Objective-Building in User-Defined Worlds Dylan Kilby

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Honors Theses The Division of Undergraduate Studies

2013 Objective-Building in User-Defined Worlds Dylan Kilby

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Abstract: (cyberspace, Internet, video game, RuneScape, MMO, RPG, goal-setting) The purpose of this honors thesis is the exploration of how a player of role-playing video games creates, designs, and seeks to fulfill self-made objectives in video games with large playing worlds and little or no defined endgames, called “expanded world role-playing video games,” or EWPRG. This thesis also examines the evolving intentions of a gamer as they participate in an EWRPG, and how objectives change with the player’s relationship with the game. The researcher performed a content analysis on the on-line role-playing games RuneScape to identify possible pathways to objective building and aspects in which gamers would be more inclined to participate. The results of the content analysis were discussed and compared during a focus group session, whose recruits self-identified as role-playing gamers. Finally, a second focus group was conducted in which recruits created a gaming map and discussed what aspects of each recruit’s map inspired certain objectives or interests.

THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION

OBJECTIVE-BUILDING IN USER-DEFINED WORLDS

DYLAN KILBY

A Thesis submitted to the Department of Communications in partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduation with Honors in the Major

Degree Awarded: Spring, 2013

The members of the Defense Committee approve the thesis of Dylan Kilby defended on April 15th, 2013.

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Dr. Ulla Bunz

Thesis Director

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Dr. Tom Welsh

Outside Committee Member

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Dr. Laura Arpan

Committee Member

Table of Contents

I. Introduction………………………………………………….. 8 Objective-building…………………………………………………. 8 Expanded-World Role-Playing Games……………………………. 9 Preview of Study…………………………………………………… 10

II. Literature Review…………………………………………..... 11 Cybergeography……………………………………………………. 11 Objectives in Role-Playing Games………………………………… 12 RuneScape…………………………………………………………. 14 Cartography………………………………………………………… 16 Focus Groups and Innovative Users……………………………….. 17

III. Methods and Justifications…………………………………… 19 RuneScape as an Extended-World Role-Playing Game…………… 19 Content Analysis Justifications…………………………………….. 20 Focus Group One: Gaming Architecture…………………………… 22 Focus Group One Justifications…………………………………….. 23 Focus Group Two: Mapping……………………………………….. 25 Focus Group Two Justifications……………………………………. 27

IV. Results of Content Analysis………………………………..... 29 Account Registration………………………………………………. 29 High Scores and Non-Game Content………………………………. 31 Game Mechanics and Technical Settings………………………….. 33 User Interface………………………………………………………. 36 Chat System………………………………………………………... 40 Items, the Inventory System, and Banking………………………… 42 Game Economics…………………………………………………… 46 The Gaming World…………………………………………………. 48 Transportation………………………………………………………. 51 Enemies and Monsters……………………………………………… 53 Skills………………………………………………………………… 55 Combat……………………………………………………………… 57 Quests……………………………………………………………….. 62 Mini-Games…………………………………………………………. 65 Distractions and Diversions…………………………………………. 68 Achievements……………………………………………………….. 69

(Chapter VI, continued): Interpretation and Analysis………………….. 71 Quests…………………………………………………………………. 73 Money-Making……………………………………………………….. 75 Combat………………………………………………………………… 77 Alternative Tasks……………………………………………………… 79

V. Focus Group One……………………………………………….. 82 Versatility and Customizability………………………………………. 83 Common Objectives………………………………………………..... 84 Aesthetics…………………………………………………………….. 86 Fear of Death…………………………………………………………. 87 Alternative Tasks…………………………………………………….. 88 Exploration…………………………………………………………… 89 Combat……………………………………………………………….. 89 Narratives…………………………………………………………….. 90 Emotional Contexts………………………………………………….. 91 Process of Objective-Building……………………………………….. 92

VI. Focus Group Two………………………………………………. 94 Map 1 Discussion…………………………………………………….. 95 Map 2 Discussion…………………………………………………….. 96 Map 3 Discussion…………………………………………………….. 97 Analysis and Interpretation…………………………………………… 98

VII. Conclusion………………………………………………...... 100 Discussion of Results…………………………………………………. 100 Ramifications and Applications………………………………………. 107 Limitations……………………………………………………………. 107 Avenues for Future Study…………………………………………….. 108

Appendix A: Focus Group One, Supplementary Materials………………… 112 E-mail to Participants…………………………………………………. 112 Sample Focus Group Questions………………………………………. 113

Appendix B: Focus Group Two, Supplementary Materials………………… 114 E-mail to Participants…………………………………………………. 114 Sample Game Tiles…………………………………………………… 116 Sample Focus Group Questions……………………………………….. 117

Appendix C: RuneScape Content Analysis, Supplementary Materials……... RuneScape World Map………………………………………………... 118 List of Skills in RuneScape……………………………………………. 121 List of Quests in RuneScape…………………………………………... 127

Appendix D: Legal Documents……………………………………………. 136 Recruitment Speech: Focus Group 1………………………………… 136 Recruitment Speech: Focus Group 2………………………………... 136 Recruitment Form: …..……………………………………………… 137 IRB Acceptance Notification: …..………………………………….. 138 Informed Consent Statement: …..………………………………….. 139

Works Cited………………………………………………………………. 141

DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES

1. RuneScape logo………………………………………………….. 29 2. RuneScape account registration form…………………………… 30 3. RuneScape high scores…………………………………………... 32 4. Welcome screen…………………………………………………. 33 5. Options screen…………………………………………………… 35 6. User interface……………………………………………………. 36 7. Chat box…………………………………………………………. 37 8. Sample player interface with the “Inventory” tab open…………. 38 9. Mini-map………………………………………………………… 39 10. Sample Friends/Clan chat interface……………………………... 41 11. Item options……………………………………………………… 43 12. The banking interface……………………………………………. 45 13. General store interface…………………………………………... 47 14. A player standing on the edge of the Wilderness………………... 50 15. A player using the Home Teleport spell………………………… 52 16. A low-level enemy in RuneScape……………………………….. 54 17. A player’s skill tab………………………………………………. 55 18. Fighting an enemy………………………………………………. 58 19. Sample prayers………………………………………………….. 60 20. Quest journal and diary for the Another Slice of H.A.M. quest… 63 21. Sample Achievement and description…………………………… 70 22. Map 1……………………………………………………………. 95 23. Map 2……………………………………………………………. 96 24. Map 3……………………………………………………………. 97 25. List of game tiles………………………………………………… 116 26. Members’ map…………………………………………………... 119 27. Non member’s map……………………………………………… 120 28. Skills tab………………………………………………………... 121

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Video games account for one of the largest and relatively new mass media industries in the world, with over $25 billion in revenue in 2011 in relatively little time. Gamers span a large variety of consumer profile. However, total profits are down 6% from 2010 (Entertainment

Software Association, 2012), so it is vital that companies create fun and engaging video games for players to improve the health of the industry. One method by which game companies may do this is in creating objectives that are more suited to gamers’ natural playing styles and provide features that allow gamers to create and follow their own objectives.

Objective-Building

This thesis assumes that objectives are important motivational factors in promoting gamers to participate in certain activities. The objective-building process is often studied in communication and business management; this thesis applies the theories of objective-building to video games, and seeks to identify how and why players choose to participate in certain activities. Additionally, the thesis will explore why gamers choose objectives at what points in their gaming career.

Goals and objectives, as defined by Bass & Sauers (1990), are the “objects or aims of individuals’ actions.” Video games use goals as measurements of progression and objective- building in this thesis is defined as the methods and justifications by which gamers satisfy objectives exclusive to the individual and not necessarily integrated in the existing gaming architecture.

This thesis is based on Nies and Pelayo’s approach that supervised research into the

understanding of users’ needs in complex social or technical systems can increase the efficacy of

the system (2010). Studying and understanding the decision-making process in the creation of

gaming objectives can therefore lead to more efficient gaming platforms and design; this thesis

aims at understanding objective-building and at identifying systematic pathways behind the

individual’s identification of goals, and whether or not these may be generalized over the gamer

population. The goal is a stronger understanding of the cognitive and behavioral roles in which

gamers participate and how role-playing games facilitate these behaviors.

Expanded World Role-Playing Games

Expanded world role-playing games (henceforth “EWRPG”) are games with no or little-

defined endgame scenarios and wide-open spaces that enable and promote self-design of

objectives. Some EWRPGs (e.g. World of Warcraft) have ranked among the top-selling and critically acclaimed games released in the past decade (Blizzard, 2012). These games in particular stress gamers’ self-reliability and propensity to create objectives for themselves, rather than setting fixed invariant systems of achievement. Because there is no endgame, the players’ goals are based on their own perceptions of advancement rather than any technical setting in the game. Completing certain events may or may not increase perceptions of achievement based on the player, which this thesis explores.

This thesis assumes that an EWRPG gamer possesses willingness and motivation to explore, create/complete unique objectives, and find rewards within a large gaming architecture.

Role-playing games typically provide a framework for the player such as quests, skill levels, and items to collect; but it is the players’ responsibility to apply these to their gaming strategy. Few

EWRPGs have intrinsic rewards or an endgame outside of what the gamers perceive. EWRPGs

may have an underlying narrative, but the “expanded-world” prospect means that players do not

have to follow what story exists unless they desire to do so, and participating in the storyline

does not objectively measure completion. Common objectives formed by EWRPG players

include getting to the highest level in a skill, or completing all of the quests. However, many

players create personal objectives intrinsic to their own interests; for example, a RuneScape player under the pseudonym Buloo collected 10,000 pink skirts over a span of two months for no game-related reason. This thesis seeks to understand the routes by which such gamers create those objectives, and whether the infrastructure of the EWRPG itself influences the decision to pursue certain goals.

Preview of Study

Role-playing games provide appropriate research environments for the way gamers create objectives within gaming architecture. The thesis performed a content analysis of the popular

EWRPG RuneScape, published by Jagex Ltd. (Games), and two focus groups. The first focus group explored the questions and interpreted analysis from the RuneScape content analysis. The

second focus group explored the influence of gaming architecture on the actual objectives

formed, and the propensity to which game designers facilitated the development of players’

desires in the system.

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

Cybergeography

According to Cambridge University professor Dr. Martin Dodge’s web site An Atlas of

Cyberspace, cybergeography (designated by him as “geographies of new electronic territories”) are assistants in “visualiz[ing] and comprehend[ing] the new digital landscapes beyond our computer screen, in the wires of the global communications networks and vast online information resources” (Dodge, 2002). Cybergeography expands to many fields of interest, including geography and communications, and the subject “help[s] us navigate… new information landscapes” that elucidate mankind’s interactions with digital frontiers (Dodge,

2002).

The exploration of digital realms can increase awareness of behavioral and cognitive interactions, which expedites the usability of digital media in modern life. Applications of cybergeography include, but are not limited to, psychology experiments with spatial awareness in virtual worlds, mapping the flow of information to increase efficiency, and spatially organizing census data (Dodge, 2002). This discussion of cybergeography is relevant to my thesis by defining the cognitive processes associated with virtual worlds; specifically, mental pathways used in defining, setting, and achieving goals in role-playing games.

Objectives in Role-Playing Games

Objectives are an intrinsic aspect of video gaming, in giving players pathways or ideas on

what to work on in the game, to increase satisfaction, and to stimulate the mind. By their nature,

role-playing games in particular prompt gamers to create their own objectives. These types of

games favor creative thinking strategies on behalf of the player because their typically large

world demands exploration and there are customizable parameters for judging advancement,

such as “skills.” In the EWRPG RuneScape, skills are defined as an avatar’s abilities that can be

trained through specific actions initiated by the player. Successful game challenges are intrinsic

in the players’ thought processes (Boyan & Sherry, 2011). With respect to the industry of video

gaming, if games can be designed to appeal to a players’ natural decision-making process, then

perhaps role-playing games would be more successful in sales.

Some players create seemingly difficult or random objectives that are neither proposed

nor favored by the game for advancement. For example, the Nuzlocke Challenge, created on-line

by an anonymous blogger, is a series of objectives and parameters in the popular Pokémon series of games. Players must finish the entire game with the added rules that they can only catch one

Pokémon per new area visited, and any character that faints must be released and not used for the remainder of the game (What Is a Nuzlocke Challenge?). The additional rules do not change the reward or affect recognized achievements within the game and the additional rules only make the game harder; part of this research is to answer why gamers would add more parameters and these types of objectives. A possible hypothesis is discussed by Sorenson et al. (2011): linear games such as Super Mario Bros. increase in difficulty as a player progresses in the game and players expect a higher degree of challenge-modeling in later stages. This effect might translate to role-

playing gamers’ propensity to develop more strenuous objectives even though the game does not

necessarily require them; the gamers might simply seek more challenge in a familiar system.

Similarly, in Designing Social Videogames for Educational Uses, the authors favored collaboration in the game-making process. Immersion and creation would occur “in a natural” dialogue between gamers and creators (Gonzalez-Gonzalez & Blanco-Izquierda, 2012). It is important for objectives and challenges to be seamlessly integrated with the users by appealing to how gamers’ creative processes. Being actively part of the creation process also increases a user’s propensity for staying involved with the product due to emotional and personal ties to the content (Hung et al., 2011). In addition, action-oriented and strategy-based video games, such as

RPGs, are shown to positively influence players’ abilities to learn new tasks and develop critical thinking processes (Green & Bavelier, 2012). This progression could change the relationship between player and perceptions with the avatar as new neural pathways are formed. Green and

Bavelier’s study inspired the development of focus group discussions about objective building in

RuneScape for the study at hand, how EWRPGs influence gamers’ decisions on what to play, and how the gamers’ changing relationships with RuneScape affect their goals.

Gamers use “avatars” as ways to interact with the game. Avatars are the physical

manifestation of gamers’ characters within the role-playing game space. It is typical for gamers

to have a personal and emotional connection with their avatar, and gamers commonly identify

and reveal traits of themselves through their avatar in-game (Qin et al., 2012). The importance of

avatars in the study at hand is that avatars are the chief way by which EWRPG players (e.g.

RuneScape) interact with the game. The avatar has important psychological connotations: as

players develop a closer relationship with the game through consistent playing, form personal

bonds with other players in the game, and identify more with their avatar, these feelings may

change how players choose to develop their character and therefore what goals and decisions are

set.

RuneScape

RuneScape is a Massive Multiplayer On-line Role-Playing Game (or MMORPG,

henceforth MMO) developed and distributed by Jagex Ltd. Founded in 1999 by Andrew Gower

and managed by CEO Mark Gerhard since 2009 (Mark Gerhard), RuneScape has over 200

million registered accounts over its lifespan and typically has 75,000-100,000 players at any

given moment (Mod William). The game runs from and is entirely developed through the

JavaScript coding engine. Jagex maintains its own in-house team of designers, content

developers, and engineers; the game is entirely created within the company at its home in

Cambridge, UK (Jagex Game Studio, Products: GuildWars).

RuneScape has an expansive, inclusive world with open-ended content that allows

players to create their own objectives without being constrained to a formal narrative or system

of progression. Gamers are allowed and encouraged to develop unique objectives by a

combination of a unique player interface, ranking systems and non-game content, peer systems,

and gaming architecture curtailed to individual experience.

RuneScape and affiliated content are entirely accessed through the RuneScape web site, available at http://www.runescape.com/. Unlike MMOs such as World of Warcraft and Guild

Wars, RuneScape is accessed entirely on-line through a browser without software installation on

the player’s computer (Shop; GW). All major browsers are supported by the client. Alternatively,

players can download a RuneScape desktop client that launches the RuneScape web site, again

14 without software installation on the player’s computer. RuneScape’s entirely browser-based setting allows constant updates by gaming staff directly to the game engine; most game content updates occur on a weekly basis, with mechanical and web site updates occurring sporadically.

Players must reload the game when each update occurs.

RuneScape’s game engine and infrastructure runs through “client-server” architecture, as described by Bozcan and Isler (2012). The RuneScape client and platform rendering occurs on the host’s computer, but all interaction with the system is performed through the mains server of the game. This technology allows the MMORPG network to function with minimal strain on the server and client; RuneScape may be entirely played through any Internet browser that supports

JavaScript.

The client-server infrastructure is unlike PC software games, which require disc installation and all commands are run through the player’s system rather than a host-server mainframe. It also separates RuneScape from games that have on-line capabilities but still contain the core functions within the player’s computer (such as Quake). In those games, the hardware generates the game data while the player’s computer acts as the host over a local-area network (LAN) to which local computers may connect.

Client-server infrastructure is important to RuneScape’s multiplayer capabilities, as it allows a higher amount of player interactions, results, and feedback from the game engine with minimal processing power on behalf of the client’s computer. It allows the game to support and serve massive amounts of player interaction within the same server, which allows RuneScape to host high numbers of players with minimal loading time.

Cartography

An additional facet of cybergeography and objective building is the systematic study and

integration of video games in communications and geography research through cartography. For

example, one aspect of Dodge’s research focused on creating maps of Multi-User Dungeons (or

“MUDs”), which are text-based role-playing video games. The maps showed how areas were

spatially connected and how spaces integrated with one another (Dodge, 2002). They also

demonstrated how gamers can recognize certain physical and emotional connotations between

spaces within the game, and that gamers can translate text-based virtual spaces into three-

dimensional

This thesis expounds upon that research by analyzing how video game architecture and

geography influences a gamers’ relationship with the space and how certain associations dictate

interaction with the space. The use of focus groups in analyzing cognitive associations with goal-

setting is influenced by Florida State University Professor Dr. Ulla Bunz’s research in the on-line

role-playing game Auteria. One section of Bunz’s study focused on the relative danger levels according to players’ perceptions on monster and terrain difficulty. A series of maps were created to analyze the relative danger levels of the “creature territories” defined by the game and whether these danger levels were equal to the ones perceived by players. There were slight discrepancies between the game designers’ and the gamers’ professed dangers levels (Bunz,

2009).

On a similar notion, game design aesthetics are an important facet in designing and consuming a game; games with a lack of “eye-candy” may not necessarily be enjoyable to a user.

Aesthetics of a game and, specifically, logically-planned and aesthetically-oriented maps, are

16 important in deciding the efficacy of a gaming space in communicating and inspiring objectives to a player (Schaefer & Warren, 2004). This and Bunz’s inferences inspired the use of the mapmaking focus groups to judge the efficacy of the designers’ objectives matching up with a players’ objectives if the players design the gaming space for others, and to see what cognitive labels that gamers associate with gaming infrastructure.

Focus Groups and Innovative Users

In Allison et al.’s research Building an Innovation Community, the researcher postulated that “work is designed around technology rather than the other way around.” Management practices designed to curtail technology based on existing work protocols demonstrate less success than practices designed by innovative users and technical issues resolved later. The researchers advocated the use of a “participant model,” where challenges allow openness to different levels of design hierarchy (Allison et al., 2011). Despite being primarily for business use, the idea of “participant models” was influential in designing and interpreting the content analysis and focus group.

Research in global information systems software, or “GIS” software, demonstrates that users favored the use of an “experienced facilitator” that would expedite user design and programing. The authors inferred that participants in the study who expressed thoughts verbally were more successful in identifying the limitations and faults within the system (Haklay &

Tobon, 2003). In light of this, a series of guided questions were developed for use during the focus group to promote discussion among the participants.

Innovative users respond positively to toolkits designed within a familiar system. Users that are provided with the means to physically change a system with which they are comfortable show a general trend of positive contribution to the system; one specific area is “solution-space,” where innovative users manipulate a system to solve questions associated with the space (Chou et al., 2011). This research supports the decision to use the mapmaking activity in Focus Group 2 as a viable research protocol. Innovative users, specifically role-playing gamers, manipulating an area to develop goals and objectives of which they already identify within themselves due to experience in gaming will elucidate information on how users relate to the gaming space.

