online gaming addiction

[deded]

hello, i'm currently writing my disseration on this subject, with a week to go, and dare i say, i'm struggling rather badly. i'm on just under 4000 words with another 6000 to go.

if anyone could suggest any subject, or better yet, give my project a quick scan through and correct me on anything/suggest something i could ramble about etc than i would be greatly in debt

bren

[deded]

oh right, it wont let me upload on here

here it is on my webspace

http://www.zombia.org/pilchard/uni/MMORPG%20Addiction.doc

[EvilBoris]

It won't let me download it, server seems to be down.

What areas have you covered?

[deded]

hmm so far i've looked at that matey who topped himself over everquest, why gamers continue to play, i tried playing a mmorpg myself (as i never have before) and noted my results, looked at social phobia and schizophrenia in relation to mmorpgs and how they're much easier to cope with than reality for some, looked at that weird cyworld **** in korea, socialisation within mmorpgs, errmm, clear cut goals in mmorpgs compared to the more vague goals of real life, internet vs reality, etc

in fact thats something i could rant about for a while, the whole internet vs reality ****, i just can't think of much to go on about except the usual 'you can be whoever you want behind the safety of your keyboard' sorta ****

[EvilBoris]

Got it working.

You could do some more case studies of people who have become so addicted that their violence has spilled over into real life and had them kill someone.

What about the numerous people who have sat in net cafes in china and korea for 72 odd hours straight and just died of heart attacks.

You could go into the mechanics of MMORPG and how they reward prolongued play opposed to skill.

There are a few things I could think of.

[deded]

cheers mate, EXACTLY what i needed, got a good few more topics to rant on about

your a ****ing legend.

[angelx]

You might wanna ask some peeps in the FF XI thread too, that game is like crack

[Sane]

Maybe add a bit about WoW making MMORPG's more mainstream.

[deded]

You could go into the mechanics of MMORPG and how they reward prolongued play opposed to skill.

i've been having a rant about this, would you, or anyone else, say that ANY skill at all it required to play mmorpgs? compared to games like street fighter, ikuraga or whatever. aside from a functional memory and a brain. from what i can see (having not really played any apart from ragnarok online for a few days) you don't really need to have any skill at it to do well, am i wrong? (don't get offended mmorpgers )

ooh and i've made it to 5000 words, woo

[Ouenben]

Not read what you wrote but have you mentioned/talked about how maybe some people play this to escape their normal lives maybe because they actually are better of in their game world?
Maybe how today people are so desperate they will buy in game money off of Ebay and how people go as far as making funerals in the games for people outside the game who played it, only to be attacked by a gang.
I think its funny how so many people play this game and become obsessed yet will probably buy the next one when it comes out and leave their old accout behind

[unknown_citizen]

Following on from ouenben, maybe you could mention about gold farming being outsourced to third world countries akin to sweat shops? I think the bbc are making a documentary about it too. Quick google search throws this up: http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3141815

If you read Edge, Tim Guest does a column almost solely on mmorpgs - could be interesting for you.

[chaoticjelly]

You should put something in about UO (Ultima Online)

That was the first MMORPG, in 1998.

I used to play it, and its still going today..

Trading in virtual items.. erm.. you could get houses in UO, apartment in Anarchy Online

Bla.. cant think of anything else, sorry

[deded]

wicked, thanks again fellas, lots of ideas to be thinking about

exactly what was needed

THANKS!

[deded]

Following on from ouenben, maybe you could mention about gold farming being outsourced to third world countries akin to sweat shops? I think the bbc are making a documentary about it too. Quick google search throws this up: http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3141815

mate bigups for this, managed to squeeze a good 1500 words out of that

[segages]

from what i can see (having not really played any apart from ragnarok online for a few days) you don't really need to have any skill at it to do well, am i wrong? (don't get offended mmorpgers )

Personally, I think you're right in the main. To play the actual game little skill is required. To survive in one you need to know a mass of information (like what enemies are weak to which element etc). The daft thing about MMORPGs as far as I can tell is that very little info is given by actually playing the game. Start out in FFXI and you'll be overwhelmed with "what the hell do I do now?" feelings.

You have to spend months reading websites to be any use in one and even then spend every hour god sends playing so a) some meaningless number over your head goes up every so often and b) you have enough 'money' to participate in the virtual economies they have going on.

Those stories of asians selling swords online and when they're not delivered ingame, murdering people are plain scary.