Massive Multi-playing Online Role-playing Games: Reality or Virtual?

(Source: http://www.silkroadonline.net )

Clad in a red garment suit and holding my degree glaive, charging against many warriors deep inside a montrous dungeon; I cast my Heuksal spearmanship skill upon my enemies.

But indeed, this only happen when I plug myself online to play the ancient MMORPG (massive multi-playing online role-playing games) called Silkroad online. An epic era based during the Chinese kingdom to the snow-covered mountain Takla Makan whereby the player will have to strive themselves by leveling up to gain experiencce within the world of silkroad. It's a jungle out there in the world of Web 2.0.

Well, fantasy games has been a pretty fun game. Besides, I get to interact with the rest of the players from around the world, but what about the avatars of who is piloting. The fact that a guy who could play a female avatar and the opposite for the girls too.

People who plays MMORPGs are likely to obssessive and addictive yet they will glued theirselves 24/7 playing the same game over and over again for the sake of showing off their skills and creating havocs via profanity words.

Rice (2006) reviews in his research novel that the single most important aspect of visual worlds and MMORPGs are the social elements that enable users to interact with each other. This is because it makes a possible social interaction withe other players who are from around the world. These social elements too will help players to create an online gaming communities that engage in trade and commerce and facilitate role-playing.

Virtual worlds alow people that are geographically distant from each other to gather and socialize in an environment that enables other interactions beyond simple chat. However, MMORPGs take this to the next level by offering more immersive and context sensitive environment based on shared fantasy (fictional story).

Silkroad online used to be one of the most played F2P (Free To Play) online games in the late year 2005 and still continues to grow bigger even though they can't compared to P2P (Pay To Play) versions with great graphics like Guild Wars, World of Warcraft and Warhammer online. However critics has protest these virtual online gaming because it encourages people to socialize with their virtual friends. Playing this games will make people become less socialable in reality and they will be talking the same game. This will lead to vital signs of addiction towards the game and they will not be able to differentiate reality (Keneally, 2004).

Violence?

(Source: Penny Arcade )

Recently, a youth from Russia has been charged with murder when he met up his online game rival (Albert) in reality and beat him to death (SciTech , 2008).

After the tragedy, the online gamers still continued threaten Albert's family, “I think they have confused the game and reality. And after we buried him on December 31, they continued to threaten us,” said Albert's sister.

According to Erbe (2007), he stated that real people who spend most of their entire life on a game disguising as behind the mask of an avatar is a pity being for that person in real life and to the internet culture.

In latent years, online games has been developing and spawning many especially from countries like China, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan. This has led concern on the social impacts for some sort of survey to know more about the aim of virtual games.

(Source: http://www.viwawa.com )

Another addictive online game is in a Singaporean website-turn-flash games: Viwawa which brings players together, playing their favourite games! Their aim is to let everyone have fun playing while making friends and interacting among each other. This online game may be addictive but it was mean't to be for casual gaming only. There are two versions on this online games which is one is involving real cash and the other virtual cash. Basically, players are entitle to buy or top-up their money to buy clothes for this wawa (dolls).

References:

Erbe, B 2007, Virtual online life harmful, The San Angelo Standard-Times, viewed 11 November 2008, < http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2007/sep/15/virtual-online-life-harmful/>.

SciTech 2008, Online game rivalry ends with real life murder, RT, viewed on 11 November 2008,
<http://www.russiatoday.com/scitech/news/19777>

Keneally, L 2004, Virtual Identities-Avatars, viewed on 11 November 2008,
<http://wiki.media-culture.org.au/index.php/Virtual_Identities>

Keneally, L 2004, Virtual identities – social impacts, M/Cyclopedia of New Media, viewed 10 June 2008, <http://wiki.media-culture.org.au/index.php/Virtual_Identities_-_Social_Impacts>.

Rice Jr, RA 2006, MMO Evolution, LuluPress Inc, United Kingdom