Reference Sheet

Andersen, Eric. "Brief History of Online Games."Brief History of Online Games. EzineArticles , 10 June 2009. Web. 26 Apr 2011. <http://EzineArticles.com/2455123>.

"BBC News ." Gaming 'part of students life'. BBC News , 08 July 2003. Web. 25 Apr 2011. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3052482.stm.>.

Bennett, J. & Beith, M. (2007). Alternate universe. Newsweek, International Edition. Retrieved July 31, 2009, from http://www.msnbc.com/id/19876812/site/newsweek/.

Cole, H. & Griffiths, M.D. (2007). Social interactions in massively multiplayer online role-playing games. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 10, 575-583.

"Cosplayer: Mario Roy." Otaku House's Photos. Web. 14 Apr 2011. <http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150172406032137&set=a.10150148407792137.303963.151208427136&type=1>. 

"EverQuest." EverQuest - Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, 16 Apr 2011. Web. 11 Apr 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EverQuest#EverQuest_universe>.

"EverQuest II." EverQuest II - Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, 18 Apr 2011. Web. 11 Apr 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EverQuest#EverQuest_universe>.

"EverQuest II Vs WoW ." JoyStick . Web. 18 Apr 2011. <http://www.joystiq.com/2006/01/23/everquest-ii-vs-wow-one-gamers-experience/>.

Gupta, Aradhana. "History of Online Games." History of Online Games. EzineArticles , 04 Nov 2008. Web. 25 Apr 2011. <http://EzineArticles.com/1649861>.

Henshaw, Jon. "Top 5 Reasons Why Video Games Can Be Bad For You." Top 5 Reasons Why Video Games Can Be Bad For You. familyresource.com, n.d. Web. 26 Apr 2011. <http://www.familyresource.com/lifestyles/mental-environment/top-5-reasons-video-games-are-bad-for-you>.

"Hot EverQuest Cosplay Photos." Web. 14 Apr 2011. <http://photo.mmosite.com/content/2009-04-18/20090417201216930,5.shtml>.


Jenkins, Henry. "Quentin Tarantino's Star Wars" Convergence Culture: Where NEw Media and Old MEdia Collide. Revised Edition. NYU Press, September 2008. Page 135-173. Paperback

"Larp alliance meetup group." LARP meetup. Web. 21 Apr 2011. <http://larp.meetup.com/cities/us/ga/atlanta/>.

 Lopez, Joshua. "Deaths Caused by Video Games."Deaths Caused by Video Games. EzineArticles , 24 Jan 2009. Web. 26 Apr 2011. <http://ezinearticles.com/?Deaths-Caused-by-Video-Games&id=1916512>.

Nerishau. "EQ Circle." EQ Circle. N.p., 09 June 2010. Web. 11 Apr 2011. <http://www.eqcircle.com/index.xml>.

"Player Classes." EverQuest II. Sony Online Entertainment , n.d. Web. 11 Apr 2011. <http://everquest2.com/gameinfo/classes>.

"Player Races." EverQuest II. Sony Online Entertainment , n.d. Web. 11 Apr 2011. <http://everquest2.com/gameinfo/races>.

"Play EverQyest 1 and 2 for free online in EverQuest Living Legacy." Video Game Blogger . Web. 18 Apr 2011. <http://www.videogamesblogger.com/2008/07/13/play-everquest-1-and-2-for-

free-online-in-everquest-living-legacy.htm>.

sprio, "class." wowwiki. April 19 2009. Web. 21 Apr 2011. <http://www.wowwiki.com/Class>.

sunyFB, "World of Warcraft basic guide part 1." hubpages. 2009. Web. 21 Apr 2011. <http://hubpages.com/hub/WorldofWarcraftgoldguide>. 

sunyFB, "World of Warcraft basic guide part 2." hubpages. 2009. Web. 21 Apr 2011. < http://hubpages.com/hub/WowBasicGuideP2>. 

