MMOs from the Outside In

MMOs from the Outside In

Author: Richard A. Bartle

Publisher: Apress

Published: 2015-12-30

Total Pages: 518

ISBN-13: 1484217810

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This follow-up volume to MMOs from the Inside Out is a further collection of bold ideas, information, and instruction from one of the true pioneers of Massively-Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games. Whereas its predecessor looked at how MMOs can change the world, MMOs from the Outside In: How Psychology, Law, Culture and Real Life see Massively-Multiplayer Role-playing Games looks at how the world can change MMOs – and not always for the better. The aim of this book is to inform an up-coming generation of designers, to alert and educate players and designers-to-be, and to caution those already working in the field who might be growing complacent about society’s acceptance of their chosen career. Playing and creating MMOs does not happen in a bubble. MMOs are so packed with potential that those who don’t understand them can be afraid, and those who do understand them can neglect their wider impact. Today's examples are little more than small, pioneering colonies on the shore of a vast, uncharted continent. What monsters lurk beyond the horizon? What horrors will explorers bring back to torment us? MMOs from the Outside In is for people with a spark of curiosity: it pours gasoline on that spark. It:• Explains how MMOs are perceived, how they could – and perhaps should – be perceived, and how the can contribute to wider society.• Delves into what researchers think about why players play.• Encourages, enthuses, enrages, engages, enlightens, envisions, and enchants.• Doesn't tell you what to think, it tells you to think. What You Will Learn:• The myriad challenges facing MMOs – and to decide for yourself how to address these challenges.• What MMOs bring to the world that it didn’t have before.• How MMOs are regarded, and what this means for how they will be regarded in future.• That playing and designing MMOs has implications for those who don’t play or design them. Whom This Book is For:MMOs from the Outside In is a book for those who wish to know more about the wider influence of game design in general and MMO design in particular. It's for people who play MMOs, for people who design MMOs, and for people who study MMOs. It's for people with a yearning to see beyond the worlds of their imagination and to change the world around them.


MMOs from the Inside Out

MMOs from the Inside Out

Author: Richard A. Bartle

Publisher: Apress

Published: 2015-12-30

Total Pages: 742

ISBN-13: 1484217241

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This is an astonishing collection of ideas, information, and instruction from one of the true pioneers of Massively-Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games. MMOs from the Inside Out: The History, Design, Fun, and Art of Massively-Multiplayer Role-playing Games speaks to the designers and players of MMOs, taking it as axiomatic that such games are inspirational and boundless forces for good. The aim of this book is to enthuse an up-coming generation of designers, to inspire and educate players and designers-to-be, and to reinvigorate those already working in the field who might be wondering if it’s still all worthwhile. Playing MMOs is about fun, immersion, and identity. Creating MMOs is about imagination, expression, and art. MMOs are so packed with potential that today's examples are little more than small, pioneering colonies on the shore of a vast, uncharted continent. What wonders wait beyond the horizon? What treasures will explorers bring back to amaze us? MMOs from the Inside Out is for people with a spark of creativity: it pours gasoline on that spark. It: Explains what MMOs are, what they once were, and what they could – and should – become. Delves into why players play, and why designers design. Encourages, enthuses, enrages, engages, enlightens, envisions, and enchants. Doesn't tell you what to think, it tells you to think. What You Will Learn: Myriad ways to improve MMOs – and to decide for yourself whether these are improvements. What MMOs are; who plays them, and why. How MMOs became what they are, and what this means for what they will become. That you have it in you to make MMOs yourself. Whom This Book is For:MMOs from the Inside Out is a book for those who wish to know more about game design in general and MMO design in particular. It's for people who play MMOs, for people who design MMOs, and for people who study MMOs. It's for people with a yearning to see beyond the world around them and to make manifest the worlds of their imagination.


Play Between Worlds

Play Between Worlds

Author: T. L. Taylor

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2009-02-13

Total Pages: 206

ISBN-13: 0262250543

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A study of Everquest that provides a snapshot of multiplayer gaming culture, questions the truism that computer games are isolating and alienating, and offers insights into broader issues of work and play, gender identity, technology, and commercial culture. In Play Between Worlds, T. L. Taylor examines multiplayer gaming life as it is lived on the borders, in the gaps—as players slip in and out of complex social networks that cross online and offline space. Taylor questions the common assumption that playing computer games is an isolating and alienating activity indulged in by solitary teenage boys. Massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs), in which thousands of players participate in a virtual game world in real time, are in fact actively designed for sociability. Games like the popular Everquest, she argues, are fundamentally social spaces. Taylor's detailed look at Everquest offers a snapshot of multiplayer culture. Drawing on her own experience as an Everquest player (as a female Gnome Necromancer)—including her attendance at an Everquest Fan Faire, with its blurring of online—and offline life—and extensive research, Taylor not only shows us something about games but raises broader cultural issues. She considers "power gamers," who play in ways that seem closer to work, and examines our underlying notions of what constitutes play—and why play sometimes feels like work and may even be painful, repetitive, and boring. She looks at the women who play Everquest and finds they don't fit the narrow stereotype of women gamers, which may cast into doubt our standardized and preconceived ideas of femininity. And she explores the questions of who owns game space—what happens when emergent player culture confronts the major corporation behind the game.


