérios que são levados em consideração nas estratégias de gamificação na educação para justificar o caminho proposto para o desenvolvimento da aprendizagem do estudante. Todavia, nem sempre estão alicerçadas em fundamentos que vão além do sendo comum, ou ainda são baseadas em uma perspectiva que contempla a gamificação como ferramenta, instrumento para utilização. Esta pesquisa foi realizada com o apoio financeiro da Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (Capes) no Brasil. Palavras-chave: Gamificação. Teorias de aprendizagem. Epistemologia.

O artigo está vinculado à pesquisa Gamificação na Perspectiva dos Multiletramentos, desenvolvida nos anos iniciais do Ensino Fundamental. Tem como objetivo analisar as epistemologias presentes na literatura sobre gamificação. A pesquisa foi realizada com base em revisão sistemática de literatura, conforme os princípios propostos por Yin (2016). O presente trabalho baseou-se no tema de estudo, problema da pesquisa, resumo, palavras-chave, introdução, principais resultados e considerações para análise de dados das dissertações, e como critério de seleção a gamificação na educação. Nesse contexto, as questões epistemológicas são relevantes, na medida em que são elas que estabelecem os critérios que são levados em consideração nas estratégias de gamificação na educação para justificar o caminho proposto para o desenvolvimento da aprendizagem do estudante. Todavia, nem sempre estão alicerçadas em fundamentos que vão além do sendo comum, ou ainda são baseadas em uma perspectiva que contempla a gamificação como ferramenta, instrumento para utilização. Esta pesquisa foi realizada com o apoio financeiro da Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (Capes) no Brasil.

• Tobias Fritsch
• Hartmut Ritter
• Jochen Hermann Schiller

Networked games are becoming more and more important in the last years. One of the current game evolutions is creating massive virtual environments, so called MMORPGs (massive multiplayer online role-playing games). Those game types exist for more than 10 years, but the market and the number of products grew incredibly strong in the last two years. With such an evolution comes the need for new techniques to cope with special problem fields such as effects of latency with 200 and more players. Thus understanding and pointing out the new problem fields will help to design fitting solutions for expansions like a mobile MMORPG version. This paper will give a brief introduction into the MMORPG history. Furthermore it will evaluate certain latency problems in a field study of Everquest2, referring to the previous work at ìOverviewing Scientific Research for (Mobile) Gamingî and point out possibilities to design MMO(RP)Gs in a mobile content.

In this paper, we propose a new distributed event deliv- ery method for MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games). In our method, the whole game space is divided into multiple sub spaces with the same size and some player nodes are selected as responsible nodes to de- liver game events occurring in their responsible sub spaces. Our method includes (1) a load balancing mechanism which allows each responsible node for the crowded sub space to dynamically construct a tree of multiple nodes and deliver events along the tree to reduce event forwarding overhead per node, (2) a technique to reduce end-to-end event deliv- ery delay by dynamically replacing nodes in the tree, and (3) a technique to eciently and seamlessly switch sub spaces to be observed while each player's view moves around in the game space. Through experiments, we show that our method achieves practical performance for MMORPG.

Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) are a risky business: while they oer potential prots beyond those of conventional computer games, they also require costly in- vestment in the necessary hardware infrastructure. In nearly every MMOG today, these costs come from the use of a Client/Server architecture where the load of possibly hun- dred thousands of players must be handled at the provider's backend. By using distributed Peer-to-Peer techniques, the load could be shifted completely or partially to the play- ers' machines. But with the load, the control over the game may also fall into the hands of clients. While using a P2P ar- chitecture, this paper presents a spectrum of options which reduce running costs and simultaneously attempt to retain the provider's control over the game, in particular to control cheating.

Providing a satisfying experience for players of on-line first-person and multiplayer role-playing games is greatly influenced by the distribution and scalability of the game server infrastructure. Deploying a large, dedicated server infrastructure to support a single game title, however, is an expensive approach that does not make the best use of available resources. In this work-in-progress report, we propose a shared, on-demand service platform for hosting on-line games based on grid technology. A standards-based grid infrastructure provides economies of scale and high availability, necessary prerequisites for a successful on-line gaming service. We give an overview of the service architecture, and a detailed description of a number of middleware services that comprise the game hosting platform. In addition, we describe existing standards in grid technology and show how standard grid toolkit services can be leveraged to realize a gaming grid.

• Philippe Golle
• Nicolas Ducheneaut

As multiplayer online gaming gains in economic and social importance, an increasingly large number of players is beginning to rely on bots (automated player agents) to gain unfair advantages in games. In this article we study the problem of restricting participation in online games to human players so they can enjoy the game without interference from the bots. We propose two broad approaches to prevent bots from playing online games. The first consists of seamlessly integrating software-based tests (known as reverse Turing tests or CAPTCHA tests) into online games to tell humans and computers apart. Our second contribution is to propose hardware instantiations of CAPTCHA tests. Our techniques are applicable in a wide variety of online games, from poker to "shoot'em ups." They are cost-effective, immune to cheating, and preserve the human players' enjoyment of each game. We conclude with a discussion of how approaches to deter the use of bots may complement our techniques to detect bots.

