This study aims to present the characteristics and functions of Bourdieu’s forms of capital;economic, cultural, social and symbolic capital in large online social games genre called Massive multiplayer online roleplaying games (MMORPG). This is done in order to determine if these are reproduced in an online society consisting of thousands of players, which of the forms of capital are of outmost importance and how the accumulation of these affect the players lives using qualitative methods. Results show that the forms of capital in-game carry similar characteristics to the accumulation of such in the real world but are not transferable to the real world to the same extent. Which of the forms of capital was most of importance than others was not evident from the results, however, the empirical material shows of an interrelationship between the accumulation of capital between the dimensions; real world and game world.

This study aims to investigate motives behind certain design choices of a player in an MMORPG game when creating their online avatar. The game used for the study is Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn (Square Enix, 2013). To achieve this, we have interviewed two Free Companys (group of people playing together) and asked them a set of questions to find out similarities and differences among casual to semi hardcore players. For example one thing we noticed when asked the question if they have created their character based on their own visual traits the interviewed denied any similarities at first but when they thought harder about it they agreed that subconsciously there were traits that were similar even if it just comes down to hair color. Playing as the opposite sex is also a common theme when creating your character.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-12T16:32:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 arquivo99_1.pdf: 2772061 bytes, checksum: d6a93b74650aceefd1381a146a41682e (MD5) license.txt: 1748 bytes, checksum: 8a4605be74aa9ea9d79846c1fba20a33 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009 / Esta dissertação procura analisar o fenômeno dos mundos virtuais e das mídias que os orbitam, às quais denomina externalidades midiáticas . Em um primeiro momento, o trabalho visa estabelecer um horizonte teórico que torne possível a compreensão dos mundos virtuais, acompanhando suas características, do surgimento ao presente. Faz-se um estudo de como em torno desses jogos se forma uma cultura de relações que transcende o espaço puramente de jogo e se entrelaça com a realidade da vida cotidiana dos jogadores, condicionando o aparecimento das mais diversas formas midiáticas e da potencialização dos acontecimentos do jogo como notícias. No segundo momento da dissertação, é feito um estudo de caso de duas dessas externalidades, especificamente os jornais de mundos virtuais The City Scoop e EVE TV, corpora escolhidos de acordo com a sua relevância e representatividade das externalidades. O objetivo é, no caso, verificar de que se constitui a estrutura desses veículos e qual público pretendem alcançar. Objetiva-se ainda, durante o trabalho, perceber as possibilidades que estabelecem a criação de um novo tipo de jornalismo, um jornalismo preocupado com a cobertura dos fatos dos mundos de jogo, um jornalismo nos jogos, um jornalismo de mundos virtuais

This thesis examines methods which could be used for developing MMORPG games so that there is no single entity that could arbitrarily control game mechanics, virtual assets or other game aspects. The theoretical part systematically analyzes the usual aspects of MMORPG games, then the principles of decentralized cryptocurrencies are presented, and one of them, Ethereum, is analyzed in more detail. Based on this theoretical knowledge, methods are proposed on how to use Ethereum to implement the identified aspects of MMORPG games, and the restrictions which must be imposed on these aspects are recognized. The practical part then introduces a specific implementation of MMORPG game on Ethereum, which demonstrates the above methods. In conclusion, the chosen approach is compared to the games with a common client-server architecture, especially in terms of complexity and gaming costs. 1

No description available.

L’objet de cette recherche est d’étudier les antécédents de l’intention du consommateur de MMO/MMORPG en nous appuyant sur la définition de Bell (2008), qui propose un consensus quant à la définition des mondes virtuels. Par cette définition, tous les mondes virtuels possèdent trois concepts qui leur sont inhérents : la présence d’interactions sociales, la persistance et l’avatar. Nous avons adapté le modèle de l’acceptation technologique en représentant ces trois concepts par l’identité sociale pour laquelle nous distinguons la communauté du MMO et la communauté de la guilde, la perception du flow et l’avatar. Notre travail suit une démarche hypothético-déductive, qui s’est formalisée par l’élaboration d’une analyse qualitative et d’une analyse quantitative, en utilisant les équations structurelles.Les résultats ont montré que les facteurs motivationnels (Yee 2007) d’accomplissement et d’immersion influencent significativement et positivement la personnalisation des déterminants de l’avatar (le physique, l’habillement et les attitudes), a contrario du facteur de sociabilité qui l’influence négativement. Les trois concepts inhérents aux mondes virtuels ont une influence positive sur l’attitude qui, elle-même, influence positivement l’intention. Notre adaptation du modèle de l’acceptation technologique, en intégrant conjointement les trois concepts des MMO/MMORPG que sont l’identité sociale, la perception du flow et la personnalisation des critères de l’avatar, explique à 27,4 % l’intention du consommateur de mondes virtuels. / The object of this research is to study the antecedents of the consumer’s intention of MMO/MMORPG by supporting the definition of Bell (2008), which is offering a consensus on the definition of the virtual worlds. By this definition, all the virtual worlds have three concepts which are inherent to them: the presence of social interactions, persistence and avatar. We adapted the model of technological acceptance by representing these three concepts by social identity at which we distinguished the MMO community and the Guild community, perception of the flow and avatar. Our work follows a hypothetico-deductive method, which was formalized by the development of a qualitative and a quantitative analysis, using structural equations method. The results showed that the motivational factors (Yee 2007) of achievement and immersion influence significantly and positively the personalization of the determinants of the avatar (physique, clothing and attitudes), a contrario of the factor of sociability which influences it negatively. The three concepts which are inherent to virtual worlds have a positive influence on the attitude which, itself, influences positively the intention. Our adaptation of the model of technological acceptance, by jointly integrating the three concepts of the MMO/MMORPG which are social identity, perception of the flow and personalization of the criteria of the avatar, explains to 27,4% the consumer’s intention of virtual worlds.

