Reading is Learning

Welcome knowledge seekers,

                I read my first book from cover to cover for my senior Project. The book title was Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games By R.V. Kelly 2 which is a non-fiction book about the wide world of MMORPG gaming. It was a little dry to just sit down and read it, but it was fairly informative on answering many of the questions I had in the beginning of the project. I cannot say that it is the most interesting read and that everyone would enjoy the book, but if a person is interested in learning more about why we play games I definitely recommend it.

                The book starts off with a summary about the whole book in general.  It gives a little detail on why we play games, how the games have been created, how they have evolved from common childhood games, and some dangers the comes from games. The author explains in great detail of the culture that the gaming community has. Inside this synthetic world, there are rules, norms, taboos, and stereotypes just like in the real world. The game itself builds its own type of community and players fallow those unwritten rules. For example, there is an in game economy system where players can trade items they have received in the game for some sort of money. There is a global economy inside the game that revolves around the items that can be traded in the game. Now just like in the real world, there are scammers or theft between players to either get items or money.  These real world problems surface themselves inside the game world which makes it hard for some people to leave their computer when the two worlds are so similar.

                I found it very interesting how the author changed my mind on the thought of gaming. The author explained that games are not just for enjoyment, but has second purposes for many people. The fact that these game worlds act as a stress relievers and give people everywhere an escape form their real world problems. This is one reason why it is so hard for an avid gamer to just “turn off the game.” Some real world problems the author mentioned would not have crossed my mind. People such as handicapped individuals or mentally challenged people will all have a new life guaranteed in this game where no one will know they are different from the rest of the gamers.  Players in the gaming world all mask their identity with an avatar so individuals can recreate themselves how they wanted themselves to be seen. In some way it throws away the thought of looks is everything and gives people to know another person in a more connectable way.

                All in All I enjoyed this book very much and recommend it to anyone who is interested in the subject of gaming. I learned many new things from this book and I am excited to keep researching on this subject.

                Signing out,

                MHB