A new thought for an old game

Having an insight into a game that i had previously given no more time than a few days of my time was interesting to say the least. I have to admit that i thought the reading was going to be a struggle to get through but it turns out i was wrong. The article by Constance Steinkuechler titled The Mangle of Play explains very well the implications of games being used by means other than what the creators intended. I had had a limited experience with massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs). My limited experience was due to the slow level increases and repetitiveness within the game. I would like to point out that I greatly enjoy online gaming, games like Resistance 2 and Portal 2 I play on a regular basis.

This brings me to question why exactly a game like Resistance 2 I enjoy but not games like World of Warcraft (WoW). From my own experiences I found that Resistance 2 allowed players to work with other from the very start whether you know each other or not. WoW however did not, it placed me on my own to approach other players and clans to ask to join them. If you were unlucky as i was, you were not accepted into any and so were left to be in a MMOG alone unable to compete with other players or to attempt greater challenges. This also brings me back to the article The Mangle of Play and of the article by Bernard Perron and Mark J. P. Wolf titled Introduction, which discusses that the gamer's experiences are different even when playing the same game. This is alike for both MMOG's and those with seemingly limited content can provide very different experiences of play.

I found both the readings very interesting and helpful, providing new insights and perspectives into videogames both online and offline. For those who do not have to read the second reading I highly recommend it.