Keynotes at slides:
Slide 2: The quote on the left side of the slide is from a BBC reporter, who argued that with the rise of broadband internet more people would have the opportunity to game online. This presentation will identify different forms of online gaming, the users, effects and purposes.
Slide 3: Types of gaming: There are various forms of online games available, from text based to complex graphical games. Games can range from single player till multiplayer. Currently, social media games are very popular and can generate high revenues. The rise of online gaming started when “Flash” and “Java” became more used online platforms. With these programs, sites were able to stream not only audio and video but also games. And when “Flash” became a pre-installed program on Microsoft Internet explorer the use and creation of online games increased even more.
Slide 4: Bartle has some good points explaining the need to game. People are competitive and are willing to prove and show it. By playing online, stats can be achieved and points gained. Not only will this provide self fulfilment but also status. Regarding the last point of Bartle, the enhancing point, there are even examples present whereby players will buy online characters or pay people to increase there game level. Most of these examples can be found in large online games that feature role play such as World of Warcraft.
Slide 5: Online games, and in particular games that feature a social media aspect, can be highly profitable. On the slide the “Toyota” logo is surrounded by various game logos. “Monopoly, Car town and Little Big Planete 2” are games where Toyota has a partnership with or features its products (for example cars). Looking at the Toyota Prius as tool/advertisement in online gaming, the introduction of the “Toyota Prius” car in these various games was successful. The Prius was ranked number 1 as a purchasable unit in the game “Car Town”. But more importantly, 90% of all in-game showroom visitors watched the Prius viral. And with the help of goodies such as free t-shirts (when like button was clicked) the Toyota Prius gained awareness.
Slide 6: Good examples of in game advertisement. The Sims 2 features products from IKEA and Ford. With these features users could decorate their virtual house with IKEA goods and could buy an in-game Ford car. Eventually, the Sims2 became the largest Ford dealership with 3.3 million car downloads. Regarding Bing, the search engine of Microsoft, users could earn Farmville credits when becoming a fan of Bing. As a result, Bing acquired 425,000 new fans and 70% of them visited Bing in the following month.
Slide 7: Social network games are becoming more popular by the minute. The games are free to play but registration with a social account (for instance Facebook or Myspace) is necessary. As seen on the slides, the games become highly important for social media sites. The games often feature multiplayer aspects whereby the user can achieve more points (and continue in the game) if he/she can make his contacts on his/her social network active in the game. In-game friends can trade items to help each other. This is an important aspect of the popular game “FarmVille”. In addition, online rankings and community support are highly valued. With some many users and players social network games are booming. In the year 2009 developer Zynga generated more then $100m in revenue. And the game “Maffia 140” became the first application to use Twitter for in-game micros transactions.
Slide 9: Massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a genre of role playing games in which a very large number of players interact with each other in the virtual game world. Users control a chosen character and enter the virtual world. In this world quests can be undertaken to gain stats or status, alliances are formed (also know as clans) and enemies are beaten. The differences between and MMORPG and a RPG are that RPG games usually have smaller amounts of players and the game does not continue/evolve when the player is offline. This is the case for the MMORPG such as “World of Warcraft”. First-person shooters (FPS) on the other hand, are games that centre the gameplay on a given weapon (gun, knife etc.). The purpose of the games is to shoot/kill enemies. Popular games are “Counterstrike” and “Call of Duty”. As well as with the MMORPG, clans (online groups) can be formed.
Slide 10: World of Warcraft (WoW) is a very popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game. It is made by Blizzard Entertainment. It has the characteristics of a true MMORPG, players control a character/avater with which they will explorer a virtual world and are able to undertake quests, fight enemies and form alliances. Secondly, the game is always online even when user is offline and users have to pay a monthly subscription fee. The game is also controversial, since it is very addictive. There are known cases of player rehabilitation and even a suicide. Interesting is that the game has not only its addictive impact on the ‘real’ world but also a commercial one. A good example of this is the Leeroy Jenkins case (top link). What can be seen is that one group member of a guild (clan/small community) completely ignores its team’s tactics and runs into the game dungeon screaming his name: “LEEROY JENKINS”. As a result his friends have to save him but all die. The clip became a phenomenon on internet and Leeroy Jenkins became a famous person in real life. So popular in fact, that he can be seen hanging out with the creators of the game; Blizzard entertainment.
Slide 11: Americas Army is an online free to download game whereby players endure the real aspects of combat. The game is created by the United States Army in order to recruit more potential soldiers. It is financed by the US Government. Interesting is the realness of it. Meaning, when players start the game they first have to go through basic training. Not only at the shooting range, but also in a virtual hospital. Here they learn real aspects of first aid. In addition, the basic training has to be followed in order to actually play the game online. Without doing the basic training one cannot play online. The creation of the game paid off for the United States Army; already more then 9 million copies have been downloaded. And when logging in on the website the clicks to actual recruitment have risen. The game can be viewed as a new communication channel for the United States Army.
Slide 12: Gold farming is a process whereby people play a MMORGP in order to acquire in-game money, usually in the form of virtual gold. With this practice users can buy with real money the collected in-game (gold) money. The process of gold farming is forbidden by most developers. However, it remains a lucrative business. Reports describe that in Korea and China entire cybercafés are being run like businesses in order to acquire in-game money. The newspaper the Guardian even reported that prisoners in Chinese labor camps were forced to engage in gold farming for the benefit of prison authorities.
