Week 7: 2/2

My final post for this blog will be my research paper.  It is the consolidation of my findings and my final conclusion.  This has been a pleasure.  Enjoy.

Guild Wars Report

            For the past 8 weeks, I have been conducting research on Guild Wars and the players that are a part of this.  It has proven to be a very enlightening experience that in the end has shown that Guild Wars is surprisingly similar to real life.  Below, I have divided up my findings into three categories.

General:

            To start with, the nature of social life in Guild Wars falls under a few categories:  group missions, trading and alliance/guilds.  Group missions are the most common and makes up the majority of your group interactions.  This usually encompasses dungeons and similar events where you must kill enemies and bosses to get items.  This group interaction extends until just before the dungeon in the grouping area.  The second method as mentioned is

through trading.  When there is any item you don’t want, or rather that you need but can’t find elsewhere, you can trade with other players.  When this is done, players usually converge in one of a few hubs, but this will be discussed later.  The final method was through alliances/guilds.  By becoming a part of one, the social side of Guild Wars increases immensely.  Players have perpetual access to all members of their guild and are one of the only forms of constant communication in the game.

Now, within these activities, people behave very similarly to real life.  People talk, make friendships, learn to dislike people, etc.  But there are some weird behaviors that I have witnessed.  For example, when I was talking directly to someone via a whisper, if I stood on top of their character they would try and get their “personal space” back.  The biggest difference between online and real life attitude was the anonymity seemed to make people a bit ruder.  This varied but for the most part was minor things mentioned later. 

In Guild Wars, people also had access to some limited 3D changing.  This was restricted to the gear your character wore and, in the case of the guild leader, the Guild Hall you had access to.  For your gear, on top of picking exactly what armor set you equipped, you also could pick the colors.  This range wasn’t too large initially, most of the core colors you know, but you can mix and match them to achieve any level of customization.  As for Guild Halls, each one is a unique design but there is only a few.  So the core Hall is different, but from there the customization ends. 

Now, online there were 5 people that I talked to more often than the rest.  Farin Herfer is a real life friend who also plays Guild Wars. He played because he loves the world that it takes place in.  Anton Stormbringer, Quickshot Jack and Evalyn Galehaert are all members of the guild I’m in.  They all said they played for some entertainment, but they had stronger ties now to the people in the guild and that is what keeps them around.  Finally there is I Wont Be Owned and he plays for the economic side of Guild Wars.  He drew entertainment from playing the market and amassing gold.

Players:

                        Players seem to be drawn to Guild Wars for its entertainment value.  The exact entertainment varied person to person, but it was the consensus.  For example, some play for the player versus player perspective, some like the group dynamics, others are in it purely for the economic gain.  As the picture shows, one of the people I asked enjoyed Guild Wars for lore over many other features.  Just the thought that went into the backstory was enough to appeal to his sense of fun.

            Along these lines, I have seen evidence that almost all types of people are drawn to Guild Wars.  I have talked to people ranging from young teens to middle aged people.  Both genders play also, though males seem to be in higher percentages.  The only type of people I can’t recall ever coming across was people in really high end positions like CEO’s, Doctors, Lawyers, etc.  This could be as simple as most people in those positions don’t have time for Guild Wars or it could even go so far that the people currently in those positions are old enough that they never played games and so they aren’t gamers.  If that is true, then give it 10-20 years and people of this nature could be found in MMO’s.

            Now, Guild Wars is different than a lot of other MMO’s in that its gear while leveling is the same appearance and the only change is at max level.  Once at max level, even these changes are, with few exceptions, the same ingredients across the board or the same rough cost.  There is only one set of armor that is incredibly hard to get, through its cost alone, and thus I had some minor awe for players with this.  But I never experienced, witnessed or otherwise was exposed to any prejudice based off of my gear.  In general though, people seemed to have a much friendlier view towards me then in other games.  Personally, I kept things very business-like, but friendly, and I was treated back with courtesy more often than not.  Of course, I encountered the jerks now and then, but even this behavior was relatively low.  I don’t recall seeing a blatant act of jerkiness.

            As for others behavior, they usually are very brisk, not quite rude but not usually quite friendly either.  When it comes to trade, it can be very “Buy it or get out” sort of behavior.  If you are grouped up with people for dungeons, it’s a lot friendlier with small talk going on as we walked and things become quieter the closer to bosses.  And the alliance/guild chat is always friendly and welcoming, like you were invited into a group of friends and despite only knowing one or two people, everyone greets you warmly.  These behaviors can really be broken down further between friends or not.  If people already knew each other or had a mutual bond such as a guild, everyone is friendly as can be.  If people are strangers though, it results in a lot more distant conversations.

