No I in Team

For generations, video games were seen as something of a social stigma. Gamers were called anti-social, shut-ins and introverts. People assumed there were no practical applications for video games whatsoever. In modernmörgåsbord of information negating all those years of dismissal. One of the biggest discoveries was that video games are a fantastic way to build teamwork (Jagad 2011). 
times, things have changed as more and more research on video games have uncovered a veritable s

MMOs are online games that require a certain amount of teamwork to complete. While you can usually just play alone and avoid interactions, if you want to beat the big bosses and get the best loot, then you have to work as a team. Teams generally consist of at least 1 leader and anywhere from 3 to 39 other members. Generally, as the group content gets larger and more complicated these teams start to form sub teams which each have a sort of departmental head to organize the individual groups within the team. Not all are successful but the lessons always are.

In a basic dungeon run, you have a tank class, a healer class and a varying number of damage dealers. One of these people will emerge as the leader, whether due to experience or natural leadership ability. The group will then either be successful and work together or refuse to work together and fail miserably. There are occasion where the group can be dysfunctional and still able to complete the mission and vise versa. All scenarios will yield a good chunk of knowledge for the players that will help them be better team members in the future. Did the current group pull too much and cause a wipe? Next time the players will want to pull less. Did the group discover a new boss and die to a mechanic? Next group, the players will tell the group about the mechanic and what to avoid.

As the difficulty ramps up with raids of 10 - 40 people, managers start to become necessary. The raid leader is the defacto boss and there are usually at least one co-lead to help with the logistics involved. In the higher "World First" races to clear brand new raid content before anyone else, the teams follow a rigid team structure. Healers usually have a healing lead to help manage healing cooldowns and rotations as well as running the numbers on each player's effectiveness. Tank leads manage threat and damage mitigation, boss swaps, mechanics and some of the more lethal aspects of a fight. Ranged and Melee leads do a similar roll among their respective groups. The raid leader generally decides on the strategy for a given fight and if the raid is successful, the loot masters handle the dispersal of loot by deciding which players benefit the most for an upgrade or which player deserves a shiny new weapon. 

Each one of these roles are management roles. They teach those players how to handle different groups of people and their personalities. It teaches them how to delegate tasks, how to identify problems and most importantly, how to solve problems efficiently as they arise. For the rest of the group they learn how to work with their peers. They learn what lines are and what to do to avoid crossing them. They get to experience a group win or loss as part of the team and most importantly they get to experience what happens when someone doesn't perform their role to standards. The skills learned from playing a video game directly benefit a player in real life. They learn to be a team, whether they're laying siege to a mountainous castle or rushing to meet a project deadline. 


citation
Jagad, Lakshmi Ms., "Online Gaming and Teamwork." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2011. http://scholarworks.gsu.edu/communication_theses/83 

photos
©2017 Mental Floss, Inc.
© 2017 Bungie, Inc. All rights reserved.
©2017 Electronic Arts Inc.
©2017 Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. All rights reserved.

Machinima: The art of game

Have you ever wondered what would happen if the characters in your game suddenly starred in a movie? Perhaps you've always wanted to see your main character star in their own television series. Some might consider these as minor flights of fancy but other defy this narrative. An entire subculture revolving around machinima has sprung up to do exactly what some people assumed couldn't happen. Machinima is the use of a video game to create derivative works of art within the game itself. Now, this technique is nothing new and has been around since the days of Doom. (Veigl, 2011) As technology continues to advance, so too do the tools that enable this new art form.

Machinima really took off with the launch of Halo: Combat Evolved, a first person shooter game. The company Rooster Teeth began making short, irreverent comedy skits from within the game that they titled Red Vs Blue. The concept was simple enough: two groups of military grunts, one red and one blue, are operating bases at opposite ends of a canyon and everyone is an idiot. Every time Bungie Studios released a new Halo game, the Rooster Teeth production would begin using that engine to develop more of the series. As the technology advanced and Bungie took notice of this small company and their large online fanbase, tools were added to the game to make the machinima easier to record. This allowed the show to take a more narrative approach and develop into a full fledged story complete with betrayal, intrigue and conspiracies. Once Microsoft purchased the game and wrapped it into 343 Studios, a new issue arose: copyright.

