Question

The aim of this activity is to analyze how collaboration, coordination and communication are supported in massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs).
Visit an MMOG (e.g. World of Warcraft, Eve, NeverWinter, Second Life, any online console multiplayer game, Animal Crossing, Minecraft etc.) and answer the following:

1. General social issues
   • What is the purpose of the MMOG?
   • What kinds of conversations are supported?
   • How is awareness supported of the others in the MMOG?
   • What kinds of social protocols and conventions are used?
   • What kinds of awareness information are provided?
   • Does the mode of communication and interaction seem natural or awkward?
   • How do players coordinate their actions in the game?
2. Specific interaction design issues
   • What form of interaction and communication is supported, e.g. text/audio/video?
   • What other visualizations are included? What information do they convey?
   • How do users switch between different modes of interaction, e.g. exploring and chatting? Is the switch seamless?
   • Are there any social phenomena that occur specific to the context of the MMOG that wouldn't happen in face-to-face settings?
3. Design issues
   • What other features might you include in the MMOG to improve communication, coordination and collaboration?

Answer 1

Hope this helps you. :)

1. What is the purpose of the MMOG?

I have chosen to visit Second Life, a social network that allows users to create personalised avatars and interact through audio and visual imagery.

Second Life was designed as a social networking platform — to encourage social interaction. It enables them to escape to a virtual world where they can interact with other real people. It is almost like an online version of SIMS.

2. What kinds of conversations are supported?

One to one, one to many, many to many, through audio, text, and video.

3. How is awareness supported of the others in the MMOG?

There is a map interface in which players are shown. Thus, you can see the location of yours as well as other players online. It is possible to overhear others’ conversations as long as they are not having a private chat.

4. What kinds of social protocols and conventions are used?

Conversations are started in a way much similar to real-world conversations compared toother types of text-based conversations. Users are really conscious of their appearance in the game just like in real life. This can be observed from the avatars created by the players.

5. What kinds of awareness information are provided?

Visual prompt and triggers, audio, in-world dialogue boxes, control panels, situational information such as telling you where you are located, and stopping you entering certain restricted areas/if you don't have an invite. It is possible to overhear others’ conversations as long as they are not having a private chat

6. Does the mode of communication and interaction seem natural or awkward?

It is quite natural that the communicative gestures of the character are fluid and clear in their meaning.

7. How do players coordinate their actions in the game?

Second life is a social networking game, there's not much to coordinate from various players. Maybe there is a party going on where there are many players. So maybe at that time, you need to coordinate the dance moves. Had it been an action and strategy game, the answer to this question might have been really detailed. But as far as Second Life is concerned, the main thing where coordination is required is when you are having a conversation.

1. What form of interaction and communication is supported, e.g. text/audio/video?

Text, audio, IM, also the VW enables creation of art installations, customized venues for socializing among specific interest groups. The users obviously have the option of continuing their interactions outside the VW if they so wish, many have done so by creating additional web-based sites, posting to relevant blog communities, publishing art, music and literature on specialist websites.

9. What other visualizations are included? What information do they convey?

Representations of other users, images to offer membership of groups, invitations to tailored events, some of which cross over into the real world, and art installations.Dress, and general physical appearance, not limited to human, allowing every user to make statements about themselves and their personal preferences visually, and through social choices such as where they spend time within the world.
By allowing creation of context/taste specific areas, rooms, lands etc, such as gaming zones, musical/club areas, fantasy, party and adult areas Second Life allows users to congregate among other users of their choice, in environments of their own choosing or indeed of their own design and construction.

10. How do users switch between different modes of interaction, eg exploring and chatting? Is the switch seamless?

The interface is keyboard and mouse, which does have limitations, and makes me think of First Person Shooter PC games, possibly not the connection that the VW's designers were "aiming" for. Dialog boxes open, can be minimized, and closed, but always available around the edges of the proprietary viewer application.

11. Are there any social phenomena that occur specific to the context of the VW/MMORPG THAT WOULDN'T happen in face to face settings?

I speculate that many individuals can choose to live lives that are not as they are in the real world, while there are still general social and good behaviour rules there are segments of the VW where these rules change to suit the preferences of the visitors. Users can exhibit their art, publish and perform their music, share self-published literature, none of this might be deemed interesting outside of their own online communities. Relationships can be based on the virtual avatars, and the characters created online, rather than those of the physical world.

The Viewer enables profile disclosure to any user within close enough proximity to click on an avatar, which initially encourages open-ness, but once familiar with this it's a simple matter to manipulate one's profile to one's own ends.

12. What other features might you include in the virtual world to improve communication and collaboration?

The Viewer requires a certain level of performance specification from users' pcs, which can cause problems, and I found the control system for moving my avatar quite slow to respond, although that might simply be because I have not had time to get used to the system.

I found myself wondering whether or not avatars I encountered might be greeting me and I was simply missing this social contact through not understanding the Viewer context better. This might be overcome by a proximity chat prompt.

The biggest glaring omission that I could find was a lack of a video interface. If a user can initiate a chat/IM session then the primary barriers to video that I can conceive of would be bandwidth and security concerns. Some important considerations would be a design requirement with user feedback, and beyond that I would imagine there are some behavior management concerns, but if users are conducting themselves in line with VW conventions then there would be a minor administrative blip around first introduction, and maybe have some overhead in ongoing management