"The EQ Wire, Gallery: EQNext Screen Shots and Concept Art Day." EQ Wire . N.p., 07 Aug 2010. Web. 18 Apr 2011. <http://eq2wire.com/2010/08/07/gallery-eqnext-screen-shots-and-concept-art-day-2/>.

"The Story So Far." The Story So Far- World of Warcraft. Blizzard Entertainment, 26 Nov 2010. Web. 22 Apr 2011. <http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/1241416>.

"Welcome to the Everquest Universe." Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game EverQuest. Sony Online Entertainment, n.d. Web. 11 Apr 2011. <http://everquest.station.sony.com/>.

"What is Cosplay? ." What is Cosplay:: COSPLAY HOUSE . Cosplay House, 2011. Web. 11 Apr 2011. <http://www.cosplayhouse.com/what-is-cosplay.html>.

"World of Warcraft." World of Warcraft - Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia , 21 Apr 2011. Web. 21 Apr 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_of_Warcraft#Setting>.

Yee, Nick. "Real-Life Demographics." The Norrathian Scrolls: A Study of EverQuest. 20 Oct 2004. Web. 15 Apr 2011. <http://www.nickyee.com/eqt/demographics.html>.

Yee, Nick. "WoW Basic Demographics ." The Daedalus Project: WoW Basic Demographics. The Daedalus Project, 28 July 2005. Web. 21 Apr 2011. <http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/archives/001365.php>.

Is Online Gaming Bad?

The Good

Some differences of MMORPGs from traditional video games is the cooperative, large group context of the genre. Gamers are able to experience the opportunity of not having to advance solo in a game but, with one or two other players, it can be up to hundreds or thousands of other online participants. In fact, to experience the end-game content (conclusion of a given storyline) of an MMORPG (e.g., World of Warcraft), it is required that a player team-up with other gamers to face in-game challenges that are impossible on their own. 

Online gaming can be known as a motivator as social outreach. “Online gaming is a social activity in which players meet new friends or play with friends they have already had outside the online world.”(Gaming "Part of students life") Through their examinations of social interactions of MMORPG gamers these virtual games may provide a means for players to express themselves in way they do not feel comfortable with in the real world. (Cole and Griffiths) Age, gender, sexuality, and appearance are all potential factors that could prevent them expressing themselves. Bennett  notes that “Virtual worlds provide additional and potentially therapeutic venues for people with physical and/or other disabilities for whom real-world contacts are accompanied by anxiety or stigma or are even physically impossible.” (Bennett and Beith) Online gaming give those individuals who may appear to be shy and less social a different way to participate without fear of direct social evaluation. Online gaming has created a perfect opportunity for individuals to be more themselves. 

The Bad 

Though online gaming can be good for some it can have a negative effect on others  if you have an addictive personality you may turn it into countless hours of playing instead of hobby. Prices for games can be expensive ranging from 40-50 dollars an expansion, add this with addiction and you may forget to pay bills just to get your online gaming fix. (Henshaw) Now think of this situation you play this online game 20 hours a day does that leave time to make friends outside the game? to spend time with family or spouses? Addiction to online gaming has been known to rip meaningful relationships apart having spouses, family, friends leave your side. There is an online group dedicated to partners that have been effected by loosing their loved ones to online gaming. Like the Stop Leveling and Start Living yahoo group for people who feel like widows when their husband, girl/boy friend, mothers, fathers, sons, or daughters get highly addicted to online gaming. 

And The Ugly

Now, there are also some truly terrifying situations like the young man who killed himself from playing EverQuest. Its been found that many people all over the world have died from online gaming addiction a young man in Korea was playing StartCraft for over 70 hours, he only stopped playing to sleep a little and use the bathroom he collapsed from lack of food and exhaustion cause of death was heart failure. (Lopez ) Then there is the very infamous 2002 EverQuest related death, Hudson Wooley was playing EverQuest when his connection dropped he was obsessed with online gaming that he couldn't handle not being able to play so he shot himself in the head. In most cases it has been found that people who kill others or themselves for online gaming have some sort of emotional and physiological problem which added with an addiction can be a deadly match much like we see in drug users. Its sad to see and just as sad that Blizzard gets over 1000 client suicide calls or emails to customer service for ban accounts, many people may already be suicidal and by having their alter reality taken away they just loose it. (Lopez)

