Introduction

MMORPGs serve as a medium as millions of people from around the world to converge into these virtual environments to collaborate, interact and form intricate interrelationships.  As a result, these online worlds allow for an unprecedented amount of interactions that involve a myriad of innate human characteristics.  Moreover, the game mechanics that comprise MMORPGs are created to coerce players to cooperate with one another.  These things all amount to the formation of online communities.  Therefore, there are social repercussions that arise from engaging in these virtual realities.
               
Synopsis

A brief overview of how players collaborate within the game must be examined before the impact of these interactions can be evaluated.  Each individual is immersed in the online environment through their created avatars and cooperate with others by engaging in complex tasks across the vast game world.  Networks of interrelationships are formed by: interacting in large cities, forming groups with other players, creating permanent member-based organizations and socializing on an informal level.  In addition, the in-game economy, fueled by trade and products created by players, plays an important role in collaboration between individuals.  A crucial component of a MMORPG is the text chat interface.  This is how players are interacting with one another – by communicating through text-based chat. (Ducheneaut & Moore, 2004).

Collaboration

The complexity of the structure of a MMORPG allows for an exceedingly intricate medium for global social collaboration.  Players must to learn to actively communicate and initiate efficient group strategies to complete difficult tasks assigned by the game.  In addition, due to the fact that MMORPGs comprise of individuals from throughout all parts of the globe, players must acquire the ability to cooperate and be tolerant of other cultures.  Moreover, this genre of online gaming requires a substantial amount of time for an individual’s avatar to progress.  As a result, it requires a significant investment in time and therefore, emotional attachment.  Players develop obvious emotional experiences from these environments and consequently take them very seriously.

Benefits

The extremely social and complex infrastructure of the online environments allow for players to apply beneficial skills developed in an MMORPG to the real world.  In order to progress in-game, players must interact and collaborate with other users.  As a result, organization and leadership skills are necessary to form groups for a specific goal.  The characteristics required to be a successful in managing a large group of players in-game include: role assignment, task delegation, crisis management, logistical planning, strategizing, distribution of awards and motivating members. Therefore, this demonstrates that the collaboration within an MMORPG allows for players to acquire new skill sets and improve on existing qualities. (Yee, 2005).

Video Demonstration

In the following clip, a guild playing World of Warcraft engage one of the most difficult monsters in the game. It requires the cooperation of at least forty people, committing approximately five to eight hours of their time in one sitting. The extent of the social collaboration and interaction is obvious - the players must function in complete unison, fulfilling their duties without error. They are using an online, server-based voice program called Ventrilo to communicate via live chat while playing, allowing them to work together more efficiently. By doing this, it eliminates the problem of having the text-interface flooded with too many messages. Please watch this short, entertaining movie to get a better understanding of social collaboration that occurs within a MMORPG.

Click play to begin viewing the video.