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.

Week 4: 1/2

This week continues the economy questions from week 2.  The first question is a simple one, how are goods sold in game.  Well, there are 2 main ways.  The easiest but not the most accommodating is to stand in town trying to sell your item.  This can take a while, especially for very rare items that go for absurd amounts of gold.  As such, there is an aid you can use in game that is part of the search function.  On top of helping you get into groups, it also allows you to broadcast your goods, keeping them not only in trade chat but also in a listing that any other player can scroll through.  This method is probably best for selling either common goods, or items that are going to be very good sellers because you are selling to people actively trying to buy.

The other method is through third party sites like www.guildwarsguru.com.  They have an "auction house" there that works just like Ebay.  Players can put up their items and the price, players bid, and if they sell they arrange to meet up online to trade.  Or they can cut that part out and just post on the forums for the same result.  Now, this hits a lot more people and is a very passive means of selling because not only do players have to be aware of the site to begin with, but they have to search for your item.  So the only hits you will get are serious ones that will sell, but it could take a bit longer if people aren't actively searching for it.

Week 3: 2/2

The second question I am to answer this week is to list 5 people I meet online every week, and what they get out of the game/how they view me.

The first person goes by Farin Herfer, one of my real life friends who plays.  He is also one of my guild members online and they are mostly playing Guild Wars for the entertainment factor and to get benefits when Guild Wars 2 comes out.  And being friends already, he said he viewed me as such still.

The second person is Anton Stormbringer and he is the leader of the guild I'm in.  He has been playing Guild Wars for a while and so his reasons for playing are not just for entertainment, but also to be with friends he has online. His view of me, and everyone else on this list, was more of an acquaintance, in that I am known but we're not close friends or have even shared much.  We are merely friendly with each other, more so then with strangers because we are in the same guild.

The third person is Quickshot Jack and the fourth person is Evalyn Galehart.  They are both in my guild or alliance and they're answers were very much along the lines of Anton's.

The final person is I Wont Be Owned and I met him while attempting to trade.  He gave me some advice and helped me get into more of the economic side of Guild Wars.  We haven't talked quite as much as the others and so, while friendly, we are on slightly more distant terms.  He plays Guild Wars for entertainment value and to group together in a PvE environment.

Week 3: 1/2

For the past week I have been continuing with mostly what I had been doing before.  I have sought out groups in to experience more joint play, just logged online to sit in a city and read chat, etc.  I even attempted to do some PvP.  Sadly, Guild Wars has devolved to needing very specific builds in PvP to do well so after dying a lot, I just called it quits for that.

As for my first question this week, it's to discuss how I am treated based off of my gear compared to others.  In short, there isn't much difference in how you are treated if you have bad gear.  This is mostly due to the fact that your gear doesn't change appearances, only power, until you hit max level.  At max level, you have access to other gear appearances, and most of them, while cool, aren't really difficult to get so at this point in Guild Wars, gear doesn't inspire awe in other players.  The only gear that could come close is the Obsidian armor that takes massive quantities of gold and expensive ingredients.  I know from myself that I found a little more respect for no reason other then that they had this expensive gear.

Week 2: 2/2

In the second half of this week, I have been considering the types of people that play this game as well as basic interactions between players.  I'll start with the easier question of player interactions.  In regards to the interactions towards me, it depends on the context.  If it's the random player and it is just a business deal it's very much a "talk or leave, I don't care" attitude.  When a sale is being discussed, most people don't even get more polite.  It isn't rude, but would be offensive if it was in a business in real life.  If it's a party, things are more friendly.  Compliments may be used if they notice someone doing an extremely good job but otherwise things are kept on a professional basis, very much a "let me do my job" kind of thing.  People are a lot more courteous in these situations as a lot more is at stake if the group breaks apart.  The most friendly interactions is always those within the guild/alliance.  If you are talking with someone there, it is like you are instant friends.  People warm up a lot quicker, joke around a lot and it's like you were just welcomed into a group of other friends.

As for me, a lot of my interactions are always on the excessively polite side.  I treat the game world as if it was real life and accordingly I always show extra respect to people, withhold name calling and such and doing whatever I can to keep amiable interactions going.

As for what sort of people are attracted to this game, it's hard to say.  Unlike Facebook games, it takes a bit more dedication and so casual gamers are out of the question.  A side of this game that I have yet to take a solid look at is the PvP side of things (Player versus Player).  This is also a fairly substantial side of the game in that it's the main form of expanding content still being supplied for Guild Wars.  So the E-Sports audience those that like the intense, competitive games would be attracted to this.  But it also would attract your typical RPG player in all their forms.  The heart of this games PvE content is story driven, and can be accomplished as a team or by yourself.

