Game life

In response to my comment on WoW reference yesterday, Mooiness asked:

Why would you go *into* a game to ask a question about academia? Wouldn’t you just ask a librarian directly? 😉

Good question! My immediate response is that this is just another way to reach people. There are libraries in game, after all, so why shouldn’t there be librarians you can interact with?

My second response is a bit contradictory. I personally would not necessarily be interested in being a librarian, answering people’s questions, in game – I’d prefer to just play. I’m coming from the perspective of having played games like EverQuest, Dark Age of Camelot, World of Warcraft, and EverQuest 2, all of which are games with very particular fantasy worlds, full of orcs, dwarves, trolls, elves and so on, and where there are very particular goals, roles, and modes of ‘being’. Kill six orcs, loot their scalps and turn them in for a new sword. Fight your way through a dungeon, and look for a key that opens a door to a castle where a giant dragon lives. Team up with groups of other players to kill the dragon.

If I played as a librarian in games like WoW, I would be more likely to answer questions about the game world – and provide information about spell ingredients, locations of monsters, information about different parts of the world. Come to think of it, back in the days of EverQuest I used to go out of my way to help people who were lost or needed to find something.

Second Life is different from the other MMORPGs – its focus is on being a virtual world rather than being a game as such. Your avatar or character in the Second Life world can be as fantastic as you want – I saw cats, angels, and people wearing all sorts of fantasy costumes in the world last time I was there. And you can play your character how you like – you can be an S&M dominatrix, a rodeo king, a virtuoso bagpipe player, complete with kilt… Second Life is also where some librarians have made a virtual library and are being virtual librarians.

What’s interesting about Second Life is that some people are using Second Life as a place where they can create all sorts of works of art and sell virtual services, even using it as a place where they can do experimental things, or conduct business meetings with outcomes that translate into real life businesses (just like having a chat over a game of golf). I guess you can be as successful with your Second Life character as you are in your Real Life – if not more so!

This whole virtual world thing could also be seen as a development of one’s online identity or online presence. Rather than just existing as static text (first the personal website, now the blog) or pictures (your face on your personal or work website or blog), you can have an avatar that walks around, and interacts with others…

I didn’t spend much time in Second Life because I didn’t like the way the game world looks. I thought it was clunky and had too many sharp lines – I think I’ve gotten used to game worlds like Norrath (EverQuest) or Azeroth (WoW), which are pretty. I like the game goals too – gain levels, team up with others to complete a quest, explore the world. I didn’t know what to do in Second Life (this says more about me than about the game, though, I suspect). Oh, and I like being a halfling/dwarf/gnome in-game…

Interesting topic to think and read more about, thanks for asking the question, Mooiness! I don’t know if I answered your question though! 🙂 Other librarians are thinking about it too; see Infomancy and Tame the Web and ISHUSH, just to name a few.

Categories: MMORPGs