Gaming Advancements

Early MUD interface.
Image from: http://ppanks76.tripod.com/

After thinking it over, I decided to go with a suggestion and make this next post about the evolution and advancement of online games.  With so many technological advancements in the past few decades it seems only right to overview the progression and success of online games.  For the most part online game communities came to be from Dungeons & Dragons the role-playing games; this game influenced the first MUDs, multi-user dimensions, which are text based online role-playing world platforms, and these in turn lead to modern day massively multiplayer online games, MMOs. 

In an article by Joe Essid from hypergridbusiness.com he talks about his experiences with Second Life and how his expectations for its possibilities for education were high, hoping he would find reasons why it was hypothesized to change virtual learning environments.  Essid discusses how he used Second Life on and off for sometime due to the issues with the developers as well as the loss of interest with general public.  

While I bring up Second Life in several of my previous posts and explain its potential, this community has unfortunately gone downhill from where its interest and hopes started.  Originally Second Life was hypothesized to revolutionize the way individuals dealt with business and communication online; people would be able to hold virtual business meetings and buy and sell products, completely creating the world around them; however, while the community generated some business related and networking capabilities, more interest developed with casual online gamers.

Another area that seems to hit high marks with online communities is the cross over of popular television series into MMOs.  In an article from EscapistMagazine.com we can read about why this is happening:

The creation of a Game of Thrones online role-playing game is a perfect natural extension to the series," said the series' executive producer David Benioff. "The show has resonated extremely well with fans so we think they will be terribly excited to have an opportunity to be personally immersed in all the action.

Image link: MMOlist.com

The article also talks about shows like Battlestar Galactica, a past popular SciFi program, were integrated into online game format due to fan requests.  In my previous post I talked a bit about how the decision to switch from pay-to-play to free-to-play is impacting many MMOs and causing some to shut down completely; this along with television producers deciding to integrate series into online games shows how much consumers and fans influence aspects of online content and virtual communities. 

After looking more into where online gaming started and seeing where it is headed we can not really classify online gaming as a genre itself; we are now able to see that each new avenue, be it education, entertainment, art, or communication, is its own genre and continues to advance depending on the users in each community.  With the Internet being integrated within almost ever aspect of our lives it is very possible that online gaming will continue its trend and maybe even get back to furthering education and branching out to give people many different opportunities.

Although a bit older, more information and background on MUDs can be found here.

Official Game of Thrones site here.