Online games as a social medium
Posted by David Bailey on 14 Aug 2009 | Tagged as: Social Media
When most of us think of social media, we generally think of web applications like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter or our favourite list of blogs and forums. What many people don’t realise is that there is a huge and unappreciated realm of social interactions lurking underneath the rock stars of the social media world, namely online games.
Oh come on, online games? Seriously?
Believe it or not, there are millions of people around the world who dedicate hours of their lives to online games every day. There are actually quite a wide range of online games available, with millions of gamers dedicated to their individual genres. However, when it comes to pure numbers and time played per player, the big momma of online gaming is most definitely MMORPG and the host of game titles dedicated to it.
MMORPG…say what?
MMORPG is an abbreviation for Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games, include titles such as Ultima Online, Everquest, Lord of the Rings Online and, last but not least, World of Warcraft. If Facebook is the king of the social networking world, World of Warcraft (WoW) is undoubtedly the supreme ruler of the MMORPG world. Over 10 million people around the world actively play WoW every day, and this number is steadily growing as Blizzard, the creators of WoW, keep on expanding the game. In WoW, players can meet new friends, get involved in love relationships and sometimes even get married. WoW has been a life-changing experience for thousands of people and is only one of many online role-playing (RP) games available at the moment.
Surely, only kiddies play online games?
It is easy to dismiss video games as wasteful activities that only a teenager would indulge in, but the truth of the matter is that your average MMORPG player is around 26 years old. You would be surprised to hear that only 25% of MMORPG players are in fact teenagers. A shocking 50% of MMORPG players work full-time, 36% are married and 22% even have children. These figures indicate that the MMORPG demographic is fairly diverse and include people from all walks of life, from high-school students and early professionals to middle-aged men and retirees. MMORPG players spend around 20 hours a week online, and older players spend more or less the same amount of time playing these games as their younger counterparts. So, the MMORPG gamer crowd is far more mature than most may realise, and can include anyone from your boss at work to the old lady across the street. You never know…
Online games are social media
It has been found that over 80% of MMORPG players play with someone they know in real life. In fact, most online RP games allow gamers to register under a specific faction that functions as a sort of private club or clique dedicated to a handful of players. Online RP games also provide text and sometimes verbal communication between players, and can be used as a powerful social media tool to forge new social relationships, and reinforce existing ones. MMORPG games allow players from vastly different social and cultural backgrounds to foster lasting relationships, and I look forward to seeing it grow as a viable and recognised social medium.
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Tags: games, mmorpg, online games, warcraft
August 21st, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Good post. I myself have recently succumbed to the lures of WoW, falling neatly into the 50%, 36% and 80% stats.
August 21st, 2009 at 1:05 pm
he hee. I really enjoyed the article but I don’t see the appeal of these games. I mean, you can spend that time living a REAL life. Having said that I don’t think of losing myself in a good book as a waste time…on the contrary. But it’s different somehow…
August 21st, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Back in the day, when I still had enough time to play WoW, I often played from South Africa with real life friends who live in the UK. Sometimes it’s simply not feasible to socialise in the traditional sense of the word, and this is where social media and online games come in. Go out and try it Frances; you can go explore the elven lands of Teldrassil with Marisa. You might just find yourself drawn in by the beautiful online world of Azeroth.