Like Halo, another game came out in 2004 that changed the face of Machinima. Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft a massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) came out and almost immediately fans began making short films ranging from simple boss kills, music videos, sketch comedy and even a few long running series. Another notable form of art that branched from this was the use of screen shots to create comic strips. This was a sort of mash up between the rapidly expanding fan-art community and the Machinima community. Both Microsoft and Blizzard were facing a bit of a crisis. Other game companies were cracking down on content, specifically Nintendo and Let's Plays. Let's Plays are videos of other people playing through a game and commenting on it, usually in a humorous manor. Suddenly, the tools that players were using to create art were being taken away from them. Artwork was subjected to takedown notices, videos were hit with copyright infringement infractions, and the community was worried about what would happen.

Blizzard and Microsoft both came to the same conclusion. If the fans want to share their love for the games and it helps grow the fanbase, then why should they be prevented from doing so? So both companies embraced these new digital forms of art. Microsoft continued supporting the work Rooster Teeth was doing and Blizzard began recognizing exceptionally well crafted artwork. Blizzard is also known for pulling talent from these communities to work at the company itself. One gamer, Alexander J. Velicky went so far as using his talents to create an entire expansion for the popular game Elder Scrolls: Skyrim at the age of 19. (MacManus, 2013) This massive and extremely impressive creation landed him a job at Bungie Studios. (Gaston, 2013)

More and more studios have embraced the world of Machinima and fan created art in general which has opened the door for a flood of new creations. No one knows what the future holds but if the trend continues as it has been, we will likely see two big things happen. One is the creation of something epic, akin to a full length movie. The second is a massive lawsuit and cease & desist order in response. Both events would change the face of this digital art form forever.

Citations:
Veigl, T. (2001, January 20). Machinma: On the Invention and Innovation of a New Visual Media Technology. Retrieved July 7, 2017, from https://www.academia.edu/8329333/Machinima_On_the_Invention_and_Innovation_of_a_New_Visual_Media_Technology

MacManus, C. (2013, July 17). 19-year-old creates incredible Skyrim expansion. Retrieved July 7, 2017, from https://www.cnet.com/news/19-year-old-creates-incredible-skyrim-expansion/

Gaston, M. (2013, November 25). Skyrim's Falskaar mod maker lands games industry job. Retrieved July 7, 2017, from https://www.gamespot.com/articles/skyrim-s-falskaar-mod-maker-lands-games-industry-job/1100-6416394/

Images:
Doom
© 1993 id Software
Red Vs Blue
© 2003 Rooster Teeth
Illegal Danish
© 2004 Blizzard Entertainment
Skyrim
© 2011 Bethesda Studios

Making Money Through Gaming

There's a question the inevitably pops up in every gamer's life: how can I make money doing this? Well, even though your parents swore you would never get anywhere in life by playing games, the truth is there are a multitude of ways to make some greenbacks while fragging your friends. You can join a tournament, join an eSports team, make YouTube videos and for the less competitive folks you can stream. What does all that mean?

Well, for a tournament it depends on the game you play and where you want to play it. The biggest barrier to playing in a tournament is research, not skill. First, you can check out a site like Major League Gaming for games that have tournaments. Second, from those games you must find a game you enjoy playing. Third and relatively the least important, you must become good at that game. The third point is relative because it entirely depends on your competition and how far you want to go. Tournaments can range from a few small dollars to thousands of dollars. If you get good enough, we're talking about a rather hefty sum of money and people do make a living off the tournament circuit but it isn't easy.

You can also take your tournaments a step further and join an eSports league or a team itself. This is professional level gaming, however and is not for the feint of heart. The hours are long and grueling. You have to strengthen your resolve, your reflexes, your stamina and your awareness. Joining an eSports team is also a business deal. You will likely find a team like Razer or Liquid Gaming will let you on board their League but if you expect to be sitting across the table form Cloud 9 then you're going to be signing some paper work. Many eSports teams live together, train together, work out together. It is definitely a sport catered to the young and unattached. You will have to improve your stamina for sitting in a chair for hours without becoming uncomfortable and you must train your eyes to withstand fatigue. This teams bring in a lot of money however and in today's circuit, you can literally become a celebrity.

Making YouTube videos, on the other hand is relatively tame in comparison. It still requires a lot of discipline to stay regular and it is a creative drain that you have to deal with. You don't want to run out of content 4 episodes in. Let's Plays and How To's are very popular and the views generate quite a bit of income. If you attract the attention of a big channel, you could also score a bigger gig. In some cases, job opportunities arise within the company that makes the games you create videos for. It does require editing, writing, producing, research and uploading but if you can manage to nail these requirements down, you could have the next big gaming channel. PewDiePie is world famous for becoming a millionaire from his Let's Plays and licensing deals.

