The outcome of MMORPGs

Games of any sort have been around for a long time. The game chess “make” us think in new, different ways to win the game. So we have complex strategies to beat the other player. To have a game that creates more complex strategies than chess Dungeon & Dragons was born. In the early 70s Dungeon & Dragons a Role-playing game (RPG), one of the more commonly known RPGs, was introduced and became more popular in the 80s (Yee 2006). As the years went on these RPGs started to be played on the computer, then eventually when the internet was established. The players were able to play with other players across the internet which turns into massive multiplayer online role-playing games. Why do massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG) like World of Warcraft and Everquest appeal to players, male and female, who are in the age range fourteen to twenty-five? What kind of psychological, personality, and social aspects become of the player by playing these games? Also, how can one avoid the negative aspects of MMORPG while still enjoy the escape of the mind through game play.

Dungeon & Dragons (D&D) is one of the most complex games one could play when it is his/hers first time. The main aspect of the game is to create a character out of the races and pick a certain classes of the game. The player would create or pick, a pre-selected character, to play. Depending on the situation the player would choose the vital stats of the character. For example, what is the race, class, skills, and character attributes. Then the player would put his/her mind into the character and “act” that character out throughout the game. This is what role-playing is a game for oneself to act as someone else. Keep in mind that role-playing games is not limited to a fantasy world it can also be futuristic or modern times[km1] . This game normally consists of a character sheet, pencil, the 3.5 version of Player’s Handbook and dice. Any optional materials could be miniatures, counter marbles, erasable mat, and calculator.

What is difference about D&D versus MMORPGs is that the player is facing other players and most of the time there is a limit of number of players usually about maximum of eight. While MMORPGs there is unlimited amount of players.

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