Week 2: 1/2

Getting a group is a lot harder then initial appearances if you aren't a specific build.  Every class does a basic thing, but through many years of gameplay, a couple skill combinations have jumped to the front as being exceptionally powerful.  While I did get in one or two groups, it proves challenging to get into a lot because these groups are seeking these powerful builds over a lot of others.  That said though, the group or two I did get in behaved very similar to my first.  Everyone was polite, but they did talk a bit more this time around.  The groups had a few more people, one of them had 4 real people and another was a full group of 8.  The more people present, the more talking there was as more people engaged in idle conversation.

While seeking groups, I managed to spend a lot of time in some of the more major cities and I did get a good taste for the economy 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 a 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.

Week 1: 2/2

This is a couple days later and unfortunately, people don't do very much during the week.  As such, the group search wasn't the greatest but I did get into one or two groups, mostly very small ones where we had computer allies assisting us.  In this case, our group work centered around accomplishing one goal, beat the mission.  In most cases, this is kill enemy "x" and sometimes it adds in "defend y also."

This group was formed through alliance chat.  Like in town, a shout went out over the channel asking for assistance and I offered my help.  While doing the mission, chat was fairly quiet and things took on a semi professional tone. Neither of us messed up, and as long as we did our job no one said anything.  The most chat throughout was basic stuff like, "oops, wrong way" or asking if we're ready.

Now, after experiencing this there is one more big question to be answered this week, what is the main purpose of this online community?  From what I can tell, it is to progress to the end, to beat all of the story together, and to then enjoy a series of events with your friends you have made through your adventures.  But unlike other games, the social aspect isn't the focal point.  This is like a single player game that had multiplayer integrated in to make things more entertaining.

My next post will be into next week where I will be discussing the culture of the game, who plays it, what they buy, etc.  I will also attempt to engage in more group dynamics to better explore this today's post in more detail.

Week 1 Post: Wired Articles

There is also an assignment to find 3 articles or advertisements about some items of interest.

The first one I found was http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/02/twitter-ads-coming-to-official-iphone-and-android-apps/.  This article, in short, says that twitter is bringing adds to their official iphone and android apps in the same way they are in the desktop version.  When viewing the apps, your twitter feed will have ads scrolling through them over the course of the day, but they will remain easy to dismiss and should quickly drift off your top tweets.  This isn't too new or different.  It's just broadening what is already present.  This won't really play into the GSP field as much except that updates can be more easily shared.  

This next article is even more interesting though.  http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2012/02/jpmc-gopago-mobile-shopping/ is about new technology that will allow money to be transferred with a brief wave of two devices near each other.  The creators are also taking it a step further by becoming middle men.  They want to become a type of credit card company by putting merchants directly in connection with a bank so that you in essence can use your debit card for everything by swiping your iPhone.  Now this I think is a good thing to some extent.  I'm more concerned about the potential ease of access that either your phone could be destroyed or the data corrupted leaving you without a money source.  If this is done correctly, it could be the new credit cards and could heavily press credit card companies.  

The final article is on the new Samsung Galaxy Note http://www.wired.com/reviews/2012/02/samsung-galaxy-note/.  They acknowledge that the system is powerful.  It can do what most other touch screens can but it has a drawback, its large screen.  The Note is roughly 1/2 the size of an iphone added on to all sides while keeping the same thickness.  This means that in small hands, it is quite a handful and it can be hard pressed to fit in some pockets.  The stylus also has issues, in that while it works with most of the icons, anything android specific won't interact with the stylus reducing you to using your finger like everyone else.  This has been an interesting mix and has a potential to be a new version of a tablet/phone.  I think this will end up being more of a prototype though.  The overall design is still a little big and as technology advances, devices could keep the idea but do it better.  

Week 1: 1/2

This is the first week of a new class and for this one, I am studying the human interaction in an online environment such as an MMORPG.  The game in question is going to be Guild Wars, a fantasy game in a fictional world.  The intial idea had been to do Second Life, but after spending around 30 minutes in game, the UI, minimal tutorial and confusing controls proved too much and I moved on to a different game.

Within Guild Wars, I spent this first day mostly checking around different social hubs, both major cities and some of the outposts that are lesser visited.  Within these areas, the concentration of people was heavy, but the in game chat wasn't very active.  The majority of chatter was for trade purposes within these major cities.  The higher level areas had a lot of chatter, but this was almost all focused on getting a group, usually for specific events and usually searching for specific members.  The lower level outposts didn't even have this minimal searching and there was only a single party search every 5 minutes or so.

Where I did see a lot of chatter for a purely social gain was in the guild and alliance chat.  In these windows, people that were fairly familiar with each other talked back and forth and did everything from trade, social chatter, group seeking, etc.

All told, today proved to get a good grasp of where people tend to talk in game.  Until my next post, my goal is to try and get into groups and do some joined events that require teamwork to accomplish.