The Evolution of Fantasy Role-Playing Games - Michael J. Tresca [107]
In 2006, Turbine, Inc., released Dungeons &Dragons Online. Dungeons & Dragons Online is set on the continent ofXen’drikin the Eberron campaign setting. Players can create characters similar to those in the tabletop game. Dungeons & Dragons Online features dwarves, elves, halflings, humans, and a new race of robot-like humanoids known as warforged. For classes, players can choose from barbarian, bard, cleric, fighter, ranger, rogue, sorcerer, and wizard. As of 2007, Dungeons &Dragons Online had 45,000 subscribers. In 2010, Dungeons &Dragons Online became Unlimited, no longer charging access to play.
In April 2007, The Lord of the Rings Online was launched. It was the first massive multiplayer online role-playing game featuring Tolkien’s world (Glenday 2008:185).
Fellowship
The design of synthetic worlds shares the same philosophy as Dungeons & Dragons—creation of a community to belong to (Taylor 2006:32). It is no small comment on contemporary society that people will pay money to enter such a universe that requires teamwork between complete strangers (Castronova 2005:274).
Most MMORPGs feature a means of finding a party or group (Taylor 2006:39). Although players can form groups through guild allegiance, metagame associations, or simply walking up to another player character and asking if they’d like to work together, there are considerations that make such party formation more viable. Foremost in determining party compatibility is roles. Unlike in a tabletop game, where everyone’s role is established and stabilized because the same players show up to each game session, MMORPG players are highly variable. The odds of a particular player being available are greatly increased if a formal commitment is made through a guild or some other structure. Failing that, players can leverage the power of the MMORPG’s population by having the system suggest available players who are also looking to join a party.
One RetroMUD player I interviewed felt more comfortable finding new players on MUDs than on MMORPGs:
I find that in large MMOs it is harder for me to start talking to people. In MUDs, the smaller player base of more familiar faces allows me to get a bit more comfortable. While this may be the case, it is much more difficult to find a party for a specific task at any given moment when there is a smaller player base. Despite the fact that I get less comfortable on public channels when there are more people in a player base, I need there to be a social experience when I play either WoW or RetroMUD. The smaller player base actually made it easier for me to find people to talk to, strangely enough. Perhaps it was because people were more friendly in a smaller setting [Simes 2010].
Parties have a system to support them. One player, usually the party leader, determines the movement for the group. All of the party members receive the same tag, whatever the party name is. They gain and share experience points between them. Each party also has its own channel of communication to facilitate play, much like players chatting to each other in tabletop play. By coordinating their efforts, parties can take down larger monsters and go on longer quests, thereby reinforcing the importance of these social mininetworks (Taylor 2006:40).
Level is also a factor in determining these pairings. High-level characters make it easier for those of lower level to succeed in killing a monster or surviving a trap. Some MMORPGs curb this “free ride” by reducing the amount of award the lower-level characters receive when assisted by a much-higherlevel character (Barton 2008:421).
Players can also assist each other without being in a party, even at random. “Buffing” (bestowing a bonus on a character for a limited time, usually through a spell) and “porting” (transporting a character to a different location) are an integral bonding experience. Some characters charge money for these services, while other high-level characters bestow these boons on lower-level characters to encourage play. Like the party constraints, these