podcast

How do MMORPGs affect the player?

Hypertext Reflection

My hypertext essay was in response to the article about Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants. When addressing the audience I tried to make my response appealing to both the Digital Natives and Immigrants but I know I was on the side of the Digital Natives, since I feel that I am part of that group. My intentions were to have both Digital Natives and Immigrants finish reading my response and both feel as though they have learned something new. I used the logic that I found with the article of the main page and some other articles that I found to support my ideas for change. Overall when it came to writing this essay i felt that I approached in a different way that I would approach any other essay. I think that when I was writing I was keeping or at least trying to keep the idea of the overall all appearance in mind. When doing my responses I kind of thought more of how this would work into the overall essay rather than just responding to the authors idea and presenting my own opinions. When it comes to writing I am not very gun hoe about it. I usually take a long time to get started but always seem to do alright in the end. However, when presented with a computer and internet idea of writing an essay it appealed more to my interests and gave me a better motivation to write the essay.

Online Gaming

I want to explore the idea that playing an online game can effect someone's real life. There are many different types of online games. There are first person shooters, which generally consist of someone typically playing against 10-20 people in a game lasting10-20 minutes. Hardcore players may join a clan, which is a group of people that play together online, and this can cause a little more devotion for the game since then people would be signing onto the game to play matches with the clan and specific times. These games are probably less likely to have a large impact on someone's real life. There are real time simulation that are played online. These games generally occur amongst 4-8 people and since they have more going on they tend to last a little longer than the first person shooters. People generally play with close friends as teammates and fight against another set of teammates. These too sometimes form clans but are less persistent than the first person shooters. Finally the other online game type that is probably the most popular as of now are role playing games online. These games are all online play, unlike the other two mention before that usually have a single player. The role playing games also do not have a actual ending to the game. There is no game over you win in these games. People generally play with a group of close friends called a guild. These games generally cause people to rely on other gamers and cause them to form close social ties. The more time put into a role playing game online will result in more rewards for the player, where as the other two games mention previously have all players at the same level all the time. So an endless game, that rewards people for time spent, and also causes social relationships is a game that may cause some effect on a persons real life. The question now is are all people effected in real life by these games and are the effects "bad".

Technology

At first thought I considered technology things like computers, video games, or cell phones. I thought that it had to have a microchip or processor in it to be considered technology. Then in my group I was open to the idea that more can be considered technology. That lights, cars, or any electronic can be grouped into a category of technology. Then in a class discussion my ideas where stretched even more. That even the idea of how something is designed from a new way to build a building, a bridge, or a vehicle could be considered technological. So when I ask myself how technology has impacted me there is many ways technology has changed the way I live life. At first I can think of having a mobile phone that allows me to call anywhere whenever and also has many other functions that I may not even use to my advantage. Then there is the abuse of electricity that society as a whole has taken for granite. Electronics and internet has allowed the world to develop in a whole new and very fast way. Finally the ideas of design have changed the way cities are built. We have earthquake and tornado safe building in high risk areas. There are redesigned safer bridges for commuters. Even this school, well some of it at least, has had new designs to improve its structure. So from this view technology has impacted me a lot on many different levels.

Cyber Culture

At the age of five, I started playing videos games on Sega Genesis. Since then I have evolved with the gaming community. My first experience of a cyber culture would be Xbox live. Through Xbox live I met other gamers that shared similar interests. I made new friends that lived anywhere in the world through Xbox live without ever seeing them. I then moved onto play Final Fantasy XI online. Final Fantasy XI is a MMORPG, massively multiplayer online role-playing game. Final Fantasy XI had players all over the world join forces to accomplish goals in the game. Well in the process one is bound to meet new people that grow to be good friends. I played FFXI with a few real life friends but there were some people that I met in FFXI that I viewed to be just as good as a friend without ever meeting them. I then started playing WoW, World of Warcraft, about three years ago. The cyber culture that I encountered here was huge. I joined a guild that had 100 people that I would talk to everyday that would be willing to help out in any way they could. Every night my and 39 other people would join together to accomplish large difficult goals in game. The people on WoW introduced me to Ventrilo which is a voice communication program. With Vent we could talk with each other and this allowed stronger bonds to form between myself and those that I met in the game. Through WoW I have met and become good friends with those in Texas, California, Alaska, Canada, Europe, Russia, and even Australia. Some of these people I talk to every day. They are just as good of a friend to me as any friend I have made in real life. I have had a huge experience with some different cyber cultures and I am glad that I have experience all of it.

Popular Culture & Me

I always thought of myself as someone that did not conform to the popular acceptance of society. I thought that I always did my own thing. Now I think I am part of a group or culture, just not the largest accepted one in society. I would say that popular culture has somewhat shaped my circle of friends. The people I became friends with have or had the same interests as me. Originally I became friends with two people back in fifth grade because we all shared the same liking towards Pokémon, which was very big then. More friends came from sharing interests in video games like Final Fantasy games and World of Warcraft. I became friends with those that had similar interests in the media popular culture. My interests in music originally came from the interests my dad has in music. He likes the music that he grew up to in the 70s and 80s. I share the same interests in most of these rock groups today. I do not go to the television shows like MTV or VH1 to find out what music is current in music popular culture, however, close friends and those that I have met through online gaming have shared their interests in music with me and I have mixed and matched those that I found interesting. I conformed to the technical generation, but I feel I am in a sub-category that shows interests in video games and anime.