冒險建築 ! Adventure Architecture

Abstract



Human are tribal creatures. We all like to pass on stories or listen to other people’s experiences. We learn important social lessons from that. Forming groups, responding to each other and sharing experiences are parts of very important life activities.



Games have harnessed social fun in a variety of ways. The rise of multiplayer and then massively multiplayer games have made intensely social gaming experiences possible, including communities, tribes, guilds. MMOGs like EverQuest, Dark Age of Camelot and World of Warcraft (WOW) have attracted millions of people playing.



These social trends are likely to continue and combining different platform like web board, blog, and VoIP server which make new kinds of social interactions possible.



1.0 What make video game fun? : Story telling and interactivities in video games



Books and movies



With drawing and writing we have been able to experience stories without having direct access to the original storytellers. The printing press and now movies and television have literally let us see someone else's story, and these various forms of storytelling now are peoples' favorite forms of entertainment.



On the other hand, these media can’t replace the social gathering type activities like shopping, trading collectible items, and even just pure social-bonding activities like going to parties or gossiping with friends. These media doesn’t provide real time interactivities.



Games: New interactive media



The essential feature that distinguishes digital games from other media as well as non-digital games is that they truly realize the interaction between the audience and the media—the formation of digital gaming is composed of actions both from the player and the game software. They have two essential components—game actions and player actions. The player action refers to the input command from the player through the control interface. The game action refers to the game software output in response to the player input command or independently of itself, running through the pre-programmed algorithm. A good game normally means these two parts work together and thus intrigue players to spend more of it.



2.0 The new characteristics of the MMORPGs:



Role playing game



Among all the video games, role playing games are always the most popular game genre. Player’s activities are vastly expanded - they can try almost anything, go almost anywhere, and have great adventure in the game world. here are so many RPG games right now in the Market. If you like to defeat AI and level up a character, you can play Final Fantasy. If you're simply interested in fantasy or sci-fi stories, there are accomplished narratives like Knights of the Old Republic. But what those games can't offer is a role in the complex and evolving set of living social structures.



Then here comes massive multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPGs). Massively, both due to the size of the persistent game world and the number of hours you can happily spend playing the game. Multiplayer, there can be literally hundreds of people playing the game simultaneously.



In recent MMORPGs Massively multiplayer games have made great strides in achieving visual realism through detailed 3D models, lighting and physics simulation, motion capture. With the new game engine, it is also possible to have over 1000 people interact in one location and it’s still very playable (like siege in Lineage 2). The more important point is that unlike most video-games, MMORPG offers the possibility to not just interact with other players, but to create a whole background for yourself, be part of an online community, and have a reputation. Video games has come a long to the stage we are playing MMORPG now.



Real-time and unpredictable world



In normal console RPG games, when you pull the plug off, the virtual world stops. The nightmare and the frustration will be gone. There are no values connected to the real world. In the MMORPGs, it works more like a real world. The sever keeps running and there it is almost impossible to change the outcome of certain event. At the same time, because there is no physical limitation of the virtual world, news spread out even faster than the real world. Some event happened in certain area, you will be able to hear that from different in game communication channel.



In MMORPGs, you'll find guilds, role-players, griefers, political groups, and even nations and empire.



3.0 Core game play and interactivities in MMORPGs: Golden triangle and a typical five men group



In single player video games, player only interacts with the machine, the pre-designed algorithm, whose actions are limited. In massively multiplayer online games, players also need to interact with other players, other real humans, whose actions are diverse and lively.



The components of MMOGs will be game actions, player actions, and other player’s actions. To explain this, a 5-players dungeon group in World of Warcraft perfectly manifests this type of cooperative game play between players against the game algorithm.



In dungeon, the game algorithm will always tell monsters to attack the player in the nearest range and with the highest threat level. According to this expected game action, players then contrive a common strategy for the battle. The strategy is to divide the 5-player group into three types each of which has a distinct job.



Tank, usually has the best equipments to protect him. His job is to enhance his threat level to the highest to tangle the mob, making the mob only attack him and stay away from other players.



Damage dealers’ job is to cause damage on the monster and to maintain their threat level lower than the tank so that the mob will not attack them instead.



