Nerd Pride: Virtual Worlds Part 2

Hi, it's Jeanne Marie again, hacking Joshua's blog. Joshua will be back next week and when he sees what I did.......... Never mind......... Question of the Week is: What are MMORPG's and why should you care? MMORPG is the acronym for Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games. The reason you should care is because they're changing the world. YESTERDAY it was video games. TODAY, it's MMORPG's. TOMORROW it will be the virtual world.
YESTERDAY (1980's-1990's): We were wowed by consoles that turned TV's into video games. In the role of Super Mario, I jumped over obstacles, collected gold coins, found secret passages and squashed enemies, all while trying to survive long enough to get to the next more difficult game level (aka ‘leveling up’).
The objective with most role playing games is to 'level up.' To level up, you have to solve puzzles, or kill things, or harvest things or whatever. With each higher level, you become stronger and more skilled and get to experience more difficult game challenges.
TODAY (2000 to 2010): The complexity of the 'virtual' (imaginary) worlds these games offer is astonishing. Games are no longer linear, that is, there is no longer a set sequence of goals. Now you get to choose which monster to kill, which quest to solve and which area to explore.
You can choose an 'avatar' (appearance) that is male or female, tall or short, dark or pale. You might choose to be a gnome or a dwarf or an evil 'blood elf.'
Just like in RL (Real Life), bigger projects need more people. Need to get into the cave where the goblin pirates stashed their gold? If it's surrounded by deadly grues and ghastlies, it's better to team up.
MMORPG's allow you to team up with real people fielding characters via computers located all over the world.
Most players put together teams of their RL friends. Everyone is on his or her own computer, whether in the same room or across town. They send their characters to an agreed upon location in the game, say, to the East Gate of Sorcerer City. They make a plan, say, to get that pirate gold. (So far, game communication is still done by typing.)
If your team is too small, you can include one of the other characters that might be milling around the East Gate. Maybe you should invite that pretty 'elf ninja' who calls herself 'Princess Shi.' No one cares if Princess Shi is actually being played by a teenage boy named Naruto, as long as 'she's' got the skills your team needs. It's all anonymous anyway. No one knows a player's real name unless he or she chooses to divulge.
When my teenage son started playing such games, he learned many things that are useful in RL. For example, he once gave one of his classmates our game password so the guy could play one of our characters. Unfortunately, he proved untrustworthy. He stole game items from other characters and called them rude names. When the players complained to the Game Master, our account was deleted.
RL Lesson: Do not give out your passwords to anyone. (Useful when my son was old enough to get a bank account.)
Even if you’re not actually banned, your character can get a bad reputation. For example, if Princess Shi's player turns out to be a flake who leaves his computer to get some Real Life curry rice right in the middle of an ogre attack, no one will want to play with “her” again.
RL Lesson: A bad reputation is hard to overcome. (Useful if my son has also realized that you can’t overcome a bad reputation in Real Life by logging back on with a new name and a new avatar.)
Hmm…excuse me for a second while I instant message my son about that.
TOMORROW (2020 plus): Virtual worlds are already becoming more important than the games they were created to support.
In the future, virtual worlds will become part of daily life for every computer user.
Here are my and others' predictions:
Typing will not be the only way to communicate. It will be possible to use your own voice - or your voice 'morphed' to match your avatar. (Wait. This has already happened. See http://www.massively.com/2009/05/20/second-life-racks-up-1-billion-voice....)
Virtual worlds and avatars will lose their cartoon look and become 'photorealistic.'
Your favorite character/avatar will be able to cross over into other virtual worlds and MMORPG's, maybe even go to meetings for you.
Video-calling will finally take off once you can have your avatar take the call. You can stay in your pajamas while your avatar sports a suit.
Instead of printing maps and directions from the internet, you can send your avatar ahead on a video 'driving tour.' You'll already know what that tangled interchange looks like before you get there.
I could go on and on - but they told me not to.
Please let me know what you think. Just register at http://rivlib.info/palm-desert-library/user/register and you can add comments to any of our blogs.
Jeanne Marie
P.S. Don't forget to celebrate Geek Pride Day on Tuesday, May 25. http://www.mahalo.com/geek-pride-day
P.P.S. Joshua I can explain.