Gaming, Research Paper Example

Gamings are technologies that make use of some mechanism that connect players together in a medium (Hildebrandt et al., 2008). Due to the growth the internet, teams in different parts are able to collaborate and play as a team to overcome some challenge and finish the expected task. In a collaborative game, the team members are given roles and are expected to play effective so that the entire team move to the next level. As some form of game play, collaborative games are played over different forms of computer network and are entirely based aimed at getting every body on the team participate by contributing to the task as opposed to benefiting from the team work. The main advantage of these forms of gaming is its characteristic to allow many people to play the same game at the same time with all the players contributing to the same goal as opposed to adversarial gaming in which the participants in a program are driven with the intensity of overcoming one another. The games that are played by a single player are also still common. it is very important to note that there are different types of games to cater for the different interest the players and online communities. The collaborative gaming is growing in popularity because the majority of these programs do not need payment for a player to participate. Some gaming programs are designed in the form for video to enhance a feeling of community among the participants on the computer network. The players make use of personal computer, hand held game console and video game console. The network used currently is the internet and other equivalent technologies. The online interest group and community are driven by the different interest needs. The collaborative gaming make use of different technologies like wikis, chat room, online forums, and video demand sites like you tube and internet TV to connect with each other. Previous research has defined online gaming communities that according to the different media technology used (Castronova, 2003)

Background information on the technology

The internet technology is currently the most common medium used in online gaming. But the gaming concept was there even before the age of internet. Modems were used before the age of internet and the terminals were was the technology used before the modems were ever invented. The expansion of online gaming as practiced currently is an indication of the growth of the computer networks from the small local network and the one use over the internet. Currently, gaming community range from the simple text based environment to the ones that incorporate complex graphics and virtual worlds. The internet has made it possible is for many players in different parts of the world to participate in the same simultaneously. Collaborative games are currently viewed as some form of social activity since the different games on the internet are associated with an online community. The games are currently done not by a single player but many people who log in and a part from playing games, organize themselves into teams, learn from each other and develop strategy together (Kaiser, & Feng, 2009).

The massive multiplayer games become popular with the introduction wide use of the broadband internet in the developed world. As a result, the use of internet media enabled hundred of people to play the same game together. There are different games that have come into existence since, some of them include the MMORPG role playing game, and this was followed by the massively multiplayer online real time strategy games (Lewis and Jacobson, 2002). This was designed to allow the multiplayer to engage in a game using the medium of the modem or the local network. The first person shooter massively multiplayer online game came into existence with the growth of the internet. New software were developed to enable the LAN protocols to be used to play games over the internet. It involved creating of services to enable the players to be automatically matched with another player that needs to play. Using the same technology, virtual rooms were created on the internet where people could meet and play the games. (Antunes et al., 2001)

Discussion of ramifications of technology to work processes

The collaborative gaming has contributed to development of online forums for social and team coordination skills for efficiency and productivity. The team group effort as seen in the multiplayer collaborative is very imperative in enabling the team players to work together in the process of accomplishing the same goals and objectives of the team. Most games that are currently being designed have the main intention of facilitating the interaction and enhancing the social activities among the different members of the group. While it is true that the process of playing the multiplayer games, people will meet share the same interest, research is yet to prove that playing collaborative games together enhances the relational skills of the individuals (Castronova, 2003). Based on the works of sociologist studies, the social groups were based on the personal relationships of people living under some common traditions social values and mores. In the physical world, the relationship of people usually overlaps in different associations and communities. The collaborative have introduced another community where people interact to finish tasks.

The massive multiplayer games played online has created a very fulfilling virtual environment and enable the players to socially interact with each other as they enjoy the experience of solving the stated intellectual challenges. This media creates a very dynamic social interaction among the players when compared to the traditional video games. (Lewis and Jacobson, 2002)

These games have not only increased the user loyalty to one another but have also made it possible for the players to communicate and develop strategy for paying a certain game. This the collaborative involves organizing players into teams which are also called knots so that they overcome challenging tasks and meet the common shared target in the period of time required (Kaiser,& Feng, 2009). The fact the team has common tasks and goals contribute to the relation building in the team. This has been argued will enable the individual team members to develop interpersonal skills since the process exposes people to one another. Many of these games are therefore being developed with the intention of promoting the activities between the teams. Another scholar has indicated that in addition, the short term teams and other real visual communities are challenges of social networking. This is because the short tem projects, tailoring of task to be flexible and the high turnover of the players all contribute to the games ineffectiveness in enhancing social and interpersonal skills among members. Most of the collaborative games are designed in such a way that it enables an individual player to join a team. In this team a good team player will be allocated tasks of which they are to use to develop relations with other players in the team. For a group that was randomly formed, once the task is completed, the teams will disband and the individual in the team are free to look for other teams to join. In this context, the collaborative will not facilitate an enduring boding relationships that among the team members (Bernier, 2007)

.Importance of collaborative games in team

A study done to investigate why there is a shift from playing solo games to playing as a team indicated revealed that here very different motivation between the players of online solo games an the people who prefer playing as a team. It was found that the people who play solo games will likely stop playing at a lower level than the one playing in a team. This shows that the team players are motivated to play longer (Hildebrandt et al., 2008), While the start of a game, a player can enjoy playing as individuals, but as the game progress further, the players will find the solo games no longer provide enough excitement, these players will shift to the team games.

