Virtual Worlds: Blog Two-Socialization

            During this weeks reading we read part of T. L. Taylor’s book, Play Between Worlds: Exploring Online Game Culture. Part of the book stresses the importance of socialization in virtual worlds. They use EverQuest as an example of how players can interact and how the socializing makes the game as great as it is. “Players are socialized into the space and over time learn what it means to become a good EQ player”. This quote can be used to describe the importance of socialization in other virtual worlds as well like World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings Online and many other games. If you are a generous when you meet other characters in the game, which can get you a good reputation. Those players who have a bad reputation often “play the game with no real regard for others” and often times they will be weeded out from guilds. Often, the further you get in these games the more help you need from other gamers. For example if you need to beat a big boss, you may need help to take it down. So you would call on your friends or guild to help you out.

            This week in class, all of us got out 60-day gamer card for LOTRO. This allows us to actually see and interact with other players that are online. We can friend people and even create a “Kinship” (which basically is the LOTRO equivalent of a guild). During out Thursday lab, we all posted our character names, race and class into our wiki page. Next we friended each other so that we could all create a “kinship” for our class to join. The thing that I thought was the coolest was that while I was playing the game I actually ran into another player from our class. I never actually thought I would run into someone I knew, but it made the experience a lot of fun. As I played more I saw more and more people who were playing in the same place that I was. I had a guy even help me take down some wolves and Blackwood spies. So far I have not run into anyone who is a griefer or a troll (I have my fingers crossed that I may never run into them on LOTRO).

            As I play further into the game I think that the whole socialization portion virtual worlds will come into effect like Taylor mentioned in their book. Like when an experienced player in LOTRO gave our teacher some gold in LOTRO when she needed help, the players can make a difference in the game. It can create a community, which many people gravitate to and that is why these games are so popular. If there wasn’t the community portion of virtual worlds, I highly doubt they would be as popular as they are today.