Kotaku
Nick Yee had an unenviable task last week.
The Stanford research assistant and massively multiplayer online gaming expert was flown in to Denver to explain online gaming to a room full of criminal investigators, educators and internet safety experts from area district attorney offices, police departments and the U.S. Department of Justice.
Yee, whose landmark Daedalus Project continues to study behavior in MMOs, hoped to present to these members of Qwest Colorado Coalition for Online Safety a take on online gaming that they may not have heard before: That it can actually be good for you.
"I've had opportunities like this before to give talks like this to non-gamers," he told me last week. "My message isn't that it's all good, what I prefer to say is that there is so much that is missed when the media picks up on it, that there's also the positive side."
"It's not Qwest trying to be an alarmist, I'm not an alarmist," he said. "We're trying to put the full spectrum in front of people."
Yee told the group many things that gamers might already know, that the average age of gamers is 26 to 30, that many online games have robust parental controls to limit both chat access and time playing. But he also went into some interesting discoveries he made over his years in researching the behavioral characteristics of online gamers and the boundary between the virtual and real worlds.
"These online spaces provided unique opportunities," he said. "Teenagers can lead a guild that consists mostly of adults and I don't think people realize how serious and complicated that is. It involves a lot of leadership, a lot of charisma."
"Parents who play these games with their children are given an opportunity to see their kids in a social setting they don't usually have access to. It's also a place where they can let their kids make mistakes in a safer environment."
Some of Yee's other beliefs include that:
• The demographics in typical MMOGs provide unique and potentially valuable social experiences for teenagers.
• It's better to interact with people around the world via MMOGs than to sit in the living room not talking to your family because everyone is watching TV.
• It's important to set reasonable guidelines and time limits regarding MMOGs.
• MMOG environments are a safer and more forgiving social space for making mistakes and learning social dynamics.
• It's possible to develop real-world leadership abilities as a result of playing MMOGs.
• Virtual environments such as "Second Life," are distinct from MMOGs in that they are not games because they do not pose an objective or end goal. Currently, online virtual worlds are unpopular with kids and, thus, not a risk to youth.
• MMOGs show how people respond to tense situations.
• Relationships may form that wouldn't have taken place if initiated face to face in real life.
• Certain demographics and people with existing stressors are more likely to develop problems via the game.
• People in a vulnerable state of mind may latch onto behaviors that provide a temporary sense of control or power.
• It's not about the amount of time people spend playing, but how gaming affects other facets of their life.
After he walked me through his presentation I pointed out to Yee that the crowd, this particularly law-enforcement heavy crowd, would likely have lots of questions about possible links between game playing and increased violence tendencies.
Yee said that while there haven't been a ton of studies done on that for MMO games, the ones that were conducted showed that the belief about crime, violence and games didn't pan out. He added that it is an issue that is quite hard to prove or disprove.
Yee said that last week's Denver talk could be the beginning of an initiative that spreads to the rest of the country. It was too early to tell what it could blossom into, he said, but they were talking about future plans with Qwest.
Sonny Jackson, Denver police spokesman, said the department has two people on the task force because they understand that "knowledge is power."
"It's beneficial to know how gaming works, how it can effect people, how it can effect our society and whether there are any potential dangers we should know about," he said. "And it's important for our crime analysis."
Comments
regardless of all this information, i still hate mmo's
so do I. my favorite thing to come from MMOs is the term 'poop sock'
I just think d&d 'fantasy' MMOs are lame actually. If there was a Gran Turismo one I'd play that.
Striving for some sort of objective look at any form of gaming is a good thing.
Yeah, I'm not an mmo fan either, but it's good to see that more and more individuals are sort of being "heard" in one way or another on the topic, hopefully lessening the fexperts on it (fake experts, aka Fox News.)
Good piece, Brian. Yee does really interesting, increasingly relevant work.
-Stephen
@masticate: lol, I'm with you on that one.
It's better to interact with people around the world via MMOGs than to sit in the living room not talking to your family because everyone is watching TV.
I wish more people would understand this >:(
MMOs have end goals? Intermediate goals sure, but each one only leads to a new goal which takes longer to reach.
Yee said that while there haven't been a ton of studies done on that for MMO games, the ones that were conducted showed that the believes about crime, violence and games didn't pan out.