Healers are players who have healing skills to heal tank and damage dealers and cast spells to damage the mob occasionally as well.



If one of those roles is not performed, you can expect your enemies to get the upper hand fairly quickly. If your team doesn’t work well together then it will be very difficult to fulfill the objectives within chosen areas. The basic gaming process in single player games constructed by the game software and the player is now interfered by other players’ inputs to the game.



The dynamics gaming experience derived from this inter-action mechanic feature is that in MMOGs, most of the gaming time is spent with other players since most of the game tasks require the cooperation among players; moreover, the essence of the game can only be discovered and experienced while working with other players since solo work can hardly accomplish the significant tasks in MMOGs.



4.0 New Global Culture and home: Guild



Guild



Chess clubs, sewing circles, and amateur sports teams as examples of friends that build up around an activity. In MMORPGs, it’s pretty much the same story. A guild has members from all over the world, I have even met friend who is on a round – the - world cruise ship. Just like the internet, there are very less language and custom problems because, in a game environment, we are all aliens role playing game characters. People also wouldn’t care too much about real world issues like money or politics. Instead, in a game world, people are very common to have shared interests or a same goal. People in general like to social and forming groups. Playing in a party is much easier to adventure in a game world which is also a part of the game mechanics. Temporary groups often lead players to want to join together more permanently.



Once you've been adventuring with someone and seen that they're easy to get along with and react well under pressure, you're more likely to want to get together with them again in the future because forming group take a lot of them. Since, as the 5-player dungeon group demonstrates, the gaming in MMOGs usually requires collaboration among players, therefore, forming guilds are perfect for labor dividing, experience sharing, information circulating. Permanent groups give the players a way to create long-term associations within the game, provide a strong sense of belonging, and create their own forms and styles of game play. The most common form of permanent groups in MMORPGs is guild which based on medieval craft associations.



Play for Uber



It is also interesting to notice that while the main theme - cooperation is the same, different guilds have distinct styles. There are “play for fun” guilds, which the members of it are usually friends of friends or real family relatives. These guilds do not care if you are just a beginner of this game and is enthusiastic to guide and assist you. They usually design a policy to facilitate the beginner leveling up.



On the contrary, there are “play for uber” guilds. Instead of helping each other, they focus on expecting their member to contribute to the guild. Corresponding to this emphasis, they published strict recruiting requirements, declaring that they want players who have high-play time, thick-skinned, and ability to complete things solo…etc.



Currently in games like Everquest or World of Warcraft for examples, success in the endgame depends entirely on being part of a large powerful guild (Uber guild). Players simply cannot undertake a high-level raid on their own or with less than a large, powerful group. Naturally enough, these raids tend to yield some of the best, most powerful loot, which then makes the guild even more powerful. This can create a positive feedback loop that creates what players call an ‘uber guild' that dominates all others.



5.0 Intense social interactivities in MMORPG



PvP (Player VS player)

On the other hand, there are players not satisfied with just go to the dungeons and dealing with game AI. There are also games are PvP centric that stress on PvP (Payers VS Payers). Just like sports, PvP is fun because human is still the best opponent. Computer AI has its limitation and doesn’t have a personality or feeling.

Originally, PvP combat has its roots in various MUDs like Gemstone III. However, while the ability to kill another player existed in many games, it was usually prohibited because the end result of PvP combat might result in frustration of one player. It was not until Ultima Online was released in 1997 that sanctioned PvP became widespread.

Some MMORPGs are starting to use competitive PvP such as dueling as a main feature. Currently one of the most active PvP games is "Lineage II". Most of the goals of the game directly revolve around the PvP aspect.

Guild /Alliance war



Some people fight for their idea game world. Some people fight for friends. Some people and that create the conflicts.



In lineage 2, there are political PvP events like clan war, and Siege. Clan war is a PvP centric way to solve issues between clans and for clan to challenge another clan. Siege on the other hand is most important and fun event in Lineage 2. By winning a siege, a clan can win control of a castle which will tax every player in game. By default, all castles are initially occupied by non-player character (NPC) clans. A castle does not receive damage from any form of attack until the next siege time. The castle siege time is either Saturday or Sunday, two weeks after the castle has been occupied. A clan that has successfully occupied a castle may safely possess the castle for up to 15 days.



