An Analysis of Open World PvP in LOTRO's PvMP as a Case Study for PvP Games
Keywords:
open world PvP, LOTRO, emergent gameplay, social community's attitudes, free play, negotiated fair playAbstract
This article focuses on the analysis of emergent gameplay, based on a case study of the author's subjective gameplay experience of Player versus Monster Player (PvMP) in The Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO). The argument presented here is that although there is a core system of Player versus Player (PvP) which LOTRO shares with other online games, each type of online game has a specific kind of PvP system which attracts players to engage in the gameplay. For instance, the open world sandbox type of PvP attracts certain players to play in LOTRO's PvMP. One of the main aims of this study is thus to investigate some of the core systems of PvP gameplay in open world sandbox PvP. In this article, LOTRO is shown to offer unique opportunities for studying emergent gameplay in open world games, with particular relevance to PvP studies. Two of the core systems of PvP discussed include the design of the simple gameplay rules to support emergent gameplay, and the community's attitudes towards player's behaviours. The types of emergent gameplay discussed include free play versus negotiated fair play, the players' utilisation of strategies in open world PvP to support collaborative and competitive gameplay, and the changing dynamics of open ended gameplay. It is hoped that the analysis provided in this article would form the basis of future work on a more general framework for understanding PvP in other online games.
References
Adams, Ernest. (2010). Fundamentals of Game Design. Berkeley: New Riders.
Boellstorff, T., Nardi, B. A., Pearce, C., & Taylor, T. L. (2012). Ethnography and Virtual Worlds: A Handbook of Method. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Caillios, Roger. (1961). Man, Play, and Games. Librairie Gallimard, Paris: The Free Press of Glencoe, Inc.
Carr, Diane. (2012). Interpretation, Conflict and Instruction in Online Multiplayer Games: Lessons from Warsong Gulch. In Johannes Frome and Alexander Unger (Eds.). Computer Games and New Media Cultures - A Handbook of Digital Game Studies. New York London: Springer.
Cole, Helena and Griffiths, Mark D. (2007). Social Interactions in Massively Multipayer Online Role-Playing Gamers. CyberPsychology & Behavior. Vol. 10, No.4. Retrieved from http://ocw.metu.edu.tr/pluginfile.php/2372/mod_resource/content/1/ColeGriffiths.PDF
Consalvo, M., & Dutton, N. (2006). Game Analysis: Developing a Methodological Toolkit for the Qualitative Study of Games. Game Studies, 6(1). Retrieved from http://gamestudies.org/0601/articles/consalvo_dutton
Duke of O. (2013). The Quest for Meaningful World PvP, Part I - Eve Online and Wow. Retrieved from http://nullsignifier.blogspot.sg/2013/07/the-quest-for-meaningful-world-pvp-part.html?q=The+Quest+for+Meaningful+World+PvP
Duke of O. (2013). The Quest for Meaningful World PvP, Part II - Asymmetry and Fairness in Persistent Worlds. Retrieved from http://nullsignifier.blogspot.sg/2013/09/the-quest-for-meaningful-world-pvp-part.html
Frasca, G. (2003). Simulation versus narrative: Introduction to ludology. In M. J. P. Wolf & B. Perron (Eds.), The video game theory reader. New York: Routledge.
Frasca, Gonzalo. (2007). Play the Message: Play, Game and Videogame Rhetoric. IT University of Copenhagen. Unpublished manuscript.
Garfield, Richard. (2000). Metagames. In Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Essays on Roleplaying. London: Jolly Roger Games.
Giang, M.T., Kafai, Y.B., Fields, Deborah A., and Searle, Kristin A. (2012). Social Interactions in Virtual Worlds: Patterns and Profiles of Tween Relationship Play. In Johannes Frome and Alexander Unger (Eds.). Computer Games and New Media Cultures - A Handbook of Digital Game Studies. New York London: Springer.
Juul, Jesper. (2005). Half-Real: Video Games between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds. Cambridge: Massachusetts: The MIT Press.
Klastrup, Lisbath. (2008). What makes World of Warcraft a World? A Note on Death and Dying. In Hilde G. Corneliussen and Jill Walker Rettberg (Eds.). Digital Culture, Play, and Identity: A World of Warcraft Reader. Cambridge: Massachusetts: The MIT Press.
Myers, David. (2007). Self and selfishness in online social play. Situated Play, Proceedings of DiGRA 2007 Conference. Retrieved from http://www.digra.org/wp-content/uploads/digital-library/07312.58121.pdf
Nardi, B. A. (2010). My Life as a Night Elf Priest: An Anthropological Account of World of Warcraft. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
River, CSM. (2013). Rank Farming, Official. Retrieved from https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?521744-Rank-Farming-Official
Salen, Katie and Zimmerman. (2004). Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.
Sweetser, Penny. (2008). Emergence in games. Boston, Massachusetts: Charles River Media.
Taylor, T. L. (2006). Does WoW Change Everything?: How a PvP Server, Multinational Player Base, and Surveillance Mod Scene Caused Me Pause. Games and Culture, 1(4), 318-337.
Turbine, Inc. (2007). The Lord of The Rings Online. Turbine Inc. & Midway Games.
Unknown author. (2011). Open World PvP. Retrieved from http://telarapedia.gamepedia.com/Open_World_PvP
Unknown author. (2013). The ten commandments. The Black Appendage of Sauron. Retrieved from http://www.theblackappendage.com/book/10-commandments
Wolf, Mark J.P. (2012). Encyclopedia of video games: the culture, technology, and art of gaming. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Greenwood.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright for papers and articles published in this journal is retained by the authors, with first publication rights granted to the University of Glasgow. It is a condition of publication that authors license their paper or article under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence.