I was part of one of those studies - Filled out a survey, about a week later received Asheron's Call 2 in the mail, played for the free trial month, then re-took the same survey. The conclusions from that study (very short GP blog and a PDF of the findings) showed that there was no significant increase in violence compared to the "control" group which didn't play AC2.
I ended up playing AC2 for another couple of months after the free trial but generally disliked it. But hey, I was still money ahead since I didn't actually pay $50 for the game. Decent game core but it was unpolished and practically unfinished once you got up into the 30s (which was only a week or so). Constant bugs on the patches didn't help either.
MMOs are all about the relationship you build with the community and friends.
Gameplay wise, they aren't anything spectacular, but I've had some hilarious events with close friends online that I will remember for the rest of my life.
@Norellicus: ...Quite the opposite. Participating in embarassing MMO's like World of Warcraft make you an unsocial creature of rejection. :D Sitting in a living room with your family, at least you can observe social interaction.
I decided to try WoW for a month during last summer but was easily able to quit when school and my gf needed my attention. I don't understand why they keep talking about the effects of MMOs. It's for the socially inept. Obviously you'll have a few crazies.
@kotakuspaceship: What social interaction is there when everyone is just watching TV? The point is that it's far better to interact with someone through the Internet than to not interact with someone in the same room.
"It's important to set reasonable guidelines and time limits regarding MMOGs" If I learned anything valuable from my four years of FFXI, it would be this (and a few pieces of life advice from a good friend).
MMOG is truly addictive, it makes you greedy, it keeps you unsatisfied, it also provides a sense of companionship with other online players. It draws out a different side of people. I won't say MMOG made me a better person, but I think it made me understand myself a little better.
I know a lot of people are borned with innate massive hate for MMORPG, kinda like how people hate clowns for no appearent reason? I used to hate MMORPG, but I learned to appreciate the many aspects of gaming experience that nothing else can provide.
I still hate clowns tho :(
@Neopolitian: "If there was a Gran Turismo one I'd play that."
Motor City Online (done by EA.com before they went belly-up) was a great game, trick out your car with a ton of "parts", race your car in a suprisingly accurate for it's time online racing sim. It was a lot of fun, but no one played it, and yes, it was an MMO.
Did AC2 beta, was fun, I think I enjoyed AC1 a bit more, but didn't play either for long. Thank god the talent at Turbine went on to make Lord of the Rings Online, they did a good job.
Nick, nice work, keep it up. Looking forward to read more.
@kotakuspaceship: Yeah, watching whatever shit season/spinoff of The Real World shows great social interaction indeed.
I find it surprising that younger people aren't more attracted to virtual worlds because I think it would be interesting to encourage it more. It's like when I was growing up I spent a lot of time building with LEGOs... though one could say that a "goal" was to build the project by the instructions, the real point of LEGOs themselves (as opposed to individual sets) was to make your own fun with them and do what you wanted... to create.
I know that LEGO is working on their own MMO, presumably with this sort of virtual world approach in an attempt to appeal to younger audiences...
... but his saying that "currently, online virtual worlds are unpopular with kids and, thus, not a risk to youth" is almost depressing when you think about it from a more "create your own path" vs "achieve preset goals" perspective of "play" (as a concept).
Makes me wonder if "old kids" like myself are more interested in things like Little Big Planet and a LEGO MMO because it reminds us of the "create" aspect of "play" that may not exist in the same way for children today... or at least not for the current generation of videogame kids.
It's almost like all the "true" sandbox games (including online virtual worlds that apparently aren't interesting to kids) exist for a generation, like mine, that actually grew up with physical sandboxes. Were we so afraid, as a society, of child predators in online gaming that we took away a valuable aspect of social interaction and play entirely?
I'd never say that at present MMO's are really great, or even worthwhile playing. I mean, the entire gameplay sucks. No matter how many levels, how many charater classes, environments, quests, et cetera they are bland. But I played a significantly crappy free one for a couple of weeks, and rather than level grinding I tried to help out lower level players than myself, rather than constantly type 'n00b' around the start areas and challenge them to fight. It kind of makes you feel good to help people out, despite the fact that it'd be doing them more of a favour to put them off forever. But one day, there will be a good MMO, and when that day comes it could change gaming in a big way. In fact Bethesda are apparently working on something MMO related, so maybe that day is closer than I thought.
