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Vanguard: Guide to Cooperation Within MMOs
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A Guide to Cooperation Within MMOs
Many players in MMOs have suffered problems intigrating themselves into the communities of MMOs. Everyone has experiences with miss-managed groups, poor group members, ineffective guilds, or other bad experiences with players in the game. If you feel you could use some help getting into or creating better groups and guilds, then read on.
Table of Contents
Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games (MMOs) have existed for over a decade. They date back to older games such as Meridian59 and The Realm Online, and the more familiar Ultima Online and EverQuest. With thousands of players interacting within these virtual worlds, the social aspects of MMOs are very important. During the course of MMO history, players have established a culture surrounding these virtual environments.
In order to take full advantage of an MMO players need to be able to work well with others to form parties and guilds. Players need to have a sense of the established culture and structure of these games and work well with the other players.
This guide aims to give players insight into social organizations of MMOs to better allow them to function effectively and enjoy the games. It covers group dynamics ranging from small parties to larger guilds.
<span >The success of an MMO <span >depends</span> <span >largely</span> on the community playing it. Much like real life, how an individual behaves determines how others will react to them. The virtual lands of MMOs represent unique regions, much like that of the real world, where individual cultures arise, yet they still share many cultural aspects. When moving to a new country, people must learn the culture of this land that they will inhabit to integrate successfully with society. In a similar fashion players must learn the culture of an MMO.</span>
The foundation of MMOs dates back to the conception of the roleplaying game (RPG) in the 1970s with the release of Dungeons and Dragons--the first commercially available RPG. RPGs revolve around the concept of the party: a group of players working together towards a common goal. This concept has carried through each successive iteration of the RPG; the genre has progressed through MUDs (text-based online RPGs), singleplayer games, multiplayer games, and into MMOs.
Most enjoyment of pencil and paper RPGs was drawn from acting like different characters with friends. Before playing the game a player created a character sheet, outlining who their character was to maintain the persona of their character throughout the game. This turned the pencil and paper RPG into an improvisational game allowing the free flow of creative and unique ideas. These characteristics continued until the true MMOs emerged, such as Ultima Online and graphics took over were imagination took off. However, many of the same social aspects of the pencil and paper RPG remain, even though the roleplaying aspect is not as popular.
MUDs were able to free RPGs from only working with a small group of people, allowing a larger playerbase. MMOs were able to expand upon those numbers, allowing thousands of people to interact within a virtual world. The user-base expanded as a result of the social nature of the RPG and the internet's ability to allow interaction across long distances. Many of the gameplay systems of MMOs are based off of this massive interaction. Most MMOs encourage player cooperation with parties, guilds, raids, alliances, and many other forms of community groups, often by requiring cooperation to achieve certain goals, or by making them easier to obtain.
In order to function well in an MMO, players need to master text-based communication. MMOs have a unique set of vocabulary, grammar, and accepted rules of conduct , which when followed will project a positive persona.
To learn the vocabulary, there are websites such as MMO Glossary that contain lists of common (and uncommon) terms used in these games. In addition to this vocabulary, there are norms for the descriptions of items, characters, and other information that quickly convey the necessary data to other players.Each MMO may have their own unique forms of conyeing this information.
For example: "WTS [Dragon Bow] +5 STR +2 DEX +2 RNG ATT PST"
When broken down, this translates to "I want to sell a Dragon Bow that adds five strength, two dexterity, and two range attack. Please send me a /tell if interested." Also, depending on the game, "Dragon Bow" may be clickable in the chat window to view the statistics on it.
MMOs offer multiple chat channels, such as guild chat, group chat, /say, /shout, /tell, and numerous others depending on the game. Communication needs to be routed through the proper channel. For example, when a player is talking to a friend nearby about a night at the bar, it would probably be best to use /tell to send a private message, and not /shout to inform the rest of the area as well.Other players will often find chatting in improper channels annoying, as it can fill their chat windows with, what is essentially to them, spam.
Much of the spam generated in an MMO is from players trying to hawk items. Many players will stand in highly populated areas and shout out items that they are selling--much like in the example above. There are numerous players who find this annoying. Many games have systems in place to automatically sell items, such as market systems or player run vendors, which makes this communication unnecessary. Even if a particular MMO does not offer this kind of system, many have chat channels specifically for this type of communication, such as /auction found in EverQuest 2 or /trade in World of WarCraft.
Parties, also refered to as groups, are similar to what can be found in a pencil and paper RPG. They are relatively small groups of players working toward an immediate goal, such as gaining experience or completing a quest. There are many conventions for becoming, being in, and leading a party. In the following section, we will discuss these conventions and how to most effectively work in a party.
To join an existing party, players need to recieve an invitation from the party leader. Players need to make party leaders aware of thier avaliability. Many modern games feature a "Looking for Group" (LFG) system, which will often place an icon or the letters "LFG" next to their name, and add them to a searchable list. Some games also feature LFG chat channels for players to advertise themselves in. Only when these systems are not availiable should players advertise themselves over a wide area chat channel, although it is still common to see such behavior in MMOs. When a player has to use these chat channels to advertise themselves, they should include their level, their class, and their immediate goal (questing, gaining experience, etc...), so that players will be able to find a group that they will work best with.
Party members have certain responsibilities that they expected to be aware of and perform, largely dependant on the roll of their class. Each class in an MMO usually has a specific roll that they play in a group, be that a healer, a damage dealer, a damage taker (usually refered to as a tank), or a utility class that may aid in combat in a variety of ways. Players need to know what roll their character is built to play and how to perform that role effectively. Many gaming websites, such as WarCry, feature helpful guides for individual classes in a wide variety of MMOs. In addition to performing class defined roles, a party member is expected to perform general task, such as helping other party members by warning them of impending doom, helping to find new party members, and providing helpful information.
