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MMOs: Becoming your Avatar

Erfan Al-Hossami
Professor Malcolm Campbell
English 1103
10/29/2015
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MMOs: The Introduction

You have probably heard of either Minecraft or World of Warcraft. These are only two of
the many famous names that can represent the extent of the success of MMOs or Massive
Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games. MMOs are one of the oldest categories of video
games. It has developed from RPGs (Role Playing Games) which usually includes the player
interacting with a virtual world using an avatar. With the rise of the internet, MMOs have been
developed and spread across the globe. In 1997, the first successful MMORPG game was
released, Ultima Online was the name(name (Yee). According to recent reports, there are about
628 million MMO players around the world, with the industry worth $14.9 Billion $ (New Zoo)
out of the $68 Billion $ gaming industry, accounting for about 21%. In short, the MMO industry
is really big because it is really popular. Welcome to a journey that billions of people around the
world experience every day to discover how every avatar a player creates helps them become a
better person.

Choosing the MMO Game: The Game as an Epic Story

Games as epic stories:

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Ever since humanity rose, stories and legends were told: Iliad and Odyssey, The Legend
of Ra God of the Sun, and Beowulf are some of the legendary stories that inspired humans across
the ages. Stories are now told in the form of animated movies, enacted, enacted series, and
video games. Frozen is an inspiring story that reached the top 5 most grossing films of all time
(highest gross income) reaching about $1.219 Billion bn (BBC). Notably, it is the only fully
animated film in the list. This generation has the power to create very inspiring virtual events and
next-level experience that make stories legendary. Humans create environments for themselves,
live in societies and customs they create, use tools and machines they craft. Humans are inspired
by human creation, humans learn from human interaction and human inhabited
environment.Video games also have very inspiring storylinesare created by humans, inhabited by
millions of humans, therefore it is a home for human interaction and inspiration. The games and
animated films have inspired children, young teenagers, full-time employees, fathers, sons, and
daughters. We live in the age in which not only we can listen to legend and experience the
epicnessepicness by imagining the story from our perspectives, but we have the ability to fully
experience the epicness through video games(games (McGonigal). Epics, satisfy human needs
because the real world seems usual, raw, missing something; it is good to take a step back and
experience an imagined world whether it was through stories or games according to McGonigal.
Video games fully engages its players, while sometimes the real world leaves its people starving
for engagement. Bioshock is a post-apocalyptic MMO shooter video game with a very well
written story-line. The story line boosted up the rating of the game up to 9.7/10 on Metacritic
(online game critic website). There are many great MMOs with incredible storylines waiting to
get experienced a few honorable mentions would be: Dark Souls II, The Witcher, and The Final
Fantasy Series. When experiencing an epic story, subconsciously as a part of human nature,

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oneself becomes one with the main character attempting to experience what the main character
does. Furthermore, the experiences inspire us to adopt some of the qualities of the character. In
conclusion, if a gamers video game is based on a great story line, the gamers real life character
gets immersed with the main character in the video games story and because of that the player
gets inspired which helps the player become a better person just like the great character the
player is playing..

Creating The Avatar : A little more about you:

I am going to start with a story of a person. A person who will become a hero, change the
world and course of history. The persons world is boundless, facing great dilemmas, the
solution is in that hands of that person. That person has no color, no name, noand no reality. The
person lives in every single world humans are in. ?????The hero lives in everyoneevery one of
us. Humans want to be heroic, it is a desire; Humans want to express themselves freely and
boundlessly, it is a desire. However the real world does not provide the heroic credit to each one
when a heroic deed is done, expression is limited by society, and taking big risksbig risks is
severely punished in the real world. A true reflection of ones self is born ,born, the hero within
surfaces when the avatar is formed.

The first step of playing MMOs is creating an Avatar or a character. This character is played
throughout the game and interactingand interacting in the virtual world. An avatar can also has
characteristics that are not real, or unacceptable in society etc.

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Research shows that most players create the avatar to resemble how the player wishes to
become(become. (viewpoints). During the process of creating an avatar, suppressed desires are
put into play. For example, a bald gamer who creates his avatar with a Justin Bieber hairstyle, is
implementing his desire to have great hair on his avatar. Some players create their Avatar based
on someone else or some other fictional character. For example a person playing Sims 3 (famous
social simulation game) can create his parents and add real traits, or create Ccat Wwoman to be

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his girlfriend in the game. A professional gamer and an experienced MMO player Aeron Vertigal

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said: When I create my avatar I subconsciously put my traits in it, and I also imagine myself
interacting with the virtual world within the game. In MMOs there is no rea end for the game,
the game develops and so dos your avatar. According to M.D. Dicky MMOs allow users to
experiment in a safe, none threatening environment different aspects of the players self.. In
the end, MMOs unleash a persons suppressed desires ,,suppressed because of real life factors,
and show the player more about himself/herself through his/her avatar.

