15-7-2009 Game News : Are MMOs Becoming Anti-social?

Are MMOs Becoming Anti-social?
By Jaime
Jaime grew up in southern CA, but has been living in Salt Lake City, UT for five years. Since the days of Ultima Online - she has been playing MMORPGs with a passion. Online gaming has become one of her most passionate hobbies, as the games internally and externally evolve over time, providing an ever-changing gaming experience. Her professional experience comes from the fields of retail, telecomm, customer service, and investing. Her hobbies include photography, writing, crafting, outdoor activities, and, of course, video gaming.

Imagine this: you're at home one night, and your friends are out at the bar. The next day, they tell you about this amazing stunt they pulled. You know you've missed out – but when you ask your friends why they didn't call you so you could come down and catch the action, they tell you "Well, you weren't there with us, why should we have called you?"
If you're pissed because your friends couldn't bother to give you a call and see if you were available, the average person would understand. MMO players, however, might wonder why you're upset – if you're so concerned about doing something fun, you should be hanging out with your friends in the first place, no matter your other priorities.
The truth is, MMO players have come to accept a different definition of friendship – a definition with different expectations and norms than exist in the real world. Consider the following:
Friend lists. Any MMO has a friends list, a way to add the name of characters who you'd like to know when they're online, and where they are or what they might be doing. The typical use for a friends list, however, is not to keep track of other players that you like to chat with: it's to keep track of players that might be of use to you in future groups. Your friends list is where you turn to when you need an extra player for an instance, or help doing a quest – not when you want to hang out in game.
Out of sight, out of mind. If you're not on a friends list, and online, when someone needs your role to be filled for a group, you might as well not exist. This typically holds true even when others may known your IM handle outside game.
Keeping distance. Despite the social aspect of MMOs, players want to know increasingly less about each other – keep it to in game stuff, or you'll be ignored.
The social worlds of MMOs have become utilitarian in their approach: that is, players seek friendship in games not out of genuine interest in getting to know fellow gamers, but to build social networks that allow them to achieve the goals they want – whether that's leveling, questing, or raiding.
In fact, MMORPGs appear to be trending away from social gaming, placing more focus on the persistent online worlds they offer. A few years ago, players who solo'd their way through MMOs were viewed as pariahs; now, it's not abnormal to expect players to reach high levels on their own before starting to seek groups. In fact, it's rather common for players seeking groups for low level quests to be told they can "just solo it." And what channel used to be a default – LFG (Looking for Group) has become so optional, in games like World of Warcraft, you can only enter it via queuing for a group quest or instance.

Instances, too, are an indication of the shift away from social gaming. A few years ago, dungeons were open experiences – any adventurer, or group of adventurers, could wander in and try their hand. Although players now shudder at the idea of having to "share" a boss spawn with others, losing out at the chance of loot, open dungeons were surprisingly cooperative. Groups communicated between each other, shared areas, rotated between bosses to maximize quest completion and the obtaining of desired loot. Those who stole kills, or didn't cooperate with the players in the dungeons, were quickly ostracized and found themselves with the short end of the stick

Simply put, there was an understanding of a common good in MMOs, and players worked toward achieving that goal with amazing cooperation. As time has gone on, however, the social bonding that took place in MMOs has gone with it, leaving us with a more competitive, individualistic game – one that seems to be forgetting what "MM" stands for in "MMORPG."

By mmosite