The collaborative games like MMORPGs are designed to enable the individual team players to contribute to teams as opposed to depending on the teams. The classes of the games are usually made in such a way that requires different skills for each of the team players. This process enables the stimulation of team work among the players even in different classes. The designers of the games tend to make each class to have very unique and irreplaceable features so that players are motivated to finish tasks and move to the next level (Laird and van Lent, 2001). Manninen,(2001) shows that the incentives for the players working in a team is much more effective than that of the solo players. This is because the players are excited about the concept of contributing to a team with some set of unique skills. Each player finds that at one poin the team will depend on him or her to implement a task and help the group to move on to a new level.

Another scholar posits that the tasks that are done in a game that designed for teams erode relationships. In many different MMORPGs, the players at very high levels have many friends and will spend a lot of time in teams. As a result of the good experience in gaming and the hig knowledge in the use of the tools and equipments in the games, the high level players will; have more control of the activities they do online. In addition, the temporal team encourages the team members to be high performers since the tem will come to an end on completion of the tasks. Such a group does not promote relationship but is interested in collaboration of people who are high achievers (Manninen, 2001). Research has shown that the functionality of the gaming media technologies has centered on the providing of structures to enhance the learning and interaction between the various team players. The process of in-depth learning is a highly social process and helped by the presence of experts who provide the guidance in the learning and the necessary feedbacks to resolve the huddles and other misconceptions. Collaborative gaming has been effective in enhancing the class of socially oriented media that is important in facilitating learning (Bernier, 2007). The socially oriented technologies have been specifically designed to enhance social interactions of the selected online users. This technology is therefore specifically made to able the process of sustained interactions in a small online learning group and has features that allow all the participants to receive needed support from other learners. This technology of the socially oriented media is very beneficial to the expert learners in which the participants can easily interact and learn form one another.

Social exergames provides real social interactions of the users through the online multiplayer games. The social exergames is another collaborative gaming technology that has proved very useful in creating and online community of participants who are able to motivate one another in the process of exercising. The game it therefore designed to offer virtual experience of such activities like cycling or rowing a boat. It therefore plays the important role of bringing about pro-social behavior by enabling a person that is exercising alone in the house to reap the benefit of doing exercises in a group (Manninen, 2001). These computer mediated games does not only offer socio physical interaction in the while doing normal exercise but also specifically address the various special requirements of type of exercises in relations with the individual goals and capabilities.

Discussion of management issues surrounding the technology

Implication to the designing of the games, indicate that although some studies have suggest that the collaborative gaming contribute to the enhancement of relationships resulting in some strong ties among the people in a team, this is yet to be proved especially to he the designing of the games will take care of this element. An important element is that MMORPGs design should concentrate more on the functional roles of the games. The incorporation of exercises to enable online game players to engage in teaming in the process of fulfilling difficult tasks need to be included in the designing of class and end game tasks development. The main motivation for people to join and play games in teams is to finish the task more efficiently (Bernier, 2007). The fact that people will spend a lot of time on the internet play collaborative games will not automatically translate into developed relationships that will last.

The designs of many games currently will try to include some features that facilitate the social relations on the online environment in the social groups that are spontaneously organized. This is very important in enhancing the fulfillment of the task where the various team members will share about the about the game strategy and learn about more on the roles of each team player. But this will not lead to the development of any relationship. Instead, the team members will become more professional by adopting different strategies of playing and winning the game. The individual team members are using the time they spend on the game to analyze the underlying rules to optimize their general performance in the game. The product designers of the game should note that the team mechanism installed in the games cannot force people to be more social as more people in the team games will use the blogs and other medium of communication to discuss the games and learn from each other (Manninen, 2001).

Conclusion

Designing of computer games should be done with the articulation of the main objective of majority of people engagement in these games. The development of the designes should not just focus too much on the functional side of the games alone but should consider providing a relaxed environment in which people can enjoy small chat (Bernier, 2007). It is also important for the designers to continue the process of developing innovative and engaging solo games that will interest players instead of just forcing people into team games after certain levels of gaming. The socially oriented media is very different from the social media in the since that the social formation of the experts using the media in some special spaces online that is not accessible to other novices. This technology therefore enables the learning to take place in private and among experts.

Designers of collaborative should account for the suitability of the games in flexibility and potential stimulation of the player since the ultimate objective is making the player to be resourceful as well as clever. Players also aim at relieving stress, calm their irritable moods as well as achieve relaxation and this is also an important consideration for the designers.

Works cited

Antunes M.,et al., An abstraction for awareness management in collaborative virtual environments. In Proceedings of ACM VRST 2001, pages 33–39. ACM Press, 2001.

Bernier, Y., Half-Life and Team Fortress networking: Closing the loop on scalable network gaming backend services. In Proceedings of the Games Developers Conference, San Jose, CA, 2007.

Castronova, E., Network technology, markets, and the growth of synthetic worlds, In Proceedings of ACM NetGames 2003, pages 121–134. ACM Press, 2003.

Hildebrandt et al., Dynamic voice communication support for multiplayer online games. In Proceedings of ACM NetGames 2008, pages 102–103. ACM Press, 2008.

Kaiser ,T.,& Feng,K., Playerrating: a reputation system for multiplayer online games. In Proceedings of IEEE/ACM NetGames 2009. IEEE Press, 2009.

Laird, E., & van Lent, M., Interactive computer games – human-level AI’s killer application. AI Magazine, 22:15–26, 2001.

Lewis ,M.,&Jacobson, J., Game engines in scientific research. Communications of the ACM, 45(1):27–31, 2002.

Manninen,T., Virtual Team Interactions in Networked Multimedia Games — Case: ”Counter-Strike” — Multi-player 3D Action Game. In Proceedings of PRESENCE Conference, 200