MMO gameplay and real life:

After crafting an avatar that represents the player, The Avatar is sent to the game's virtual
world. In there your character encounters missions and quests throughout the game. The
storyline is presented through NPCs or Non-Player Characters and their interaction with the
players character. NPCs can become allies, friends, lovers, enemies, rivals, or family and even
more. The player impacts the storyline of the game through the choices the player makes. Real
life is similar, you only have control over yourself. not other people, Yyour choices in life affects
the people around you and defines their relationship to you. For example, in real life you can

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create conflict with your best friendtell your best friend that he is a ****** , and by doing that
the friendship is broken because of that choice. In MMOs human interaction is simulated with
NPCs adding human elements to the game, that make the gamers choice more impactful on the
storyline. For example, if the player chooses to interact peacefully with a NPC the storys ending
will be different than if the player decided to interact negatively or aggressively with a
NPC.EXAMPLE Overall, a gamers real life character is reflected through these decisions. This
could make the player a better person because MMOs motivate its players to recognize selfpatterns. Know thyself it is the beginning of wisdom-Socrates-. With that being said, the more
the person knows about himself/herself the more wise they become.

Multiplayer: Meeting Other PeopleYou and Others

Have you ever asked how much can someone with no prior knowledge can learn alone? One of
the reasons human civilization has advanced is because we are able to interact with more people,
the more the people a human can interact with the more knowledge is gained. The age has past
where it was the people of the village or city that bound our human interaction. Human
interaction has the potential to interact with almost every single living human being through
internet. Now games have the capacity to host millions of people across the world and bound
them to a virtual world and create similar experiences for the players throughout the gameplay
experience. MMOs usually have a built-in communications system like a chat box or a voice
chat.

When it comes to playing with other people, many factors come in. Naturally friendships
emerge, as do animosities. Stories of other players intrigue, assistance, or betrayals are part of
this ongoing player narrative (Dickey). Some people will share their real life events, some of

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the players will find true love with another player although it is very unlikely. Players will help
each other, betray each other, and have fun with each other. Each player is literally living a story
in the game, interacting with other real people and making friendships and enemies.

MMOs have team oriented objectives such as slaying powerful bosses. Bosses are very
powerful magical creatures that require high skill and a powerful character to fight, in some
cases it is very hard to slay the boss solo. VertigalVertigal explained scenarios in which he had to
cooperate with bad teammates to achieve objectives. Dealing with people can result with
problems even in online games. Cases of robbery resulted in lawsuits in China (Castronova).
According to Yees research, about 55% of players have had negatives experiences from other
teammates. Research and actions are being implemented in order to fix players the behavior of
players in-game. An example of that would be League of Legends in which Verbal abusers,
trolls, and any player who displays bad behavior is punished by the game, while others who
show sportsmanlike behaviourbehavior are rewarded. This shows how much we need to play
video games in order to improve to able to work in teams. Playing with other players to achieve
a common goal is the perfect environment for teamwork. However in order for teamwork to
work like a charm you need very high motivation for people who dont even know each other to
cooperate and trust each other. In MMORPGs this motivation exists! As mentioned before in
the Avatar section MMOs are always evolving they dont end. As long as players have great
input into their characters development players will keep putting in hours to advance in the
game. Character development in MMORPGs is one element which fosters intrinsic motivation
in the course of gameplay.(Dickey) There are many more motivational elements in MMOs to
be discovered. Going back to the main point, MMORPGs are great environments that motivate

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and encourage high level of teamwork. From personal experience I have never collaborated in
real life as much as I made sure to put in as much effort as I can to help my team win in MMOs.
In short MMOs provide us with a great environment to learn teamwork and collaborate at a high
level. Team work is obviously an essential skill in the twenty first century. Therefore, MMOs
will help you become more productive and collaborative.