CHAPTER THREE

METHODS AND JUSTIFICATIONS

This section details the methods used in data gathering and analysis of results, and the justifications for using said methods. Two qualitative research methods were employed: content analysis and focus groups, for a total of three data-gathering events. One content analysis was performed on the Massive Multiplayer On-line Role Playing Game RuneScape, published by

Jagex Ltd. Recruits from Communications courses at the Florida State University participated in

two focus groups: the first discussing playing strategies and goals identified by players, and the

second on gaming architecture as the facilitating factor in creating objectives.

RuneScape as an Extended-World Role-Playing Game

As defined in Chapter One, an Extended-World Role-Playing Game (henceforth

“EWRPG”) is a geographically large, self-contained, concrete, and stable world with open-ended

objective systems that allow customizability according to individual player desires. RuneScape is

an EWRPG suitable for the research prospect.

RuneScape’s gaming terrain is extremely large, allowing for a myriad of player

interactions within the space. It is self-contained; almost all actions performed by the player

affect only the avatar within the game system, and almost no interactions with non-game content

(outside of changing registration status) will affect the avatar within the game.

RuneScape’s architecture is concrete. Updates to the game are not constant, and with few exceptions (such as a major graphical overhaul in 2004 and a combat revamp in fall 2012) the updates do not affect the basics of gameplay. Base and individual gaming geography are utilized

as necessitated by RuneScape’s multiplayer capabilities; individual player interactions through

their avatars do not change the gaming geography for others. For example, completing a quest

may grant players access to a new area or change the landscape in some way, but these changes

are isolated effects. They do not appear on other players’ accounts, even if they inhabit the same

area.

Character development in RuneScape features the open-ended objective system defined

through adaptation and customizability. Avatars are adaptable in that avatars gain levels, wear

armor, etc. based on players’ interactions with certain aspects of the game that train or result in

completion of the respective activities. For example, continually cutting down oak trees would

train the Woodcutting skill, which is a principle of adaptation. Avatars are also customizable as

there is no set narrative or set of objectives that players must complete in order to advance in the

game; players can progress through the game however they want. Although the game

recommends some experiences to players, there is no defined, if at all present, way to complete

the game.

Content Analysis Justifications

The content analysis will answer the following research questions:

ñ RQ1: What landmarks or features do designers add to the gaming architecture to

facilitate the development of goals?

ñ RQ2: What checks and balances occur to make goals practical and achievable within the

gaming architecture?

ñ RQ3: What types of objectives increase perceived progression or enjoyment in games

with no defined endgame scenario, such as RuneScape?

A thorough content analysis of RuneScape is necessary to understanding the gaming architecture and what aspects of the game encourage participation in certain activities. It is important to note what areas are emphasized and would therefore be more attractive to players to complete. For example, are there measurements of progression within the game? Are there activities that enable players to interact with the larger gaming world? Are there areas that inspire competition between players? I will therefore be able to predict player behavior based on the major or substantially emphasized areas of the game. This will provide me with the information to compare to the focus groups, and increase practical application of my research by showing what aspects of gaming are attractive to gamers.

An assumption of the thesis is that goals that are not pragmatic or seemingly unachievable would be unattractive to the majority of gamers in the decision-making process.

Within the content analysis, I will analyze which parts of the game were more attainable or within a player’s realm of practical ability. The content analysis will help me predict the popularity of certain goals and the decision-making process in players deciding to create achievable goals. I also examined the checks and balances that Jagex Ltd. includes within the game to ease attainability or certain goals, promote motivation, and review the facilitation of achieving more difficult or long-term goals. This information was compared to the data gathered from role-playing gamers in Focus Group One: Gaming Architecture.

As EWRPGs have a very loose or no existent endgame, it is important to judge how

players perceive progression in a game that they cannot “complete” in the sense of other video

games. Another assumption of this thesis is that perceiving progression in a game is a strong

measurement of enjoyment; EWRPGs must feature some kind of checks so players can measure

their progression or involvement with a game. These are important to analyze so I can predict the

propensity of involvement in activities that directly or tangibly measure progression; activities

that show less obvious benefits of character development may be less attractive for players’

involvement.

Focus Group One: Gaming Architecture

Recruits for Focus Group One came from students attending the Florida State University

and enrolled in MMC2000 courses instructed by Dr. Arthur Raney. The primary researcher

attended Dr. Raney’s class on February 14th, 2013, where the thesis topic was presented and a request for participants was distributed. Recruits were players of role-playing games at all skill levels. Recruits were then e-mailed and given the date, time, and information of the focus group, along with a digital copy of the informed consent form to bring to the meeting. All e-mail addresses were blind carbon-copied to protect the identities of the participants.

The recruits met with me at the Communications Department at University Center C on the Florida State University campus. The focus group occurred on February 21st, 2013 at

12:30PM. Out of 20 recruited, four students attended, with four males and zero females.

Additional copies of the informed consent statement were provided. The discussions were

22 recorded with a camera focusing toward the moderator and the front of the room so no participant faces were on camera, only their voices.

The focus group incorporated a guided discussion amongst the participants to encourage debate and conversations while the moderator provided prompts and topics. The moderator opened RuneScape in a browser and projected the game onto a screen, and entered the game through his personal character utilized in the content analysis, and then he listened to suggestions from the participants on what to do, what aspects of the game encouraged interaction and goal- making, etc.

A list of the questions used to guide the discussion, a copy of the informed consent form and scripts used, and the e-mails sent to the participants may be found in Appendix A of this document.

Focus Group One Justifications

Focus Group One answers the following research questions:

ñ RQ2: What checks and balances occur to make goals practical and achievable within the

gaming architecture?

ñ RQ3: What objectives increase perceived progression or enjoyment in games with no

defined endgame scenario, such as RuneScape?

ñ RQ4: What are common major pathways in objective-building?

ñ RQ5: How do gamers create applicable and feasible objectives?

ñ RQ6: What problems arise in the objective-building process, and how are they resolved?

The players’ discussion over how they make objectives has elucidated common trends in creating goals (See Chapter V). These trends point toward common pathways and processes that players use in defining goals, which is important to the project in understanding the mechanisms by which players come to certain scenarios in their playing and why or how some goals are attractive to multiple levels of playing experience, skill level, and time commitment to the game.

Focus Group One also demonstrates how players create objectives that are actually achievable and how they formulate playing strategies to satisfy their objectives. Players must create strategies to fit their life schedules and to keep the process fun and enjoyable. The focus group also elucidates what thresholds in playing time or experience must be met for certain players to attempt their respective goals; for example, what time commitment would be necessary to achieve certain skill levels in the game, and what compromises players create when they are not able to meet those commitments. This focus group also shows what happens when some goals simply are not achievable or attractive to certain players and why some might be attracted to distinctively unique, inimitable goals that may not be necessarily espoused by the general infrastructure or gaming community, such as collecting one million burnt sharks, which are useless by-products of the failure at cooking raw sharks.

The information from Focus Group One provides qualification to the predictions of checks and balances within the gaming architecture of RuneScape as deduced from the content analysis. The discussion shows what aspects of the game remain attractive to the player and what players believe facilitates their goals in terms of enjoyment, attainability, and other factors. The discussions also elucidate why gamers pursue certain goals, and what aspects of the game promote completion of those goals.

Goals will have obstacles in their completion. The participants revealed what major

complications hinder completion of goals and how those players overcome them. This is also

important in the development of individuals’ playing strategies, which refers back to and

supports Research Question 1.

Finally, the Focus Group One discussion shows how players gain enjoyment or perceive their progression in EWRPGs like RuneScape, where there is no way to “complete” the game.

The discussion expounds upon the decision making process by stating why objectives and the

process of completing them are enjoyable and what perceived benefits or gains from those

objectives are pleasurable to the gamer.

The effect of Focus Group One upon the research project is a profound understanding of

the objective-making process from players themselves. Focus Group One qualifies the rigorous

technical appreciation of the content analysis and my analysis of the physical gaming

architecture. The predictions of gaming architecture’s influence in objective-making may be

compared to the objective-making decisions in players’ reactions to the gaming spaces. Focus

Group One provides the subjective interpretation by second-parties necessary to justify the

conclusions of gaming architecture that is successful in facilitating objectives and the process of

goal-making.

Focus Group Two: Mapping

The method for recruitment in Focus Group Two is similar to that in Focus Group One.

All recruits came from students attending the Florida State University and enrolled in MMC2000

instructed by Dr. Arthur Raney. The researcher attended Dr. Raney’s class on March 2, 2013,

where he gave a second brief presentation of the research, information about the previous focus

group, and another request for participants. As before, recruitment was prioritized for players of

role-playing games at all skill levels to sign-up for the project. Participants in Focus Group One

were not eligible to sign up for Focus Group Two. Recruits were then e-mailed and given the

date, time, and information of this second focus group, along with a digital copy of the informed consent form to bring to the meeting.

Following the initial e-mail, a second message was sent to the participants that incorporated a set of instructions for players to create a map based on certain criteria using the map images attached to the e-mail. Participants were e-mailed a blank 10 x 10 tiled map with

“terrain” tiles with which they may fill the map. The tiles represented water, grass, stone pathways, and other features. The gamers were instructed to place as many of any tiles as they want on the map as long as the map remained 10 x 10 tiles long and no tiles overlapped. Included were instructions for creating the maps: participants merely opened the blank file in an image editor and copy/paste the tiles into the grid. Participants were encouraged to keep in mind and write down possible tasks, objectives, and roles for in-game characters that could possibly exist in the space. After 24 hours, the designers were collected and e-mailed to the members, asking them to look over the designs before meeting for a focus group on March 4, 2013 at 12:30PM.

All e-mail addresses were blind carbon-copied and no features were left on the map that would lead to the identification of their creators.

The recruits met at the focus group in a moderated setting similar in set-up to Focus

Group One. The discussion was recorded with a video camera that only captured the focus group moderator and the maps in the frame, so only the voices of the recruits could be heard. The moderator projected each map onto the wall of the room. The participants were asked what

features of the maps they liked and why, along with possibilities that in-game characters may

interact with the environment to stimulate the development of goals by the focus group members.

The creator of the map was asked to state what objectives he or she had in mind when creating

the map and the methods for which objectives were created. Players were also asked to identify

what cognitive labels they associated with parts of the map; for example, what areas were

“dangerous” or “fun.” Finally, the gamers were asked what they would do if they spent time in

the area and to justify their reasoning.

A list of the questions used to guide the discussion, a copy of the informed consent form

and scripts used, the e-mails sent to the participants, and all map tile images may be found in

Appendix B of this document.

Focus Group Two Justifications:

Focus Group Two answers the following research questions:

ñ RQ7: What are the more frequent types of categories of objectives that gamers create?

ñ RQ8: What cognitive labels do gamers assign to aspects of a game, and how do cognitive

labels affect a player’s relationship with the space?

The purpose of this experiment is to examine how gamers create engaging gaming environments and define their roles/objectives within spaces. It is important that they explained the reasons and rationalization behind certain additions to the game in order to clarify the process behind creating objectives, similar to Focus Group One’s asking of the participants why they would partake in certain activities within RuneScape. The difference is the participants of Focus

Group One were analyzing a game that they did not have part in creating; in Focus Group Two,

the gamers themselves are the creators of the gaming architecture.

Gamers were encouraged to create objectives for their own maps to see how the objectives made by a designer matched those by the players to encourage comparison and qualification between designers and their target audiences. It is also important to compare the pathways used by the creator in designing the gaming space and the player themselves to judge what paralleled or divergent thought processes create environments more suited to some gamers’ innate playing strategies. In seeing the frequency of categories of objectives that the gamers create or perceive in EWRPG spaces, the post-discussion analysis can assess what additions to a game would likely increase the utility of the player. An important aspect of Focus Group Two is seeing whether or not player styles are too divergent: would creating games to certain player strategies increase consumption and utility of players, or would the experience be alienating for all but players attuned to those specific strategies?

Cognitive labels also give insight to how gamers emotionally interact with the gaming architecture and how the labels influence the objective-building process. The mapping project provides individual results in constructing games by gamers according to cognitive labels for playability.

CHAPTER FOUR

RESUSULTS OF CONTENT ANALYSIS

All content in this chapterter is from RuneScape by Jagex, Ltd. unless otherwerwise noted. All information is accurate as of Aprpril 15th, 2013.

Figure 1: RuneScape logo

The content analysis for RRuneScape occurred over a two-week period frorom December

20th, 2012 to January 4th, 2013.. TThe analysis utilized coding schema to describee majorm areas of the game that led to avatar and chcharacter development directly affected by the gamers’ga choices.

For the sake of brevity, only thee mmajor faculties of the gaming infrastructure werere analyzed.

There were no interactions withh oother gamers during the content analysis.

Account Registration

Players can instantly joinin the game by entering their age, e-mail, and a password.pa Those under the age of 13 are requiredd tto have parental permission before playing duee tot mild language, suggestive themes, andnd violent fantasy content within the game. Oncee player

information is confirmed, new players will create an avatar using a unique username, and then

they can log-in using their e-mail and password. Once a username is chosen, players are allowed

to change their name once every month.

Figure 2: RuneScape account registration form

New players are instantly given the option of playing a tutorial located in the main town of Lumbridge. There tutorials for all major skills and combat. In the fall of 2012, Jagex Ltd. substantially overhauled the combat system in RuneScape, so players who have not logged in often since the update have the option of doing a tutorial specifically made for older players. The tutorials are recommended by the game but not required; players who complete the tutorials receive items and skill levels for assistance in starting the game. Players can modify their

30 avatar’s appearance upon logging in for the first time, or by interacting with certain non-player characters in the game.

Players have two subscription options that directly affect gameplay: pay-to-play and free- to-play. Free-to-play offers substantially less substance than the pay-to-play version; although both games are advertised as fully immersive and inclusive on their own, the free-to-play version offers fewer quests, skills, and overall content, although the method of playing remains unchanged. Subscribers to the pay-to-play option are allowed access to the free-to-play content as well. The amount of money for pay-to-play varies per country; players in the United States pay $7.95 per month, as of January 2013 (Members’ Benefits). Regardless of payment option, there is no limit on the amount of time one can be in the game. All new players start with the same items and skill levels, and they being at same location; there is no benefit to immediately starting the game with a subscription. Subscription status can be changed through the RuneScape web site. In December of 2012, Jagex Ltd. announced a “Premier Club” that allows exclusive access to content for 2013; 12-month subscriptions cost $79.95 (Join the Premier Club). Pay-to- play subscribers are typically called “members” and free-to-play subscribers are “non-members” in RuneScape lexicon.

High Scores and Non-Game Content

RuneScape has a high scores tab that compares player rankings in skills, mini-games, and other activities. Players can compare themselves to other players, showing whose levels are higher and lower. Only members have their scores featured; non-members can view the high scores page, but their characters are not ranked. The web site features an “Adventurer’s Log”

that allows players to see a personal timeline of major events, quest/skill completion, and

gameplay length. Players can also view their friends’ logs, if allowed by their privacy settings.

RuneScape incorporates a “Loyalty Programme” that allows long-term members to access exclusive features. Players can recruit others into the game through the “Recruit a Friend” program that incurs benefits if the recruited player registers an account, plays for a substantial amount of time, or becomes a member.

Figure 3: RuneScape high scores

The RuneScape web site has a forum on which subscribers of the pay-to-play option can post. Free-to-play gamers can only read posts, but not comment. Popular forum topics include discussions on recent updates, clan recruitment, goals and achievements, general gaming discussion, and customer support. Other popular non-game content include content polls

(accessible only by members) and the official Jagex Ltd. store. Players can monitor popular

32 prices for items by accessing the Grand Exchange, a database that monitors the relative price of every item in RuneScape and economic fluctuations within the game between players.

Game Mechanics and Technical Settings

Upon initial registration or after an update, the players log-in by entering their e-mail address and password into the RuneScape title screen. They are immediately entered into a welcome screen that shows personal inbox messages from Jagex Ltd.’s staff, subscription information, and a tip-of-the-day.

Figure 4: Welcome screen

Players automatically join a “world” upon log-in; all worlds in RuneScape are the structurally the same game, but with different players. Each world holds a maximum of 2000 players, and there are 139 worlds as of January 2013. Twenty-two worlds are only accessible to non-members and non-members content; the rest are members-only. Each world is designated by the server location and the amount of players; for example, a player logging in from Tallahassee,

FL would be routed to World 44, whose sever is based in Atlanta, GA, unless the player maximum is reached for that world; in that case, the player would be routed to another nearby server. Players can choose which world they wish to join at the welcome screen, and there are options for selecting “favorite worlds” into which a player will automatically enter, regardless of server location. Players who wish to only talk to friends before playing can join a “lobby,” which allows them to chat but not play the game.

RuneScape allows customization of detail, audio, and game mechanic settings. For example, players can choose whether or not to play sound, have high or low object detail, set anti-aliasing (reduction of sharp lines so graphics appear smoother), or incorporate drop shadow effects (increases contrast between foreground and background objects). Removal of these features sacrifices game detail with the trade-off of a faster game engine. These do not affect other aspects of gameplay, such as participation in skills and quests; however some aspects of the game do use audio cues to signify events, such as a player grunting when damaged by an enemy.

A profanity filter can be toggled for younger players. Mouse settings allow the use of one or two buttons. Players can also choose to “run” and move faster around the world until their run energy depletes.

Figure 5: Options screen

Players can set popularly used spells, prayer options, or items to a list of key configurations. Key configurations act as a shortcut to utilizing parts of the game by pressing any number keypads when “Num Lock” is turned on with the keyboard.

When a player’s hit points reach “0,” they are considered dead and are teleported to their home city. The default home city is Lumbridge. Upon death, players keep their three most valuable items (although some, like money, are kept regardless). All other items are hidden under a player’s gravestone, which remains for a certain amount of time. A player must return to their gravestone within the time limit in order to get their items back. Once the gravestone

35 crumbles, the items are lost forever. Players may purchase gravestones that provide higher time limits when their character has higher Prayer levels. Other than losing items, there is no permanent loss or punishment for death; all skills, quests, achievements, and other statistics remain constant.

There are no nonrenewable resources in RuneScape. Resources (e.g. monsters, rock ores, trees, etc.) do not disappear from the game. All such usable resources are replenished automatically by the game. Therefore, no resources taken from the game by gamers are entirely removed. For example, catching a fish at a fishing spot will place fish in the player’s inventory, but there is no change to the propensity of other players’ ability to catch fish in the same spot.

User Interface

RuneScape uses a graphical user interface (GUI) that represents all gaming data pertinent to the user in graphics and icons on the screen. All player data is present within the client; players do not need to scroll, load other windows, or have multiple clients open in order to receive information necessary for gaming.

Figure 6: User interface

The interface is divided ininto three major sections: chat box, player interfrface,a and gaming window. The chat box is locatedd in the lower left-hand corner of the screen. It is how players communicate with each other, thetheir friends, and their clan. Feedback from the gamega is also presented there; if players succesessfully catch fish, they will receive the text “Yoouu catch a fish.”

More information on chatting inn RuneScape may be found in the “Chat System”” section in this chapter.

