MMORPG Worlds: On the Construction of Social Reality in World of Warcraft.

Massively Multi-Player Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) are among the most celebrated of online gaming systems. A blend of role-playing games and Multi-User Dungeons, MMORPGs allow thousands of individuals to simultaneously inhabit virtual gaming spaces. Launched in 2004, World of Warcraft (WoW) is perhaps the most popular of these MMORPGs. WoW is a multifaceted, gaming system, with a rich sociological complexity that provides a fertile ground for the study of online interaction and sociability. WoW is much more than a "gaming space"; it is also a sophisticated sociological space where individuals meet, compete and collaborate with virtual allies and enemies. It is also a virtual place where relationships that extend beyond the game and into RL are established, cultivated and nurtured. Within the gaming space of WoW, many levels of social reality are constructed, some through game design and others by players of the game. Based upon an extensive ethnographic investigation, we suggest that four distinctive and interrelated dimensions exist within WoW game-play. The first two dimensions - virtual reality and virtual social reality - speak to the experiences of players within the virtual world created both by the game designers and by player's own actions and interactions. The next two dimensions - real life reality and real life social reality - reveal both the often isolating nature of WoW game-play and the contrastingly rich, social relationships players form outside of game-play. It is through the emergence of these four dimensions of social reality that the experience of WoW is constituted. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]