Chuck September 11th, 2008
Once again I am a full time student. After 20 years I have decided it was in my and my families best interest to go to college. I graduated from a technical school 20+ years ago, but at today’s standards, the education I got back then is purely useless. I hope 20 years from now I don’t have the same results!
I have been attending school for nearly 4 weeks now and it has been a little difficult to keep on top of things, but I am doing it! One of my classes is English or Communications. I feel I am pretty well written and have decent grammar and puncuation usage for my age and lack of a formal education. I am not happy about all the papers I am going to have to write between this class and psychology, but it is a requirement and I am not about to stop now… this is only the beginning! Rae helped me go over my final draft of my first assignment just before I was to turn it in. It was due at midnight on Wednesday, and it was already about 11:20 pm. We both thought it turned out pretty good so I submitted it. We shall see what kind of grade I get :). For your reading pleasure, I have posted my paper below. Let me know what you think of it!
MMORPG: A whole new world
The massively multiplayer online role-playing game community is a fusion of life that many are unaware of, yet a growing number of people are consumed by it. The term MMORPG was coined by Richard Garriott; one of the original game developers of “Ultima Online” in the late 1990’s that started this whole other way of life. It is interesting to know that prior to Garriott’s “UO” as it was later shortened to, virtual worlds did not really exist on a large scale.
The introduction of MMORPG’S sparked the imagination of millions and gave people a glimpse into a new virtual world. Within this new world characters can be created to take on a life of their own, full of fun, adventure, and new friends. Virtual reality was something that once only existed in movies, but today it can be accessed on the internet by anyone that has one of these games.
The idea that separates these game worlds from other games is the way they exist. The technology behind these MMORPG games enable tens of thousands of people to play on them simultaneously, which provides us with the MMO (massively multiplayer online) part of the term. Most of these games do not just “end” or have a “winner” but they continue to evolve, just as we do in regular life. When you shut down the computer at the end of the night after a few hours of playing with your new online friends, your virtual world and all the items you found and places you explored will still exist. Things will happen while you are gone as life continues within the virtual world, because the virtual world never rests.
Some of the games that offer such a virtual reality are the MMORPG titles of Ultima-Online, World of Warcraft and Lord of the Rings. The titles I have mentioned are my favorites, and they offer a virtual world that is set in a medieval sort of lifestyle. In this medieval setting a lot of folks feel the RPG part of the term exists (role-playing game). Many tend to “act” or “play out” particular roles they feel their characters portrait.
I first entered into these virtual realms around the year 2000. Since then I have actively played at least one of these online worlds for months and even years at a time never giving any thought to stopping. Yes, reality does call, but virtual reality is always there when you have a few spare moments to “get away” from the real world.
It is interesting to see how these online worlds sometimes collide with the real world. At times, these worlds can be a place of forum where people from all over the world argue about real life issues like war, poverty, and politics. It is easy meeting new people within these virtual worlds to explore with and talk to. In the 8 years I have played, I managed to make one of my virtual friends my real wife, and today we are happily married with 3 children. With virtual worlds about, who needs a match-making website?
The continued expansion of these virtual, never-ending worlds open new doors to people who cannot afford to get out to meet new friends. It is also a fairly inexpensive way of having endless fun with friends and family. These worlds offer people that may otherwise be shy an outlet to be what they want to be, and to break out of their proverbial shell and become more social.
Be warned, however, that even though I have spoken of good things involving these worlds, they also have a negative side. You cannot always believe everything you are told, especially online. There will be people in these games that will be friendly until they get all your “virtual gold” and then disappear into the pixels never to be heard from again. A possible side effect of these virtual worlds are that they can sometimes be habit forming and so consuming that they can be a hazard to your health. People have been said to develop serious problems ranging from carpel-tunnel syndrome to real addictions to their virtual worlds.
The positives out-weigh the negatives in MMORPG gaming and I would encourage readers to try one of these games out. There are many others out there, so find something that suits you.
As technology continues to evolve, so will our online worlds. Virtual reality games are here to stay and I look forward to entering the next new world. Prepare for the addiction of MMORPG!
Tags: assignment, college, english, paper, term