Where We Stand
Where we stand on the matter, is online gaming can be good or bad just like anything else. If you eat to much junk food its bad for your body, if you absorb yourself in to much television you hurt your social life, your eyes, and probably some brain cells. Online gaming is about balancing your time knowing when is a good time to play and when you should stop, in portion controls it can be great a stress reliever, or a way to make friends for the awkwardly shy person. But, if you abuse online games you can end up hurting yourself and others around you. The key to online gaming and gaming in general is to remember its just a GAME, its not your real life and what you do outside of that game has consequences there is no restart button on life, so before you pick up that game controller think about how you are going to treat this game.

Online Gaming Creates More Cultural Participation

Participatory Culture 

Online gaming hosts its own form of participatory culture from creating costumes, entering contest specifically geared by game creators, making their own videos with footage from the game, and even making live footage of what happened in the game. Participatory culture is part of a generation of convergence where everyone participates some gaining a degree of status whether it be through the industry itself or just an online sensation (Jenkins, pg 137 ) Some of the first well known forms of this are Goerge Lucas's Star Wars much like George Lucas the gaming industry embraces the creativity of its users and sometimes even realises on its users to help create publicity and also affect in game items, like having contests to design new mounts, clothes, or weapons. (pg 135)

Above are two examples of players from both WoW and EQ showing their creativity towards the game. The first video is the actual video of WoW Cataclysm advertisement with a user adding his own lyrics/song to represent what is going on. The second video is from EverQuest where a user recorded his character with his horse on an adventure and input the "My Lovely Horse" Song.

Cosplay

One form of participatory culture when it comes to online gaming is cosplay. Cosplay is short  for costume play, normally people will dress up from popular cartoons, books, games, animes, etc and wear them to conventions or for photography purposes. ("What is Cosplay:: COSPLAY HOUSE") Cosplay can be seen even for online gaming, people will either make, buy, or custom order their outfits and wear them for different occasions, whether it be Conventions or L.A.R.Ping, see below for more information on both. Here are some examples of cosplay for both Everquest and World of Warcraft 

Hot EverQuest Cosplay Photos

Priest from "World of Warcraft"

Cosplayer: Mario Roy

Among our Group Blu is known for cosplaying, mainly from video games and animes she does so for photography, and conventions. Her costumes are made by her and a small group of friends who sew. Cosplay is a way for people to show their liking for whatever they are supporting, show their own personal creativity and sometimes even influence others to watch, read, or play what they are dressed up from. 

Game Creators

Sometimes the game creators will open up discussions and contests to allow players to have more input . In this article it shows the creators of EverQuest at a convention showing screen shots from EverQuest II and finding the opinions of the players to help shape the new layouts of the game. ("EQ Wire") 

Conventions

This is a part of social interaction, people from game will meet up in real life at the conventions, sometimes to discuss faction/guild business or simply just getting to know and meet each other in person. Sort of putting the voice to a face.

Blizzard, the creators of World of Warcraft have a convention once a year known as Blizz-con, this convention is solely dedicated to everything dealing with the game, to large updates, any new releases, and anything having to do with the game. 

EverQuest, branched from Wizards of the Coasts, have their fans go to a LAs Vegas convention called SOE Fan Faire where they do the same thing but relating to EverQuest.

Cosplay, and sometimes even L.A.R.Ping can be seen at conventions. 

Check out these links for information on Blizz-con and SOE Fan Faire 

BlizCon

SOE FanFaire

L.A.R.PING

L.A.R.P.ing is a live action role play.( "Larp Alliance Meetup Group") This is a way for people involved in games such as EverQuest and World of Warcraft to be more involved. People come together to bring their MMO's to life, often dressing up as their characters to fight and keeping true to the characters stats, history, and things they can or cannot do. This is normally for people very involved in MMO's though some people who L.A.R.P play table top games or just enjoy the epic battles and fight scenes. 