Figure 7: Chat box

The player interface is loclocated in the lower right-hand side of the screenn anda contains all information pertinent to the gamemer’s avatar. It is divided into 16 tabs. The mostt significants feature of the player interface iss iits customizability and adaptability to the playerer. Although every player interface has the samame framework (showing skills, friends lists, inveventories, etc.), each character’s interface can bee changed or added to based on the player’s gamiming style. For example, although every skill tabab will show the same skills, the levels can changnge based on what skills a player trains. Every questest will show the same information on the Noticebeboard tab, but players can choose to complete wwhichever quest they like and receive informatiotion on any quest

they like. Players are by no means held to the exact same standards of playing, as in more linear

RPGs, and the interface facilitates the uniqueness of each individual avatar in RuneScape.

Figure 8: Sample player interface with the “Inventory” tab open

All changes players put upon their avatars occur through the player interface. For example, if a player wishes to put on a new piece of armor, they simply switch to the inventory tab and click on the armor. If the player has the Defense level necessary to wear the armor, it will automatically appear in the worn equipment tab, where all combat bonuses will automatically be applied. All spells, methods of combat, skills, prayers, emotes, etc. are accessed through the player interface.

The final part of the user interface is the gaming window. The gaming window incorporates the majority of the RuneScape client. It incorporates the entire area of the screen.

The gaming window is where players view their character and the immediate RuneScape world.

The gaming window is responsible for facilitating interactions between the avatar and the world.

From the gaming window, players can interact with other players, fight monsters, and view what

is going on in their surroundings. Pressing the arrow keys may orient the map toward a

clockwise/counter-clockwise direction or up/down

In the upper right-hand corner is a mini-map, where players can see a less-detailed map

of areas outside of view in the gaming window. Red dots on the mini-map indicate items, yellow

dots indicate non-player characters, white dots indicate other players, and blue dots indicate clan

members or friends.

Figure 9: Mini-map

Nine icons surround the mini-map. The run icon shows how much run energy a player has. The prayer icon shows the player’s total prayer points, which decrease when players activate certain power-enhancing “prayers” through the interface. The hit points icon show how much damage a player can take until their avatar dies. The summoning icon represents how many summoning points a player has until they can no longer summon a familiar; this icon only appears in members-only worlds. The money pouch may be toggled to show how many coins a player is currently carrying with them. The EXP icon represents how much experience that the player recently gained. The globe icon may be clicked to show the RuneScape world map in

place of the gaming window. The compass may be clicked to re-orient the gaming window to

face north. Finally, the exit icon will either log players out of the game or take them to the lobby.

Chat System

The chat system in RuneScape allows conversation with other players in the avatar’s immediate surroundings. When chatting, words will appear over the avatar’s head. Players can put effects into their sentences as well, such as colors or flashes. To speak, players press “enter” on the keyboard, type their sentence, and press “enter” again.

Players have a “Friends Chat” to which they can add other players’ names with whom they can talk regardless of world or location in the game. “Friends Chat” can be placed inside or outside of the main chat box. A “Clan Chat” option is also available for players who are part of a clan. Additionally, a player can add disruptive or rude players to an “Ignore List.” Messages from players on the “Ignore List” are removed from chat and if the players’ username is added to the ignored players’ friends chat, they will appear off-line and not receive messages. The chat system also receives any normal game-related information, such as items being used on each other, Grand Exchange updates, monster defeats, messages from training skills, etc.

All RuneScape characters have a private chat available to them, which is private chat room that all characters can access regardless of their location or world within the game. This is different from talking to players on the Friend’s List as the Friend’s List only sends messages to specific players rather than everyone on the list. To join a private chat, players enter the name of the character whose chat they would like to join in the “friends chat” tab of the user interface.

Players on the “Ignore List” will not be able to join private chat.

Clan chat works similarly to private chat. To join a clan, players simply enter a clan’s

chat as a “visiting member” and request admission from a senior-level clan member. Clans have

customized settings that are configured by the clan administrator or founder. Administrators also

set clan hierarchies and can promote or demote members. Unruly members or visiting players

can be permanently banned from clans by adding the offending username to the clan’s “Ignore

List.”

Figure 10: Sample Friends/Clan chat interface

Players have additional options to modify their chat box. Within the inter-player chat, players can select to view all chat, view chat from only their friends, turn chat off entirely, or hide chat in the chat box but still have chat appear above avatars’ heads. Hiding chat is popular in high-traffic areas, such as popular trading areas, where hiding the chat allows players to more easily submit trade requests but still view what other characters say they are selling.

Messages from the game can be set from to “on,” “off,” or “filter.” The first setting shows all messages from the RuneScape game, such as whether or not a rock was mined. The

41 second shows no messages from the game. “Filter” shows only special messages or pertinent messages to the skill. For example, when mining ores, the game would not show when each rock was successfully mined, but it would state when a gem was found.

Players can also set whether their friends, private, and clan chat is on or off. When set to off, the player will appear as off-line in their other friends’ and clan’s list. They can also state whether or not they would like to accept trades or aid, the latter of which is primarily used in mini-games.

A final ability in the chat box is for players to accept or decline Assistance. Assistance allows players to provide actions with high-level skills that their character may not have but another character does. A player will click on another’s avatar and select “Assist [player name].”

The player will then have the phrase “[player name] would like to provide assistance” in their chat box. The player will then be able to use whatever the assisted skill is as if they had the same level as their provider. A player with level 23 Crafting who is being assisted by one with 86

Crafting will act as if they have level 86 Crafting. All experience gained is given to the provider, not the character being assisted. There is a limit of 30,000 Assistance experience per character allowed per day. Not all skills can be Assisted; skills that provide raw materials (such as Fishing,

Woodcutting, and Mining) and combat skills are not allowed. Assistance cannot be provided to any action that directly influences a quest or is performed on a quest-related item.

Items, the Inventory System, and Banking

RuneScape has an inventory system where items are stored for easy use by a player that can be taken to any location to which the avatar arrives. There are 28 inventory slots, and

42 additional items must be stored in the players’ bank account. Worn runes, weapons, auras, and armor are stored separately in the avatar’s “Worn Equipment” interface.

Figure 11: Item options

The majority of items in RuneScape have at least three options for use when in the inventory: “use,” “drop,” and “examine.” The “use” option allows players to use an item on another object or character within the game. Not all “uses” on other objects have any effect; if the objects are not compatible, the game states “Nothing interesting happens” in the chat box.

The “drop” option drops the item on the floor in the game. The item is available only to the player for one minute, then it becomes available to all players. Items do not stay visible forever; after five minutes, the item disappears and is deleted from the game forever. The “examine” option allows players to gain information about the item. Players can also examine non-player characters, monsters, and other objects in the game.

There are special options that are only available for a class of items. For example, all weapons and armor have the option “wear.” Books, scrolls, and notes all have a “read” option,

which brings up a text page with information on it. Enchanted amulets, rings, necklaces, and

bracelets have “teleport” and “use” options that differ depending on the type of jewelry and

infused gemstone. Some have options that are unique to the item: satchels have a “look” option

that allows players to take out food.

Pay-to-play subscribers cannot use items only available to members in free-to-play

worlds. When visiting a free-to-play world, members’ items automatically become useless, with

only the “use,” “drop,” and “examine” options remaining. When a player tries to use a members’

object, a message appears in the chat box that says “Log into a members’ server to use this

object.” Any equipment loses any status or skill boosts so members do not have an advantage in

non-member worlds. These restrictions are immediately removed once logged into a pay-to-play

world.

When players attempt to have more than 28 items in their inventory, they must deposit

items in a bank, or drop items to the ground and risk losing them forever. Banks are available in

almost every major and minor city in the gaming world, and some banks are located outside of

major mini-game areas. Banks have two options: “bank” and “collect.” The “bank” option opens

up a player’s bank account. Every player has a unique account that can only be accessed by their

avatar. A player with more than one account cannot access their other account’s bank, even

though the same player created both accounts. Players can store any item in the game within the

bank. Players can create up to nine “bank tabs” that allow them to organize items as they wish.

Free-to-play subscribers have substantially less bank space than pay-to-play. The “collect”

option allows players to collect items bought from the Grand Exchange, the central market hub

of RuneScape. A player can access the same bank account at every bank; items stored at a bank in one city are accessible anywhere in the game.

Figure 12: The banking interface

Players can set up a “pin number” to add security to their bank in case someone else accesses their account. A pin number is a four-digit number that only needs to be entered once per log-in to access the account. If a player forgets their pin, they must wait a minimum of three to seven days (decided by the player upon setting the pin) before they can reset their number and access the bank account. As with items, players use the same pin number to access any bank in the game.

There are non-player characters at the bank that will give players more information on the banking system. They will give players information on account security, how to deposit items, and how to set up pin numbers.

Game Economics

There are several currencies in RuneScape. Gold coins are ubiquitous. Nearly every city and store trades in coins. They are the only currency that can be traded, and all item prices in the games are measured through their coin value. Players can buy items from shops by selecting the

“buy” option, whereby the price is automatically deducted from the coins held by the avatar.

Other currencies include tokkul and trading sticks. Both are only used in very specific areas of the game: tokkul in the lava-themed Tz-Haar cavern, and trading sticks in the jungle-themed island of Karamja. Neither currency can be traded between players. They are only used to buy items unique from the stores in either of the regions. Many mini-games in RuneScape use tickets; as with tokkul and trading sticks, they cannot be traded and are only used to exchange for experience or items at the mini-game.

Shops are run by non-player characters, often with an infinite source of certain types of items. They are ubiquitous within the game. Many towns have at least a general store that accepts almost all items except mini-game or quest items. Specialty stores (such as sword shops) are spread sporadically around the gaming map, and many stores are only open once a quest or task has been completed. General stores will buy any items; specialty stores will only accept items that they sell. For example, a sword shop will not buy any gemstones as it does not sell gems. There is typically no limit on the number of items that can be sold to a store at once, with the exceptions being certain specialty shops. Some shops have an infinite number of a single item to sell, however, most have a limit on the amount a player can buy at once. Once the amount of an item reaches “zero,” the player must wait a certain amount of time for the store to re-stock. Exiting a store and immediately re-entering does not replenish stock. Stores do not

46 show items that other players have sold to the store, only items the store already sells or that the player has sold.

Figure 13: General store interface

The main form of inter-player economic interaction is the bartering system. Players can trade with each other by sending “trade requests” that the other player can choose to accept. A trade window opens up that allows players to insert items they want to give to the other player.

Once the respective items are inserted, both players must agree to the transaction. The game then summarizes the trade and asks each player again if they would like to complete the trade, which both players must accept again. Each player can decline the trade at any time, giving both players their items back. Trades can happen at any location in the gaming world, with the exception being in mini-games or certain quest-specific areas. Certain items (such as quest items) cannot be traded.

The Grand Exchange is the central market hub and provides an alternative to standard bartering. The Grand Exchange is available to all levels of subscription and is located in the city of Varrock, which is roughly the center of the gaming map and one of the most popular cities in the game. Rather than waiting to find individual players to buy or sell specific items, players can go to the Grand Exchange and place offers for items that connect to current offers in all other worlds of the game. If an offer to buy an item matches the price for an offer to sell, then the game will automatically make the transaction. Players are not required to buy or sell all of the offered items in one trade; in larger transactions, it is common for items to be bought successively from multiple sources. Once items are bought, the game alerts the player in the chat box. The player may pick up their items from the Grand Exchange or via the “collect” option at any bank. As with normal trades, players can cancel their offer at the Grand Exchange at any time. However, once items are bought, players cannot cancel their offer and have their items returned. Members’ items cannot be bought or sold on a non-members’ world.

The Gaming World

The overarching theme of RuneScape is a European medieval era-themed world populated by humans, elves, dwarves, gnomes, and a multitude of other races and creatures. The most populous race is the humans. The majority of settlements have English or Old English connotations and appearances, such as the city of Lumbridge, whose name derives from the

“bridge over the river Lum” in the game; the Sanguinesti Region’s name comes from the word

“sanguine,” whose Latin root means “blood.” The primary cities of the game are Lumbridge

(which serves as the starting point of all new characters), the bustling city of Varrock, the White

Knight headquarters of Falador, the seaport of Port Sarim, Camelot and the Seers’ Village, the fishing area of Catherby, the prosperous East Ardougne and its plague-infested sister city West

Ardougne, the gnome’s Tree Gnome Stronghold, the fairy’s realm of The Lost City, the werewolf city of Canifis, and the desert city of Al Kharid.

Many areas in RuneScape are completely blocked off unless players complete certain quests. These include the scorched island of Crandor (Dragon Slayer), the horror-themed marshes of Morytania (Priest in Peril), the far-western elf lands of Tirannwn (Underground

Pass), the troll lands (Death Plateau), and the Viking lands of the Fremennik Province (The

Fremennik Trials); that is by no means an exhaustive list, and there are many small areas of the game that require quests. Some areas require certain tasks for visitation. In order to access the

Abyss, used mostly for the skill of RuneCrafting, players must first complete a series of small tasks for a Dark Mage north of Edgeville.

Certain areas require skills to access. The Agility skill is the most widely-used skill by the gaming architecture in restricting player access. The main area of the Brimhaven Dungeon requires at least Agility level 12, and accessing the Metal Dragons are located requires Agility level 34. Certain areas called “guilds” require certain skill levels to access; the Mining Guild in

Falador requires 60 Mining to enter. More information on guilds may be found in the “Skills” section of this paper.

The Wilderness is the only area in RuneScape that allows player-killing, where players can attack each other instead of only monsters or non-player characters. The Wilderness is located in the northernmost part of the game, and it is characterized by a scorched-earth terrain, many high-level monsters, and the presence of players-vs.-player mini-games such as Clan Wars.

Over 90% of the Wilderness is accessible by non-members; only the northernmost part of the

game is restricted to members only. The Wilderness hosts several of the game’s strongest

monsters, such as the disordering Chaos Elemental, the three-headed King Black Dragon

(RuneScape’s first “boss monster”), and the new Queen Black Dragon.

Figure 14: A player standing on the edge of the Wilderness

Each new area requires load time by the game, the speed of which depends on the quality of the player’s Internet access. Excessive delays are referred to as “lag” in player vernacular. Lag can occur due to new updates, higher-than-normal player activity, or high physical distance from a server.

Through use of the Construction skill, players may purchase and create their own player- owned house within the world of RuneScape. Player-owned houses are accessed through portals within certain cities; the default city is Rimmington, south of Falador. They are only available to members. Players can store a multitude of items within their house that aid other skills or facilitate transportation. Each room in the house is designed for a specific purpose. The kitchen stores unlimited amounts of basic foods and tools used in Cooking, the teleport room houses unlimited teleports to certain locations in the world, and the parlor has chairs and bookshelves

50 that contain every book from a player’s completed quests or mini-games. Some rooms are specifically for decoration or trophies. For example, a player who kills a Basilisk may receive the rare Basilisk Head drop, which may be mounted in a player’s skill room. The Excalibur sword retrieved from the quest The Holy Grail may be mounted in a player’s quest room.

A full copy of the RuneScape world map may be found in Appendix C of this document.

Transportation

There are many ways to travel around RuneScape. By default, players walk across the map, and avatars can “run” by toggling the option in the upper-right hand corner of the gaming interface. An avatar will only run for as long as its run energy remains, which is refilled over time; these properties are designated by the character’s skill in the Agility level. A high Agility level also grants a player the use of certain shortcuts that expedite travel to certain realms. For example, an Agility level of 33 allows players to use a log balance to facilitate walking around

East Ardougne. Potions and certain summoning creatures can increase an avatar’s running ability as well. There are no horses or other beasts in the game.

Almost all of the main areas in the game can be accessed by walking. Some towns and areas have gates that bar players’ passage unless they pay a toll. The most well-known of a toll is the passage between Lumbridge and Al Kharid: all players must pay a minimum of 30 gold coins to pass, but the toll is free if the Priest in Peril quest is completed.

The second most common form of transportation is teleporting. All teleports requires a certain Magic level to perform, with the exception of the Home Teleport, which is available to all

players regardless of level. All teleports (again, except the Home Teleport) require runes to cast,

including at least one Law Rune. Players can only teleport to very specific locations on the world

map, but they can teleport from any place. For example, the “Varrock Teleport” spell requires 33

Magic with three air runes, one fire rune, and one law rune; and it places the avatar directly in

the center of the city. Players can also create teleport tabs that act as single-click teleports and

only take up one space in a player’s inventory rather than the three taken up by the teleport

runes. Player-owned houses can create three permanent teleports that exist regardless of runes;

for example, a player may have a Camelot, Falador, and Canifis (“Kharyrll”) teleport. Enchanted

jewelry in RuneScape also provides a limited amount of teleports for each character. An enchanted amulet of glory provides four teleports to Edgeville, Al Kharid, Karamja, and Draynor

Village. It can be repowered by using the amulet on the Heroes’ Fountain under the Heroes’

Guild. An enchanted games necklace provides eight teleports to the Burthorpe Game Arena, then it dissolves into nothing.

Figure 15: A player using the Home Teleport spell

As the RuneScape world has islands, mountains, and other landmasses typically separated by large areas impassible to normal running or walking. Transportation by boat is one of the more popular methods. Players can board ships at many of the major port cities in RuneScape for

easy travel to another landmass. For example, players can board a ship in Port Sarim or West

Ardougne and travel to the port in Karamja for 30 coins. Players can also use “charter ships” at

the main RuneScape ports that allow instantaneous transportation to other places that house

charter ships, although at a markedly higher price. For example, a player must pay 3,500 gold

coins to charter a ship from Port Phasmatys to Chatherby.

Enemies and Monsters

Enemies in RuneScape are any non-player characters that can be attacked by a player.

They range from the weakest level-1 rats to the strongest level-220 boss monster Nex. Many enemies are based on monsters, creatures, or other evil entities. Almost every monster fought through leveling up the Slayer skill is abhorrent or malevolent, such as the Aberrant Spectre,

Abyssal Demon, Dark Beast, and Basilisks. However, not all follow this template; humans, guards, dwarves, white knights, and other non-evil creatures can be killed to a player’s discretion. Guards are a particularly common enemy for players to kill to level up and gain the rare “clue scroll” item, which provides a set of clues which players may follow to find rare items.

Figure 16: A low-level enemy in RuneScape

As with certain areas, many monsters in RuneScape have direct mythological or real-life parallels. Cockatrices and basilisks, common creatures in English and Germanic folklore that turn people into stone, are found in certain slayer dungeons. Dragons, ghosts, giants, trolls, unicorns, and demons are common enemies, as in most medieval-themed video games and literature.

With very few exceptions, every monster places certain items on the ground after being killed, called a “drop” in player jargon. Every monster has a very specific table of drops. Not all drops are guaranteed; most very on rarity, with some drops being very common and other drops being very rare. Almost every monster drops some sort of remains, the most common of which being bones and ashes, which can be buried to gain experience in the Prayer skill; these drops are always guaranteed.

Skills

Almost all quests, combat, skills, and characteristics of RuneScape are influenced by a player’s skills. Skills are RuneScape’s method of measuring progression in the base activities of the game from which all other activities stem, and they are also known as “statistics.” There are

25 different skills in RuneScape, 16 of which are available to non-members. They are divided into four broad categories: combat, collection, artisan, and support. Combat skills include Attack,

Ranging, Magic, and Constitution: skills whose primary purpose is to facilitate defeating enemies and overcoming damaging obstacles. Collection skills harvest raw resources directly from the game engine, such as Mining, Woodcutting, Hunter, and Fishing. There is no limit on the amount of resources that the game engine may provide. Artisan skills take the materials from resource extracting skills to produce a finished product or item; these include Smithing,

Herblore, Fletching, and Construction. Support skills help players in a broad range that do not fit into the other three categories, such as Thieving and Dungeoneering.

