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Introduction
Social cognition is a branch of social psychology that defines how people perceive, respond and store information about their surrounding and other people in that environment. This phenomena of social cognition enables people to appropriately understand and decipher the signals of others and to respond accordingly.
In a real world game players use and leverage their social cognitive skills to analyze their opponent’s body language and confidence level. Similarly their cognitive skills also assists in team building and better cooperation between the players.
While this comes naturally in the real world environment, the video games especially multiplayer games create virtual environments to provide the players an ability to team up and collaborate with other players in that virtual world. To enhance collaboration in the virtual world, the gaming environment for MMORPG need to fulfill some specific requirements for the interface to provide real world like as well as enhanced virtual world that can increase the gaming experience in various ways.
The paper will discuss the social cognition phenomena with respect to MMORPG and will compare how gaming experience in virtual environment is significantly better than that offered in the real world environment. Additionally the paper focuses to analyze the user interface requirements and standards that should be provided by a virtual environment of MMORPG to fulfill virtual socializing for the gamers and provide an awesome gaming experience.
Cognitive Social Phenomena in MMORPG
Role playing games were initially introduced in 1975 evolved from text and minimal interfaces with multi user domains that enabled different players to interact trough bulletin boards and chat in some cases. The RPGs evolved in MMORPG that allowed multiple players to play the game online and taking different roles with in that virtual world with definite set of rules and regulations specific to that game. From Ultima and EverQuest to World of Warcraft gamers were attracted significantly and the number of online gamers in MMORPG environments has crossed 10 million. Several studies researched the effects of these virtual role playing games that have enabled the players to interact with other gamers in various real world like ways only more enhanced. Some experts believe that most gamers enjoy the virtual world of MMORPG mainly due to the immersive and emotional attachments to the social and virtual world’s cultural aspects that instils stronger feelings and bodings between the players.
The evolving genres of these games have provided the online gamers much more than just game playing experience. MMORPG environments enables the gamers to choose roles or professions based on the game’s theme. Different roles might have different characteristics that may relate to a gamers fantasy or hobbies. While earlier MMORPG offered more war and medieval themed where gamers could take a role and a warrior, healer or archer the recent games like Star Wars Galaxies, lets gamers choose anything from a chef or hair stylist to a politician or musician.
While roles define the strengths and weaknesses of a player, most MMORPG lets the gamers create Avatars to represent themselves in the virtual gaming world. Avatars enable a gamer to portray a specific physical appearance for themselves that might be how they want to appear or perceived in the real world too. The use of avatars can have various impacts on the virtual environment as well as for the gamer’s interaction in the MMORPG.
Every MMORPG environment offers various avatars and it is interesting to know that the male and female players in the game utilize the avatars in quite different ways. The female gamers usually choose and create their avatars for better social interaction with other gamers, the male gamers showed various experimental reasons such as :
As suitable for role: 27.4%
Better physical appearance: 25.6%
Choose female avatar to gain attention and advantage in the game: 11.8%
Gender exploration: 7.1%
Often gamers change their genders while choosing the avatars to portray their psychology, expectation and socializing needs. The phenomena of avatars and gender bending provide the virtual gamers a chance to present themselves differently from the real world without being judged or misinterpretation, an ability that is impossible in the real world.
A study of the MMORPG gamers revealed that on average 22.7 hours every week in playing their favorite game and at least 60%respondants said that they had played 10 hours continuously. When these respondants were asked about their last positive experience over the last week, 27% respondents indicated that their most memorable and satisfying experience happened in the game, similarly 33% indicated that the last worst experience also happened in the game. This indicates the emotional connection of the gamers to the MMORPG environment and their social interaction within that environment.
Real World Vs. Virtual World Gaming Environment
The virtual gaming environment especially in MMORPG, is especially designed to be immersive and interactive to provide an exceptional experience for the gamers. The use of avatars, roles and exclusive rules for the virtual game environment enables more interaction and collaboration. Several MMORPG games have redefine and recreate traditional games adding various fantasy and interactive elements to the environment to provide an enhanced experience. To compare real world and MMORPG chess, the later enables the gamers to adopt different roles in place of traditional chess boards, ability to recall, remember and analyze the other player’s moves for strategizing their move.
One major difference between the real world and virtual chess game is that while in real world chess players only play for the strategy and intellectuality associated with the game, gamers in the virtual MMORPG environment play more for the interactive environment of the games.
A research was conducted to review the factors that motivate players to play MMORPG rather than the real world games. The factors included
Relationship: More players engage in MMORPG environment to make supportive friendship and meaningful conversations with their peers.