Similar yet Different (WoW & EQ)

EQ II Vs. WoW

From our studies we have found quiet more similarities then originally thought. Both games have expansion releases for Mac and PC, they are both classified under the genre of fantasy and surprisingly the age range for both games were only a few numbers off both having the average player being mid to late 20's. Both games include their own parallel universe and a few of the classes and races have a similar setting. EverQuest 2 not only have guilds but they also use the faction system which WoW has. We also learned that both games have PvP and have different realms/servers that host this kind of roleplay. It had more similarities then we had originally expected. 

Even though we have similarities we still have quiet a few differences. EverQuest I was released by Sony Online Entertainment March 16, 1996. WoW was released by Blizzard February 11, 2005. Being a much older game EverQuest I outnumbers the expansions and also has EverQuest 2 and EverQuest Next that will compete not only on a storyline level but on the graphics level as well. WoW is still pretty new so it only has a few expansions, its newest Cataclysm, and its graphics are on par with today's graphic cards. EverQuest I has a high level of races and classes it has 16 races and classes, EverQuest II adds in an additional 4 races. WoW originally had only 10 races 5 for alliance and 5 for horde but with the new Cataclysm expansion they have gained 2 extra races for each side but kept the same 10 classes. 

One game has been around much longer then the other but they still find the other quiet the competition. The one thing we can say about these games is they both have a thriving fan based population that follows them, keeping both games alive for many years to come.

Everquest I & II (EQ)

Basic Information and Demographics 

Play EverQuest

EverQuest has two volumes which include their own numerous expansion packs. There is Everquest House of Thule, and EverQuest II Destiny of Velious. ( "Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game EverQuest" ) EverQuest II can be played for a 3 day cosecutive trial for 5 dollars, Both EverQuest I & II offered a 30 day free trial. EverQuest is a fantasy MMORPG developed by Sony Online Entertainment, release March 16, 1999 which can be played on both Windows and Mac OS X platforms ( "EverQuest - Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia"). The average age of the Everquest player is 25.6 with the female players being significatly older, about 84% of EverQuest players are male, and 16% are female due to this 2005 study (Yee). About 30% of players are students, and 36% work in a technology field, results scatter around the next top jobs of EverQuest plays like engineering, general management, sales, government, and Arts. 

Storylines 

EverQuest I takes place in Norrath with a high content of storyline all base on each expansion adding the vast collection of the story. It's not a set storyline that is made but what you choose to make of Norrath on your journey. 

Norrath 

EverQuest II story line takes place five hundred years after EverQuest I. The gods withdraw from the world, Norrath, due to mortal incursion. On Norrath dark elves and orcs began destroying Faydwer, location in the Timorous Deep , while other evils ravage Antonica, a continent. EverQuest II takes place in the  "Age of Destiny" where the Queen Antonia Bayle is a benevolent sorceress who welcomes all goodly races to her city to help rebuild Norrath. The Overlord of Freeport, Lucan D'Lere, a centuries-old fallen paladin, rules the evil races and plans to conqour Norrath ("Everquest II - Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia"). 

In Game Information 

In Game Race Selection EQ II

There are 16 races and 16 classes in Everquest I, ("EverQuest - Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia"). Everquest is the larger providing online game for races and classes. The races for Everquet are barbarians (a human like race), dark elfs, drakkins (humans with some dragon bloodline), dwarfs, erudite (ancient humans), froglok (frog humanoids), gnome, half elfs, halflings, humans, high elfs, iksars (reptile humanoids), ogres, trolls, vah shirs (cat humanoids), and wood elfs (Nerishau).  Each race has a small amount of race abilities and can only play certain classes. Everquest II introduces 4 new races the fae, kerra ( the new vah shirs), arasai (darklings), and ratonga (mouse humanoid) (EverQuest II "Player Races). 

