Daniel Pargman Massiva multispelarespel massively multiplayer online games - MMOG 2D Datorspelsdesign - 21 nov 2005

Me SvenskMUD (moderately multiplayer online games) MMOG (massively multiplayer online games) Money & economy Roundup D1651

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Daniel Pargman University of Skövde, School of Humanities and Informatics, Media/Computer game development Senior Lecturer Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), School of Computer Science and Communication, Media Technology Senior Lecturer HCI consultant CR&T Department of Communication studies, Linköping university Ph.D. thesis: ”Code begets community: On social and technical aspects of managing a virtual community (2000)” Computer and systems sciences, Uppsala university

Technology Social sciencesComputer sciences Human-Computer Interaction Design Systems development... Society Sociology Anthropology Psychology... CMC CSCW Communities Onlinespel My interests

Aarseth, “Playing research” Three dimensions characterize every computer game: Gameplay (players, playing, motives) Game structure (game rules) Game world (content, design, artwork) Leads to three research perspectives: Gameplay (psychology, ethnology, sociology...) Game rules (computer game design - CS/AI...) Game world (art, aesthetics, history, cultural studies, media studies)

SvenskMud

Perspectives on SvenskMud SvenskMud (SwedishMud) is: A game (adventure mud) A computer program (systems development project) A hobby

SvenskMud as a game/computer program Takes place in a Tolkien-inspired fantasy world and in a Sweden of the 19th century Contains 6000 distinct spaces (“rooms”) full of monsters, treasures etc. Access limited to 100 simultaneous users at peak hours Is officially a project at Lysator - the academic computer club at Linköping University Developed for 13 years by 100+ persons Consists of ~ 3 million lines of “code” Developed as an open source project

SvenskMud

TDZK Browser-based MMORPG Persistent online world registered players Space adventure game –Gather resources, trading goods, upgrading your ship, fighting your enemies Semi-synchronous “Symbolic” interface Very complicated, knowledge intensive game Played in 4-month rounds

Vad är detta?

SvenskMud

A window into a virtual world...

MMOG

From MUDs to MMOG Graphical interface = more accessible Three of four magnitudes larger = larger breadth of player base –Lineage, World of Warcraft Commercial enterprises = big business (≠ hobby any more) But - same social interaction and same social phenomena

Persistent worlds (PW) Thousands of simultaneos players –Lineage players in Asia (Korea, Taiwan) –Everquest players in USA and Europe Complex social interaction/sociala phenomena Can be very captivating Subscription model (10-15$ / month for unlimited online access) Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOG)

Star Wars Galaxies Sony Online Entertainment Released in the US in June 2003 and in Europa in November subscribers the first week, after the summer > posted messages on the official discussion forum on the web (spring 2004)! Costs 15$ / month Suffer from the same problems as other games (released too early = many bugs = bad press)

Exempel

Money and economy

Nine Master’s students at KTH, Stockholm All looking at “money and economy in and around online games” –In Star Wars Galaxies, Eve Online, Dark Age of Camelot, Ultima Online, Ragnarök Online... Master’s thesis = 20 weeks of full-time work –10 weeks reading, preparation, analysis, writing –10 weeks full-time study Results will be published (on the web) during 2005 –Five finished this far Master’s thesis on MMOG & money

Money and economy in online games 1.The real-world/game industry economy 2.The in-game economy 3.The interface (E-bay) between in- game and real-world economies Perspectives on MMOG & money

Costs (USD) for running a popular MMOG for three months. ( subscribers, simultaneous players.)  Server clusters * 10  Player relations4.000 * 12  Community relations4.000 * 3  Live development team6.000 * 12  Management8.000 * 4  Account mgm + billing4.000 * 5  Office space, furniture, PCs etc  Bandwidth20% of previous costs  Network operations personnel5.000 * 5  Overhead costs  Total > USD MMOG economy (perspective 1) (Mulligan & Patrovsky 2003)

MMOG balance sheet (2002) Development costs: 7 (average) and (typical) million USD for AAA title Launch costs million USD (and rising) +Can bring in millions of dollars for 5-10 years % of revenue spent on running the game +A major hit ( subscribers in 6 months) can pay for development/launch costs in < 1 year

Game market players Hard-core market (10%) Will do anything to play games. 15 million worldwide (2002) Moderate market (20%) Money (equipment, fees) & time concerns Mass market (70%) Play short, easy-to-learn games million worldwide (2002) Xbox 360

Economic systems emerge spontaneously –Resources are limited –Nothing is free ∑ People need to barter/trade with each other in the game (e.g.the emergence of markets) Faucet - drain –Tax vs service  Virtual inflation, cartels, rares, crafting/trade vs battle In-game economy (perspective 2)

 Norrath (in Everquest) is the 77th richest country in the world! (Castronova 2001)  GNP per capita = 2226 USD, hourly wage = 3,42 USD (319 PP).  Hourly wage < 3,42 USD in China, India (Mexico?)  Black Snow Interactive set up a sweatshop in Tijuana to capitalize on trade between Mexico, USA and Norrath.  How can this be?...because of E-bay  Norrath has production, labor supply, income, inflation, foreign trade and currency exchange (1 platinium piece ≈ 1 cent) In-game vs real-world economy (perspective 3)

 To whom does the fruits of the labor belong when someone develops virtual resources (“works”?) within a game?  The company that produce the game/owns the server?  The player (who produces the economy)?  Mythic entertainment vs Black Snow Interactive  Infringement on intellectual property rights  Unfair business practices  The online game “There” hired an economist to work full-time on in-game fiscal policy In-game vs real-world economy II

 Data from mid-Nov to mid-Dec 2004 (4 weeks)  Info through Hammertap’s Deep analysis  2350 sales - US$ changed hands  Virtual currency (67%)  Accounts (31%)  Virtual objects (2%)  DAoC costs US$ 15/month - 30 servers (* 3 “realms”)  Trade in virtual currencey - three actors account for 85% of all commerce  Large scale advantages accept all major credit cards, trust, customer service, E-bay “powersellers”  Homework: Volume of E-bay trade in relation to the total subscription fee? Dark Age of Camelot commerce on E-bay

Example of an E-bay ad “Blade Of The Righteous - $210. Well it’s really the best weapon... Makes HUGE DAMAGE... So it’s a Super Slayer”

1.In-game market place 2.E-bay 3.Trader 4.Employer (small scale) Black Snow 5.Company ”IGE is the world's leading provider of value-added services to the players and publishers of multiplayer online games” In-game vs real-world economy III

Exempel

Roundup

A short reading list about MMOGs and money Thomson (2005), ”Game theories” 05&tid=1 Hunter & Lastowka (2003), ”Virtual property” Burke (2001), ”Rubicite breastplate priced to move, cheap” late.pdf Castronova (2001), ”Virtual worlds: A first-hand account of market and society on the cybrarian frontier”

Small (The village), rural, slowness, tradition Friends and enemies Group (projects), belonging, commitment Natural, unplanned organism Relationships as mutual, significant, long-term, informal, personal Big (The city), urban, speed, variation, fashion, fance Strangers and competitors Individual (projects), alienation, convenience Constructed, artficial mechanism Relationships as instrumental, convenient, transient, anonymous Gemeinschaft/Gesellschaft - Tönnies 1887 Next thesis subject - Groups and guilds in online games

Onlinespel, spelcommunities och reklamspel, 5p

23 jan - 24 feb 2006

Daniel Pargman KTH/Media Technology Stockholm Contact: