Contextual Studies

For this Contextual Studies, I decided to look into online gaming. Specifically, how by allowing more players to be part of the same game has brought new ways to interact with each other and how this affects distribution.

I started by looking into the early stages of online play, looking at a game called MUD which was the first cross-network multiplayer game. While it didn't have much in the way of expanding distribution, it did allow players to play with each other over the internet which would later become the biggest impact of the industry.

I then looked into the first Massively Multilpayer Online game (MMO) which was Ultima Online. I looked into how it distributed itself over the internet and how the social aspects of the game (the communities and 'guilds') had an effect into creating it into what it was.

I then looked in to more recent games, such as EVE Online and looking at how its style of gameplay changes the way people interact with other players, how an in-game economy developed and how the corporations made by players within the game and how the various things that players can do, both legal and illegal (in terms of real society, whereas these actions - such as scamming and pirating - are legitimate gameplay within EVE) affect their way of interaction.

I then looked into upcoming games, looking at how their ways of bringing more cooperation to players is affecting distribution, how the new ways of cooperation is helping to push server capabilities further.