Figure 17: A player’s skill tab

Skills are trained through repeated involvement and activity. Progression in a skill is measured by a player’s “experience points.” After a certain amount of experience points, a player will gain a level in the skill. The lowest level is 1, the highest is 99. The amount of experience needed to progress in a skill increases per level; the points needed from levels 1 to 2 is 83; the points needed from levels 98 to 99 is 1,228,825 (XP Table). Players can also receive experience from completing Quests, Achievements, and other activities. A player may receive a genie lamp from a quest, Achievement, or randomly when training; a lamp provides free experience to any skill, equal to the skill level multiplied by ten. A player with level 54 Herblore would receive

540 Herblore experience from using the lamp. A lamp may only be used once, after which it disappears from the player’s inventory.

Upon receiving level 99 in a skill, players are invited to purchase a Skill Cape for 99,000 coins from a specific non-player character. A Skill Cape gives the highest bonuses to a player’s armor status over any other cape in the game, allows players to use a special emote designed for the skill, and has a special coloring scheme that shows other players they have received level 99 in the skill. A player’s skill total is the sum of the levels of all skills; it has no function outside of the high scores listing and to show progression in training all skills.

Training skills gives players access to progressively better advantages in the skill. For example, a high-level Strength skill allows a player to deal heavy damage to opponents. High- level fishing permits players to catch fish that, when cooked, heal for higher amounts of hit points. Training the Constitution skill increases a player’s hit points, allowing them to take more damage in battle without dying. Many skills facilitate other skills; some Mining areas are guarded by high level monsters, such as the Living Rock Caverns within the Dwarven Mines.

Well-trained combat skills are imperative to mining within the Caverns without fear of dying.

The defining characteristic of skills in MMORPGs such as RuneScape is their customizability. There are no “required” skills, in the sense that players are not abjectly forced to train one skill or level up in certain areas to progress at all in the game. Players are allowed to train whatever skills they want in whatever form they want. Common specialty player molds are

“skillers” (players who refuse to train combat skills) and “pkers” (characters built for maximum advantage in player-killing). Unlike linear RPGs like Final Fantasy, players are not required to stick to a class schema that restricts training of other skills. A player can customize their character into any skillset they desire.

A list and explanation of all skills available in RuneScape as of January 2013 may be found in Appendix C of this document.

Combat

Combat is the process by which players compete with and defeat opponents within the

RuneScape world. Combat incorporates the Attack, Strength, Defense, Constitution, Ranging,

Magic, Prayer, Summoning, and Slayer skills. A player’s combat level is an estimate of a player’s efficacy in combat: it is derived by adding a player’s Defense level, their highest non-

Defense combat statistic, and two. A player with 77 Defense and a highest combat stat of 75

Magic would have a combat level of 154. Players can judge their capacity against enemies in the game by comparing combat levels: easy fights will have their level written in green when examined, medium fights in yellow, and difficult fights in red. Monsters are not aggressive; very few will attack a character without being attacked or provoked, the exceptions being boss monsters and those in quests or mini-games.

Combat experience is gathered over the duration of the fight; each hit provides a certain amount of experience based on the damage dealt. Players can choose which skill to train through the “Combat” tab of the interface. With any melee (hand-to-hand, close range combat) weapon, players can choose to train Attack, Strength, or Defense, but none at the same time. When

Ranging, players can choose to train Ranging or Ranging and Defense simultaneously, at the cost of decreased experience gained per skill. Fighting using Magic also allows players to gain only

Magic experience or Magic and Defense experience. Constitution experience is gained regardless of combat type used. Slayer experience is gained when upon the death of the targeted monster.

Melee combat is close-range. Players attack with weapons (such as longsword, scimitars,

and halberds) and wear metal armor as defense. With very few exceptions, melee equipment

does not break, and only requires a single down payment for infinite use in combat. Melee is the

most popular form of combat amongst RuneScape players and monsters due to its simplicity and sole requirement of an initial down payment on the necessary weapons and armor.

Figure 18: Fighting an enemy

Magic combat can be close- or long-range. Players use “runes” to provide power to

various spells that a player can use. For example, the Fire Blast spell requires fire runes, air

runes, and death runes. Runes are used up and disappear from a player’s inventory per cast.

Within the base spellbook, the combat Magic spells are roughly delineated into categories

depending on what kinds of runes they use. Spells that require mind runes are the weakest

combat spells, while the strong require blood and death runes. There are four different elements

by which RuneScape magic combat is governed, based on the Classical elements. The power of each element in order of increasing damage is air, water, earth, and fire. Air spells do not require the spell category rune, which greatly facilitates training the Magic skill. For example, casting

Air Wave requires only air runes, no blood runes as with the higher-level Wave spells. More powerful spells become available upon higher Magic levels.

There are three different spellbooks available to mages: Basic, Ancient, and Lunar. The

Basic spellbook is available to all players, with some of the higher-level spells members-only.

The Ancient and Lunar spellbooks are members-only and are specialized for intensive combat and training skills, respectively. The Ancient spellbook requires completion of Desert Treasure, and the Lunar spellbook requires completion of Lunar Diplomacy and Dream Mentor for

additional spells. Only one spellbook can be active at a time.

Mages can select a spell to be permanently used in combat if they have the requisite

runes. Mages can also select spells for one-use only, then revert back to the default spell. Staffs

may be equipped that provide benefits to certain spell types. Each of the four elements has its

own type of staff that provides infinite runes for the respective element. Some staffs provide

enhancements to specific spell sets. The Slayer Staff increases damage dealt by the Slayer Dart

spell, and the Ancient Staff increases damage dealt by all spells in the Ancient spellbook. Mages

wear robes to facilitate spellcasting; melee and ranging armor seriously decrease Magic’s

efficacy.

Ranging is a long-range method of combat. Players equip bows and arrows to attack

enemies. Ranging uses the one-time investment of a bow with multiple single-use ammunition

such as arrows and bolts. Ammunition is fired from the bow and hits a target, after which the

arrow may be destroyed and disappears from the game, or lands on the ground and may be

picked up and used again. Ranging is most effective as a long-range method of attack, where

players can hide behind obstacles or shoot from long distances on the mini-map before other players can see where they are. Rangers equip armor made from leather or dragonhide; wearing metal armor imparts negative bonuses upon the ranger, whereas wearing robes has a largely neutral effect.

Figure 19: Sample Prayers

The Prayer skill in combat is typically trained by burying the remains of an enemy.

Progression in the Prayer skill allows players to activate Prayers that drain a certain amount of prayer points per second used. A player’s amount of prayer points is equal to their Prayer level multiplied by 10. Low-level prayers include Thick Skin, which raises Defense by 5%; high-level

prayers include Protect from Melee, which protects against all non-player character melee

damage and halves damage from other players. When the prayer points have been exhausted, all

active prayers immediately end. A player can deactivate a Prayer at any time.

Upon completion of the Wolf Whistle quest, players have access to training the

Summoning Skill. Summoning allows players to summon creatures called “familiars” to aid the player in combat or skills, and some provide bonuses or inventory slots. Familiars instantly attack whatever monster the player is attacking. They have their own combat levels, and last for a predetermined amount of time. Summoning familiars requires a certain amount of summoning points, whose base amount are equal to the player’s Summoning level.

All enemies in RuneScape have a weakness to certain forms of attack. These range from simply being weak to melee, magic, or range to specific types of magic spells or weapons.

Undead creatures (e.g. skeletons, ghosts) are weak to Magic, and Ranging Elves are weak to melee. Turoths are only damaged by a leaf-bladed weapon, and Ice Giants are weak to fire spells.

Mastering and exploiting enemy weaknesses is imperative to becoming adept at combat. In addition, RuneScape combat skills are governed by the vernacular “combat triangle.” Melee

fighters are stronger against Rangers, who are strong against Mages, who are in turn strong

against melee fighters. That way, no single combat type outmatches the rest, forcing players to

adapt to a variety of challenges.

As of the final quarter of 2012, Jagex Ltd. released abilities and adrenaline into the

RuneScape combat system through the Evolution of Combat update (Gerhard 2013). Abilities are

special actions that players can use against enemies during the heat of combat that provide

instantaneous bonuses. All abilities require a certain period of time before they can be used

again. There are three levels of abilities: basic, threshold, and ultimate. Basic abilities can be

used at any time, as long as the time limit has passed. Threshold and ultimate abilities require a

certain amount of adrenaline to be used. Adrenaline increases as a player spends time continually

engaged in combat, and will decrease rapidly when out of combat. A threshold ability requires at

least 50% of the adrenaline bar to be used, and an ultimate ability requires and uses up 100% of

the adrenaline bar. Threshold and ultimate abilities can be unlocked through leveling up certain

combat levels; not all abilities are immediately available to the player. For example, leveling up

the Magic skill will unlock the Tidal Wave ultimate ability, which inflicts 250% of a player’s

normal highest damage rating in Magic.

Quests

Quests are a series of events triggered by the player in a specific chronological order to

achieve some sort of narrative goal within the game. The vast majority of quests are linear, in

that the goals of a quest cannot be completed haphazardly or in random order. Quests in

RuneScape are completely dependent on the player’s initiative; no quests in RuneScape are technically mandatory for a player to proceed in the game, and no quest will begin without the player initiating the quest content. There are 187 quests in RuneScape.

Most quests are started by talking to a non-player character (such as the Duke of

Lumbridge in the Recipe for Disaster quest), who will give the player a certain set of goals to achieve before moving on to the next part of the quest. Quests in RuneScape are detailed in the

“Quest Journal” section of the Noticeboard tab within the user interface. The Quest Journal in the

Noticeboard tab of the interface tells players how far they have come in every quest in the game,

where to start quests, their next step in unfinished quest, required skill levels or items, and a

general narrative that explains what the player’s character has accomplished. All quest

progression is permanent; players cannot re-start quests, nor can they change any previously

completed requirements.

Figure 20: Quest journal and diary for the Another Slice of H.A.M. quest

All quests incur some type of task for the player to complete. These range from collecting items (e.g. One Small Favour, My Arm’s Big Adventure), diplomacy with other realms (e.g. The

Fremennik Trials, Throne of Miscellenia), completing puzzles (e.g. Mourning’s End, Part. 2),

fighting boss monsters (e.g. Dragon Slayer), to in-depth narratives that incorporate multiple

player experiences (e.g. While Guthix Sleeps). Quests vary in length; some are very short and can

be completed in a span of thirty minutes (e.g. Rune Mysteries), and others take several hours or

days depending on how familiar the player is with the material (e.g. Mourning’s End, Part 1

63 takes a minimum of four hours). Quest difficulty ranges from Beginner to the highest-level

Grandmaster quests.

With the exception of beginner-level quests, all quests have some requirements before players may begin them. These can be low-level requirements (such as recommended level 20 combat for Vampire Slayer) to multiple high-level requirements (as for the Grandmaster quests).

Skills are common requirements, as are previous quests; the In Search of the Myreque quest occurs entirely within Morytania, which can only be accessed after completion of Priest in Peril.

Some quests that require high-level skills will still allow players to begin the quest, but they will not be able to complete it unless the task that requires the skill is completed. This is most apparent in Devious Minds, where level 68 Smithing is required to smith a thin mithril longsword. Players may begin the quest without 68 Smithing, but they cannot complete it without creating the sword. Some quests allow potions and other level-boosting items to provide the necessary level requirements; other players cannot provide Assistance to complete quest objectives.

Most quests have self-contained storylines (e.g. Legend’s Quest, where players bring peace to the Kharazi Jungle by defeating the demon Nezikchened), although some have extremely basic or non-existent ones (e.g. Sheep Shearer). Some have extremely comprehensive and painstaking storylines spread over multiple, long quests. These include the Myreque series, the Plague City series, and the Troll series. The Mahjarrat quest series, which details the fall of

RuneScape’s ancient god of chaos Zaros, incorporates over one hundred quests in total, although their relationship may not be immediately apparent to most players.

Items and experience are common rewards for completing quests. Most quests that provide experience automatically apply it to the player’s skill total, typically to a skill that was heavily used during the quest; the Desert Treasure quest gives the player 20,000 Magic experience points upon completion. Others give a player a genie lamp; completion of the

Legend’s Quest gives a player a lamp that provides four units of 7,650 experience points to any skill. Any items are automatically placed in the player’s inventory. If there is not enough space, the items will be placed on the ground or the non-player character to whom the player spoke to complete the quest will keep the items until space has been made.

All quests give the player at least one “quest point.” Quest points do not show up in a player’s high scores sheet or have any direct effect on skills. Some quests require certain amounts of quest points; e.g. Legend’s Quest requires 108 quest points before a player may begin. Quest points are also used in certain mini-games and activities, such as the Tears of

Guthix mini-game, where players are allowed to collect water that award experience for a certain amount of time dictated by the player’s total quest points. Players who complete all quests in

RuneScape and have the maximum amount of quest points may wear the Quest Point Cape, a special cape with a unique emote and high armor defense points.

A list of all quests available in RuneScape as of January 2013 may be found in Appendix

C of this document.

Mini-Games

RuneScape has a variety of mini-games that provide experience points, items, and access to new territories. Mini-games are defined as self-contained narratives that require the player’s

character to complete very specific objectives within a time limit, with multiple repetitions of the

mini-game required for progression or rewards. RuneScape’s mini-games are either single-player

or multi-player, may or may not incorporate combat or certain skills, and differ in rewards. The

most striking feature of mini-games that separates them from quests is their short duration

(typically 20 minutes long or less) that necessitates continued playing in order to achieve

maximum rewards. Like quests, mini-game rewards come in the form of weapons and armor or

skills. Since mini-games require reiteration, most mini-games provide tickets that can be

exchanged at the respective shop.

Mini-games can be “safe” or “not safe.” If a player dies in a safe mini-game, they lose no

items nor do they incur any penalties and typically can pick the mini-game back up like normal,

as in the mini-game Castle Wars. Not safe mini-games, like Bounty Hunter, cause dead players

to lose the amount of items they were previously carrying and the players’ characters are either

sent to their home city or directly outside of the mini-game.

Combat mini-games include Castle Wars, Soul Wars, Clan Wars, Bounty Hunting,

Stealing Creation, and the Mage Arena. In Castle Wars, players are divided into two teams representing Saradomin and Zamorak. One game occurs at a time, with players remaining in the waiting room of their respective teams before the next game begins. Players play a capture-the- flag game, where each team tries to storm the other’s castle and take the flag on the very top floor and bring it back to their castle. Players must fight and kill each other to facilitate capture.

Players can travel on land, across a river, and into the opposing team’s land and castle, or they can travel underground through tunnels that lead into the basement of either castle. There is an infinite stock of healing bandages that players may use on themselves or each other when low on hit points. Players can set up barricades between passages that force other characters to destroy

66 them before moving on, however barricades are impassable regardless of team. There are also explosion potions that can be used on the underground tunnels to cause cave-ins, which instantly kill players trapped beneath. The potions may also be used on barricades to instantly destroy them. The game is 20 minutes long. Each player on the team with the most flag captures earns two tickets, and the losing team receives no tickets. If there is a tie, either team earns one ticket per player. Tickets can be traded in for unique decorative armor that can be worn or made into an armor rack within a player-owned house.

Skill mini-games include Range Training, Zamorakian Magical Institute Fist of Guthix, and Vinesweeper. Range Training is located in the Ranging Guild southwest of the Seers’

Village. It is a single-player mini-game. Players are required to bring a bow and arrow. The character stands in front of a set of obstacles and shoots at a series of targets. They receive a score based on the distance of the target and the player’s Ranging level and Ranging experience.

After firing ten shots, they are given tickets equal to the player’s score multiplied by ten. Players can use these tickets to buy Ranging weapons, armor, and arrows at low prices at shops in the

Ranging Guild.

There are also special mini-games with properties unique to other mini-games. The most striking examples are Tears of Guthix and the Burthorpe Games Room. The Tears of Guthix mini-game is located beneath Lumbridge Swamp at the very end of a cave system, and it requires completion of its namesake quest. Players meet with Jena the Snake, who asks a player to tell her a story based on a recent quest. Players are then given a stone bowl to collect water running down the rocks within Jena’s cave. Collecting blue water increases the player score by one; green water decreases the player score by one. The water streams are rarely stationary for more than ten seconds, forcing the player to move around the cave looking for blue streams. The time

67 limit is determined by the player’s quest point total; more quest points allows for more time collecting the water. Once finished, the player drinks the liquid and receives experience points in their lowest-leveled skill. Tears of Guthix can be completed once per week, provided the player has completed at least one quest or gained 100,000 experience points since their most recent visit.

The Burthorpe Games Room is located northwest of Falador in the militaristic principality of Burthorpe. Players enter under the Burthorpe palace, where they enter a room filled with stations where players can challenge others to games of Checkers, Connect Four,

Reversi, and Box It. Unlike every other mini-game, the Games Room has no tangible items nor experience points as rewards. Instead, players are ranked by points based on how many games they have won. New players start with 1000 points.

Distractions and Diversions

Distractions and Diversions are similar to mini-games but can only be completed once during a certain timeframe. They frequently give medium- to high-level items or moderate levels of experience upon completion. Most Distractions and Diversions are only available once per week or once per day, such as the Circus and Penguin Hunting. They were designed by Jagex to provide alternatives to normal skill training routines.

The Circus can be completed once per week at a random location in the RuneScape world that is announced by fairy circus barkers in all major cities. Players are given a ticket that teleports them into the circus. They are asked to complete three events to earn points. The first event is Magic-based, and it requires players to levitate, perform alchemy, or destroy certain

68 items. The second event is Ranging-based; players shoot arrows at a spinning wheel or throw items at metal ducks from varying distances. The final event is Agility-based, where players perform tricks while balancing on a tightrope. Each spell, distance of shooting, and trick has a recommended level before trying; exceeding the recommended level greatly reduces the chance of failing. Players can perform emotes in between each attempt to earn more points and commendations from the circus crowd. Each player has ten attempts, after which they are given experience based on their total points and skill level, and they are presented with an article of circus clothing as per their total points. There are several skill levels of items depending on how well the character performed in the circus events.

Achievements

Achievements are sets of tasks per region of RuneScape that players can complete to earn special items that give an advantage over training or activities within the respective area. All available Achievements may be viewed under the “Achievements” tab of the user interface.

Individual tasks are short and straightforward; the “Achievements” tab tells players exactly what they have to do in order to complete them. For example, one of the requirements for completion of the Karamja Achievements is to win a round of the TzHaar Fight Pits.

Achievements are divided into four categories of successive difficulty: Beginner,

Medium, Advanced,, and Expert. The exception is the Lumbridge Achievements, which has

Very Beginner, Beginner, and Medium categories. The lower-level tasks are typically involve exploration of a town to familiarize new players to a city’s quirks and advantages; one of the

Beginner Varrock Achievements asks players to find the highest point in the city, located on top

69 of one of the churches. Higher-level tasks are typically combat, skill, and quest-related; one of the Expert Varrock Achievements is to smith an adamant platebody in the Varrock smithy, which requires 88 Smithing to perform.

Figure 21: Sample Achievement and description

Rewards for Achievements include money, skill lamps, generic yet uncommon items

(such as gems), and a unique set of armor that bestows benefits to the player’s activity within the area. There are no quest point rewards. The armor is received after the first task completed, and is available in three levels of increasing benefits as per the completion of successively more difficult Achievements. The benefits extend past simply wearing the items: the Karamja Gloves

3 (upon completing the Advanced tasks) allows players to forgo the 765 coin entry toll to the

Brimhaven Dungeon regardless of whether or not the players are currently wearing them. Each area has a unique armor type as a reward: Karamja bestows gloves, Falador bestows platelegs, etc.

INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS

Skills

The mechanisms in place for skill advancement has precedence to objective-building for three distinct reasons: 1) providing measures of competition, 2) increasing variety of benefits as training increases, 3) attributes through personal attachment. Competition is facilitated through skills (and vice versa) through means of the High Scores non-game content; skills are listed as the primary means of comparison and advancement in the High Scores between players. Players can compete with one another for placement in the high scores, increasing feelings of accomplishment and enjoyment in certain activities.

Communities have demonstrably greater efficiency levels where resourceless peer competition is encouraged (Bass & Sauers, 1990). Competition between players might demonstrate similar levels of influence on goal development. Certain aspects of RuneScape allow comparison and competition between players. The most obvious is the benefits that accompany advancement: e.g. advancement in Defense allows players’ avatars to wear higher- quality armor. Achieving level 99 in a skill allows players to wear the Cape of Accomplishment for that particular skill, which are capes customized to the respective skill that provide the highest armor bonuses and special emotes. The Capes are a tangible reward that players can wear for the rest of their gaming career; this presentational quality of advancement is likely to spur players who seek recognition from their peers over usability to train such skills.

Progression in skills through leveling up expands the activities and possibilities for gamers. For example, players who advance in the Cooking skills can cook foods that heal more health. Skills increase usability and application within many facets of the game; therefore, advancement in skills is likely to be popular objectives. Usability is important – many aspects of

RuneScape cannot be participated in without advancement in skills. For example, almost all quests have a required level of skills necessary for completion of the quest. Training areas with increased benefits – such as the Slayer Dungeon in Morytania and the Brimhaven Dungeon – require medium-leveled skills in Agility and Woodcutting for access.

Some activities within the game have specific or implied skill requirements for participation. Almost all quests have skill levels pre-determined by the game that a player must meet in order to complete the quest. Fighting high-level monsters requires high-level combat skills, else the player will die. Comparing skill levels and totals is a common way to compare the quality of accounts between players. Two skills require quests before players may train them:

Herblore highly recommends Druidic Ritual, and Summoning requires Wolf Whistle.

Skill advancement is likely to be the highest priority for new players and for low-leveled skills. Low-leveled skills are much easier to train than higher leveled skills because the experience points needed to gain the next level increases exponentially with each passing level; for example, the experience points needed to advance from level 9 to 10 in a skill is 185, from level 56 to 57 is 19,214, and from level 95 to 96 is 913,019 (XP Table). The vast majority of skills have few additional opportunities per advanced level past levels 80 or 85; the propensity to train skills is highest when the skill level is low, and skills trained to 90 and above are more likely trained for personal reasons than any intrinsic gaming benefit, other than a Cape of

Accomplishment.

Also, new players would be more likely to train skills simply so they can explore, stay

alive, and participate in more areas of the game. A new player would not be able to participate in

advanced quests, mini-games, or even arrive in certain areas without dying or being restricted

from entering at all. The effect upon players is motivation to train first, then expand to other

objectives. For example, teleporting is an extremely efficient and easy way to travel around the

RuneScape world, so players might train the Magic skill to increase the efficiency of their time

spent in the game until the major teleports are usable.

Finally, objective building through skill advancement in RuneScape is likely to be

dictated by personal appeal. Once the preliminary necessities of advancement to survive in

RuneScape are met, players will train skills they find interesting or emotionally attached. Role- playing and self-identification would play a factor; players who call themselves “mages” or

“thieves” would necessarily train the Magic and Thieving skills, respectively, more than others.

Predicting personal appeal to skills is outside the scope of this project, but it can be inferred that players would find some skills more enjoyable than other players, which would dictate what skills are trained as the avatar becomes more of a representation of the player himself (Qin et al.

2012) Personal appeal plays highly into the customizability of the avatar in RuneScape and other

MMORPGs.

Quests

Completion of quests will likely be a popular objective under two parameters: 1)

accessing features and improving usability, and 2) integration in gaming narratives.

As with Skills, completion of quests opens up a variety of options for continued

involvement in the game. Many quests allow players to visit previously unavailable territories

that enable transportation, mini-games, and even skills. New players would be especially

interested in completing Quests like Druidic Ritual and Wolf Whistle, completion of which

permit the training of the Herblore and Summoning skills, respectively. Beginner quests typically

highlight features that introduce gamers to important characteristics or infrastructure; for

example, the Sheep Shearer quest requires players to make and deliver 20 balls of wool, which

are important in Crafting. The beginner-level quest Plague City opens the previously-unavailable

area of West Ardougne to members, and it serves as the primary vehicle for several other

narratives, quests, and mini-games. Completion of these quests is necessary to beginning

exploration, interaction, and involvement within RuneScape. Therefore, it would be assumed that

new players would be attracted to completing these quests first (in addition to training low-

leveled skills).

Other quests, especially certain advanced quests, are necessary to accessing certain item

upgrades and uses. For example, completion of the advanced Shilo Village quest allows gamers to access special rocks to mine gems; in a similar vein, completion of the “grandmaster-level”

While Guthix Sleeps quest permit players to defeat extremely high-leveled and aggressive

Tortured Demons, which drop extremely valuable equipment. Other quests allow special activities and skill enhancements; completion of the Tears of Guthix quests permits access to a

mini-game that provides free experience to the avatar’s lowest-leveled skill.

However, few of the more advanced quests are as pertinent to exploration and expansion

of the gaming world as the beginner quests. The Grand Tree, Death Plateau, and Watchtower

74 quests are only some of those that facilitate basic transportation around the RuneScape world, so these quests are likely to be completed early within a player’s career.

Completing all of the quests in RuneScape allows players to purchase the Quest Point

Cape. While providing no intrinsic skill benefits, the Quest Point Cape is important for players who wish to show off their accomplishments, inferring that competition through exhibitionism would be a motivating factor between players. Players who are inspired to “complete” the game would naturally seek to complete all of the quests in the game, as finishing certain narratives would be as close to “finishing” the narrative of RuneScape as a player could conceivably approach under the no-endgame infrastructure.

A second interpretation of quests in objectives is that gamers who are entertained by a game’s narrative would be more inclined to participate in quests than those who do not. Many of

RuneScape’s quests are tied to certain storylines or events that have lasted since RuneScape’s debut over ten years ago. For example, the aforementioned Plague City is one such quest: Plague

City opens the player to the treachery of the King in Ardougne in fabricating existence of a plague to keep the country ignorant of the plague mourners’ attempts to influence a civil war in the Elflands and take over the ancient Temple of Light underneath Ardougne.

Narratives in RPGs are emotionally and cognitively engaging (Hsu et al., 2009), and although EWRPGs do not restrict players to following a storyline to sense advancement in the game, those who do would be more likely to participate in quests. The effect of narratives in quests on the gamer is a sense of interaction and involvement with the game itself, and it is assumed that quest narratives appeal to an RPG player’s curiosity and desire to learn about the gaming world while satisfying emotional appeal and attachment to characters.

Money-Making

Gold pieces are the primary medium for exchange in RuneScape, and as such making money would be an important objective for players to succeed within the world.

RuneScape has a dynamic economy that is almost completely based on values given to items by players, with guidance from Jagex Ltd. Prices can and often do fluctuate daily, although rarely more than 1-2% of the starting price. Prices are artificially kept from extreme inflation or deflation by the game engine. Players are not bound to follow these prices, but they are a suggestion as per current trends and are followed by the majority of players.

There is no trade limit; players can give as much or as little as they want to the other player. RuneScape states the approximate market price of the offered items at the bottom of the trade window so each player knows roughly how much they are giving to the other. The price is correlated to the relative values of items as exchanged between players. World 1 and World 2 are popular trading worlds for non-members and members, respectfully.

“Merching” is the process by which players predict market trends by looking at announced updates or price graphs for individual items on the Grand Exchange area and try to buy items at low prices to see them at peaks. For example, if a new high-leveled quest is about to come out, a marching player might purchase a lot of high-leveled armor before the quest comes out in the hopes that prices will rise when the new quests comes out and characters with high combat levels will drive up prices for armor as the gamers attempt the new quest. Previously, clans would buy huge amounts of certain items to inflate the price and sell them at much higher than the price; this is looked down upon by the community and Jagex Ltd. (some players believe

76 merching is an unfair means of gaining money that does not require abject skill advancement), although it is not formally against the rules as of February 2012.

Merching would be a possible objective for experienced players who wish to use making money as a primary goal within the game. Lower-leveled players may not have the experience to understand the fluctuations and perturbations with RuneScape’s economic system. Therefore, it is far more likely that extreme methods of influencing the economy would be attempted only by experienced players who understand the quirks of the Grand Exchange price policy and demands of players. As per Allison et al.’s (2011) research in innovation communities, actively engaged, long-term members of a community are more likely to understand the idiosyncrasies of a system, and therefore be able to manipulate the system to personal and community gain.

Combat

Combat has many uses in RuneScape, and as such is likely to be an objective that will be maintained and updated many times over a player’s career. The most immediate concern of combat is fear of dying: new avatars in RuneScape start at very low levels and could easily be killed by most enemies and monsters, including those just outside of the starter town of

Lumbridge. Death in RuneScape is unforgiving; the player typically only keeps their three most valuable possessions, and all others are dropped to the ground at the location where the avatar was killed. The gamer is likely to have a functional approach toward combat: training is more to protect the avatar from dying and to facilitate exploration of the world. Neophytes forgoing combat training would quickly learn the ease of which a fresh avatar dies in the world.

Therefore, combat would be an initial major objective simply to avoid death.

Once initial requisites of exploration of the world and a satisfactorily trained combat level to reduce the chance of death are satisfied, combat takes more of a specialized route. There are very few combat requirements necessary for exploration of certain areas, and the exceptions are quests and special high-leveled boss dungeons. Therefore, players are able to focus on training whatever combat skills they want, be it Range, Magic, or the Melee statistics. These are left to personal choice by the player, as each aspect of combat is balanced through weaknesses and strengths over the others.

Players who seek specific items might kill monsters and players for their drops. Dragons and cows both drop hides that are used in the Crafting skill, and dragonhides can sell for over

2,000 gold pieces per hide as of March 2013. Common drops include small amounts of coins

(especially against mid-level enemies) and low-level weapons or armor. Rarer drops include gems and high-level weapons or armor (such as dragon armor). Many monsters have special or unique items; abyssal entities are the only enemies in the game that drop RuneCrafting pouches, with greatly expedite the production of runes. Clue scrolls are dropped by very specific monsters, the highest-leveled of which may provide extremely rare and valuable items. Therefore, more advanced players would likely turn to combat as a way of making money and gaining items.

Achieving high levels of combat is inferred to be a popular objective for very experienced players of the game. Naturally, achieving the maximum combat level, requiring level 99 in all combat skills, permits a player to engage in combat with practically any monster in the RuneScape game. Boss and high-leveled monsters typically drop expensive or rare materials; achieving high combat levels is important to players who wish to fight these monsters.

According to Svebak’s (1992) research, games featuring action, combat, and fighting

initiate statistically significant increases of dopamine and adrenaline compared to control groups

that did not feature combat-oriented games. Gamers who participate in combat may be drawn to

it for the sake of the pleasure response initiated in the body during a successful or particularly

challenging battle. Gamers who seek the adrenaline rush may be drawn to train combat more

than non-combat skills.

Svebak’s (1992) research may also predict a gamer’s propensity to participate in

engaging other human characters in combat, referred to in-game as “player-killing.” Player-

killing may provide the same excitement and increases of adrenaline, and these feelings may be

magnified by the fact characters are killing other players’ characters rather than those generated

by the game. Competition and arousal would drive gamers to innovate new or combat type-

specific methods of efficient killing, as corroborated by the research on innovative communities

by Allison et al. (2011).

Alternative Tasks

Alternative tasks are defined as tasks that are not necessarily supported by the main

gaming system and might be hindered by the gaming infrastructure. Alternative tasks in

RuneScape come in two forms: challenges and unconventional tasks. Challenges are objectives with specific parameters that go against typical gaming pathways to achieve the goal, such as training 99 Defense without training any of the other combat skills, a daunting undertaking as

Attack and Strength dictate how often and how hard a player hits. Unconventional tasks are

objectives that encourage collecting or participation in the game that would not be proposed

under normal conditions and add little or no benefit to the players’ advancement in the game.

Alternative tasks are well-documented and common among experienced players, such as

a player named x_zerker_x’s (2007) goal of collecting 1,000,000 burnt sharks, an essentially

useless item from the byproduct of failing to cook sharks, because “burnt sharks are shiny and

they look cool.” A challenge task would be Will Miss It’s (2010) goal of achieving 99 Slayer at

level 3 combat, which was at the time the lowest combat level possible in the game when Slayer

could only be trained through combat.

Players might participate in alternative asks simply because functional objectives bore

them. Once players have progressed far enough into a game and trained skills, completed quests,

and explored areas to the point where further exploration is unnecessary, they might have little to

do but create new challenges for themselves in order to keep the game novel and interesting.

Alternative tasks keep players engaged in a game that might have become dull in between major

updates to the RuneScape game engines.

The innovative methods and goals created by characters follow the innovation

community procedure set by Allison et al. (2011), as the players who are most comfortable with

the system push the boundaries of the game. Also, alternative tasks encourage advanced gamers

to test their limits and gauge the development of their playing strategies. By implementing

custom challenging but not implausible parameters, gamers play RuneScape under their own rules, further integrating their cognitive strategies accumulated over their playing history into the idiosyncrasies of the gaming architecture.

The multiplayer component of RuneScape might also be important in judging the proclivity of a gamer to participate in alternative tasks. Those who create challenges typically seek recognition from peers, whether it is through intrinsic rewards such as the Capes of

Accomplishment or through recognition on fan sites. Multiplayer EWRPGs increase the propensity to receive peer recognition, especially in a game like RuneScape which may host over

100,000 members at any given moment (Members’ Benefits).

CHAPTER V

FOCUS GROUP ONE: EWRPG ANALYSIS

The four members sat at a conference table with the moderator sitting in front of them for

the first half and among the participants for the second half. A projector displayed the RuneScape game in full view of the participants. A video camera and audio recorder were used to document and transcribe the discussion. To protect anonymity, no names were used during the recording, and only the participants’ voices were recorded. All participants read and signed an informed consent statement, which may be found in Appendix D at the end of this document.

The first half of the focus group focused on discussing avenues of objective development and general role-playing games. The moderator logged into RuneScape through an anonymous non-member account to demonstrate a sample role-playing game during the second half of the focus group. The moderator explored the game with the participants, and asked them about areas to visit and what the players would do if they were that specific character. Sample questions may be found in Appendix A at the end of this document.

Interpretation and coding of the focus group occurred after conclusion of the group. The video and audio footage were removed from the devices and transcribed for analysis. The transcripts were read over, discussed, and compared to existing research and the results of the

RuneScape content analysis. The information presented here is qualified by stating whether the data came from the participants’ words or was inferred in post-discussion analysis.

Versatility and Customizability

The participants identified versatility and customizability as the primary structural facilitators of objective-building in EWRPGs. Through post-discussion analysis of the results, it is inferred without these two qualities, EWPRG-playing experiences would be less enjoyable, engaging, and innovative through player interactions.

Versatility, according to the participants, incorporates implementing a wide variety of activities, such as exploration. Post-discussion analysis surmised that EWRPGs are most effective when the gaming space resembles a “sandbox,” a wide-open world rather than a direct linear route for gameplay. Players can do what they want in the area and are only limited by achievement parameters such as skills, the game architecture/technical infrastructure, and the items programmed to be available in the game. It is inferred that versatility is important to objective-building by providing a basic framework of activities that allows players to satisfy the goals they see fit for enjoyment and advancement.

The participants defined customizability as the ability of the avatar to adapt to present conditions, such as skill training. They stated that customizability provides the technical structure for unique player development; players have different strengths, weaknesses, skills trained, quests completed, etc. because their characters are not linearly developed along the same narrative. In post-discussion analysis of the focus group and comparison with the RuneScape content analysis, the definition of versatility was expanded to include adaptation to certain situations and characteristics that are defined by the player rather than the game; for example, players may choose to purchase a tinderbox rather than a knife, or complete the Cook’s Assistant

quest in RuneScape before Rune Mysteries. Therefore, customizability enables objective- building by providing players with the infrastructure to pursue their own devices in the game.

According to the participants, the exception to the customizability parameter is in the

very beginning of playing a new EWRPG. All participants prefer a linear exploration of major

game features, such as a tutorial, or at least are given a set of beginner goals and directions to

novice gamer areas so the gamers can learn how to play the game without frustration. It is

inferred that players prefer a “sandbox”-type setting, but without a basic instruction tool to

learning the basics of the game, it is difficult for players to create functional objectives.

Common Objectives

According to the participants, gamers’ choices of objectives are dictated by two main

necessities within the game: “usability” and self-interest. Gamers do not randomly choose or

fulfill objectives; they are specifically set by players early in their engagement with the EWRPG.

In post-discussion analysis, it was discovered that these objectives are persistent, yet fluctuate in

influence over time as gamers’ priorities change.

Participants 2 and 4 identified usability is the most powerful decider for objective-

building in all EWRPGs, of which the others agreed. Participant 4 stated that usability is the

primary decider for whether or not a skill gets trained, after basic necessities are fulfilled (e.g.

basic teleports or combat requirements). In the words of Participant 4, “if a skill you enjoy

cannot be applied, why train it?” Some game abilities, such as certain spells in RuneScape and

Skyrim, have “effects that are cool,” but if players rarely find practical ways of using the spells,

they are rarely used.

It is inferred that the concept of usability is especially important early in gamers’ career with a particular EWRPG. At the start of playing a new game or avatar, the major priority of the participants is simply not dying. Participant 1 stated the player must be functional in the way they approach the character and the game; for example, the most commonly trained skills would likely be those that “lower the risk of dying” rather than any aesthetic or specialized benefit.

After ameliorating or at the least lessening the fear of dying, the participants stated that avatars can become more specialized in their training: once players can safely explore and complete more varied objectives, they act toward a specific skill set rather than indiscriminate training.

The participants stated that every gamer has his or her “specific archetype” they fulfill within a game, which typically becomes more powerful of a deciding factor for objectives once a gamer progresses further into the system. For example, a player might train Ranged instead of

Magic or the melee combat skills in RuneScape simply due to personal preference. According to

Participant 4, EWRPGs have “a lot of features,” so as players satisfy “basic skills and life- saving, [they] find a particular set of tasks that [they] like” and work toward those instead. If a player enjoys spellcasting, he or she “[may] say ‘hey I want to do that’ [rather] than farm or craft.” Therefore, it is assumed in post-discussion analysis that personal enjoyment of a skill directly affects specialization and future objectives, as players who are no longer neophytes to the game will gravitate toward goals they enjoy now that they have experienced what is offered by the EWRPG.

Aesthetics

Appearances and aesthetics are important qualities in objectives with negligible or little effect on the overall quality of the avatar. For example, according to Participant 3, weapons that

“look good” but have slightly less quality attack statistics may be favored over items that are stronger but less visually appealing. Participant 4 described his use of a sword in RuneScape rather than a warhammer; although the warhammer was the “stronger weapon,” the player favored the appearance of the sword and chose to use it.

Long-term objectives whose completion brings intrinsic rewards with little use other than visual accolades were not positively accepted by the focus group. This is an important observation with regards to the Skill Capes in the RuneScape content analysis; all of the participants agreed that the time investment needed to achieve level 99 in RuneScape means that the aesthetic quality and the accolades from other players will not be good predictors for whether or not they achieve that level. As Participant 4 stated, “regardless of how much I’m into a game… if it’s just for a cape, I wouldn’t do it.” The participants would rather hone the skills they find “interesting;” achieving level 99 for the “bragging rights” (according to Participant 2) of a

Skill Cape is not as interesting or enjoyable as simply training skills players enjoy and are pertinent to the specialization of their character.

