Mastery and the mobile future of massively multiplayer games
Name
166147145-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
9.92 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
e790e24c66043a3548c8e25e93bd4317
Author(s)
Roy, Daniel, S.M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Advisor(s)
Eric Klopfer.
Date Issued
2007
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
What game design opportunities do we create when we extend massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) to cell phones? MMOs allow us to create representations of our own increasing mastery, and mobile gives us better access to this mastery and allows us to integrate it more fully into the ways we see ourselves. MMOs motivate mastery by making that mastery personally and socially relevant, and visibly showing it increase. Virtual worlds that make players feel physically and socially present increase motivation to achieve mastery. MMOs that convince players their avatars represent some aspect of their personalities increase motivation to invest in and experiment with different constructions of self. I apply these principles to an analysis of two games: Labyrinth, a game I helped create, and World of Warcraft, the current leading MMO. With Labyrinth, I explain the design decisions we made and their impact. With World of Warcraft, I described how altering the design could accommodate mobile play and better motivate increasing mastery.
Description
Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Comparative Media Studies, 2007.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 64-66).
Subjects
Comparative Media Studies.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Program in Comparative Media Studies/Writing
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