EQ II Class Selection
(Necromancer)

Now there are sixteen classes in EverQuest, they will be divided up but what userage they are good for in the game. The tank classes, which are the members with the high number health points and heavy armor, are warriors, shadow knights, and paladins. The damage dealers, the characters that deal the highest damage the fastest, are beastlords, berserkers, monks, rangers, and rouges. Caster classes, use their powers called mana to create attacking spells, are wizards, magicians, and necromancers.  Enchanters and bards provided crowd control, which is the ability to keep multiple enemies from attacking the party. Clerics, Druids, and Shaman are the healers in the game, that is self explanatory. 

EQ I Race Selection

In EverQuest II they add in quiet a number of classes but put them under the guildelines of EverQuest I. Brads have troubardors, and dirges, clerics have templars, inquisitors. Druids have fury, and wardens, enchanters have illousionists and coercers. Monks have monks, and bruisers, rouges have swashbucklers, assassins, and brigands. Shamans have mystics and defilers, sorcerers have wizards, and warlocks. Summoners have conjurors and necromancers, lastly warriors have guardians and berserks. Shadowkinghts, rangers and paladins still exisit in Everquest II as well (Everquest II "Player Classes").

The first EverQuest was based on the guild system where EverQuest II now has Factions; good, neutral, and evil, but it too includes a guild system, though your guilds will be filled with those of the same faction. EverQuest is known for having both storyline quests and having servers dedicated to PVP, these servers are known as "red" servers and you can enter them once you reach level five ("Everquest - Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia").

World of Warcraft (WoW)

Basic Information and Demographics 

World Of Warcraft or also known as WoW is based off of the Warcraft franchise which originally was a game of conquest, and build. You could only choose from two races Orcs and Humans. ("World of Warcraft - Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia") WoW is an MMORPG a fantasy world developed by Blizzard Entertainment, release February 11, 2005 which can be played on both Microsoft Windows or Mac OS X Platform. The average age of the WoW plater is 28.3 with woman being significantly older. 84% of WoW players are male and the other 16% are female. (Yee) The favored races to play are Human and Night-elf and the favored classes to play are Hunter and Rouge.   

Storyline 

Azeroth

World of Warcraft takes place in the world of Azeroth on the two continents Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdom. ("The Story So Far...World of Warcraft")  The current story takes place after the newest expansion Cataclysm the Litch King reign of terror is over and now Azeroth looks toward to a brighter future, but things do not stay peaceful for long the Arch-druid Malfurion Stormrage was freed by the Emerald Nightmare. Azeroth soon became struck with erratic natural disasters, the Twilight's Hammer cult surface in both alliance and horde cities speaking of an impeding apocalypse. Violent quakes tore through the earth, mountains of fire, and colossal tidal waves obliterated coastlines all along Azeroth...the Cataclysm had begun. ("The Story So Far...World of Warcraft") 

In Game Information 

CLASS & RACE 

Character Creation
(Class & Race Selection)  

A class determines several things about a character. It alters the players adventures by determining things such as weapons and abilities as well as powers and skills. Your choice of class however is constrained by which race you choose. The original classes are Druid, Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock, Warrior and Death-Knight. ("Class") Obviously there are many character combinations to choose from because aside from these many races to choose from there are many classes within each race.  From that there are ten races found in World of Warcraft. On the Alliance side there are; Draenei, Dwarf, Gnome, Human, Night-Elf and on the Horde side there are Orc, Tauren, Troll, Blood Elf, and Undead/Foresaken. (SunyFB "Part 1") With the new expansion Worgens have been added to the Alliance side, and Goblins to the Horde.

                                                                                                                         REALMS 

PVP Realm

Normal realm- You can choose from a few different realms in the game to choose your path in the game. In the normal realm, you can collect materials and do quests without being worried about being attacked by other players. Horde or alliance characters can be created in this realm. You also do not gain or lose territory in this realm.

Player vs. Player (PVP)- This realm is similar to the normal realm however there are a few differences. First you can only create a horde or alliance, but you cannot create both. In this realm it is much more dangerous. A horde may attack an alliance at any time creating a sense of danger that requires the player to always be prepared to be attacked. 