Therefore, the discussion leads to the conclusion that aesthetics are likely a good predictor for satisfaction of short-term or micro-objectives, such as in deciding what weapon a player should purchase. However, aesthetics are likely to be a poor predictor for long-term goals, due to the time investment required on behalf of the player, and the lack of intrinsic benefits toward usability, which accolades from other players would not satisfy.

Fear of Death

Avoiding death is the greatest priority of all focus group participants in their first engagement with an EWRPG. As discussed, death has intrinsic drawbacks to player development; in many EWRPGs, a player who dies loses items, points, and/or other game elements and is typically sent to a new location instead of starting again where they died. Dying is a large “time investment” within the game, according Participants 3 and 4, so dying can lower the player’s desire to engage with the game if they die at lower levels. Therefore, new players would prioritize their time spent in the game on training so they can explore the game without fear of dying.

Stronger characters have a much wider range of activities in which they may participate.

As Participant 4 stated, “if you’re strong, you’re free to do whatever you want, so initial training is a priority.” The focus group participants fear death because of the time it takes to gather items and returning to the geographic location where they died. Fear of dying is based on how characters “will be whole again, and how long it will take [characters] to get back [to where they were] once [they’ve] died.” Confronting and lessening a gamer’s fear of dying through training the avatar is important to lower the “opportunity cost” of traveling to new areas.

As the fear of dying decreases due to training or progressing in skills that make the avatar stronger, the player is open to more objectives outside of functional use. The focus group participants stated that once the avatar is able to explore areas and complete more tasks without dying, their objectives begin to fit the aforementioned categories of specialization and self- interest more than the route functional use in which early training takes precedence. Once death

is no longer a factor in training, player objectives become more unique as to their archetype of

playing rather than the game’s parameters for player development.

Alternative Tasks

In the words of Participant 1, alternative tasks and participating in goals not necessarily

supported or defined by any standard measurement of progression are attractive simply because

they are “fun.” Once a player has completed objectives or achievements and has progressed far

into the game, it becomes more attractive to do tasks that are more about enjoyment rather than

those that have any intrinsic benefit toward progression in the game. Whereas early training is

about the end reward – be it a new combat level, an item, or completing a quest – progression

through the game in later stages of playing is more about “having a lot of fun trying to do [the

goal],” which is why alternative tasks become more common.

Alternative tasks do not necessarily become popular after extensive leveling or

completion of a main narrative, although they are more common late in a gamer’s career. They

“occur during main playing time,” as stated by Participant 2, when a player is still actively

completing intrinsically beneficial goals. When players first begin a game, their priority is

avoiding death and gaining knowledge of the virtual world. Over time and progression of goals,

players can “do the fun stuff because [they] know what [they’re] doing,” and can take advantage

of the quirks of a game, which require substantial playing time to identify. For example,

Participant 2 discussed a video of the single-player EWRPG Skyrim, in which a player taped his avatar dropping a large wheel of cheese down a mountain and the cheese’s resultant “explosion”

88 into thousands of other cheese wheels. There was no purpose to this other than personal entertainment.

Exploration

All of the participants agreed that, when beginning a game, they are attracted to the aspect most highly advertised by other players, and that in EWRPGs, this feature is almost always exploration, which in turn dictates the need for training basic skills early in the playing career. The participants stated that they will explore “the entirety of an area” before moving on to new ones, and it is inferred that gamers will interact with as many facets as they can before moving to the next region, possibly noting what proficiencies they require for any currently off- limits portions.

Exploring is an important objective because gamers need to understand the system and, as stated by Participant 2, “get a feel for the game.” Understanding the “limit of the space” which avatars may explore dictates the development of objectives as delineated by whatever the limit is. It is inferred that if the limit were monsters and enemies, initial objectives would steer toward exploring combat areas; if it were physical boundaries or the game simply has not been developed further, then objectives might focus on specialization sooner in the gamers’ career.

Combat

Combat has many attractions for EWRPG players. The participants acknowledged that

RuneScape’s simplistic combat system made it more enjoyable; while easy to understand, the

89 combat system provides enough quirks and customizability through choosing weapons, armor, and playing strategies that it was enticing to discover tricks and specific combinations to maximize killing potential.

Participant 4 stated that a friend of his spurred his interest in the game through the multiplayer aspect of combat: player-killing. For this participant, combat was a “social gathering.” Player-killing was fun, and it was a way to involve his friends while retaining the personal enjoyment of combat. Participant 3 stated it was a way for himself as one with military background that combat is a way to “strategize” and insert his history into the character, which could possibly hint at the impact of disparate influences in gamers’ lives influencing similar aspects of gameplay.

As previously discussed, the participants acknowledged that the main attraction toward training combat is the fear of death. Once the fear of death from monsters (and, in the case of the

Wilderness, other players) has been alleviated, functional combat is less of a priority, and training combat becomes specialized, curtailed for other skills, or undertaken out of enjoyment.

It is inferred that combat becomes more entertaining and attractive due to supplementary skill training (such as the Slayer skill in RuneScape) and the items that monsters drop upon death.

Narratives

According to the focus group, quests are “very appealing.” Every city has a “different story and background,” and the participants enjoyed understanding the history of the game, such as why certain enemies attack their character. Diversity in the game’s storylines keeps the virtual world and its inhabitants more “cognitively and emotionally interesting,” according to

Participant 2. An inference from the discussion is that quests are fun not only because of the intrinsic benefits of rewards upon completion, but also because gamers use quests to escape into a new reality and history within the world.

Narrative appeal is pertinent to the predilections of the gamer rather than any specific factor in quests. There were no factors discussed by the participants that make quests more attractive to complete over others. The participants only stated that diversity in quests and narratives is important. Therefore, one can assume that no matter what the content of the quest is, if the same tasks are repeated through each individual quest, the narratives cease to be interesting.

Emotional Contexts

According to the participants, the objectives created by gamers become important to satisfy certain emotional connotations. When gamers make a decision, they “impact the gaming world” in their own relation to the game rather than any actual physical or functional change occurring to the architecture. According to the post-discussion analysis, once the gamer has satisfied the requirements of base usability, exploration, and specialization, the emotional connotations that gamers associate with certain spaces become strong identifying factors for play. Certain areas, whether due to narratives, frequent visitation, or other factors, become emotionally appealing, and gamers are more likely to visit them over spaces with similar activities.

The focus group universally declared that the longer a player engages with a game, the greater role that emotional interests play in objective-making. Unlike specialization and

exploration, further objectives are contextualized, and they are all unique in however the player

related to the avatar in that space. It is inferred that gamers build quasi-relationships with non-

player characters and will become attached to certain characters. Participant 2 mentioned his

disappointment at the end of a quest when he had to choose a character to kill who had been with

the player throughout the entire game. Participant 4 stated there were instances where he was “so

emotionally attached to a character” that he could not “play without that character” in role-

playing games. In RuneScape, Participants 1 and 2 stated they only fought particular monsters in very specific areas because of the memories and “good times” associated with those areas.

Therefore, it is inferred that gamers who have had long-term engagements with EWRPGs become more likely to participate in objectives in a traditional sense, with functionality becoming almost negligible. The participants stated that it was common to stay in a certain area to train. They found a “hub” to regularly visit and decide what aspect of the game to undertake next. Objectives are defined by any parameters set by the game and more by the memories and emotional connotations that gamers share with the architecture. Some skills, such as Fletching and Crafting, can be trained in any location, so players might choose to train these skills in certain cities despite not receiving any additional intrinsic benefit from doing so.

Process of Objective-Building

From the participants’ statements and post-discussion analysis of the focus group, there is a clear 4-stage process of objective-building that gamers might take. New gamers in specific

EWRPGs will take a functional approach to playing. It is inferred that objectives will be based on building knowledge on the game to prevent death. Exploration and basic skill training are,

92 therefore, the most common early goals. Exploration allows players to figure out the parameters of the game, and basic skill training will ameliorate some dangers while expanding the world at hand.

Once the requirements of base usability are satisfied, during the second stage gamers will focus on specialization and activities that are relevant to progression but enjoyable. For example, a gamer might choose to participate in skills that complement each other, such as Mining,

Smithing, and Crafting in RuneScape. Third, as players become more familiar with the virtual world, they will identify quirks in the game, and perhaps develop alternative tasks out of enjoyment. The gamers then evolve into an emotional game-playing format, where narratives and quasi-relationships with spaces are favored over usability. Gamers will begin to participate in what is most personally appealing to them as they become more comfortable with their avatar.

In the last stage, the players will participate in traditional activities based on past memories and cognitive associations with the space.

CHAPTER VI

FOCUS GROUP TWO: GAMING ARCHITECTURE

The three members sat at a conference table with the moderator sitting among the participants. A projector displayed participant-created game maps in full view of the participants.

A video camera and audio recorder were used to document and transcribe the discussion. To protect anonymity, no names were used during the recording, and only the participants’ voices were recorded.

This discussion involved the displaying of each map in front of the participants in order of submission. Each participant e-mailed his or her completed map to the researcher. The participants were told by the moderator to treat the submitted maps as if they were real gaming spaces and they had characters interacting with the world. The two participants who did not create the map under discussion were asked to identify any possible objectives or areas of interest in the gaming architecture in which they would like to participate. Afterwards, the creator of the map was asked his or her intents and purposes in putting together certain objectives in the game, and why some parts of map were designed as they were.

All map tiles, sample questions in the focus group, and correspondence between researcher and participant may be found in Appendix B at the end of this document.

Interpretation and coding of the focus group occurred after conclusion of the group. The audio footage was removed from the devices and transcribed for analysis. The transcripts were read over, discussed, and compared to existing research. The maps were matched with the

94 descriptions in the discussion. Further review of the maps was necessitated to ensure accuracy in the interpretation. The information presented here is divided between the statements of the focus group participants’ discussions and the post-discussion analysis.

Map 1 Discussion

The participants noted that the white structure toward the right side of the map was a starting point, ending point, or final boss. It is an “outdoorsy map,” according to Participant 3, whose primary focus is exploration. The participants identified the water as delineating major landmarks and areas, while also providing activities such as swimming. The doors in the corners of the maps could be portals, where players enter them and appear on another side of the map.

The middle area was called a “warrior zone,” where players meet and fight, or where “cheap enemies” that are easy to kill are located to gain experience points. The creator of the map identified it as a strategy RPG, where the four cabins in the corners were starting points for a multiplayer game.

Figure 22: Map 1

Map 2 Discussion

The participants stated that the second map’s main castle was apt for exploring and appeared to be a dungeon or other major “level” that a hero character would complete. The focus group stated that the castle would likely have challenges the character would need to beat. The outside campfires would be “save points” that players could stop at before entering the castle, which was corroborated by the map’s creator. Participant 3 stated that the castle would be

“bigger than lets on” and have a second, larger map inside, much in the way that the Legend of

Zelda games have expansive dungeons within seemingly innocuous chambers, with which the creator agreed. Another participant stated that the castle seemed foreboding.

Figure 23: Map 2

Map 3 Discussion

The participants identifiedied three distinct structures. The bottom one is ann entranceway through which characters walk to access either the right or left area. Participantt 2 called the right structure a “temple,” with the statairs leading into the temple area. The left area is an arena for fighting, with the grass part beinging where the fighting takes place and the surroununding layout being the seating.

Players would have to gueuess which area to explore first, and the participapants noted that it is more interesting to have choiceices because they can explore the areas individualally and then regroup in the bottom area. Particticipant 1 identified a “morality decision” in thiss map:m the choice the player takes would dictate whwhat kind of character into which the avatar develelops. The map’s creator and Participant 2 stated ththe temple and fighting area “represent duality”, throught fire and water and through the nature-thememed grass area versus the obviously human-cononstructed temple.

Figure 24: Map 3

Analysis and Interpretation

According to all map discussions, it was inferred that gamers are attracted to major recognizable physical structures. For example, in the first map, all of the participants noted the large white structures that could be starting or ending points in the game. Geographical areas dictate skill training; for example, a clump of woods was discussed as being apt for combat training in preparation for a final boss. Landscapes promote exploration and finding objects.

Gamers identify large expanses as conducive to combat. This might be due to no other features being present, so the gamer fills in the space with non-player characters. The discussions of maps 1 and 3 incorporated an open area identified as being an arena or area for fighting.

An interesting dichotomy that the participants noted was the juxtaposition of human and natural structures having favor for conflict and exploration, respectively. For example, in Map 1, the water area was theorized to provide multiple activities such as swimming and leading the gamers into the newest area. However, human areas are more often associated with tension. The participants called the castle in Map 2 a “dungeon” where gamers would battle monsters. The temple in Map 3 was identified as a source of “conflict” and “power struggles.” Human structures are also identified by the participants as being bases or hubs for player support than landscapes.

Centerpieces are associated with major experiences within game narratives or hubs and are indicative of game-favored parameters for progression, i.e. objectives the gaming infrastructure supports. For example, the castle structure in Map 2 was instantly associated with a dungeon system to complete a major aspect of the game. The participants identified the castle as an “intrinsic accomplishment;” exploring the castle would provide direct benefits to the player’s

98 standing in the game. The emphasis of structures like the castle provide incentives for player to see what is inside. Therefore, centerpiece structures are automatically paired with cognitive associations that favor “narrative consequence” and move a player toward fundamental benefits rather than being side-quests or alternative tasks. Small structures outside of centerpieces are identified as support features, such as the campfires being save points where the player would be safe from harm.

Objective-building might be facilitated through gaming architecture through the proximity of major landscapes. According to the discussion of Map 3, the sequestered yet adjacent placement of the structures identified as a temple and an arena are cognitively interesting because they force the player to choose. This, in turn, adds to the replayability and continued enjoyment of a game because minute choices dictate the experience of the game.

Landmarks that are close to each other imply a narrative bond, so gamers may develop objectives curtailed to adopting one or more playing strategies in exploring the space. The imagination is stimulated by pre-determined possibilities.

Smaller features invite experimentation. For example, the cabin doors in Map 1 were identified as possibly being portals that transported characters around the map. It is inferred that this might be due to smaller features having less potential for containing major quest lines or stories; exploration is more likely to occur in major physical landscapes or infrastructures.

Therefore, small distinct regions are more likely to be functional or have special purposes tied to a narrative or feature.

CHAPTER VII

CONCLUSION

Discussion of Results

As inferred from the results, the single most important objective in any gamer’s career within an EWRPG is exploration. Exploration is the route of all objective-building. In the beginning, gamers explore the space to acquire a feel for the virtual world and understand how it operates. Exploration is functionally approached; it serves to introduce the player to this new world. Players seek to understand the parameters of the world and what activities are off-limits or increase the risk of death at low levels.

As gamers develop their characters, exploration mostly ceases to be about the gaming world than the player exploring the infrastructure and quirks of the game. Once a gamer has identified their specialization after training basic skills, they will explore better ways to expedite training and become more efficient with their time in the game; as a participant in Focus Group

One stated, playing EWRPGs requires a major “time investment” that becomes a serious parameter to certain goal building. Players understand their time in the world is limited and in an expansive game like an EWRPG, activities must be limited. Therefore, exploration becomes less focused on the virtual world itself and more focused on the intrinsic qualities of the game that make certain activities more appealing to the player. Once these activities are identified, the player seeks to efficiently progress or complete them.

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Exploration is also discussed in the concept of narratives. Narratives are an important

aspect in EWPRGs not due to any perceived endgame, but because gamers steadily build

cognitive associations and emotional connotations with various aspects of the game. It is inferred

from Focus Group One and Two that gamers uniquely identify with narratives. For some,

narratives are built into the game through quests and similar features built into the game,

however narratives may also take on the context of quasi-relationships built with various

characters and spaces. As gamers become more inclined to visit or train specific places of the

game, they become more attached and interested in these locations and will often spend more

time there due to a “homey” feeling developed.

Quasi-relationships also become important in how gamers relate to and interact with non-

player characters within the virtual world. For example, a non-player character who assists the

gamer’s avatar may increase the gamer’s desire to associate with quests or spaces that character

inhabits. In RuneScape, the gnome wizard Brimstail features in several important quests and

gives the player items in their journey; through this research, it is inferred that gamers would

seek to involve themselves with quests that feature Brimstail and feel sadness upon Brimstail’s

death in the While Guthix Sleeps quest.

The content analysis of RuneScape and the focus groups elucidated several major features of which games may take advantage in their infrastructure to facilitate the development of goals.

For example, centerpieces and key identifiable structures are immensely attractive to gamers, especially new players. These areas are cognitively loaded with imagery that inspire gamers to explore, complete, and discover hidden features of the area. As discussed in Focus Group One, gamers will typically seek to explore the entirety of a space before moving on to the next, so

101 landmarks such as castles and dungeons (e.g. Varrock and the Sanguinesti Region in RuneScape) will be extremely attractive to players.

Perception of progression in EWRPGs changes over time. In the beginning, progression is often valued by intrinsic changes in the avatar, such as training and leveling up of skills, completion of quests, and the obtainment of high quality items, such as weapons and armor.

However, as how exploration and skill training lowers in functional approach and becomes more about emotional and traditional connotations, progression becomes more about the player’s relationships with the game, characters, and other gamers if participating in a multiplayer

EWRPG. Progression becomes uniquely defined by the player as dictated by their own interests

– for example, a player may view completion of all quests as progressing through RuneScape rather than achieving level 99 in a skill.

Alternative tasks are entertaining less due to any progression in the game as much as for the player to simply “have fun” in the game and its eccentricities. Advanced players seek to complete alternative tasks not because they are bored with the existing game parameters; alternative tasks become attractive because the gamer wants to continue seeing how they can test the game’s boundaries and continue exploring and appreciating its quirks. They occur over the

“main playing time” of the game, as the player continues to complete other goals that measure inherent progression, such as skills and quests.

The most common problem that arises in objective-building might be any restrictions placed by the game, whether by the parameters of the gaming architecture or player inadequacy.

The gaming architecture will restrict any objectives that are not directly supported by the game; for example, a player will not be able to unlock all teleports in a game if the game does not have

102 a magic system. In RuneScape, players cannot swim from location to location because swimming is not a feature in the game, as of April 2013. Game architecture cannot be reconciled with player’s objectives; the only way an objective could be satisfied is if the infrastructure were to change, which might never happen if the game is not updated or platform-based, as with Skyrim.

Player inadequacy refers to the avatar itself not meeting intrinsic or implied restrictions of the game to permit satisfaction of an objective. An intrinsic restriction would be an avatar in

RuneScape not being able to cut down yew trees because yew trees require level 60 Woodcutting and the character’s level is only 36. An implied restriction would be combat: an avatar with combat level 3 would certainly not be able to defeat the green dragon Elvarg at the end of the

Dragon Slayer quest simply because their combat level is not high enough to defend against the dragon’s breath. However, unlike inherent restrictions by game architecture, player inadequacy can be reconciled with objectives simply by training or ameliorating the restricting factor. For example, a player who wishes to complete the Dragon Slayer quest would simply have to train combat; they are not barred from finishing the quest forever.

Additionally, this research provides application to the research of parasocial relationships. Just as viewers of television shows develop emotional attachments to the characters on-screen, this research demonstrated that players can develop similar relationships with characters in virtual spaces. However, unlike TV series which demonstrate “real” people on screen (in the fact that there are actors and recognizably human voices), video game non-player characters are decidedly not “real” and only inhabit the virtual space, yet players still develop emotional attachments with those characters.

