With the development of the Internet and computer/console hardware, networked games have become a staple of the gaming community. It has allowed players to partake in and share extraordinary experiences such as playing with a complete stranger for 3-5 hours straight with no verbal communication in a run through of Journey or coordinating a 2,670 player battle between four large guild coalitions in Eve Online. In my opinion, it has also led to pretty significant experiences between several individuals meeting casually in a lobby or a player hub. You hear stories of how people have met through guilds in certain MMOs, resulting in real-life marriages. I haven't had anything like that happen to me, but I got to meet some really interesting individuals when I was in middle school. I've been a pretty avid FPS fan since I was a kid, starting out with the classics: Half-Life 2 and Halo: Combat Evolved. So one summer, I decided to spend $20 on the MacOS port of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, and was surprised to find out that there were still dedicated communities hosting servers 5+ years after the game's release. After browsing through several script-riddled servers, I landed on a clan named "Bravo Company" Free-for-all and Team Deathmatch server where I would spend most of my summer. The clan wasn't that big, only comprised of about 3-5 members, but they developed a decently-sized community casual/hardcore players. I became such a regular that they invited me to become one of the admins on the server, not knowing that I was only 12 years old at the time. Boy were they surprised; I'm pretty sure they all started laughing once they heard my prepubescent voice. But they still let me become a server admin. I ended up developing a friendly relationship with "BigDan," a German student trying to get through medical school if I remember correctly, and "Kc," a retired firefighter living somewhere in the Midwest. I spent probably hundreds of hours on that server, but looking back on it I don't regret a single moment. You see, we would have frequent conversations about whatever was going on in our lives or pretty much about anything, from Kc's difficulty losing weight and reminiscence of serving as a firefighter, to Dan's anxiety relating to upcoming exams, and although I was half their age or more, they respected my opinions or advice (you can understand why that was important to a pre-teen). Also, at the time, I was having pretty bad family issues relating to my step-father. At the time, I had grown up without having a father figure and didn't really know how to react. But as it turns out, Dan went through a similar experience, therefore we would have somewhat makeshift "therapy" sessions where we talked about living without a father and how it had come to influence us.
On the other end, the social aspects of networked games have also become utilized as somewhat "weapons" for monetary purposes. In many different video games across multiple genres, developers/publishers have been utilizing the appeal of rare skins or character models to demonstrate their prowess to others to fuel microtransaction systems. There's plenty of horror stories of adults, and even some kids, spending an exorbitant amount of money for just that sweet sweet loot. There was even the instance of Activision patenting a certain matchmaking system that would manipulate newer players to buy microtransactions by matching them with certain experienced players that had cosmetics for a particular hero or gun the newer player had interest in based on previous match data. Have you had any networked experienced that had a significant impact on you? What's your opinion on the microtransaction debate?
https://twinfinite.net/2016/09/journey-how-long-it-is/
https://www.polygon.com/2014/1/30/5360208/Eve-Onlines-Bloodbath
https://kotaku.com/activision-patents-matchmaking-that-encourages-players-1819630937
This was an awesome post, thanks for sharing! The best experiences I've had regarding meeting people has actually been with PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, also known as PUBG. When I got the game last December, my friends were fully on the Fortnite hype train, and to pay 30 dollars for a game that was basically the same ( and buggy and unfinished at that) didn't make sense. So, the game has solo, duo, and squad (4 player) modes. After playing solo for a while, and even winning a game, I plugged in my mic and started playing with other people. I met one guy, maybe in December and January, and after playing and winning with him, I added him to my friends…
I'm interested in the idea of forming online relationships, but I've never managed to make any deep or meaningful ones. I am also primarily a multiplayer, often FPS player, and I talk a lot less online now in general. I bet my status as a woman and the general fear of personal safety that comes with that plays a role, but I wonder why else. I don't know how I feel about microtransactions. On the one hand, I see its parallels with other exploitative systems of targeted advertising, but I as a player don't feel that I am being exploited ... though many others may be.
Thank you for the post!
Hi - thank you for sharing! It was really interesting to see the level of magnitude that networked servers had on your gaming experience. My limit on network sports game resides in casual sports games, primarily the FIFA series. I think in these series there is a very different networked tool that is in place - rather than fostering a sense of camaraderie, the primary network focal point is the market exchange on the game mode ultimate team, in which users can purchase packs and players through either coins bought or through winning coins in games. I remember committing a lot of time trading within the game - purchasing players on the market and selling them at a higher price,…
My experience with matchmaking has mostly been in casual modes - i.e. online non-competitive matchmaking. In Team Fortress 2, the shared objective of all players is to mess around with new equipment and try different load outs while at the same time having fun with little to no stress that is often associated with competitive matchmaking. However, because there is one single in-game objective to complete, although be it practically meaningless as winning doesn't offer anything beyond a confidence boost, the casual matchmaking is auto-balanced so that teams may get switched around mid-game if the game notices an symmetry in player's ability.