The rise of social media prompted a boom in Web-based games and developers rushed to tap into the social-media opportunity. Web-based games were created with animation and Flash software, offering a simplified gaming experience with cartoonlike graphics. Some games also offered incentives to recruit new players, with many becoming successful as “Facebook games”. The best-known of these maximized revenue by interacting with advertising partners, while other games, like EA’s The Sims Social, sold in-game currency.
Research on the psychosocial benefits of multiplayer online gaming
Researchers are increasingly examining the multifaceted aspects of human interaction with the internet, and have focused on the multiple mental and psychological effects of massively multiplayer online role-playing games
(MMORPGs). The phenomenon has received particular attention in recent years, and discourses on it suggest both positive and negative impacts on gamer health. This paper critically appraises research literature on the psychosocial benefits of MMORPG playing to examine whether playing them affects adolescents’ psychosocial well-being.
Characteristics of MMOGs
A hybrid architecture for MMOGs combines the advantages of client-server and P2P systems. It assigns a central server to state-changing moves, which involve changing the game world’s state. This ensures that players cannot ‘cheat’ by sending ‘bots’ to other players in another region. While the authors admit that there is a risk of cheating in P2P systems, they argue that it is a much lower risk than in traditional client-server architectures.
Genres of MMOGs
MMOGs have evolved from their medieval fantasy origins to encompass many different genres. Everquest 1942, Ultima Online, City of Heroes, and other genres have allowed players to replicate WWII as a grunt, build a virtual house, and entertain their friends in Sims Online. MMOGs are also increasingly popular among children, ป๊อกเด้งออนไลน์ as AOL and other major online companies are mimicking their Asian counterparts and launching games for children.
Effects of MMOGs on social well-being
The Effects of Massive Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) on social well-being were investigated using a narrative synthesis methodology. The participants were recruited from various online forums and groups. Each person completed self-report measures on social skills, psychological condition, and online game-related cognitions. The researchers concluded that the games promote psychological dependence, deficient self-regulation, and a lack of social control skills.
Sources of cyber bullying in MMOGs
Cyber bullying can take many forms, but one of the most common is the use of anonymous aliases on social networking sites, e-mail services, and message boards. As the use of anonymous aliases on the Internet has become commonplace, cyber bullying has taken flight in many popular online platforms. One such example is massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs). These games give teens the ability to act as anyone they want, even if they’re not.