A masters thesis for Comparative Media Studies at MIT submitted May 2007
by Dan Roy
Abstract
What game design opportunities do we create when we extend massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) to cell phones? MMOs allow us to create representations of our own increasing mastery, and mobile gives us better access to this mastery and allows us to integrate it more fully into the ways we see ourselves.
MMOs motivate mastery by making that mastery personally and socially relevant, and visibly showing it increase. Virtual worlds that make players feel physically and socially present increase motivation to achieve mastery. MMOs that convince players their avatars represent some aspect of their personalities increase motivation to invest in and experiment with different constructions of self.
I apply these principles to an analysis of two games: Labyrinth, a game I helped create, and World of Warcraft, the current leading MMO. With Labyrinth, I explain the design decisions we made and their impact. With World of Warcraft, I described how altering the design could accommodate mobile play and better motivate increasing mastery.
Thesis Supervisor: Eric Klopfer
Thesis Committee Members: Henry Jenkins, Alice Robison
Interviews
Both of these interviews explore the questions from my thesis in conversations with current MMO designers.
Raph Koster
Raph designed Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies, among many other MMOs.
Cardell Kerr
Cardell designed the MMO Lord of the Rings Online.
Chapters
Chapter 1: Introduction
This chapter explores how situations including games can motivate mastery. I identify four mastery motivators -- personal relevancy, social relevancy, personal visibility, and social visibility -- and explore them in the context of massively multiplayer and cross-platform games
Chapter 2: Mastery Motivators in Labyrinth
In this chapter, I take the concept of mastery motivators and apply it to Labyrinth, an educational game still in development in The Education Arcade at MIT. Labyrinth is a limited multiplayer, cross-platform web-mobile, adventure/puzzle game. I've worked as a designer on that project over the past year and a half (as of June 2007), so I can write in-depth about the design decisions we made and their intended outcomes.
Chapter 3: Presence in Labyrinth
In this chapter, I explore the concept of presence and relate it to Labyrinth. Presence helps me think about how the physical, social, and self-construction aspects of the game strengthen or weaken mastery motivators.
Chapter 4: Self in Labyrinth
In this chapter, I think about how players use games, and Labyrinth in particular, to construct different selves. Each self provides a fresh opportunity for players to experiment with the ways they see themselves. This self-construction is a primary motivator in MMOs and in Labyrinth. I connect the concept of self to presence and mastery motivators.
Chapter 5: Extending World of Warcraft to Mobile
In this chapter, I take the concepts of mastery motivators, presence, and self and apply them in a discussion of design possibilities. I take the immensely popular World of Warcraft and address the key opportunity areas for creating a mobile extension to it. I discuss everything from player versus player combat to auction houses to communication. I write how each component of the current game design could be improved with mobile with respect to the theories laid out in this thesis.
Chapter 6: Conclusion
In this final chapter, I compare World of Warcraft and Labyrinth to see which fosters self-construction around mastery better. I also predict the evolution of mobile and suggest areas for future research.
