MMORPGs - A Second Life

Any true nerd of the internet knows what an MMO is. MMORPG stands for Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game, or in simpler English, playing games on the internet with other people.


One major example of an MMO would be the all famous World of Warcraft. Thousands, heck, millions of kids and adults play this game, over time it's become one of the worlds biggest MMOs on the net. It's concept is simple, you create a character, then you level said character up by doing numerous tasks and quests for NPCs [Non-Player Characters], normally collecting certain items or killing a said amount of enemies before advancing onto the next task.


Since the Xbox 360's release, multiplayer games have been on the decrease. Games where you can just connect two controllers in and play with a friend in the comfort of your own front room are slowly dying out, being favoured instead for the whole 'connect to the internet to play with your friend', which I personally hate. It's a ongoing scam with console and game makers. In the past if you wanted to play with a friend, you needed two controllers. Now, you need two accounts. Two paid accounts which cost roughly £40 a year to keep, otherwise you can't play with your friend. Oh, and the internet, because it must be online so you can go through the internet to play with your mate, even if they live next door to you.


Anyway, back to WoW. The game was created back in November of 2004 and was created by a company named Blizzard Entertainment. The game is known as a 'Pay to Play', where the user has to pay in order to play, normally paid with a monthly subscription. It's not much, £10 a month is pennys to the hardcore gamers who have their parents credit cards at the ready, or even the nerds who sell their lives on EBay in order to make that £10 up.


As of June 2011, the game has a whopping 11.1 million subscribers and is in the Guinness world record books as the most popular MMORPG on the net.


But why is this game so popular? It's awfully repetitive, doesn't help with any real life issues and just takes £10 out of your wallet every month. It get's very banal, very quickly.


Simple. It allows you to play with a community. It lets you play with your friends and it makes you feel like you're achieving something. It brings people from other countries together without the need of letters or plane tickets.


For example, thanks to MMORPGs, I can interact and play with my two friends in Texas and Ireland, without having to pay for a plane ticket over in order to play with them.


But, with all it's good points, internet related stuff also has it's down points. Some of them include [but aren't limited to];


> Hackers - Those on the internet who are there to simply take what is yours by tricking you into giving them your password, or by using technology to figure it out themselves. They then change your password and either use your account to go on a trolling rampage [Troll explained in the next point] until they're banned, or they play using your account, knowing full well they haven't paid for it, so they're getting the game for nothing.


> Trolls - People on the internet who make accounts, but have no actual intention on playing or joining in with the community. Instead, they just try to make the game miserable for everyone else by spamming up the area where you can type chat with people [normally known as a 'chat box'] with off topic stuff, following you around and consistently challenging you to duels or basically making something pop up on your screen to hinder your vision. There are many ways trolls work, it all depends on where they are on the internet.


> Lack of social interaction - Otherwise known as a social life. World of Warcraft is dangerously addictive, so addictive in fact people are dying by playing too long. They just don't know when to stop, or they don't want to, because the world is huge and you can only continue through it by grinding [levelling up], otherwise you get eaten alive.


> Where one of my up points was that it could bring people together, it can also break them apart. Friends become enemies on such games due to jealousy or an overinflated ego.


Overall - MMO's are a great addition to the internet, but at the same time they're not. They patch the hole that was made by games providers, they help bring people together, but at the same time they split people apart. Sure, you can talk to people overseas and interact with them without forking out hundreds of pounds for travel, but egos and jealousy can eventually break that friendship and cause a rivalry. Plus the trolls. Do not get me started on the damn trolls!


Sources Used - 

Link One
Guinness Gaming world records
Top Ten Popular MMOs
Main Source