The Development of MMORPG Culture and The Guild

Abstract

This paper is a reflective study of the rise of massive numbers of online and multiplayer role play games, and of the ways in which these communities have arisen in the last two decades. Much of the driving of the activity is the fantasy world created by many popular writers in the middle twentieth century. But the players are now actively involved in these new worlds —ones which are and are not so close to our everyday worlds. This survey attempts to guide the bemused watcher, as well as to assist the ‘player’ to reflect on what is going on at the several levels of story, decision-making and of (preferred) habits.