Economy:

            The economy in Guild Wars is of simple design, yet fairly self-sustaining.  The basic principle is one player will shout out in town or post in the trade channel. The other players will determine if they want to pay it or not and contact the seller as needed.  There is also a vendor in all major cities that has all raw ingredients present.  If they are at an acceptable price, people buy them from there and drive the price up.  Otherwise, the price drops.  These prices are then used as a basis for the same items in player trade.

            For items that aren’t covered by these vendors, there are outside sources.  The biggest is Argos Soft.  The site pans all chat logs and pulls information on items you want so you can get fair pricing.  You can also go to Guild Wars Guru which is more of a forum, where you can ask for pricing or even post your items so you don’t have to sit around in game. 

            The majority of items fell under one of these categories:  Vanity items, higher form of currency, hall of monuments items, rare/high end items, crafting materials.  

The higher form of currency is usually Globs of Ectoplasm in this case.  There are others, but this is the most common.  Guild Wars limits your maximum funds you can carry on you at 100 platinum.  A Glob of Ectoplasm, which you have no limit on, is worth around 10 plat.  So for high end exchanges that could be anything over 100 plat, Globs of Ectoplasm are usually used and these sold for right around market price, fluctuation depending on how may were being sold.  

Vanity items are either Everlasting Elixirs or Mini pets.  I was shocked at how much some of the rarer ones go for.  I had an Everlasting Elixir of the rarest quality and despite being a very lack luster transformation it sold for 50 ectoplasm, or 500 plat.  In Guild Wars that's a small fortune that if spent correctly, can go a long ways. 

Hall of Monuments items cover a wide variety and these all are sold at a premium despite not being inherently pricey.  The Hall of Monuments is an achievement system in game where you dedicate items that span from Mini Pets, Armor, Weapons, Titles for tasks, etc.  These points carry over to the sequel game that is to be released and anyone who is going to play wants to max out these points.  One of the items commonly sold are Armbrace's of Truth.  These are turned in for rare weapons, which while the weapons sell for around 60 plat, the Armbrace's managed to sell for 23 ectoplasm. 

Rare and high end items is fairly self-explanatory.  The rarer the item, the better the stats and this is especially true here.  The best rarity is usually unique and they can have special stats that no other item of the same type could possess.  These seemed to sell for a minimum of 100 plat.  

Finally, there are crafting materials.  The more common things were being sought after by people because they don't yield much profit, about 4 plat for a stack (250) of wood.  But a single Ruby can sell for more then an Ectoplasm, but they are a lot more rare and are used to craft gear.  These were being actively advertised by people looking to sell and very few were trying to buy.

            All of these together make up the bulk of the economy with a couple other odd ball items being encountered now and then.  In general though, there was no impact on the greater economy through Guild Wars.  There are some micro transactions (things like extra character slots) and these cost actual money.  There is also gold purchasing which is illegal in game and can get your account suspended if caught, but allows you to trade real money for in game gold.  The third option, which I believe is just as frowned upon, would be to use Guild Wars Guru and attempt to sell an item for real money, using pay pal or something as a transfer method. 

In Conclusion:

            After doing this study into the players, the game, and what everyone hopes to get out of it, I was pleasantly surprised.  In general, it seemed like online game play was very similar to real life.  I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a substitute, there is still enough that’s different or missing, but it is very similar all the same.  The players themselves come from a wide variety of backgrounds and are helpful and welcoming.  Guild Wars’ economy is a simple, but effective thing based on a few real principles of life.  All told, I think this was an enlightening experience and something more should try.

Works Cited

Yee, N. (2004). The daedalus gateway. Retrieved from http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/gateway_intro.html

Altay, E. (2010, January 28). Mmorpg players. Retrieved from

                http://mmohuts.com/editorials/mmorpg-players

Qian, G. (2011, January 20). Mmorpgs: the perspective from psychology. Retrieved from                 http://www.scientific.net/KEM.460-461.388

Ludgate, S. (2010, November 16). Virtual economic theory: How mmo's really work. Retrieved from                 http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/6205/virtual_economic_theory_how_mmos_.php

Suznjevic, M., & Matijasevic, M. (2010). Why mmorpg players do what they do: relating motivations to action categories. International Journal of Advanced Media and Communication, 4(4), 405-424.             doi: 10.1504/IJAMC.2010.036838

Maragos, N. (2005, September 20). Mmo demographics, trends explored in survey. Retrieved from                 http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=6582

Week 7: 1/2

My final main point is to summarize what I have experienced in Guild Wars.  In short, it was an enlightening experience.  Your average player has multiple reasons for playing but it seems like personal ties are among some of the biggest.  The players are also fairly good mannered, reacting very similar to real life.  Just like real life, there are also the jerks that try to drag everyone else down.  The player attitude changes dramatically among members of a guild or alliance.  These people treat you like friends and have a very welcoming attitude to everyone else who is a member.