Leveling Up: The Achievement

In MMOs leveling up is one of the most important elements of character development in the
game. It is an achievement most players seek. At that moment your character grows more
powerful and becomes more efficient. However leveling needs requirements. In order to level up
you must have enough experience points. Experience points are gathered from battling enemies,
accomplishing quests, helping out other players, or winning a duel in a PVP (Player Versus
Player) match. MMOs show your characters progress in the form of level and many other
forms but levels is the discussion. The real world on the other hand does not reward us instantly
because of an achievement. Todays new graduates may be better credentialed than previous
generations, and are often very hardworking, but only when given very explicit direction. And
they seem to demand constant praise. (McArdle). Because our generation is so used to getting
rewarded and praised almost instantly after an achievement has been made in virtual worlds
whether it was an MMO, app, program, elementary teachers, or parents. It started with virtual
praise then it was demanded even more in real life. In the old days praise was not that demanded
people did good deeds and accomplished great things without demanding praise. Our generation

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does because we were used to technology always praising our accomplishments. Lastly, MMOs
are part of technology and if technology helped shape our society today then so did MMOs.

Clearing the First Stage:

After completing your first quest and leveling up you have a bigger goal to accomplish as an
MMO Hero. You have to defeat the Stage Boss. In order to do so your character has to be
equipped with sufficient items that grant you enough power to defeat the Boss; The character has
to have a good level to be strong enough to fight the Boss; and it is optional as well to fight the
Boss solo or in a party of other players. The Boss Battle is a stressful battle. It consists of a
legendary monster or a beast versus a player or a group of players. The Boss has a lot of hit
points (HP) each time the players damages the boss, either by using a weapon for example a
sword or a gun, or by using spells, the Bosss total HP is subtracted from the damage inflicted.
The Bosss HP is a lot more than the players and his damage is a lot more than the players. To
beat the Boss, the player must dodge, avoid, or block the Bosss damaging abilities and kill the
Boss. It is not an easy task. This is where you get tested on what you learned about yourself and
about the game.

It is scientifically proven that assuming a heroic pose for 2 minutes before doing an activity
increases testosterone with a 20% which increases confidence (Cuddy). I assume my avatars
pose before every PVP match I play, my play usually gets better. Im not the only one who uses
this to perform better in games but also Gbay99 does. He shared Cuddys video and applied it to
video games. In which assuming a heroic pose before playing a match will increase the

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likelihood that a players performance will be better (99). I recommend this tactic to all players
who are about to enter a boss fight and to anyone who has an interview in two minutes.
The Cycle of Life Continues: We will live and the Bosses will die
After the boss is defeated a new stage opens. The sequence is still the same, however the

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challenges are new, the map is new, NPCs (Non-Player Characters) are new, quests are new etc.
In most new MMOs stages are always updated so there are new stages every time, making the
player stick to his/her avatar for a longer time. The longer the time spent on the same avatar the
more the immersion is. In conclusion, MMOs make us better people because they inspire
players with epic stories; MMOs teach the player more about himself through reflecting the
player in his/her avatar, motivating players to watch self-pattern and monitor their own behavior;
MMOs encourage teamwork and develop teamwork and communication skills; MMOs help
shape our society today and because of this society our graduates are more credentialed than ever
before; and Real life lessons are applicable to MMOs which provides further practice to real life
lessons.

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Works Cited

Cuddy, Amy. "Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are | Amy Cuddy."
YouTube. YouTube, 1 Oct. 2012. Web. 1 Dec. 2015.

Dickey, Michele D. "Game Design and Learning: a Conjectural Analysis of How

Massively Multiple Online Role-Playing Games (mmorpgs) Foster Intrinsic
Motivation. Educational Technology Research and Development: a Bi-Monthly
Publication of the Association for Educational Communications & Technology. 55.3
(2007): 253-273. Print. 07 Dec. 2015

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"Frozen Becomes Fifth-biggest Film in Box Office History - BBC News." BBC News.
BBC NewsN.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2015.

"Jane McGonigal: Gaming Can Make a Better World." YouTube. YouTube, 17

Mar. 2010. Web. 21 Oct. 2015
McArdle, Megan. "Why Writers Are the Worst Procrastinators." The Atlantic. Atlantic
Media Company, 12 Feb. 2014. Web. 07 Dec. 2015.
McGonigal, Jane. Reality Is Broken. New York. TheThe Penguin Press New York 2011.
Print. 21 OCT. 2015.

"The Global MMO Market; Sizing and Seizing Opportunities - Newzoo." NewZoo. Global
Collect, 12 Dec. 2012. Web. 12 Nov. 2015.

Vertigal, Aeron Personal Interview 1 Nov. 2015 NOV.

Yee, Nicholas. The Psychology of Massively Multi-User Online Role-Playing Games: (n.d.):
n. pag. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.

99, Gbay. "The Best League of Legends Lifehack." YouTube. YouTube, 7 May 2013. Web.
07 Dec. 2015.

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