Problematic Areas in English-Language Research on Multiplayer Role-Playing Games

In: Observatorija kul'tury: Observatory of culture, Band 19, Heft 3, S. 310-317

Abstract

This article examines contemporary English-language research on multiplayer role-playing games. There can be identified several large problematic areas. The article aims to trace how the largest of them are formed, to describe the process of their emergence and development at the present time, as well as to describe the main points that researchers have worked out. The discussion of this topic makes it possible to understand how the conceptual apparatus of the research on multiplayer role-playing games is changing in modern English-language studies.One of the major problematic areas is related to the study of the participants' motivation in multiplayer role-playing games. This problematic area seeks to answer the question: "What keeps players coming back to the same game over and over again?" Scientists working in this field believe that players return to virtual worlds to get opportunities for virtual earnings, a variety of social interactions, role-playing, and because of the spirit of exploration. Another problematic area is based on the study of player-to-player relationships and explores the construction of social connections around a video game. The researchers are interested in the issues of leadership and social consolidation, which takes the form of guilds in multiplayer role-playing games. The third major problematic area arises from the study of player self-identification. The scientists are trying to understand which parts of a player's identity influence their experience and how it is mediated. The research on multiplayer role-playing games is a complex interdisciplinary phenomenon that requires involving specialists from different fields, in particular economists, sociologists, linguists.