• Chek Yang Foo
• Elina M. I. Koivisto

In current literature, grief play in Massively Multi-player Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) refers to play styles where a player intentionally disrupts the gaming experience of other players. In our study, we have discovered that player experiences may be disrupted by others unintentionally, and under certain circumstances, some will believe they have been griefed. This paper explores the meaning of grief play, and suggests that some forms of unintentional grief play be called greed play. The paper suggests that greed play be treated as griefing, but a more subtle form. It also investigates the different types of griefing and establishes a taxonomy of terms in grief play.

Purpose – To arouse the public awareness of online gaming-related crimes and other societal influences so that these problems can be solved through education, laws and appropriate technologies. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 613 criminal cases of online gaming crimes that happened in Taiwan during 2002 were gathered and analyzed. They were analyzed for special features then focusing on the tendency for online gaming crime. Related prosecutions, offenders, victims, criminal methods, and so on, were analyzed. Findings – According to our analysis of online gaming characteristics in Taiwan, the majority of online gaming crime is theft (73.7 percent) and fraud (20.2 percent). The crime scene is mainly in internet cafés (54.8 percent). Most crimes are committed within the 12:00 to 14:00 time period (11.9 percent). Identity theft (43.4 percent) and social engineering (43.9 percent) are the major criminal means. The offenders (95.8 percent) and victims (87.8 percent) are mainly male and offenders always proceed alone (88.3 percent). The age of offenders is quite low (63.3 percent in the age range of 15-20), and 8.3 percent of offenders are under 15 years old. The offenders are mostly students (46.7 percent) and the unemployed (24 percent), most of them (81.9 percent) not having criminal records. The type of game giving rise to most of the criminal cases is Lineage Online (93.3 percent). The average value of the online gaming loss is about US$459 and 34.3 percent of criminal loss is between $100 and $300. Research limitations/implications – These criminal cases were retrieved from Taiwan in 2002. Some criminal behavior may have been limited to a certain area or a certain period. Practical implications – Provides a useful source of information and constructive advice for the public who will sense the seriousness and influence of online gaming crimes. Further, this topic may have implications on e-commence, e-services, or web-based activities beyond gaming. Originality/value – Since there is little published research in this area, this paper provides the public with a good and original introduction to a topic of growing importance.

• Nick Yee

Online survey data were collected from 30,000 users of Massively Multi-User On- line Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) over a three year period to explore users' demographics, motivations, and derived experiences. Not only do MMORPGs ap- peal to a broad age range (Mage 26.57, range 11- 68), but the appeal is strong (on average 22 hours of usage per week) across users of all ages (r -.04). An exploratory factor analysis revealed a five factor model of user motivations— Achievement, Relationship, Immersion, Escapism, and Manipulation—illustrating the multifaceted appeal of these online environments. Male players were significantly more likely to be driven by the Achievement and Manipulation factors, while female players were significantly more likely to be driven by the Relationship factor. Also, the data indicated that users derived meaningful relationships and salient emotional experiences, as well as real-life leadership skills from these virtual environments. MMORPGs are not simply a pastime for teenagers, but a valuable research venue and platform where millions of users interact and collaborate using real-time 3D avatars on a daily basis.

• Ying-Chieh Chen
• Jing-Jang Hwang
• Ronggong Song
• L. Korba

Along with the development of multimedia, animation, and network bandwidth, online gaming has become a very successful and outstanding industry recently, especially in Asia Pacific. However, due to the lack of security consideration, legal regulation, management, auditing and related legislation, more and more players have violated the law or become the victims while they are indulging in the virtual world. Virtual properties are getting more and more valuable in the real-world marketplace, and trade or exchange of virtual properties between players have become prevalent. Unfortunately, using illegal fraudulent means or programs to grab others' UserID or password are increasing as well. This paper provides a detailed overview of the online cheating threat and the associated security flaws, examines its consequences for online businesses, and outlines technical solutions and implications.

Article 9. Publication date: March 2008. DIKUMUD. 2000. Sworn statement Defining grief play in MMORPGs: Player and developer perceptions. Paper presented at the

• C Y Foo
• And
• E M I Koivisto

Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games ● 9: 33 ACM Computers in Entertainment, Vol. 5, No. 4, Article 9. Publication date: March 2008. DIKUMUD. 2000. Sworn statement. http://www.dikumud.com/Everquest/Sworn.aspx. Retrieved May 17, 2006. FOO, C. Y. AND KOIVISTO, E. M. I. 2004. Defining grief play in MMORPGs: Player and developer perceptions. Paper presented at the 2004 ACM SIGCHI International Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology (Singapore).

Online Games Multi Mass Player That Use Real Money

Source: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/220686344_Massively_multiplayer_online_role-playing_games_The_past_present_and_future

Posted by: collinsmarly1959.blogspot.com

Share this post