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As with quasi-relationships, cognitive labels are an important deciding factor in exploration and advancement, particularly in the beginning of a game before relationships are formed. At the start of a new EWRPG, gamers do not have any prior knowledge or connotations associated with the virtual world, so their attractions are generally dependent on any existing schema formed from previous role-playing gaming or real-life experiences. For example, the castle in Map 2 from Focus Group Two was universally described as “foreboding” and likely the location of dungeons, yet the participants had never played or seen that map beforehand, with the exception of the map designer. Cognitive labels are important distinctions by gamers in deciding where the gamer should first spend substantial time after initial exploration of the basic functions of the game has been satisfied, therefore playing a large role in the development of the avatar.

Ramifications and Applications

This research could be applied in game design by elucidating to developers certain aspects of player engagement that promote various goals. Also, this research could be used as proof that players typically engage in goals far different than those implemented or suggested by the game infrastructure itself, so developers can appeal to innovative role-playing gamers. While this thesis did not focus on the virtual architecture as deeply as the players’ cognitive processes, game designers could use the results to identify important features in game that promote objective-building, specifically those of Focus Group 2.

The effect of this research upon the gaming industry is illumination of player cognition and the players’ ability to create and define objectives for themselves rather than the game imparting strict measures of advancement. As per Focus Group 1, gamers will always find ways

104 to advance and progress in the game according to their own desires and personal involvement with the game, so this research promotes the increase of content in a game rather than defined methods of progression. It is inferred that players will be more likely to sustain engagement with an EWRPG when the advancement parameters are loose and the endgame is not defined.

The ramifications for the field of cybergeography are further elucidation of human cognitive processes in relation to virtual worlds and identification of players to their avatars.

Gamers, according to this thesis, respond to the gaming world according to their time spent with the game, perceived progression, and spiritual connections. This research supports the hypothesis that gamers’ involvement with virtual worlds instigates the development of emotional connotations with certain aspects, including the players’ character and the world itself. The avatar becomes more of an extension of the self as goals become delineated toward players’ personal interests and less out of necessity.

The content analysis provides framework for further analyses on EWRPGs and

MMORPGs. Beforehand, few serious discussions centered on gaming infrastructure involved in- depth content analyses, with the exception of gaming addiction or violence in gaming (Hsu et al.,

2009). This thesis provides a structure for which further researchers may design projects aimed at identifying specific virtual architecture that promotes or impedes various cognitive processes or interactions with the space.

The process of forming quasi- and parasocial relationships may elucidate addiction behaviors outside of video gaming. For example, this research demonstrated that people who play video games begin developing traditional relationships based on emotional connotations with the space rather than any actual functional improvement with the character. This may

105 provide insight into why people stay in dead-end jobs that have no prospect for advancement: perhaps the tradition of working at the same place and having emotional connotations to the people and space in which the job is set. Additionally, relationship and marriage counselors may use the idea of parasocial relationships with spaces to explain why couples remain in relationships that are clearly not working – perhaps the couples have developed traditional attachments to each other that are difficult to break, despite the functional intrinsic benefits of the relationship having disappeared.

This thesis qualifies existing literature on innovative communities. Members of a system achieve highest levels of proficiency within systems that are designed around innovation; the technology serves the goals rather than the goals developed after the system (Allison et al.,

2011). As inferred by the participants of the focus groups, EWRPGs are most enjoyable and promote player interaction when the parameters for advancement are loosely defined, which allows players to carve out their own interests and methods of viewing success in the game. The effect on the research is corroboration that innovation favors systems that keep goal development in the hands of the user rather than the system itself.

Finally, businesses could use this research to create innovative environments for their users and employees. The concept of objective-making in functional spaces could be applied to workplaces. For example, in early stages of research and development of a new product, the firm could frequently provide employees with new tasks and design projects related to the new product so that ideas are kept fresh and in the functional stage of goal development. Therefore, projects that are of lower quality are not manufactured simply because employees developed emotional attachments to the project.

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Limitations

The focus groups were recruited from a large communications studies course on campus from Florida State University; however either focus group had a small pool of actual participants: four for Focus Group 1 and three for Focus Group 2. The small amount of participants might have sacrificed diversity for the sake of in-depth conversations with the members. Racial demographics were not fully represented (one African-American, two

Hispanics), and only one female participated in the study, despite males and females sharing nigh-equal representation (ESA). The age range was 18-22, so despite 30 being the age of the average gamer (ESA), the participants’ were skewed toward the younger demographic. This unequal representation of gamers could have influenced the results by describing the objective- making process of only younger gamers.

Additionally, the focus groups could have been victim to selection bias. The participants may have been gamers who want to participate in the focus group and were highly invested in video games, as opposed to beginners. However, there were some players who had experience in other forms of gaming, such as shooting games. The small amount of participants might skew the results to applying to gamers already at the emotional/traditional level of the objective-making timeline, which might obfuscate the process of creating goals at lower levels of experience.

Only one researcher performed the content analysis on the EWRPG RuneScape, in addition to the other duties required in the thesis project. It is likely that having only one researcher analyze RuneScape limited the amount of coding and schematics could be analyzed. A limitation of the project was having only one member perform the entire analysis; as described in

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Chapter IV, the game is immensely expansive; multiple researchers performing a content analysis might have increased its quality.

No single-player EWRPGs were analyzed. While Focus Group 1 discussed games such as Skyrim, only multiplayer games were the specific discussion of the content analysis and Focus

Group 2. Interplay between players was often discussed but rarely delved into deeper; the thesis focused on the individual’s propensity to making certain objectives, and it might have benefited from further discussions in multiplayer capacities.

Although multiplayer effects were discussed, there was no clear discussion on the limitations or expansions in goals granted to a player based on interpersonal gaming relationships. The multiplayer effect was discussed chiefly in terms of economics and ideas for interactions between players (such as the fight zone discussed in Focus Group 2), rather than the actual players’ relationships. The effect of peer pressure on gamers’ objectives was never measured. For example, joining a clan could push a player to train skills important for the clan rather than the individual player, or more time would be spent in multiplayer activities that are not measurable achievements like skills and quests, adding another facet to the Alternative

Tasks.

Avenues for Future Study

As per the limitations, one avenue for future study is analyzing the objective building process in solely single-player games and comparing/contrasting the process in multiplayer video games. While the original thesis discussed either but focused a content analysis on a multiplayer on-line role-playing game, further insight into an individual’s objective making process could be

108 gained when gamers are on their own. An example of a research question would be: does the absence of peer pressure change the development of goals as a gamer spends more time in the gaming space?

Further research could be performed in the area of cognitive labels. Cognitive labels were briefly discussed by Bunz (2009) in the Auteria research; gamers stated whether or not they found certain areas to be more dangerous or safer than the gaming map had stated. In EWRPGs such as RuneScape and World of Warcraft, cognitive labels could play an important role in dictating why certain gamers avoid or favor certain parts of the game. For example, how do perceived levels of danger in RuneScape change over a gamer’s career? Are there character- specific predictors of risk-taking in more dangerous areas, such as certain armor and skills? The effects of quasi-relationship and cognitive labels on the player’s relationships with the avatar could also be studied. For example, how does the player’s opinions toward the avatar develop or change over time?

A third avenue of research may expand the dynamics of player relationships within space.

One topic of cybergeography is the difference between “space” and “place,” where “space” is defined as the existent virtual territory without emotional attachments, and “place” is an area with personal connotations to the user that becomes loaded with connotations that transform it into more than just space (Cresswell, 2004). This thesis briefly described emotional connections that players may have with a game as they become more involved and invested in their character; for example, players might establish their own traditions to follow, such as training in certain locations. However, more research could be performed in just how these traditions are formed, and the effects of players who grow complacent in certain places on their willingness and

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motivation to explore other spaces, or their propensity to taking advantage of new content

offered by the game developers.

The thesis did not address the direct effect of technical infrastructure on gamers’ desire to

explore. Because the content analysis was limited to one EWRPG, there was no way to compare

how effective and ineffective methods across other platforms. Another research opportunity

would be to analyze other EWRPGs and judge the efficacy of certain content over the others in

supporting development of goals and whether certain infrastructure are more conducive to

supporting player ingenuity than others. Also, comparing games would elucidate the specific

types of innovation communities that favor the mainstream or alternative goals.

Gaming addiction is a politically and socially pertinent issue in video gaming research

(Hsu et al., 2009). This research identified some methods by which gamers develop relationships

with games and the way their mental and cognitive resources are invested in their character.

Further research could explore various addictive qualities that games have, or how infrastructure

supports long-term investment in playing a game. Additionally, research could be performed in

how gamers use objectives to limit their involvement in a game, or how some objectives promote

extensive playing time, such as achieving the highest level skills in an EWRPG.

A final avenue of future research would be judging the game developers’ involvements

with gaming communities and how association with gamers affects content. For example,

RuneScape’s moderators, CEO, and other chief staff often engage with players to gain input on

current content and future updates (Gerhard, 2013). Other games have less common updates or

direct connection with players, such as World of Warcraft releasing updates through expansion packs than weekly or bi-weekly on-line server updates and rarely communicating through the

110 official web site (World of Warcraft). For example, does implementation of user-generated or user-approved content promote engagement with the respective activities? This inquiry is similar to the discussions on the efficacy of game design in Focus Group 2.

This research is important to furthering the discussion of video games in communications research. Video games are an apt medium for understanding how cognitive processes are change or affected through interactions with virtual worlds, and they can demonstrate how players develop relationships with spaces and characters that do not physically exist. The engaging nature of EWRPGs in narratives, aesthetics, and the sense of accomplishment from completing goals can help advance studies in addiction, objective-building, innovation communities, and recognition of success by the individual within and without social contexts.

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APPENDIX A

FOCUS GROUP ONE, SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS

E-mail to Participants

Hello, and good evening!

My name is Dylan Kilby, the Communications major and Honors-in-the-Major candidate who recruited you for his undergraduate thesis titled "Objective building in user-defined worlds." You have been recruited for a focus group to occur on Thursday, February 21st, 12PM in UCC 3116 (University Center C).

UCC 3116 is located on the third floor of the Communications building in University Center C. Enter the Communications department on the third floor and turn right. Walk down, and it will be the large conference room on the left.

The focus group will take approximately 50 minutes to complete. You will participate in a guided discussion with myself acting as the moderator.

Attached is the Informed Consent Statement. Please review, sign, and bring the form to the focus group.

Thank you very much. Please e-mail me if you have any questions.

- Dylan Kilby Honors-in-the-Major Communications Department Florida State University

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Sample Focus Group Questions

ñ As gamers, what are some aspects of role-playing games that make you want to play them? ñ What are the most common objectives in which you partake during a game? Not necessarily the ones the game puts out for you, but those which you naturally want to participate. ñ Is skill training based on how efficiently you use the skill in the game or your enjoyment? ñ In RuneScape, members who achieve level 99 in a skill are given a certain cape that they can wear to demonstrate their accomplishments. Is that an impetus to high-level training? ñ Have you played a game and worked on an objective that the game wouldn’t necessarily support? Why did you take that path? ñ Why is dying scary in an RPG, and what do you do to overcome the fear of dying? ñ As a brand new player, what are the first things you do in a specific RPG, assuming you are familiar with the genre? ñ For a game like RuneScape, what skills or aspects are appealing? ñ What aspects of cities make them attractive to visit and explore? ñ Are narratives in quests important? ñ Once passed base usability, is the narrative a more integral part of your playing?

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APPENDIX B

FOCUS GROUP 2, SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS

E-mail to Participants

Good evening, and hello!

My name is Dylan Kilby, the Honors-in-the-Major candidate who recruited for his focus group today in Dr. Raney's class. Thank you again for agreeing to be a participant in my study, "Objective building in user-defined worlds." Your attendance is greatly appreciated.

This focus group focuses on gaming maps, and more importantly how maps can influence how players create objectives. I have attached to this e-mail a set of blank "map tiles" and a map that is 10 x 10 tiles large. Before the focus group, open the files and create a map for a gaming space in a role-playing game using the supplied tiles and nothing else. The map can be designed for whatever ideas or objectives that you have in mind; create the map based on what you find interesting in games. For example, you could place tiles to create an island or a mountain. These are just ideas and are not necessary in the creation of your map.

When you are finished, please e-mail your completed map to me by this e-mail ([email protected]) and carbon copy my honors advisor Dr. Ulla Bunz ([email protected]) so we can make sure that your map is completed.

There will be a focus group session this Thursday, March 7th, 12PM at the stadium in University Center C, Room UCC3116. The room is located in the Communications Department section of the University Center C building on the third floor. Simply enter the Department's offices on that floor, turn right, and walk down the hallway until you see a conference room on the right.

At this session, we will discuss the maps that were created by each participant. You will receive one hour of research credit for attending the focus group session and an additional hour for creating the map.

I have also attached a copy of the informed consent statement for this project. Please print out a copy, sign and print your name, date it, and bring it to the focus group meeting.

Please contact me if you have any questions about the focus group or the procedures for making the maps. If you cannot open any of the files, please let me know. The map tiles are in a .zip folder; merely extract the files or simply double-clock and copy/paste the files out of the folder

114 in order to work on the map. If you cannot access the files, I will e-mail you again with each individual files in the folder.

Thank you very much, and please have a wonderful day.

- Dylan Kilby

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Sample Game Tiles

Tree Wood Ice

Campfire Dark Gray Brick Grasass

Tree 2 Lava Dirtrt anda Grass

Cave Marsh Dirt

Spout Sand Brickick

Cabin Gray Stone Wateter

Figure 22: List of game tiles

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Sample Focus Group Questions

ñ What is interesting in this map? ñ If this is an area of final trials or preparations for a final boss, what aspects would you want to train or spend time at? ñ Where would you fight? ñ Major landmarks are interesting – why? ñ How does exploring influence objectives? ñ Why would this structure be home to a major event? ñ What makes this map cognitively interesting? How does the separation of major landmarks facilitate that? ñ How well do you believe the intentions of the creators’ and gamers’ interests aligned?

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APPENDIX C

RUNESCAPE CONTENT ANALYSIS, SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS

The following pages list all supplementary material referenced by Chapter IV, Content Analysis:

RuneScape. For more information, please see that section.

RuneScape World Map

The following images are condensed versions of the RuneScape gaming map. For an in-depth explanation of each area and an expandable image, please visit

Members’ Map:

This is the entire map of RuneScape, which is fully accessible by players who are registered as members and logged into a members-only world. It is 743 by 666 pixels, and is scaled down to

20% of the original world map size. One pixel corresponds to approximately 6-8 units occupied by a single character, making the total map approximately 4,458-5,944 units by 3,996-5,328 units.

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Figure 26: Member’s Map

Non-Members’ Map:

This is the map of the areas in RununeScape which are accessible to non-members whow do not pay registration fees, and are also inacaccessible to any player logged into a non-membebers world. It is 575 by 642 pixels, and is scaled downn to 40% of the original non-members world mapap size. One pixel corresponds to approximately 3-4 units occupied by a single character, making the total map approximately 1,725-2,300 unitss bby 1,926-2,568 units.

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Figure 27: Non-Members’ Map

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List of Skills in RuneScape

The following is a list of skills in the game RuneScape, as of April 2013. The skills are listed according to the following skill table, taken from a screenshot in the RuneScape game, starting with the first column.

Figure 28: Skills Tab

First Column

Attack determines the likelihood that the avatar’s melee strike will hit their enemy. Attack does not define the effectiveness of ranged or magic attacks. A high Attack level results in fewer misses during melee combat. Increasing the Attack level increases the avatar’s combat level.

Higher Attack levels allow avatars to equip higher-grade weapons.

Strength determines the amount of damage that the avatar’s melee strike deals to an enemy.

A high strength level does not guarantee consistently higher hits, but it does raise the maximum

121 amount of damage that a player may deal. Increasing the Strength level increases the avatar’s combat level.

Defense determines the likelihood that a player will block an enemy’s attack upon them. It applies to melee, magic, and ranged attacks. Defense does not affect the damage of an enemy’s strike, but it does influence the amount of successful strikes that an enemy deals upon the player.

Increasing the Defense level increases the avatar’s combat level. Higher Defense levels allow avatars to equip higher-grade armor.

Range determines the likelihood that an avatar will strike an enemy and the damage dealt using archery and ranged equipment, such as bows and arrows, crossbows, and throwing knives.

Range is almost exclusively a long-distance attack form. Training the Range skill will allow avatars to wield weapons and armor (provided they have the necessary Defense level) exclusive to the skill. As with melee skills, training the Range skill will increase an avatar’s combat level.

Magic determines the likelihood that an avatar will strike an enemy and the damage dealt using magic attacks. Training Magic also increases the number of available and useful spells that a player may use in the game, such as Teleport spells. Training the Magic skill will allow avatars to wield weapons and armor (provided they have the necessary Defense level) exclusive to the skill.

As with melee skills, training the Magic skill will increase an avatar’s combat level.

Runecrafting allows the player to make successively powerful types of runes. As of

February 2013, the only rune type that cannot be crafted through basic Runecrafting techniques that do not include mini-games is the Soul rune. Gamers go to various Runecrafting altars located around the RuneScape world that are specific to the type of rune and convert rune essence to usable runes.

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Construction allows the player to build rooms, furniture, decorations, and other usable items for their player-owned house. Other than quests and mini-games, Construction has virtually no use outside of the player-owned house. Gamers can build permanent teleports, throne rooms, kitchens, and other rooms; they can also build “flatpacks” to sell that act as pre-built furniture that other gamers may install in their houses, however not all Construction items may be built as flatpacks.

Dungeoneering is almost exclusively trained in the area of Daemonheim, located near the

Wilderness. Dungeoneering allows players to progress in a massive mini-game where players explore and defeat boss monsters in successively more difficult dungeons. Other benefits include various items that assist the training of other skills, such as coal bags that hold large amounts of coal gained in mining. Dungeoneering is the only skill in RuneScape that can be trained beyond the level of 99; the maximum level is 120.

Second Column

Constitution determines the hit points of an avatar. When the avatar is damaged in combat, its hit points progressively decreased until they reach “0,” upon which the character dies.

Constitution is trained through all types of combat; each successful strike grants approximately 1/3 of the experience gained through training Attack, Strength, Defense, Ranged, and Magic.

Constitution can be recovered by eating food or drinking potions. Training the Constitution skill will increase a player’s combat level.

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Agility allows players to run for longer distances than normal and grants access to various shortcuts and small areas around the RuneScape world. It also determines the rate that run energy restores. Agility is only trained through completion of certain obstacles courses and mazes.

Herblore allows players to make certain potions and brews that provide skill enhancement or restoration. Potions are typically made by combining a specific herb and a secondary ingredient into a vial of water, and are consumed like food. Gamers are recommended to complete the

Druidic Ritual quest before training Herblore.

Thieving permits players to pickpocket from non-player characters and steal items from chests, market stalls, and locked areas in many various areas in the RuneScape world. It is typically trained through repeated pickpocketing and stealing, and allows players to retrieve money and certain items (such as gems and runes) as the level increases. Certain minor areas in RuneScape can only be accessed through breaking locks on doors.

Crafting allows gamers to craft certain weapons, jewelry, and other items used in combat and skills. For example, the player may mold gems and gold to create gold jewelry that can be enchanted using the Magic skill to give certain skill bonuses to the avatar.

Fletching allows player to create arrows, bows, and other items used in Ranged. Gamers can fletch progressively better Ranged items upon training the skill, such as magic longbows, that increase the efficacy of a player’s Ranged power. Fletching is the only way that certain items such as gem-tipped bolts are created in the game.