Maybe you just want to play games. You have no eye for art and not a single competitive bone in your body. No worries, you can start a stream. Between Twitch and Mixer, there's a platform out there where you can build your viewer base and earn money via subscriptions and advertising. The competition is tough though. You're going to need to have a schedule and stick to it. You're going to have to invest in a nice camera and a mic. It also helps to have a computer or console capable of playing the games you want to stream as well. Then you have to decide who you are. Are you a rage-a-holic, a chatty Cathy, a ridiculously loud screamer, a good player or a bad player? You have to find your niche; your voice. You have to embrace it and put yourself out there. You'll start at zero views and over awhile you may get to 1. Then maybe 2. You might spend months at 6. One day however, someone might host your channel and your followers shoot up. Then you can start making money from subs and ads but you have to put the effort in. Like all things, it's not free. There is always a catch and the catch with streaming is a whole lot of effort. But it's like they always say: If you build it, They will come.

Gamer Relationships

People will sometimes call gamers introverts. They'll call us shut-ins and say we need to socialize more. The people that say these things are uninformed and generally base these statements off of preconceived notions. The simple fact is there are two types of games. Those you play on your own and those you play with others and while solo games have been popular in the past, most games now focus on multiplayer to one degree or another. One of the reasons that studios push multiplayer now is that they have found that people really like playing online with each other. The other reason is that it means they can get more distance out of half the content. So from a monetary point of view, it makes sense that developers would focus on the multiplayer aspect. The question is why do players gravitate towards them? The answer flies in the face of all the people who would dismiss gamers as introverts with no drive to socialize. The answer, is community.

There are two types of multiplayer games and each has its own unique community. The first type is
what are known as MMOs (Massively Multiplayer Online games) and the other are simple multiplayer games. The difference between the two are the number of other players one would come in contact with. MMOs tend to have a community that strives to grow, by the very nature of the game style. Multiplayer communities tend to be fairly competitive. That is not to say the two don't intermingle from occasion to occasion but we're going to try to keep it simplified at first. With multiplayer games, the story is oft times irrelevant and frequently shoddily thrown together (or non existent) whereas the majority of the development is focused on the multiplayer. There are games that buck this trend but that's not entirely relevant to this discussion. These games are typically FPS (First Person Shooters), RTS (Real Time Strategy), racing, and fighter games. These games have a tendency to attract competitive gamers and the community that revolves around these games is likewise competitive, although frequently they are friendly rivalries. These games are more akin to a sport than MMOs tend to be and players enjoy that style of interaction. Within these confines there exists two types: the Solo play and the Team play. With Solo play you typically have a ladder that each player is trying to get to the top of. These interactions are almost exclusively rivalries. Team play, on the other hand is an environment where you are required to work together in a competitive environment. These are typically what eSports revolve around and the relationships that are formed between players are identical to that of sports teams.

While those aspects are interesting in their own right, they aren't my focus. I'm more interested in the MMO relationships. MMOs range in style from FPS to RPG (Role Playing Game). These have varying types as well but we're going to focus on the MMORPG. Typically in an MMO, you create a character and then play the game to level up until you reach the Max Level, at which point you will begin the "End Game". End Game varies from game to game but usually focuses on players working together in large groups to overcome an obstacle. While leveling up, players will usually be solo until they are required to do a dungeon. This is typically the moment in the game that introduces a player to the idea of working with other players to achieve a common goal. These dungeons are usually fairly easy and require little organization as they are designed to be introductory in nature. However, as a player levels they will find themselves coming upon dungeons more frequently and thus being required to group more often. At Max Level the player will often find themselves joining a guild or a group of like minded players who want the same things out of the game.

Guilds are where the majority of player interaction occurs. People socialize and otherwise get to
know each other in chat while leveling or farming for resources or other activities. When players take on a raid, they do so with a clear command structure: this is the leader, these are the supports, these are the tanks etc etc. Raiding takes a very militaristic approach with strategy and preparing for an assault. Most raids last anywhere from 3 to 5 hours and can continue 3-5 times a week. Working so closely with the same people to achieve a common goal has a way of bonding people together. It is this connection that breeds the friendships that people form inside games. We call these groups, digital families. You often meetup in Discord or follow each other on Twitter or other social media platforms. You learn about each other, likes and dislikes, gaming style, attitudes, etc. These relationships can extend past the game and into the real world and will often last for years, if not decades. These are real connections. These are actual relationships. Some of them are even stronger than offline relationships. So the next time someone tells you that gamers are introverts, you can set them straight.