The main areas of congregation seem to be the major trade city where you can have easily 200+ players in a server standing around trying to buy/sell their goods.  There are also a select few areas around the world that have major dungeons nearby that have 30-40 players seeking groups. This kept in pace with my initial thoughts, that players tend to congregate where a lot of action is.  Nothing exceptionally new was learned here.

The final area of interest was the economy in game.  Now, I wasn't quite sure what to expect going in and it seems fairly straight forward.  "Cool" items, things that have aesthetic appeal, sell for extraordinary prices and items in demand sell for more.  The players have to strike a balancing act though for all the more common items.  Generic vendors sell these items and so you always want to sell for more then you could sell to them while undercutting their price.  In some cases this can create a very narrow window while giving a good indication of current market health.

Week 6: 2/2

The final question I have to answer is about in game behavior and real life, namely how closely do the two resemble each other.  Overall, I would say I don't notice too much of a difference.  When talking with people, trading, grouping up, etc, people are usually fairly agreeable.  I will admit that players are more hostile when they have little knowledge of you or they are more prone to purposefully aggravating players.  The anonymity encourages players to be much ruder to those they don't know, sometimes to the point of purposefully dragging down everyone's performance.   Behavior like this is few and far between though and it's usually something minor.  If people are friends, or have a greater bond together like that of a guild, then their outlook completely changes and it's like someone you meet every day at school or work.  For the most part everyone gets along and there may be the occasional person that annoys you, but it's a pleasant experience all the same.

Week 6: 1/2

The first question I followed this week is how people responded when I told them I got to play Guild Wars for a university project.  In general, the response was pretty positive.  Everyone responded with something like "That is awesome", "I want to go to that school", etc.  I think the idea is still new because most people don't think of going to school for game related degrees.  As such the activities that such an degree would inspire don't cross their minds.  Not to mention the very idea of playing video games for university credit is a practical dream to almost every gamer in existence.

Week 5: 2/2

The second question to answer is how 3D spaces are used to reflect personalities and interests.  There are 3 main ways this is accomplished.  The first, and most common, is through your gear.  In Guild Wars, all gear has the exact same base stats, some are just rarer then others and cost more ingredients.  As such, you have at least 6 armor sets that are all different looks that you can dye different colors and make all your own.

The second way is through the hall of monuments.  As you collect certain achievements, your hall will slowly fill out more, and as you get excessive options, you are able to pick and choose which ones to display.  But unless someone is in a group with you, they will never see it and the overall design won't change, merely the contents displayed.

The final, much more relevant way to answer this question is with guild halls.  A guild leader can buy a hall from a bunch of different types, over 10 I believe.  Each of these has a unique layout and theme to them.  Some appear to be a Gothic style castle while another is a palace from an Egyptian esque area.  There are also some basic upgrades you can get that improve the guild hall, mostly for guild battles.  Almost everyone will have these upgrades after some time though, so the only real way to show off your personality is in the initial style of the guild hall.

Week 5: 1/2

The first question for this week is what sort of formal/informal behaviors do I notice in game compared to real life.  There are actually quite a few.  Verbally speaking, among friends people tend to talk the exact same way.  I have yet to notice a change that would surprise you.  There are some little things like people can be more rude, or rather a lot more dismissive in a group or trade scenario.  If it's an informal event then you can be treated just like a nuisance they can't be bothered with.  Formal occasions are a lot better.  If it's a group run then people fall in line and quiet down when work needs to be done and chat casually again otherwise.

Non verbally though  I have noticed one particular action that I find somewhat funny.  If I am talking to a person, and I move my character to be inside their character, or at least right beside them, they have a tendency to move away and get their "personal space" back.  This was only really observed when the player was being talked to, otherwise they were fairly oblivious to events.

Week 4: 2/2

The second question this week was mostly answered in week 2, and the question is "What virtual goods are bought and sold online and how do they effect the broader economy."  To answer the first question, the items are weapons, equipment enhancements, vanity items like mini-pets/shape-shifting items, higher forms of currency, crafting ingredients or items for the Hall of Monuments to achieve a higher score.

As for how the economy effects the broader economy, in Guild Wars it can effect the actual economy directly.  Gold sellers, which are banned if caught but still operate, will sell in game gold for real life currency having an impact in that way.  Also, it is possible though highly uncommon for item sales to be conducted in real currency but sites like guildwarsguru.com help with this.  Now, there are also micro-transactions that Arenanet, Guild Wars' creators, offer and they are bought with real money.  Outside of these options though, Guild Wars' economy has no effect on the greater economy.