Party leaders are faced not only with all of the responsibilities of a normal party member, but also with several additional, and important, ones as well. The party leader needs to keep a cohesive group, define the goals of the party, replace members as necessary to keep the group moving, and finding out where the party needs to be.
Before being faced with these responsibilities, the party leader needs to recruit a group of players. This can be done by taking advantage of the LFG systems within the game--just in reverse of players seeking groups. The party leader can find players who are LFG via a searchable list in games that have LFG systems allowing this, or find players who announce themselves as LFG through large area chat channels. Additionally, it is possible to recruit members from a larger oranization that players belong to, such as a guild, or the guilds of other party members.
The party leader needs to maintain a group that is well suited for the challanges that they are facing. For example, when hunting for experience, it is probably a bad idea to have a party of two tanks and four damage dealers. While this constitutes a full party in most games, it lacks a healer to keep the tanks alive during combat. A particular class may be needed to complete certain quests, or that class may have a certain ability that is vital when during a hard encounter. The party leader needs to be aware of what their party needs to be successful.
As any leader, the players running parties have to manage the players under them. They need to be sure that each player is performing their role adaquately and getting along with the other members well. The party leader, however, should offer suggestions and not berate their members when they seem to be slacking. Sometimes, situations may turn bad and a party member may be offering far more trouble than they are worth. A party leader should not be afraid of removing them if necessary, but, it is usually best to not leave them alone in a dangerous area.
Larger than parties, guilds are one of the primary groups that players become a part of. Guilds are often a large collection of players and are founded for a variety of reasons. Some guilds are created for serious raiding groups, while others are smaller and more community-based. In the end, guilds are founded for one primary reason: mutual support.As guilds consist of a larger number of members than parties, it is often easier to receive help, find groups, form raiding parties, complete quests, and any number of tasks in the game. Guilds also provide a group of like-minded individuals for players to interact with.
Before joining a guild, players should find one that is most concurrent with what they want out of the game. For example, a player who loves raiding and obtaining powerful items, would benefit from joining a guild focused on raiding. However, a player who enjoys the tight-knit social possibilities that an MMO can offer, would benefit more from a smaller, family-like guild. There are a wide variety of guilds in every MMO and it is usually a good idea to 'shop around' to find the most suitable one.
In many cases, guilds are the ones who find their members, as opposed to members finding their guilds. However, by viewing community sites where guilds often advertise, players can find information on guilds they could join. Also, while playing an MMO, players can find others in their party that they get along with that are part of a guild. Members of guilds are recognizable as they often have their guild listed along with their name, or an icon. Finally, most guilds recruit members in-game, so a player may find a guild that sounds promising that way.
Different guilds have different application processes. Some guilds will require applicants to write out an application and submit it, while others will wish to party with the applicant before allowing them in. Others yet will invite anything and everything in sight with the intent of gaining a huge guild.When joining a guild, players will usually have to go through this application process before they are allowed in.
Guild members have various obligations that are expected of them. Some guilds will provide strict requirements for membership, such as a required number of hours played every week and that members must be online for certain events. However, most guilds simply require that members remain active in the game world, helping other members, and partying together.
If the current guilds in the game do not appeal to a player, or if they wish to try their hand at leadership, they may create a guild of their own. The creation of a guild differs from game to game; it is best to consult the manual to understand the process. Players should keep in mind that leading a guild is not simple and it requires a lot of time, a lot of thought, and a lot of effort to keep it running. Players leading guilds will need to have a good organizational structure with other members in positions of responsibilities. This is vital if the guild leader needs to cut back on their play time.
When creating a guild, players need to know what type of a guild they wish to make and the goals that they wish to set forth. This will affect many aspects of the guild: how the it's structured, how it's run, the events that should be held within the guild, and the types of players that will be attracted to it for recruitment.
There are many different avenues for recruitment. Outside of the game, players can post recruitment threads on the official game forums, make use of community websites' forums and guild databases, visit chat rooms for the game, and even recruit people they know in real life. Before recruiting from an online community, a recruiter should make themselves active within it, otherwise their recruitment posts will be less effective and even seen as rude. In the game itself, you can potentially recruit members by large area chat channels with advertisements, but often it is best to recruit members from those you meet in groups.
Once a guild has gained members, it needs to actively retain them. Guild leaders can take advantage of a number of methods to retain members. Holding guild events, such as raids, in-game celebrations, lotteries, roleplaying (if your a roleplaying guild), PvP tournaments, or any number of small mini-games allowed by the MMO, or what the minds of creative players can come up with. While events such as these can help, one of the most important things a guild leader can do is to remain an active player. Outside of the game, hosting guild forums, websites, chat rooms, and potentially voice chats are all good ways of strengthening the ties between players and forming a strong community that is more likely to persist.
Group Chat - This chat channel is for communication with the other party members across the entire server.
Guild Chat - This chat channel is for communication with fellow guild members across the entire server.
MUD - "Multi-User Dungeon/Domain/Dimension". This is the predecessor to modern MMOs. MUDs are text-based multiplayer online RPGs that MMOs share many similar features with. MUDs were first created in the late 1970s and are still played today.
PvP - "Player versus Player". Many MMOs offer gameplay systems that allow players to compete against each other.
/Say - This is a common spatial-based chat channel that allows communication with anyone in the immediate area.
/Shout - This is a common large-area chat channel that allows communication across entire zones or larger areas than /say.
/Tell - This command is used to send a private message to a specific player.
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