Immersion: players of MMORPG environment desire to be a part of a fantastical virtual world that can give them an enhanced experience of playing game. The immersive interface and graphics of MMPRPG elevate the essence of game playing that is entirely different from the real world gaming.
Grief: manipulation between players in MMORPG is very different from the real world games. While in the real world players comprehend their opponent’s skills and capabilities by analyzing their physical appearance and experience, in a MMORPG environment players can present themselves differently through avatars and role playing and manipulate how opponents perceive them.
Achievement: The MMORPG environment enables players to feel accomplished and gain more rewards. The virtual gaming environment does not pose strict rules over players as compared to real world games and escalating levels is easier and quicker.
Leadership: Unlike in a real world game where experience and expertise are required to show leadership, in a MMORPG environment provides gamers to show their leadership skills through their roles and avatars too.
Design Guidelines For MMORPG
MMORPG gamers play more for the environment and immersion of these virtual fantasy world rather than just for the sake of game. To provide that experience the MMORPG need to fulfill certain interface design requirements. As discussed earlier the main attraction of a MMORPG environment is it’s fictional and story like virtual reality. It is the essence that associates a gamer into the virtual environment through their avatars. The user interface of a game in MMORPG genre has to have fiction inspired elements however the interface should not hinder the gamer’s focus while playing game. There are various standards for MMORPG interactive environment defining different aspects of the user interface design. To enable a gamer to interact with the virtual environment through their avatar with visual, audio and haptic means are managed by diegetic elements.
The user interface also needs to address the non-diegetic elements that outside the virtual environment and are available for the player in his own domain. Some gamers often feel interrupted due to abundance of diegetic elements on screen such as boxes informing about the avatar/gamer’s life or achievements in the game. While diegetic environment form on screen elements including visuals and sounds such as people talking, non-diegetic sounds maybe background or sound effects to enhance the gaming experience. These elements add the fiction to the environment however proper placement and intelligent use that enhance the experience and assist the gamer to achieve their goal rather than just fancy use.
Every game has an online interface for game playing and an exterior interface that lets the user set parameters to define their preferences. Experts believe that the exterior interface should be simple and easy to use while the online interface should be informative, interactive and collaborative but easy for any gamer to follow the game rules. It is also recommended that the icons/image/ buttons should be arranged with relevant functionality together. The placements of fiction and non-fiction elements in the environment should focus the players to easily move around, understand the game rules and fulfill their basic desire to feel accomplished and powerful.
The user interface design should allow better interaction between the avatars and show the statistics of other avatars too. Additionally the gamer should be continually informed about their avatar’s health, ammo and game mode through diegetic elements so the real world and virtual world information are same. The information and design could combine diegetic and non-diegetic elements however the main focus of the interface should be to facilitate the gamer to fulfill their gaming goals.
Conclusion
MMORPG genre of online games evolved to enable gamers to have a larger than life experience of their favorite game. The most special feature of these environments is the exclusive rules of the virtual world of the game and often very different rules of a game that might not correspond to its real world counterpart. The MMORPG environments let the gamers play any role in a virtual world and create avatars to represent themselves in that environment. The fiction and fantasy associated with the MMORPG is what differentiates the social cognition in real world and virtual games.
The user interface in a MMORPG is the most important aspect of the game that provides the actual essence of the game and connects a player with their avatar and provides interactivity between the gamers and their avatars. The interface needs to combine fictional and non-fictional elements to assist the players and inform them of their avatar’s life, ammo and other game related statistics.
References
Andrews, M. (n.d.). Game UI Discoveries: What Players Want. Retrieved from Gamasutra: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4286/game_ui_discoveries_what_players_.php?print=1
Bruno Campello de Souza *, L. X. (2010). MMORPGS and cognitive performance: A study with 1280 Brazilian high. Computers in Human Behavior.
jacko, J. A. (2009). Human Computer Interaction. Springer.
Yee, N. (2001). A Study of EverQuest. Retrieved from The Norrathian Scroll: http://www.nickyee.com/eqt/report.htm
Yee, N. (2002, March). Facets:5 Motivation Factors for Why People Play MMORPG’s. Retrieved from Nickyee : http://www.nickyee.com/facets/home.html
Yee, N. (2006). The Psychology of Massively Multi-User Online: Emotional Investment, Motivations, Relationship Formation, and Problematic Usage. Avatars at Work and Play: Collaboration and Interaction in Shared Virtual Environments , 187-207.