Siege and clan wars brought in the political aspect to the MMOs. Politics are no doubt one of the most persistent and pervasive aspects of modern life. Since it’s a virtual environment, there is no real physical lose like we have in real world. There are people hunger for power and fame. It keeps the virtual world in a constant changing society. There are always issue and dramas. There is one classic dilemma in game.



You are in a neutral alliance. Someone asks you to hunt with you. When you are invited by a friend to a random party, and one person in your party is killed by the opposite alliance, what will you do next?



In this situation, do you protect your party members? Either your choices will be argued by other players. Drama and conflicts start from here. Moreover, there are people playing the game in different attitudes. There is no god, no government, and no police in the virtual world. There is merely any right or wrong, only different view points and play styles. You can be evil in games as long as you are not against the game mechanics. Players have to search for protection by themselves, solve in game issues through social activities.



In some cases, sieges and clan wars consume more of players’ time than adventure in the dungeons. There is high intensity of interactions. A clan in Lineage2 usually has a guild master, several officers, clan recruiters and even people specially dealing with public relation issues. There are people chasing power and fame. These people will try hard to persuade clans and players to join them.



Under this environment, players have been utilizing every tool they can find including IRC channels, msn messenger, emails, and even voice over IP software to achieve their goals. The virtual game has deeply attached to this kind of players.



For me, it’s very interesting to see the progress of the interactivities level from console game to the MMORPGs.



Human and computer (normal game)

Human and human (Duel)

Group or community and computer (PVE)

Group and group ( PVP )

Community and community (Clan VS Clan)



6.0 The gaming culture: Game as sports



How big is the virtual world?



In Korean, MMORPG is extreme popular just like cyworld. In Taiwan, Lineage has 2000,000 subscribers (9% of the populations) in beta test. There are 1million subscribers in North America in 123 servers.



One real time world (one server, world) has around 10000 – 20000 people. There are usually around 20 big guilds in each server (average 200 people). Over 1000 people playing smoothly at the same time (siege).



Just like sports, people not only participate in sports but also treat them as a social activity by watching them and talking about them. Similarly, people may spend as much or more time talking about shopping and they do actually going out and getting them. The courtship rituals that may include dancing, going to shows and movies and concerts, or going out to dinner all mix physical and social aspects. The MMO games also supply a continuous spectrum of activities blending simulated active physical hunting and gathering, and actual social interaction, grouping, and conversation. Players build up websites, web board, Ventrilo server and even talking on msn messenger. There are also many celebrities and famous events in MMORG.



For example, there is a very famous video “Leroy Jenkins” done by a guild “Pals for Life”. The video is a clip from World of Warcraft. The content presented as a movie made in game about an accident happened in raid.



In the video, you find Leeroy and his guild preparing to undertake a raid. They are using Ventrilo that allows players to communicate with one another via voice chat.

And these guys are serious -- they're planning, plotting, and crunching numbers. At first, you might not even notice the figure crouched in the foreground, sitting and waiting. But since it's Leeroy, and he is after all, the star of the show, you know that something is about to happen... and so you watch him. And suddenly, his character springs up and Leeroy speaks, interrupting his friends and their planning with, "Let's do this! LEEEEEEEEEEEEEROY JENKINS!"



And he runs into the field of battle, initiating combat in a wild blur of chaos that ends up with everyone lying dead on the cold gray stone. Even for someone who doesn't play MMORPGs (and thus realizes how hard it can be to organize these big groups), it's hilarious. You can't help but laugh. While everyone is dying, they're swearing at Leeroy, bitching about the outcome, and trying desperately to salvage a mission that is absolutely unsalvageable.



Leeroy Jenkins video is a fake, staged story (movie), but it doesn't matter. The video is representative of certain behaviors in all online games -- there's always that one guy who screws something major up for everyone, through either an honest mistake or just plain impatient ignorance. As a result, Leeroy video spread like wildfire through our community because we could relate. He and his guild became so famous that almost became celebrities in MMORPG..