Role playing- This is a realm for more experienced World of Warcraft players. You start by creating a character with a story. You must stay in character the whole time, Even when speaking to other players. This is recommended for creative types. (SunyFB "Part 1")

LEVELING AND REPUTATION

Character Leveling

Once you have picked your character with race and class you start trying to accomplish goals and gain experience points. You attain these points by killing monsters, mobs, and beasts. You must complete quests which are essentially objectives your character needs you to complete. You gain reputation points as you do favors for people in the land you are in as well as through quests. Having a good reputation is important because it gives you the ability to buy exclusive items. (SunyFB "Part 1")

                                         CURRENCY/PROFESSION

The currency in World of Warcraft is Gold. Gold is important to have to buy you better gear, clothing and transportation. You can earn gold by killing creatures however they usually carry very little and gaining currency this way is not efficient. Also doing quests will give you small amounts of gold but this too in inefficient. You should sell excess gear to merchants and keep expensive gear for the auction house.  (SunyFB "Part 1") Another way to earn gold is by having a profession. No character can have more than two primary professions at a time. The primary professions are Alchemy, Blacksmithing, Enchanting, Engineering, Herbalism, Leather working, Mining, Jewel crafting, Tailoring, and Skinning. There are also three secondary professions which are Cooking, First aid and Fishing. This is the best way to earn gold for better gear to improve your character for quests. (SunyFB "Part 2")

Interviews Of Online Gamers

Due to limited time we were only able to interview one person per game. 

EverQuest Interview 

How old are you?

fifty years old 

What do you do for a living/profession?

I am an Information Technology Professional and a Server Architect  

How often do you play EverQuest a week? 

Now where days I play Everquest 23 hours a week but, when I was younger I probably played 35-40 hours. 

How long have you been playing EverQuest? Are you still playing? 

I started playing December 18, 1999. Yes I am still a frequent player  it actually came out March of 1999. 

How would you rate your game addiction? 

I wouldn't call it an addiction Everquest is more of a hobby, I enjoy the fellowship aspect of the game though for some people it can lead to social alienation. In this game you develop sudo-relationships its intangible relationships you may feel like you know someone by playing an online game with them but that doesn't mean you truly know who they are in the real world. 

Most people who play Everquest play for the raiding aspect, they enjoy the high end content of the game and enjoying defeating enemies that require a large group to fight.

If you still play what keeps you playing? 

The social dynamic keeps me going back, along with game content which requires you to jump through a lot of hoops and repeat areas to gain full satisfaction, it can be time consuming but its a wonderful feeling when you get what you were looking for. The Tech in me also enjoys the mathematical components of the game like trying to figure out how the math for damage works. 

What attracted you to the game in the first place?

It was back when I worked at Microsoft I had never played online games. A friend of mines at work was beta testing for Everquest, March 97, he continued into the alpha testing. When it opened up for everyone to play we had 20 people at Microsoft who started playing. Our guild was called Divinus Conisilem (latin for Divine Council), I really got into the game because it was a fantasy world you could really enjoy. 

Everquest will be coming out with a new game soon Everquest Next which will be made for the new graphics engines in computers. 

What Character class and race is your main? 

Tedahmeister

He is a Warrior Human, level 90

Define what a guild is in your own words? 

Guilds are kickass, well at least mine is.  I would define a guild as  a group of people that reside on a systematic way to progress through in game content, of whatever game they are in.

Are you in a Guild? If so what is the focus of your guild if any? 

Since I have been playing so long I have switched around to different guilds. Right now I am part of the Red Band Brigade, we meet three days a week we are already half way through the newest expansion. Some of the best guilds in Everquest ill raid up to 42 hours a week, and if you don't keep up with the guild at least 90% of playtime you will be removed. There are people who eat, breathe, piss, sleep this game.

The coolest looking guild name I ever saw was The Big Fat Catfish 

How do you communicate in the game?