Slayer permits players to attack specific monsters in the game that drop high-leveled armor that are unique to the respective monsters and typically grant more combat experience than standard monsters. Slayer is trained by obtaining “slayer tasks” from various Slayer Masters in the

124 world of RuneScape. Players gain experience by fighting the monster assigned to them, and once the task is complete they may obtain a new one.

Hunter allows players to track and trap certain animals in RuneScape that provide pelts or other items that are used by other skills. For example, players can catch chinchompas, which are used to efficiently train Ranged, and snow rabbit hides that can be used to make camouflage for more efficient Hunter training.

Third Column

Mining allows avatars to retrieve ores and gems from minable rocks in RuneScape. Such rocks are typically clustered in various pits and caverns that players can access. Once a rock is mined, it takes a certain amount of time for the rock to renew its ore. Avatars can “prospect” rocks to figure out what types of ores it contains.

Smithing allows avatars to take the ores gained from the Mining skill and process them into bars at furnaces scattered through RuneScape. Once the metal bars are created, players can use a hammer to make them into various weapons and armor. Higher level weapons and armor can be created as the Smithing level increases, even for the same ore. For example, a Mithril Dagger may be created at level 50, but a Mithril Platebody can only be smithed beginning at level 68.

Fishing allows players to use nets, harpoons, cages, and other items to obtain raw fish from various fishing spots in the RuneScape world. Raw fish are the raw materials used in stat-restoring food. Additionally, players can use big nets to catch items like caskets, which may contain clue scrolls.

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Cooking allows gamers to turn raw items like Fishing and Farming into food. Typically, players use the raw ingredients on a cooking range, which turns the raw food into a consumable final product. The food allows the avatar to recover a set amount of hit points. Gamers may cook progressively higher quality food that heals more hit points as they progress in the skill.

Firemaking allows avatars to build fires out of logs from the Woodcutting skill. Fires are used for cooking and various mini-games, such as the Shades of Mort’ton mini-game, where players kill shades and burn their bodies on funeral pyres to gain access to certain items.

Woodcutting allows avatars to chop down trees and obtain logs. Logs are used in Fletching to create bows and arrows, and they are used in Firemaking to build fires. Players can cut down logs of higher quality and rarity as they progress in the skill. Players must wait a set amount of time for trees to re-grow before extracting more resources.

Farming permits gamers to grow crops at specific patches of land in the world of

RuneScape. Crops include herbs used in Herblore, raw materials used in Cooking (such as potatoes and tomatoes), Summoning ingredients, and other items. Farming can only be trained by harvesting successfully grown crops; depending on the crop, they may take from 15 minutes to two days of growing before they may be harvested.

Summoning allows avatars to summon certain monsters called “familiars” that do not threaten the gamer’s avatar or other characters, but instead provide certain skill bonuses. Some familiars engage in combat with monsters that the gamer is fighting, others provide intrinsic increases to more efficiently train skills, and a few provide increased inventory spaces. Familiars only last a preset amount of time, and disappear automatically when dismissed or the summoning time is over.

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List of Quests in RuneScape

This information was retrieved from the RuneScape fan site Tip.It.

Quest Title Official Difficulty Length Members- Quest

Only? Points

All Fired Up Intermediate Short Yes 1

Animal Magnetism Intermediate Short Yes 1

Another Slice of H.A.M. Intermediate Medium Yes 1

As a First Resort Experienced Long Yes 1

Back to My Roots Master Medium Yes 1

Between a Rock... Experienced Medium Yes 2

Big Chompy Bird Hunting Intermediate Short Yes 2

Biohazard Novice Long Yes 3

Black Knights' Fortress Novice Medium No 3

The Blood Pact Novice Short No 1

Blood Runs Deep Master Long Yes 2

The Branches of Master Long Yes 2

Darkmeyer

The Brink of Extinction Grand Master Long Yes 3

Buyers and Cellars Novice Short Yes 1

Cabin Fever Experienced Medium Yes 2

Carnillean Rising Intermediate Medium Yes 1

127

Catapult Construction Master Short Yes 2

The Chosen Commander Experienced Long Yes 3

Clock Tower Novice Medium Yes 1

A Clockwork Syringe Master Long Yes 1

Cold War Intermediate Medium Yes 1

Contact! Master Medium Yes 1

Cook's Assistant Novice Short No 1

Creature of Fenkenstrain Intermediate Medium Yes 2

The Curse of Arrav Master Medium Yes 1

Darkness of Hallowvale Intermediate Long Yes 2

Deadliest Catch Master Short Yes 1

Dealing with Scabaras Master Short Yes 1

Death Plateau Novice Short No 1

Death to the Dorgeshuun Intermediate Medium Yes 1

Defender of Varrock Experienced Medium Yes 2

Demon Slayer Novice Short No 3

Desert Treasure Master Long Yes 3

Devious Minds Experienced Short Yes 1

Diamond in the Rough Novice Short Yes 1

The Dig Site Intermediate Long Yes 2

Do No Evil Master Long Yes 1

Dragon Slayer Experienced Long No 2

Dream Mentor Master Short Yes 2

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Druidic Ritual Novice Medium No 4

Dwarf Cannon Novice Short Yes 1

Eadgar's Ruse Experienced Medium Yes 1

Eagles' Peak Novice Short Yes 2

The Elder Kiln Master Long Yes 2

Elemental Workshop I Novice Short Yes 1

Elemental Workshop II Intermediate Short Yes 1

Elemental Workshop III Intermediate Medium Yes 1

Elemental Workshop IV Intermediate Short Yes 2

Enakhra's Lament Experienced Medium Yes 2

An Enlightened Journey Intermediate Medium Yes 1

Ernest The Chicken Novice Medium No 4

The Eyes of Glouphrie Intermediate Medium Yes 2

Fairy Tale Part I, A – Experienced Long Yes 2

Growing Pains

Fairy Tale Part II, A - Experienced Medium Yes 2

Cure a Queen

Fairy Tale Part III, A - Experienced Medium Yes 2

Battle at Orks Rift

Family Crest Experienced Long Yes 1

The Feud Intermediate Medium Yes 1

Fight Arena Experienced Medium Yes 2

The Firemaker’s Curse Master Long Yes 2

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Fishing Contest Novice Short Yes 1

Forgettable Tale of a Intermediate Medium Yes 2

Drunken Dwarf

Forgiveness of a Chaos Master Medium Yes 2

Dwarf

The Fremennik Isles Experienced Long Yes 1

The Fremennik Trials Intermediate Long Yes 3

Fur 'n' Seek Novice Medium Yes 2

Garden of Tranquility Intermediate Medium Yes 2

Gertrude's Cat Novice Short Yes 1

Ghosts Ahoy Intermediate Long Yes 2

The Giant Dwarf Intermediate Medium Yes 2

Glorious Memories Master Medium Yes 1

Goblin Diplomacy Novice Medium No 5

The Golem Intermediate Medium Yes 1

The Grand Tree Experienced Long Yes 5

The Great Brain Robbery Experienced Medium Yes 2

Grim Tales Master Medium Yes 1

Gunnar's Ground Novice Short No 5

The Hand in the Sand Intermediate Medium Yes 1

Haunted Mine Experienced Medium Yes 2

The Hazeel Cult Novice Medium Yes 1

Heroes' Quest Experienced Long Yes 1

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The Holy Grail Intermediate Long Yes 2

Horror From The Deep Experienced Short Yes 2

Hunt for Red Raktuber Intermediate Medium Yes 1

Icthlarin's Little Helper Intermediate Medium Yes 2

Imp Catcher Novice Medium No 1

In Aid of the Myreque Intermediate Medium Yes 2

In Pyre Need Experienced Short Yes 1

In Search of the Myreque Intermediate Short Yes 2

Jungle Potion Novice Short Yes 1

Kennith's Concerns Intermediate Medium Yes 1

King of the Dwarves Master Medium Yes 2

King's Ransom Experienced Medium Yes 1

The Knight’s Sword Intermediate Medium No 1

Land of the Goblins Experienced Medium Yes 1

Legacy of Seergaze Experienced Long Yes 2

Legends' Quest Master Long Yes 4

Let Them Eat Pie Novice Short No 1

Lost City Experienced Medium Yes 3

The Lost Tribe Intermediate Medium Yes 1

Love Story Master Medium Yes 2

Lunar Diplomacy Experienced Long Yes 2

Making History Intermediate Medium Yes 3

Meeting History Intermediate Short Yes 1

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Merlin's Crystal Intermediate Long Yes 6

Missing My Mummy Intermediate Medium Yes 1

Monk's Friend Novice Short Yes 1

Monkey Madness Master Very Long Yes 3

Mountain Daughter Intermediate Medium Yes 2

Mourning's End - Part 1 Master Long Yes 2

Mourning's End - Part 2 Master Long Yes 2

Murder Mystery Novice Short Yes 3

My Arm's Big Adventure Intermediate Medium Yes 1

Myths of the White Lands Novice Medium No 2

Nature Spirit Novice Medium Yes 2

Nomad's Requiem Grandmaster Medium Yes 3

Observatory Novice Short Yes 2

Olaf's Quest Intermediate Short Yes 1

One Piercing Note Novice Short Yes 2

One Small Favour Experienced Very Long Yes 2

The Path of Glouphrie Experienced Medium Yes 1

Perils of Ice Mountain Novice Short Yes 1

Pirate's Treasure Novice Short No 2

Plague City Novice Medium Yes 1

Priest in Peril Novice Medium Yes 1

The Prisoner of Glouphrie Master Medium Yes 1

Quiet Before the Swarm Intermediate Short Yes 1

132

Rag and Bone Man Novice Medium Yes 2

Ratcatchers Intermediate Long Yes 2

Recipe For Disaster Special Very Long Yes 10

Recruitment Drive Novice Short Yes 1

Regicide Master Long Yes 3

The Restless Ghost Novice Medium No 1

Ritual of the Mahjarrat Grandmaster Very Long Yes 3

Rocking Out Master Long Yes 2

Roving Elves Master Short Yes 1

Royal Trouble Experienced Long Yes 1

Rum Deal Experienced Medium Yes 2

Rune Mechanics Novice Short Yes 1

Rune Memories Novice Short Yes 1

Rune Mysteries Novice Short No 1

Salt in the Wound Intermediate Medium Yes 2

Scorpion Catcher Intermediate Long Yes 1

Sea Slug Intermediate Short Yes 1

Shades of Mort'ton Intermediate Short Yes 3

Shadow Of The Storm Intermediate Medium Yes 1

Sheep Herder Novice Short Yes 4

Shield of Arrav Novice Medium No 1

Shilo Village Experienced Long Yes 2

The Slug Menace Intermediate Medium Yes 1

133

Smoking Kills Intermediate Short Yes 1

Some Like It Cold Experienced Long Yes 1

Song from the Depths Novice Short Yes 1

A Soul’s Bane Novice Short Yes 1

Spirit of Summer Intermediate Medium Yes 1

Spirits of the Elid Intermediate Medium Yes 2

Stolen Hearts Novice Short No 3

Summer's End Experienced Short Yes 1

Swan Song Master Medium Yes 2

Swept Away Novice Medium No 2

Tai Bwo Wannai Trio Intermediate Long Yes 2

A Tail of Two Cats Intermediate Medium Yes 2

The Tale of the Muspah Novice Medium Yes 1

Tears of Guthix Intermediate Short Yes 1

The Temple at Senntisten Master Long Yes 2

Temple of Ikov Experienced Long Yes 1

Throne of Miscellania Experienced Medium Yes 1

TokTz-Ket-Dill Experienced Medium Yes 1

The Tourist Trap Intermediate Long Yes 2

Tower of Life Novice Short Yes 2

Tree Gnome Village Intermediate Long Yes 2

Tribal Totem Intermediate Medium Yes 1

Troll Romance Experienced Medium Yes 2

134

Troll Stronghold Experienced Medium Yes 1

Underground Pass Experienced Long Yes 5

Unstable Foundations Special Short No 1

Vampyre Slayer Novice Short No 3

A Void Dance Experienced Medium Yes 1

The Void Stares Back Grandmaster Medium Yes 1

Wanted! Intermediate Short Yes 1

Watchtower Intermediate Long Yes 4

Waterfall Intermediate Long Yes 1

What Lies Below Intermediate Medium Yes 1

What's Mine is Yours Novice Short No 1

While Guthix Sleeps Grand Master Very Long Yes 5

Witch's House Intermediate Medium Yes 4

Within The Light Master Medium Yes 2

Wolf Whistle Novice Short No 1

Zogre Flesh Eaters Intermediate Long Yes 1

135

APPENDIX D

LEGAL DOCUMENTS

Recruitment Speech, Focus Group 1:

"Hello, my name is Dylan Kilby, and I'm an undergraduate student in Media and Communication Studies. I'm doing an Honor's Thesis and am looking for participants in a study that I am conducting. The study is on how players in video games create objectives for themselves within the game. For example, someone may decide to level all skills to a certain level, or collect 10,000 cabbages. I am looking for 15 people to be part of a focus group to discuss objective-building in video games. The focus group should take no longer than 45 minutes. Your instructor, [name], has agreed to give you [XX] points of research/extra credit for participation in this study. If you are interested, at least 18 years old, and have at least some experience playing RPG video games, please sign up on this sheet that I will pass around now. There are no anticipated risks for you. Are there any questions? Thank you."

Recruitment Speech, Focus Group 2:

"Hello, you may remember me from earlier this semester. My name is Dylan Kilby, and I am conducting an Honors Thesis project on objective-building in video games. Several of you have already participated in my project, and I would like to thank you again for your help. I am now going to conduct a second portion of my project and need more participants. If you have participated in my project already, you cannot participate again. This time I'm looking for 10 people. You will be sent some digital image files with instructions on creating an online environment, similar to creating a mosaic or puzzle. You will then be asked to meet as a group and review and discuss each other’s designs. As before, you must be at least 18 years old and have at least some experience playing video games. That meeting should take no longer than 45 minutes and your instructor, Dr. Raney, has agreed to give you points of research/extra credit for participation. To sign up, please sign on this sheet that I'm going to pass around now. I do not anticipate that there are any risks for you in this study. Do you have any questions? Thank you."

136

Recruitment Form

You are invited to participate in a focus group dedicated to researching gaming objectives and design for a Communications Honors-in-the-Major Thesis. This focus group is designed to discuss how gamers create objectives within role-playing games (RPGs) and how gaming architecture influences their decision. It is the project of senior undergraduate in Communications/Media Studies and Honors candidate Dylan Kilby, whose primary advisor is Dr. Ulla Bunz.

This study assesses only your opinions about and experiences with video games. It is a focus group setting with ten peers that will occur in ROOM/BUILDING on THIS DATE. For more information, contact Dylan Kilby at [email protected]

Please fill out the following information if you would like to participate. A reminder e-mail will be sent to you.

Course/Instructor: ______

Name E-mail

137

IRB Acceptance Notification

Office of the Vice President for Research Human Subjects Committee Tallahassee, Florida 32306-2742 (850) 644-8673 · FAX (850) 644-4392

APPROVAL MEMORANDUM

Date: 11/28/2012

To: Dylan Kilby

Address: 222 N. Ocala Rd. Players Club, Apt. #302A

Dept.: COMMUNICATION

From: Thomas L. Jacobson, Chair

Re: Use of Human Subjects in Research Objective-building in user-defined worlds

The application that you submitted to this office in regard to the use of human subjects in the proposal referenced above have been reviewed by the Secretary, the Chair, and two members of the Human Subjects Committee. Your project is determined to be Expedited per 45 CFR § 46.110(7) and has been approved by an expedited review process.

The Human Subjects Committee has not evaluated your proposal for scientific merit, except to weigh the risk to the human participants and the aspects of the proposal related to potential risk and benefit. This approval does not replace any departmental or other approvals, which may be required.

If you submitted a proposed consent form with your application, the approved stamped consent form is attached to this approval notice. Only the stamped version of the consent form may be used in recruiting research subjects.

If the project has not been completed by 11/27/2013 you must request a renewal of approval for continuation of the project. As a courtesy, a renewal notice will be sent to you prior to your expiration date; however, it is your responsibility as the Principal Investigator to timely request renewal of your approval from the Committee.

You are advised that any change in protocol for this project must be reviewed and approved by the Committee prior to implementation of the proposed change in the protocol. A protocol change/amendment form is required to be submitted for approval by the Committee. In addition, federal regulations require that the Principal Investigator promptly report, in writing any unanticipated problems or adverse events involving risks to research subjects or others.

By copy of this memorandum, the chairman of your department and/or your major professor is reminded that he/she is responsible for being informed concerning research projects involving human subjects in the department, and should review protocols as often as needed to insure that the project is being conducted in compliance with our institution and with DHHS regulations.

This institution has an Assurance on file with the Office for Human Research Protection. The Assurance Number is IRB00000446.

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Informed Consent Statement

You are being invited to participate in a research study about objective-building and gaming architecture within role-playing video games. This research project is conducted by Dylan Kilby, an Honors-in-the-Major candidate senior undergraduate in the School of Communication, and Dr. Ulla Bunz, Associate Professor in the School of Communication, at the Florida State UnUniversity. The objective of this research is to understand how gamers create objectives and how they interact with created/virtual worlds. By signing the followingn consent statement, you agree that, to the extent allowed by law:

I freely and voluntarily, without elemenent of force or coercion, consent to be a participant in the research project titled as “Objective-building in user-defined worlds.” I understand that the purpose of the research project is to understand gamers’ goal-making procescesses in large virtual worlds.

I understand that this study will approximately consume 30-45 minutes, and during this time I will be having a guided focus group discussion with peers.

I understand that my participation in thiis study is voluntary, and I may decline to participate without penalty at any time. My name will not appear on aany of the results. Individual responses will be recorded with an audio/video device for sound quality, but the camera lens will be turned away from participap nts so no faces will be recorded. In write-ups, all participants will be given pseudonyms to restrict identification.on The information in the study records will be kept confidenttial to the extent allowed by law. Data will be stored securely and will be made available only to persons conductting the study. Data will be destroyed within four years of thesis submission.

I understand there are benefits for participating in this research project. For participating I will receive either (a) extra credit for my class, the amount of which is determined by the instructor of the course from which I was recruited and his/her syllabus, or (b) my participation in this study will help to fulfill my class’s research requirement. I understand that my participation is voluntary, and I may decline to participate and instead (a) do an alternative assignment for extra or cocourse credit as determined by my instructor, or (b) participate in another research project to fulfill my class’s research requirement, or (c) discuss another option with my instructor. My participation may be instructional for me to see how research in communication is conducted.e I understand that to the researcher’s knowledge there are no foreseen risks to me or my health, nor are there any costs in participating in this study other than my time.

I understand that to participate in this study I must be at least 18 years old. If I am under the age of 18, I can discuss an alternative assignment with mmy instructor to either (a) earn extra credit, or (b) fulfill my class’s research requirement.

I understand that I may contact Dylan Kilby at 904-655-5732 [[email protected]] or Dr. UlU la Bunz at 850-644- 1809 [[email protected], Suite 3100, University Center C] for answers to questions about this research or my rights. Also, if I have any questions about my rights as a subject/participant in this research,h, or if I feel I have been placed at risk, I can contact the Chair of the Human Subjects Committee, Institutional Review Board, through the Vice President for the Officce of Research at 850-644-8633 [[email protected]].

I have read and understand this consent form and confirm that I am at least 18 years old.

139

Name: FSU Human Subjects Committee approved on 11/28/2012. Date: ______Void after 11/27/2013. HSC # 2012.9347

140

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