Hi. My name is Chun Kai, junior now majoring in EE. The class has been very interesting especially the talk about pyramids and its implications as a mega-machine in people's minds.

For my project, I am open to ideas. On that note, please leave me messages on what ideas you think are cool. Some of the things I’ve been thinking about is tech-products. So let’s say Ipod video. How will that change people’s lives? Now that TV shows are starting to get popular on Ipods? Will it totally replace TVs? DVDs? In any case, if you have any ideas, please give me some tips blow! Thanks~

Posted at Feb 13/2006 12:41AM:
Michael Shanks: try picking one particular and specific tech product in your life and ask some questions of it ...

Posted at Feb 15/2006 8:43AM:

Project Proposal- MMORPG


Introduction

Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game, or MMORPG, is an online role-playing game where thousands and even millions of players can interact with each other in a way that mimics reality. MMORPGs have not been popular until recent years but interesting enough, the first MMORPG was developed by Richard Bartle and Roy Trubshaw in 1978- online Multi-User Dungeon (MUD) games.

Already very popular in America but more so in East Asian countries such as Taiwan, Korea, and Japan, MMORPGs have had such a great impact in society that interesting enough, in August of 2005 the Chinese government passed a law that players could not level up after five hours of consecutive play, at which point the user has to log off for five hours. Such government intervention would have sounded ridiculous a decade ago, simply makes the future of MMORPGs even more interesting.

Although I cheated with botting (where you run a program to play the game for you and hence, level up effortlessly), I used to play Ragnarok Online, a Korean MMORPG developed by Gravity Corporation. The main reason was that my cousin was playing and watching him just made it irresistible. And believe me, the more you play, the more it sucks your life into it.

Social implications- the Escape from Reality
A very concrete example is my uncle. He is in his early 40s and plays Linage. There is nothing wrong with playing all day but he does not work. He has a wife and a son but he does not have a job. I’ve asked him about it and all he said was that Linage is his challenge. He will succeed in Linage and prove a point. All I could say after that was to ask whether he was having fun.

Virtual world- a Virtual economy and crime
Where there is money there is crime. Especially in MMORPGs where online currency can be traded to real dollars (see Resources at the end of this page for rates) there is a very high incentive to cheat the system. I once played a Chinese MMORPG that I was totally sucked into. I worked hard to earn money but when I saw other players botting and inflating the system with currency, I could no longer play because every dollar I earned could not buy me things it did before. This is a simple economic phenomenon. When more currency is available, things get more expensive, i.e. prices inflate. This happens in MMORPG worlds too.

Overall I want this project to be a fun one. Especially since I haven’t played MMORPGs for a while, it is interesting to sit back and take a picture from outside. I really look forward to this project and let me know if anyone has suggestions!

Screenshots

Uploaded Image
World of Warcraft: fierce undead player and with mount as a symbol of status
From: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/

Uploaded Image
World of Warcraft: interact with other players to accomplish mission
From: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/

Uploaded Image
World of Warcraft: not always about killing
From: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/

Uploaded Image
Ragnarok Online: a much cuter game believed to have more girls playing
From: http://wingchild.net/ro/

Resources

Wikipedia on MMORPG [link]

Market analysis of MMORPG [link]

Monetization with real world [link]

Gaming website with reviews [link]


Journal Entries

My uncle's toxic immersion

Journal Entry 1: "Chill… isn’t this just a game?"

Journal Entry 2: "But… why don’t you try it?"

Journal Entry 3: "So… why don’t you sell the account?"

Journal Entry 4: "But… do you gain anything from Lineage?"

Journal Entry 5: "But… doesn’t it surpass the gaming requirements?"

Journal Entry 6: "But… do you want that same challenge for your son’s life?"

Journal Entry 7: "I will… but only you can make the difference."

Sources- ''My uncle's toxic immersion''

Interview- "My chat with Mr. Henry Lowood"

Posted at Feb 22/2006 01:23PM:
[klfsong]: Can you choose what you look like? Why do you think people choose certain characters?

