Game Communities

          Simon Nielson explores researcher Tom Erickson’s discoveries of virtual communities in gaming.  “Erickson has condensed a lot of research on virtual communities and came to the conclusion that most definitions contain the following elements: membership, relationships, commitment, collective values, shared goods and duration.”  Although Nielson applies these aspects to the game Everquest, they can be identified in nearly all MMOGs.  Firstly, these games often require a membership.  This provides the player with a unique identity when playing the game.  Imagine playing World of Warcraft, but every human player’s name was “Human Player”.  This would seem rather dull and greatly weaken the sense of community and diversity in the online world.  Online games also provide players many opportunities to share items.  For instance, players are able to share the loot gathered from slaying an enemy and are able to trade equipment.  In addition, the author strengthens his argument about online camaraderie by explaining how experienced players often help new ones with their initial quests.

Nielson states that relationships form in gaming environments based on predetermined rules (such as a character’s race or class) and can become formalized when players organize themselves in guilds.  A guild is an interesting concept because it truly bonds players together.  For instance, I have a friend who has played World of Warcraft for several years and has been a member of a hardcore guild.  Lately, however, my friend has become quite occupied with school and does not have the time to commit playing the game.  His guild members from across the globe call him, urging him to play because they need his assistance with a particular quest.  Hence, “guilds can put pressure on players to log on, even though they might have other real life commitments.” 

                Has this ever happened to you?  Comment about an experience you had when you joined a hardcore guild in an MMOG which caused an imbalance of your real life commitments and free time.