Avatars and Identity

Avatar. No, not that big budget sci-fi "Pocahontas with the White Man Savior complex" movie and also, no not that fantastic anime that was turned into a disaster flick.

An Avatar is your representation in a game. Its name is as on-the-nose as you can get, representing a player's core concept in a digital form. In general, players create characters that either represent themselves or a facsimile of how they want to be. When we create a character we are creating a digital life. Often we create same-gendered characters and design them how we wish the world to see us. Other times we create opposite-gendered characters representing our idealistic mate or how we would like to be seen if we were the opposite gender. The question of whether the character represents the player is a non-starter. The avatar ALWAYS represents the player whether through exact characterizations or deeply hidden away thoughts. Some players will create evil characters to vicariously live their dark fantasies through but even then, these characters represent a part of the player. Some players create physically different versions of themselves as jokes but these too represent the player through the humor. No one can create a character that has no connection to themselves.

Apart from the look, players often have to name their avatars. Naming your character is one of the most important parts of creating a character. This is the name that represents them and the player's reputation will be attached to this tag forever. It also serves as a first impression as many times a character interacts through chat interfaces rather than face-to-face. A character with the name Refrigerator gives off certain first impressions. The player is not creative, this wasn't their first choice, it's a large block-y character and the name reflects their size, the player thinks they are funny by using a non-traditional namesake. Based on the player's chat interactions, this may affirm another player's prejudices about them. An avatar using the name Stormshadow would give a first impression of a slightly different kind. The player is mysterious, dark, depending on the game in question it could make the player appear ironic, silly or downright cliché. Either way it's important to choose a name that represents the character and the player's personality.

Wherein the complexities of the customization are oft times highly dependent on the source material
within which it was developed, the player's choices usually are not. Beyond simple customization like hair color and character size, the hairstyle chosen or the slight height variations of the avatar can say a lot about the player that the general aesthetic doesn't. Aside from eye color variations, there may be options to add scars, earrings, tattoos, make-up, iris variations, etc. These small changes are usually not noticed by other players but they have a huge impact on the player. These tiny details, taken into consideration with the overall design, the name, the class, the play-style and the chat interactions can really tell you a lot about a player. Deep down inside, players are aware of this and will make choices to best represent the identity they want people to associate with.

This is to the point that when a game fails to include deep customization options, players can feel left out and unable to connect with their characters. Specifically associated with minorities and game development studio's lack of non-white skin tones (Armstead), this branches further into other body issues. Ranging anyway from feeling insecure about weight, height, loss of limbs or other deformities, the avatar can cause issues since they don't often come with those effects as customization features. In some cases, this helps the user cope with their issues, while in other cases it tends to breed an over obsession with appearances. Since an avatar is merely a physical representation, there isn't generally a lot of thought put into the psychological state of them. Some games, specifically role-playing based games, do invite the user to create a psychological state for their characters, however the vast majority of games only focus on physical appearance. This can have a negative impact on players who assume their meticulously created character will be popular only to find out that their own personality is driving other players away from them. Since this can't be customized, players are forced to accept that this is a flaw in their own design.

All in all, the avatar is a vital part of game culture and there is no escaping the player identification that takes place with regards to them. Whether this is a positive or a negative will always be debatable but personally I lean heavily towards positive. I spend a lot of time designing the perfect character and they always represent a part of my personality. I take a lot of pride in the design and try to maintain a positive reputation throughout the community I am a part of. It matters to me, not only that I'm pleased with the character design but that others react favorably to it as well. This could be a personal character flaw but I accept it. After all, it's not like I can adjust a slider to fix it.






Citations:

Armstead, Robin. Minority Gamers Don’T Feel Right In White Skin; Avatar Options Are Woefully Limited. 1st ed. Boise: BoiseState, 2014. Web. 26 May 2017.

Images Used: (In Order)

Star Wars The Old Republic

© 2011 - 2017 Electronic Arts or its licencors. All rights reserved.

Penny Arcade

© 1998 - 2017 Penny Arcade, Inc.

Conan Exiles

 © 2017 Conan Properties International LLC

Final Fantasy XIV

© 2010 - 2017 Square Enix Co., LTD