Many players of MMORPGs don't realize that some players are actually paying people in India to run up their character's status. For about $30 US you can advance your character significantly. This form of "cheating" shows that social status is, to some, even more important than game play. It may be interesting to recall that hiring someone to assume your identity and have them go into battle for you was something done by conscription-evading aristocrats during the American Civil War. Now, for a modest fee, you can hire a worker in India to go into virtual battle on your behalf. Some of you might ask why players wouldn't just enjoy getting there on their own - after all, isn't that the point of playing the game? It may be that the existence of this form of 'cheat' indicates the importance of social status over game play as a primary motivator to those engaged in MMORPGs. This is a notion often overlooked by game researchers who tend to focus on issues of game play as primary motivators of user involvement. We have only begun to scratch the surface on understanding how powerful verifiable online social status can be and how it can be used to benefit online education.
1 comment:
My concern is whether social status is a desirable motivator for learning. If the best way to learn is by direct experiencing, which I presume it is, then I worry that social status as a motivator might take focus away from the direct experience. It might be more of a distraction than an asset. It might yield short term results, as a motivation tool, but at the cost of long term sustainability. The most sustainable motivation for learning must come internally with our own needs to play, to be stimulated, to contribute, etc. In my opinion, ideally, we would look to break down the walls of social status to create a larger, more vibrant, playing field of learning.
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