MMOG's, not MMO's. Sorry.
@masticate: I'm with you on that one.
I personally find MMO gameplay, technology, community and interactivity far superior then any console platform game at this time. I don't like to play games alone through a linear story, I'll watch a movie if I want my experience to be that singular. Even multiplayer console titles are somewhat limited but they have potential.
What were seeing if anything is the game player base break apart? MMO type players and platform type players, I know guilds and players who've been MMO jumping for the last 7-8 years since UO and have never touched a console so its definitely a beast on its own. What we really need is a diverse set of MMOs - Eve and Kartrider is a step in the right direction. I would like to see MMOs tackle true economics and more social networking. 9 million users for 1 single game that was the Wii's entire hardware base for a good 10 months. Nexon is clocking 23 million for Kartrider and Maplestory - the MMO market has massive potential far greater then the US and Japanese console markets. Look to countries in South Asia (India) and South America (Brazil), they're market conditions are much like South Korea 8 years ago - about to jump into second world status if not already. PC gaming is easier to crack in their financial and corporate climate, especially virtual asset based MMOs. Nick does amazing work and hope he can draw more understanding and excitement into the MMO world.
People are to quick to associate addiction and anti-social behaviour to the MMO player base. Pity.
@kotakuspaceship:
I disagree, generally when my mom used to call me off the computer into the living room for "quality family time" it was to watch some uninteresting popular TV show. Very little "socializing" took place.
Whereas playing MMO's (actually I was mostly playing MUDs at the time) I was directly socializing with people across the country and on other continents.
Kudos to Nick Yee!
Also, a Lego MMO already exists. It's called Roblox, and it's great:
[www.roblox.com]
Like movies different genres of games appeal to different types of people so pls stop saying "MMOs suck they're lame", as I think that you're stupid because you buy the same sports game every year with just updated stats or the ncaa version they all give you the same gameplay. Or why driving around on a track over and over for hours is fun while the truth is, it is as boring as hell. I like shooters (FPS), Third Person Action/Adventure games, RPGs, MMOs, some platformers and why you might ask? Cause those are the genres that appeal to me, the other types of games, they're useless and lame.
I would pose that people who play MMOs have a lower tendency for violent crime, and for as much of a joke as it may seem to be, I really mean it. They don't have time to get into trouble. I played FFXI between 8-12 hours a day ontop of classes and sleep, simply put I didn't have time to go out and rob the 7-11. Granted that last bit was partially a joke, but I did know several people who would be considered "at risk youth" who played the game as a way to stay off the street. I'm not saying that if you get gangs addicted to WoW the world will no longer have crime, but those perviously mentioned kids were there online while their friends were in gangs. When I first heard one of them say that I thought it was a joke, but after several people said it, I sort of got the idea that it was very much so the truth. Granted none of that is empyrical evidence, but hey anecdotal from experience is good enough to sell me on it.
@Anemone: Oh and he is totally correct about leading guilds. As someone who had experience as a leader, (not in FFXI, I refused) I can say that it is one of the most difficult and trying things that games can offer. Managing 30+ people with individual aspirations and desire... and conflicting personalities is exceptionally hard. As leader you see the absolute worst in everyone involved and you need to arbitrate between everyone there to get anything done. This includes discipline and removal of people who don't seem to work out for one reason or another. Having recently seen a mass laying off at work and how tense the supervisors were I get the feeling that most people aren't used to dealing with that sort of thing. Organizing people to work as a group and giving orders on the fly based upon what you believe to be correct is also crucial. Since I could probably write a small book on the intricacies of guild leading in an MMO, I think that I'm going to stop myself short here. The book would end up reading like a net-speak bastardization of "The Prince" and "The Art of War" anyway. Actually... writing something like that may be fun. I'll have to get around to that; not that anyone would bother to read it ever.
@Krondonian: How can you call MMO's bland? They are constantly changing, evolving, hardly leaving time for you taste all the "spices" from the last patch.
I, for one, love MMO's such as WoW and Guild Wars. In WoW, if you are bored, just level up and pretty soon you'll have plenty of new spells to use and become un-bored. Or you can just jump into BG's. GW's level cap is 20, so you really don't have much boredom time because there's stuff like Hard Mode and the various title tracks to keep you busy.
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