Esse trabalho tem como finalidade a análise de aspectos econômicos e sociais do mundo sintético World of Warcraft, um Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG). A escolha desse jogo se dá pela sua popularidade no mundo, contando com mais de 11 milhões de jogadores segundo dados divulgados pela Blizzard Entertainment, em outubro de 2008. A etnografia, que se desenvolveu online realizada por meio de dez personagens especialmente criados para integrar o jogo nas terras virtuais de Azeroth, observa os aspectos de desenvolvimento da comunidade de jogadores e dos mecanismos de governança da Blizzard, constitui uma introdução a jogos desse gênero, com o objetivo de ressaltar a dinâmica econômica que se estabelece nesse complexo universo digital. O jogar é uma fonte de valor e o lúdico tem a sua própria economia. / This work aims to analyze economic and social aspects of the synthetic world entitled World of Warcraft, a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG). This choice was made because of the popularity of this game around the world, counting 11 million players according to Blizzard Entertainments data published in October 2008. The etnography was developed online by ten avatars speacially created to take part of the world inside the virtual land of Azeroth, and observes the developing aspects of the player communities and their relationship with Blizzard governance while it also constitutes an introduction to this genre of game which highlights the economic dynamics of this complex digital universe. Play is a source of value and the ludicity has its own economy.

I ett samhälle där unga mäns välbefinnande utges vara utsatt för risk av deras engagemang i en virtuell värld önskar den här studien lyfta fram hur unga män själva upplever välbefinnande ur ett socialpsykologiskt perspektiv. Fem spelare fick i kvalitativa intervjuer framföra sina egna upplevelser ifrån sina erfarenheter av att spela MMORPG-spel. Med detaljrika teorier om subjektivt välbefinnande, socialt välbefinnande och teori angående gemenskap har studien en teoretisk grund som tillämpades i en transcendental analysmetod. Resultatet klargjorde att socialt välbefinnande och gemenskap existerar i spelet och kan uppnås av de unga manliga spelarna.  Essensen  kretsade  kring  socialt  samspel  mellan  de  andra  spelarna  i MMORPG-världen och upptäcktes genom de tre teman grupp, kommunikation och framgång/utveckling. Slutsatsen var att unga män kan uppnå socialt välbefinnande inom MMORPG-spel och att det här har allt att göra med det sociala samspelet mellan alla spelarna i spelet. / In a society where young men’s well-being is proclaimed to be at risk due to their involvement in a virtual world this study wants to shed light upon how young men themselves experience well-being from a social psychological perspective. Five players partook  in  qualitative  interviews  to  express  their  own  experiences  from  their  time playing MMORPGs. With detailed theories of subjective well-being, social well-being and theory of fellowship, the study has a theoretical foundation applied in a transcendental analysis. The result made it clear that social well-being and fellowship exist in the MMORPGs and can be achieved by the young male players. The essence revolved around social interaction between the other players in the MMORPG world and was discovered through three themes related to their group, communication and success/development. The conclusion was that young men can achieve social well-being in MMORPGs and this was due to the social interaction between all the players within the game itself.

Esse trabalho tem como finalidade a análise de aspectos econômicos e sociais do mundo sintético World of Warcraft, um Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG). A escolha desse jogo se dá pela sua popularidade no mundo, contando com mais de 11 milhões de jogadores segundo dados divulgados pela Blizzard Entertainment, em outubro de 2008. A etnografia, que se desenvolveu online realizada por meio de dez personagens especialmente criados para integrar o jogo nas terras virtuais de Azeroth, observa os aspectos de desenvolvimento da comunidade de jogadores e dos mecanismos de governança da Blizzard, constitui uma introdução a jogos desse gênero, com o objetivo de ressaltar a dinâmica econômica que se estabelece nesse complexo universo digital. O jogar é uma fonte de valor e o lúdico tem a sua própria economia. / This work aims to analyze economic and social aspects of the synthetic world entitled World of Warcraft, a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG). This choice was made because of the popularity of this game around the world, counting 11 million players according to Blizzard Entertainments data published in October 2008. The etnography was developed online by ten avatars speacially created to take part of the world inside the virtual land of Azeroth, and observes the developing aspects of the player communities and their relationship with Blizzard governance while it also constitutes an introduction to this genre of game which highlights the economic dynamics of this complex digital universe. Play is a source of value and the ludicity has its own economy.

No description available.