Networked Play: A Comparison Between World of Warcraft and Second Life

For this blogpost I will discuss the differences between two forms, MMOG’s and virtual worlds, of video game play through two games, World of Warcraft, an MMOG, and Second Life, a virtual world.  After playing both games, I can say that the game play experience for each is beyond a doubt unique.  While transitioning from World of Warcraft to Second Life, the difference in game content and material is noticeably apparent.  Each game offers its own set of rules and types of play for the player to explore.  Although both World of Warcraft and Second Life are essentially online computer games with vast online communities, any average gamer is able to distinguish the difference between these two forms of play.

One significant difference World of Warcraft and Second Life is the character personalization within each game.  For example, at the start of World of Warcraft, players were solely able to choose which sex, race, class, and a few body characteristics their character will attain.  Armor within the game had set designs that were not customizable and armor also did not change according to sex.  This leaves players little to no freedom in the customization of their characters.  Only after many patches, did Blizzard slowly implement hair salons or race changes to aid character customization.  However, in Second Life, virtually all aspects of the character are customizable where players are able to design everything from their wardrobe, to their vehicles, and even their own homes.  Like LamdaMOO players, Second Life players “are allowed a broad freedom to create—they can describe their characters in any way they like, they can make rooms of their own and decorate them to taste, and they can build objects almost at will” (Dibbell).  This kind of personalization is what Pearce describes as “productive play” where the players are the producers of the game and create their own content (Pearce, 19). 

In relation to character personalization, identity is a key difference between World of Warcraft and Second Life.  Curtis states, “MUD players can most directly express themselves in three ways: by their choice of player name, by their choice of gender, and by their self-description” (Curtis).  For World of Warcraft, character attachment is fairly difficult to achieve according to Curtis’ three classifications.  Character names in World of Warcraft are for the most part abstract and in no way resemble the player’s name or real names in general.  Although gender is easy to mimic, players will find it difficult to identify themselves with fantasy races such as an undead male or female elf.  Similar to LambaMOO, a character in World of Warcraft  “need in no way correspond to a person's real life identity; people can make and remake themselves, choosing their gender and the details of their online presentation; they need not even present themselves as human” (Mnookin).  However, in Second Life, characters have both a first name and last name (names have no restrictions).  Now that I look back at my Second Life account, my avatar is a close representation of myself.  I am not exactly sure why this is, but I believe this is because Second Life relies more on social interaction and is more realistic, at least compared to World of Warcraft. 

Another difference between the two games is the objective in each game.  Both games offer character exploration of an enormous space and interaction with other online players.  However the objectives in each game differ in the character’s role within the game. In World of Warcraft, players assume what Pearce calls a “persistent” role, one that is the same throughout the game, which in World of Warcraft is dictated by the class and talents the player chooses (Pearce, 203).  For example, if the player’s character is a holy priest then your sole role in the game is to heal.  On the other hand, Second Life has no specific role the player must adhere to, choosing the path they wish to take in the game.  Similar to Habitat discussed by Morningstar and Farmer, Second Life “did not come with a fixed set of objectives for its inhabitants, but rather provided a broad palette of possible activities from which the players could choose, driven by their own internal inclinations” (Morningstar and Farmer).

            As mentioned above, both games contain vast online communities, where much focus is dedicated to social relationships or what Taylor calls the “people” aspect (Taylor, 29).  However, one thing that varies between the communities in World of Warcraft and Second Life is how players socially interact with one another.  In my experience, chatting within World of Warcraft usually involved looking for dungeon groups, finding questing partners, or chatting with guild mates about progression.  In addition, chatting only occurred if it was absolutely needed in order to progress my character through the game; much like Taylor’s idea that “grouping with others especially at the high-end game, can often be crucial in not only gaining experience but also in attaining valued [WoW] objects” (Taylor, 25).  In some sense, socializing is not even necessary to play the game.  Yet, in Second Life socializing is the basis of interaction within the game.  In some parts of Second Life communities develop subcultures with their own unique rule sets, and players have to act (by chatting) accordingly to those rules in order to stay within the community.

            By and large, World of Warcraft and Second Life are two completely different games, giving evidence that MMOG’s and virtual worlds offer their own unique types of game play.

 

Bibliography

Curtis P. Mudding: Social Phenomena in Text-Based Virtual Realities.

Dibbell, Julian. (1993/1998). A Rape in Cyberspace.

Farmer, R. & Morningstar, C. (1990/1991). The Lesson of LucasArts Habitat.

Mnookin, J. (1996) Virtual(ly) Law: The Emergence of Law in LambdaMOO. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication: Volume 2, Number 1: Part 1 of a Special Issue, June 1996.

Pearce, C. (2007). "Narrative Environments from Disneyland to World of Warcraft." In Space, Time, Play: Computer Games, Architecture and Urbanism: The Next Level. 200-205.

Pearce, C. (2006). "Productive Play: Game Culture from the Bottom Up." Games & Culture. Volume 1, Issue 1. 17-24.

Taylor, T.L. (2003). Intentional Bodies: Virtual Environments and the Designers Who Shape Them. International Journal of Engineering Education Vol. 19, No. 1. 25-34.