Multiplayer Online Games : Origins, Players, and Social Dynamics

Description

Multiplayer Online Games (MOGs) have become a new genre of "play culture," integrating communication and entertainment in a playful, computer-mediated environment that evolves through user interaction. This book comprehensively reviews the origins, players, and social dynamics of MOGs, as well as six major empirical research methods used in previous works to study MOGs (i.e., observation/ethnography, survey/interviews, content and discourse analysis, experiments, network analysis, and case studies). It concludes that MOGs represent a highly sophisticated, networked, multimedia and multimodal Internet technology, which can construct entertaining, simultaneous, persistent social virtual worlds for gamers. Overall, the book shows that what we can learn from MOGs is how games and gaming, as ubiquitous activities, fit into ordinary life in today’s information society, in the moments where the increased use of media as entertainment, the widespread application of networked information technologies, and participation in new social experiences intersect. Content: Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Contents Preface Acknowledgments Chapter 1: Introduction: Why Online Gaming Studies Now? 1.1 Online gaming as an advanced Internet application 1.2 Online gaming as an integration of entertainment and social networking 1.3 Online gaming as a source of potential web-based community 1.4 Structure of the book Chapter 2: What are MOGs? 2.1 Types of Online Gaming 2.2 Origins and Evolution of MOGs 2.3 Features of MOGs 2.4 Globalization of MOGs Chapter 3: Who Plays MOGs? 3.1 Types of MOG players 3.2 Characteristics of MOG players 3.2.1 Demographic Characteristics3.2.1.1 Age 3.2.1.2 Gender 3.2.1.3 Education/Occupation 3.2.1.4 Nationality and Culture 3.2.2 Psychosocial Characteristics 3.2.2.1 Escapism 3.2.2.2 Aggression 3.2.2.3 Attachment/Belongingness 3.2.3 Experiential Characteristics 3.2.3.1 Interactivity 3.2.3.2 Involvement 3.2.3.3 Immersion Chapter 4: Social Dynamics of MOGs 4.1 Presence 4.2 Communication 4.2.1 Computer-Mediated Communication 4.2.2 Avatar-Mediated Communication 4.3 Collaboration 4.4 Conflict and competition 4.5 Community Chapter 5: Methodologies for the Study of MOGs 5.1 Observation/ethnography5.2 Surveys/Interviews 5.3 Content and Discourse Analysis 5.4 Experiments 5.5 Network Analysis 5.6 Case Studies Chapter 6: Electronic Sports: A Future Direction? 6.1 eSports as Computer-Mediated â#x80 #x9C Sportsâ#x80 #x9D 6.2 eSports as Competitive Computer Gaming 6.3 eSports as a Spectatorship Chapter 7: Conclusion and Implications 7.1 Implications for Cultural Studies 7.2 Implications for Education 7.3 Implications for Humanâ#x80 #x93 Computer Interaction (HCI) Research 7.4 Implications for Information Science Glossary References Index