Massively Multiplayer Game Development 2

Massively Multiplayer Game Development 2

Author: Thor Alexander

Publisher:

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 508

ISBN-13: 9781584503903

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Presents a collection of articles on computer game programming, covering design techniques, engineering techniques, and production techniques.


Designing Virtual Worlds

Designing Virtual Worlds

Author: Richard A. Bartle

Publisher: New Riders

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 768

ISBN-13: 9780131018167

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This text provides a comprehensive treatment of virtual world design from one of its pioneers. It covers everything from MUDs to MOOs to MMORPGs, from text-based to graphical VWs.


The Video Game Debate 2

The Video Game Debate 2

Author: Rachel Kowert

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-11-29

Total Pages: 160

ISBN-13: 1000224287

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This student-friendly book provides an accessible overview of the primary debates about the effects of video games. It expands on the original The Video Game Debate to address the new technologies that have emerged within the field of game studies over the last few years. Debates about the negative effects of video game play have been evident since their introduction in the 1970s, but the advent of online and mobile gaming has revived these concerns, reinvigorating old debates and generating brand new ones. The Video Game Debate 2 draws from the latest research findings from the top scholars of digital games research to address these concerns. The book explores key developments such as virtual and augmented reality, the use of micro-transactions, the integration of loot boxes, and the growth of mobile gaming and games for change (serious games). Furthermore, several new chapters explore contemporary debates around e-sports, gamification, sex and gender discrimination in games, and the use of games in therapy. This book offers students and scholars of games studies and digital media, as well as policymakers, the essential information they need to participate in the debate.


Utilizing Gamification in Servicescapes for Improved Consumer Engagement

Utilizing Gamification in Servicescapes for Improved Consumer Engagement

Author: Helmefalk, Miralem

Publisher: IGI Global

Published: 2020-01-03

Total Pages: 319

ISBN-13: 1799819728

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As consumers increase their purchases from online retailers, businesses must find exceedingly innovative ways to increase customer engagement. While online gaming has become increasingly prevalent, motivating customers through the same means has gained greater importance for businesses. Utilizing Gamification in Servicescapes for Improved Consumer Engagement is a pivotal reference source that provides vital research on employing various gamification mechanics to alter and enhance certain behaviors in marketing contexts. While highlighting topics such as online gaming, user engagement, and target marketing, this book is ideally designed for retailers, advertisers, marketers, promotion coordinators, industry professionals, business executives, managers, researchers, academicians, and students seeking current research on bridging servicescapes and marketing literature with gamification.


Encyclopedia of Video Games [3 volumes]

Encyclopedia of Video Games [3 volumes]

Author: Mark J. P. Wolf

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2021-05-24

Total Pages: 1365

ISBN-13: 1440870209

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Now in its second edition, the Encyclopedia of Video Games: The Culture, Technology, and Art of Gaming is the definitive, go-to resource for anyone interested in the diverse and expanding video game industry. This three-volume encyclopedia covers all things video games, including the games themselves, the companies that make them, and the people who play them. Written by scholars who are exceptionally knowledgeable in the field of video game studies, it notes genres, institutions, important concepts, theoretical concerns, and more and is the most comprehensive encyclopedia of video games of its kind, covering video games throughout all periods of their existence and geographically around the world. This is the second edition of Encyclopedia of Video Games: The Culture, Technology, and Art of Gaming, originally published in 2012. All of the entries have been revised to accommodate changes in the industry, and an additional volume has been added to address the recent developments, advances, and changes that have occurred in this ever-evolving field. This set is a vital resource for scholars and video game aficionados alike.


Star Worlds

Star Worlds

Author: William Sims Bainbridge

Publisher: University of Michigan Press

Published: 2016-10-19

Total Pages: 307

ISBN-13: 047212241X

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Star Worlds explores the future-oriented universe of online virtual worlds connected with popular science fiction—specifically, with Star Wars and Star Trek—that have been inhabited for over a decade by computer gamers. The Star Wars and Star Trek franchises, both of which have shaped the dominant science fiction mythologies of the last half-century, offer profound conceptions of the tension between freedom and control in human economic, political, and social interactions. William Sims Bainbridge investigates the human and technological dynamics of four online virtual worlds based on these two very different traditions: the massively multiplayer online games Star Wars Galaxies; Star Wars: The Old Republic; Star Trek Online; and the Star Trek community in the non-game, user-created virtual environment, Second Life. The four “star worlds” explored in this book illustrate the dilemmas concerning the role of technology as liberator or oppressor in our postindustrial society, and represent computer simulations of future possibilities of human experience. Bainbridge considers the relationship between a real person and the role that person plays, the relationship of an individual to society, and the relationship of human beings to computing technology. In addition to collecting ethnographic and quantitative data about the social behavior of other players, he has immersed himself in each of these worlds, role-playing 14 avatars with different skills and goals to gain new insights into the variety of player experience from a personal perspective.


Casual Game Design

Casual Game Design

Author: Gregory Trefry

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2010-01-26

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 0080959237

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From Windows Solitaire to Bejeweled to Wii Tennis, casual games have radically changed the landscape of games. By simplifying gameplay and providing quick but intense blasts of engaging play, casual games have drawn in huge new audiences of players. To entertain and engage the casual player, game designers must learn to think about what makes casua