Massively Multi-Player Online Role Playing Games

Massively Multi-Player Online Role Playing Games, or MMORPGs, really need a better name. But, for now, we will just have to go with the acronym. They are a unique genre of video game with special features that lead to some very interesting emergent properties.

First consider "Massively Multi-Player". When you play a first person shooter game or a game of skill, it is you against the game. Any people or monsters you encounter are game objects. In a multi-player game, at least some of the other people or monsters are actually the characters of other players. So, instead of playing against the game (known as PvE or Player vs. Environment) you are playing against other players (known as PvP or Player versus Player).

Typically you will encounter only a few other players. However, the potential exists to encounter dozens or even hundreds of other players, which is why it is refered to as Massively Multi-Player. The fact that you are interacting with so many other players gives rise to group dynamics, a social environment, a rudimentary culture, and a real economy.

Online means that you are interacting with other players in real time although it is hard to imagine such a phenomenon not being online.

Role playing means that players are acting out roles which gives the environment a fantasy quality. This, in turn, gives rises to some interesting psychological and sociological aspects.

Some academics have studied World of Warcraft (the largest MMORPG) as a cultural artifact in the same way you would study film or novels. Hilde G. Corneliussen and Jill Walker Rettberg edited a book of readings called Digital Culture, Play, and Identity: A World of Warcraft® Reader which analyses the symbolism and values portrayed in World of Warcraft.

The point here is that there is a richness to Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games that is only just beginning to be tapped. I reviewed Corneliussen and Rettberg's book for ACM Computing Reviews back in September of 2008.

I began that review with the observation that when Thomas Edison made the first three second movie of a guy sneezing, nobody could have possibly anticipated the impact of film and television on our culture. In the same same way, when people saw the first video game, Pong, they could not possibly have anticipated the impact of video games on our culture. Today we are just beginning to see that impact and are still a long way from understanding it.