Kline
Media Analysis Laboratory
Simon Fraser University
kline@sfu.ca
Real Virtual Sociality?: A Comparison of the Experiences of Everquest and Counter-strike Afficiandos?
Massive mulitplayer on-line gaming is one of the fastest growing sectors in the digital entertainment market with an estimated 51 million players world wide.1 The most popular games like Everquest or Counter-strike can have up to 350,000 monthly subscribers. Accused of being addictive ('Evercrack'), the attractions of on-line gaming have drawn considerable attention recently, not only from the media, but in the game design community.1 This paper examines the emerging debates about on-line gaming by reporting an on-line survey of over 900 avid on-line gamers.
To most gamers, the telling difference between from console gaming and MMOG's, is that players can interact socially with 'real' team-mates and/ or opponents in these networked play environments. With this difference in mind, this essay will explore those aspects of 'real virtual sociality' that most attract players into the on-line gaming universe. It analyzes the kinds of social interactions and social play experiences (agonic and cooperative) that make on line contests socially engaging. The paper goes on to explore the degree to which 'real virtual sociality' results in the formation of new out of game social relations or contributes to players perceptions of on line gaming 'addiction'.
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