Posted at Feb 27/2006 12:21PM:
Brenden Lane: I've played World of Warcraft and Everquest. I ended up quitting each after a few months, because I got bored. I think one interesting topic is why most people don't seem to get bored with these games. You usually reach a maximum level or point where you do the same thing over and over for many hours in order to get rare items. The urge to collect things and achieve status symbols seems to drive people to spend incredible amounts of time on what must seem to be mundane activities to them, and they are willing to pay for this. What's up with that?

Posted at Mar 02/2006 11:57AM:
Chun Kai Wang: Great question. You can definitely choose what you look like. Male, Female, Witch, Grunt, Paladin, all your pick. But what this all means is how you feel about yourself, or rather, how you want to portray yourself. Let me think about this more and present a coherent entry. Thanks!

Posted at Mar 02/2006 11:59AM:
Chun Kai Wang: Great point too Brenden. In WoW, I heard the max level is 60. At which point all you do is keep killing creeps and farm for items- all of which is not only mundane and repetitive, but extremely boring. I think if people play more than a few months, they're in it for the social aspect. More on this~

Posted at Mar 02/2006 12:35PM:
[Maggie]: I don't know much about gaming in general, but here's a fun fact: I know a couple who live on my floor in my dorm and the guy's girlfriend plays WoW with him (not sure if she's good or not), and all of the guys who know about this in my dorm think that is the sweetest thing a girl can do.

Posted at Mar 02/2006 03:17PM:
[Justin Carl]: Wow! That is pretty amazing the Chinese goverment put restrictions on people's gaming. I'm curious as to how it justified doing that. Also, have you looked into how online gaming affects interpersonal skills and socializing? The stereotype seems to be that people who play online games all the time tend to be more socially awkward. Is there any research on this?

Posted at Mar 05/2006 10:52AM:
Brian Nguyen: In your assessment of these games maybe you'd want to check out the social implications with respect to the story at this link: http://www.hackinthebox.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=17718 It's about a south korean man that died of heart failure after marathon gaming. Something about addiction, maybe?

Posted at Mar 11/2006 09:28PM:
David Trieu: One interesting thing you may want to talk about is how some people make money off some of these MMORPGs. I know that during the Diablo II craze, people would sell their characters and items on eBay.

Posted at Mar 15/2006 12:23AM:
[W. Roxburgh]: I wish I would've known. When I first got Diablo II, during a Christmas break, probably 2003, I sat down at 4:00 pm after getting home from Best Buy. 18 hours later, at 10 in the morning, I had to be pried from the computer with a back ache, a sore wrist, and a semi-delirious state of numbness. I think the only reason I agreed to get up was because I ended up not liking my character too much. By the time I woke up that afternoon, I was afraid of sitting down at the computer again. If I would've known, I probably would've gone on ebay, bought a character, and kicked Diablo's (or whatever his name is) ass.

Posted at Mar 19/2006 06:38PM:
Chun Kai Wang: Thank you all so much for your comments. Journal Entry 3 should be very interesting. I am still working on it but it will cover the economics of virtual worlds. Stay tuned! For now I am posting the first two entries!

Posted at Mar 23/2006 06:23PM:
Chun Kai Wang: I am finished!!! Thank you everyone for putting up comments. I had plenty of fun writing this and learned a lot about myself and my family.

Posted at Mar 27/2006 02:29PM:
[chris witmore]: Hi Chun. It is obvious that you have chosen a project that means a great deal to you. You bring in relevant works (e.g. Castronova) and have good citation practices. Navigation is clear and you have not only added imagery, but done an excellent job of providing links in the journal. Given the personal nature of the project I like the journal style entry. You also address interesting issues regarding relations with MMORPG's--social, economic, demographic, etc. I do hope things improve with your Lineage obsessed uncle. I really enjoyed reading this. Great job.

Posted at Mar 27/2006 05:57PM:
Sebastian De Vivo: Chun Kai, it was wonderful to see your project come together. Your enthusiasm and hard work clearly show through in the project -- your choice of structure, imagery, and format fit well with your topic, your navigation was clear, and you brought in several issues discussed in class. I very much enjoyed your project -- wonderful job!

Posted at Mar 28/2006 09:43PM:
Chun Kai Wang: Thank you Chris and Sebastian. It was a very fun project and meant a great deal to me personally. Have a great spring break!


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