In a video game, agency is the ability
for a player to perform an action or complete a task and be rewarded
with in-game results. In the virtual worlds of a massively
multiplayer online game (MMO), this may mean a player sees their
character getting stronger with each monster slain, witnessing the
satisfying results of the defeat of a big villain or simply gaining
access to new areas of the world as they complete objectives. In
regular video games, agency is restricted by what game designers have
programmed into the game. Uniquely to MMOs, however, players have the
power to create their own agency through social interactions, with
rewards imagined by the players themselves, rather than programmed by
the game designers.
To highlight how agency can be created
by players in MMOs I will be looking at the 3D chat client IMVU. IMVU
allows users to design a 3D avatar as well as build their own 3D
chatrooms using countless resources created by other members of the
community. While not strictly a MMO in the sense of games like World
of Warcraft, many users still approach IMVU as though it is a game,
bringing with them goals and ideas of what they would like to achieve
– their own agency. Many players even go so far as to treat their
avatar as a character rather than a representation of themselves.
Although restricting movement to preset poses in certain locations,
IMVU allows users to inhabit a virtual world and interact with others
within it, and therefore delivers the opportunity for player created
agency.
(Picture: IMVU allows players to create
a diverse range of characters, including vampires, assassins,
fairies, fantasy creatures, androids and much more.)
How we present ourselves online
depends upon the context of the situation, where certain aspects of
our identity may be more important than others (Rodogno, 2011, p.
314). For example, we are likely to present ourselves differently on
Facebook compared to a dating website. In a similar vein, how a
player presents themselves in a MMO depends on what they hope to
achieve. The creation of a character is where the creation of an
identity within a MMO begins. As seen above, there are a range of
options available to users on IMVU, where they can customise age,
race, appearance, gender and more. As is also suggested from this
picture, players are less likely to create an accurate representation
of themselves, and much more likely to design an idealised self
through their character. Through this idealised character, a player
can then enact aspects of their ideal personality through, for
example, being more extraverted (Bessiére, 2007, p. 531).
Having created an idealised character,
a player now has a medium to interact with the virtual world and
others in it. The character gives the player a sense of being in a
virtual world and creates an arena for them to create agency (Crowe,
2014, p. 219). In the virtual worlds of MMOs, and certainly in IMVU,
“users can choose the spaces as they want, generate any activities
or events they want, and form a story in which they play the main
roles of the game characters” (Park, 2011, p. 2372). At this point,
you can feasibly split users of IMVU into two distinct groups. The
first of these are social players who play as themselves, if not
idealised representations. The second group are role-players who
create a character with an identity separate to that of themselves,
and interact with others as that character.
(Picture: Players socialising in a
virtual club on IMVU)
Social players of MMOs create agency
for themselves through pursuing social interactions. The goals they
wish to achieve for themselves can only be achieved through
interacting with other people. For example, a player might wish to
see themselves become well known in the game by having a large circle
of friends. Social interactions are a large part of any MMO, and are
what IMVU was constructed around. IMVU has many user groups, sorted
into various categories, that a player can become a part of and
interact with people who share like interests. These are, in a sense,
similar to a guild in other MMOs, where players are linked by shared
in-game interests. By participating in these groups, a player can
foster a sense of belonging to a community and feel their social
interactions have meaning in the virtual world (Zhong, 2011, p.
2353). Agency may also be created on IMVU simply by forming
friendships. As a player interacts with others on IMVU they may
witness bonds form between them and the other players. (Zhong, 2011,
p. 2361). In order to help foster agency in this manner characters
can be created to be representative of shared interests, or designed
in such a manner to be popular.
(Picture: Role-players playing a story
where two of their characters get married)
Role-players are perhaps the best
example of how agency can be created by the players of a MMO, and
IMVU is highly suited for this type of player. Because of the range
of characters that can be created and the virtual environments that
can be interacted with, the possibilities for role-players to tell
stories in IMVU is massive. A character created by a role-player can
be entirely different to the player, right down to age, race and even
gender. Role-players use their created characters to interact with
the characters of other role-players in order to tell stories. If
MMOs can be defined as “highly social spaces where the interaction
between players drives both
the narrative and game dynamic” (Crowe, 2014, p. 221) then
role-players can be said to capture this idea in its purest form. On
IMVU, no narrative exists outside of what the players bring
themselves. These role-players create agency through the telling of
their own stories, be it an epic medieval tale or a simple romance.
Another aspect of
role-playing is it gives players a chance to explore different
aspects of their identity, or pretend to be something they can never
be. Sexual identity is a strong example of this, where research into
MMOs has found that 30% of players regularly role-play as the
opposite gender (Martey, 2014, p. 286). This is a more common
practice among male players, who often embrace it as a way to explore
their non masculine side (Crowe, 2014, p. 227). Players can then
observe the effect this has on the game world, and other players.
Through observations, and seeing the pay-off of their gender choice,
they create agency.
By imagining their
own rewards or goals, players of MMOs can create agency for
themselves. In IMVU, this can be achieved through forming
friendships, strengthening bonds in groups or role-playing to create
characters, tell stories or explore identity. By showing how this can
be achieved in IMVU, an environment without game mechanics yet
treated as a game by its users, we can see how this can be applied to
all MMOs. These activities that occur in IMVU also occur in many
other MMOs.
Reference List:
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doi:10.1089/cpb.2007.9994
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Watts, M. (2014). 'When I click “ok” I become Sassy –
I become
a girl'. Young people and gender
identity: subverting the
'body' in massively multi-player online
role-playing games.
International Journal of
Adolesence and Youth, 19(2),
217-231.
doi:10.1080/02673843.2012.736868
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Stromer-Galley, J., Banks, J., Wu, J., & Consalvo, M.
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and player
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286-300. doi:10.1080/1369118X.2013.874493
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doi:10.1016/j.chb.2011.07.016
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