7.0 Social games but no social life



MMORPGs really create an interdependent society where personal success contributes to the overall communities. On the other hand, the interactivities and social fun can possibly cut down your real social life. There are people that don’t go out and do other entertainments anymore. It potentially becomes psychologically addicting, just like a gambler’s addiction.



On of the reason is that MMORPGs give everyone equal opportunities and same start point. The game won’t turn down your efforts. No one is born rich in MMORPGs. Everyone has a chance to be the most powerful people or the most evil villain. As long as you devoted certain amount time, the game is guaranteed to give you rewards back. Many people spend a lot of time and succeed in MMORPGS but hugely fail their goals in real life because real life.



There are more and more game designer tried to the solve this problem, and some game designers on the other hand wanted to bring more social activities into games.



For example, Sims online in particular focused on the social value of game. But Sims online failed because there are much more things to do in real world, and bringing real life community to game world or a totally social game is not as attractive as fantasy online game. For now, online game community is only part of your social life



Another aspect is that the majority of the Sims fans are not gamers. They play Yahoo parlor games, which have no monthly fee, and sit in chat rooms.



8.0 Offline world: real world event



On the other hand, the fellowship formed in the online game world has also extended to the offline world, and become part of the player’s life experience. We have also people who have met through the guild in World of Warcraft actually go and do some real life activities together. In terms of the social fellowship aspect, the online game world and the offline earth world have become parallel with each other, occupied equal importance to the player, and hence both contributed to compose the player’s social experience in her life.



Dreamhack and WCG (World cyber game) are two examples of how the virtual world meet cyber world. DreamHack is the worlds largest LAN and demoparty. All computer seats have electricity outlets and a network connection. DreamHack has no age limit, and open 24 hours. DreamHack Winter is held in Europe and usually has more than 6000 attendees. You will find the latest games and technologies, and meet your friend and have a nice time.



WCG (World Cyber Game) is designed to build a healthy cyber culture. The best gamers around the world gather into different cities to share the excitement and fun of the game tournaments. The World Cyber Games is a stage of harmony and friendship, where everyone is invited. The World Cyber Games also organizes a conference in game business and exhibition for game industry leaders and exhibitors to look into the past and the future of the game industry.



In Asia (like Korea), internet coffee is also very popular. Computers are specially assembled for online game play, supporting popular multiplayer games. Many arcade games are being closed down or are being merged into internet cafés. There are more and more activities hold in theses places (like tournaments, guild gathering). The game world and the earth world have merged together forming the player’s real life social experiences.



9.0 Game design issues and future development



Making a good MMORPG takes long time to. WOW (World of warcraft) has been out only a year, and some player already found that there aren’t too many things to do. MMO is also not for everyone. In some MMORPGs, there are still too much grind (level up, making money…). It is designed for people who would spend some time and the design is definitely not targeted for girls and children. The real world is still more attractive. Staring at the screen and fighting computer is not too healthy either. Blizzard using the characters and background from their already hugely successful Warcraft franchise of games, and did a good job of making WOW easy and appealing for gamers.



On the other hand, this is relatively new field. Because of the fast changing community, MMORPG has very fast development pace. The game design can change everyday to improve the balance and the experiences. There are still so many possibilities to make MMORPG design better, especially in social interactivities.



10.0 Great adventures and experiences



The Internet and the Web have gone from being a wild frontier to being a place for chat, commerce, entertainment, and education in the less than ten years. On the basics, MMORPGs provide high quality entertainment in affordable price. It happened on an era that there are enough people on the Internet who are willing to pay for entertainment and other services to make these a viable proposition.



MMORPGs created an interdependent society thus create our real life experiences and real relationship with others. In my opinion, MMORPGs also establish a social platform. It’s social software with storytelling content.



The questions and challenge is here now. How can we create games, communities, and companies in MMORPGs? Can we also build true values and life experiences out of it? Some people change the world by imposing their will on it. Some people change the world by discovering a truth. Some people change the world by creating things of great beauty. Is there a chance that we can further improve these achievements by designing good MMORPGs?



Online games and online communities have a brief history but a brilliant future. It has a huge potential to change our notions of entertainment and society as much as anything since television.