We use Ventrillo as our main base of verbal communication. Its easier then typing when you type it gets hard due to lag, you loose a lot of content and might mess up a whole raid. When we use Ventrillo one person gives instructions and everyone listens much easier and more successful 

Do you feel your communication with the outside world is affect by your in game communicating?

Yes, it makes me more distrusting of people I don't know. Most people I know on game I don't trust. If you communicate well in an online game, you can tell how people are by the way they play their character. So when you see people in real life you can read them well because you are use to the verbal and nonverbal communications.  

Do you use similar words/sayings as you do in the game outside? Do you often talk about the game with outsiders?  

Yes, I say AFK when I am at work and BRB. There is a whole sub-culture of online gaming. I have found myself talking about Everquest to people who are unfamiliar with online gaming. 

Where do you stand on the issues of online gaming being bad for you? WHY?

I think online gaming is a good hobby, its a good way for people to socialize as  long as your holding conversations about things other then online games. I would compare it to someone who watches T.V 24/7 if you did that it would be bad for you and hurt your communication style. Its just how you balance your time, it can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you use it.

Do you feel online gaming has lead you into any other hobbies? or vice versa? 

When I was younger I use to play Dungeons and Dragons before online gaming was even around. So the fantasy aspect of D&D lead me towards online gaming, like Everquest. Also I have played tons of online games due to Everquest tried out WoW, Lord of the Rings, and some face book apps (like mafia wars)  

Anything you have added to the game either inside or outside of it? (youtube videos, art work etc) 

I really haven't done much of that but I have done some social experiments. I, being a man, have played a female character and found that by playing a female character I was given free items by other users where as when I play a male character you don't get free items from strangers.

Have you seen/done/reported any sort illegal activities on game? What was the activity? And what was done about it? 

Well if by illegal activities you mean people breaking the user license agreement (ULA) or terms of service. I have seen accounts hack, characters stolen, items stolen from characters. There was this one zone where a bank would trade out silver for platinum coins, it was a bug that people exploited. Gold farming, account sharing, and griefing are very common 'crimes.' In 2003-04 there was the online economy issue were people were paying real money to buy characters and weapons, like thousands of dollars. 

World Of Warcraft 

How old are you?

I am 27 years old.

What do you do for a living/profession?

I am a Wal-Mart mechanic manager.

How often do you play WOW a week? 

I play every day for at least six hours a day.

How Long Have You Been Playing WOW? Are you still playing? 

I have been playing World of Warcraft for a year and a half. I am no longer playing.

How would you rate your game addiction? 

On a scale of 1-10 I believe my gaming addiction is an 8.

If you still play what keeps you playing?   

What kept me playing for so long was that I liked socializing with people in the game who have the same interests such as World of Warcraft.

What attracted you to the game in the first place?

I was attracted to the game because I really enjoy RPG’s and creating my own characters.

What Character class and race is your main? 

I play a blood elf paladin.

Define what a guild/faction is in your own words? 

A guild/faction is people getting together running dungeons.

Are you in a Guild? If so what is the focus of your guild if any? 

I have my own guild, it is called “built horde tough”. Our focus is simply just leveling.

How do you communicate in the game?

I communicate in World of Warcraft through typing or using my xbox headset with my guild members through party chat.

Do you feel your communication with the outside world is affect by your in game communicating?

I feel my communication with the outside world is effected because I work with or am related to everyone that I play with.

Do you use similar words/sayings as you do in the game outside? Do you often talk about the game with outsiders?  

I do use similar words/sayings in the outside world as I do in the game. I do not talk to people on the outside about the game unless they mention it first.

Where do you stand on the issues of online gaming being bad for you? WHY?

I do not think online gaming is bad for people because it is very social.

Do you feel online gaming has lead you into any other hobbies? or vice versa? 

I really enjoyed playing on computers and this hobby led me to play video games more.

Anything you have added to the game either inside or outside of it? (youtube videos, art work etc) 

I have added to the game outside of it by making a facebook page for my guild.

Have you seen/done/reported any sort illegal activites on game? What was the activity? And what was done about it?

I have been a witness to buying gold in the game. Nothing was done about the illegal activity.