Posted on: Tuesday, May 14, 2002

Online community of role-playing gamers growing

By Bill Hayden
(Wilmington, Del.) News Journal

Dave Styles roams among fearless dragon slayers, benevolent vampires and magical elves in the Internet's alternative universe of multiplayer fantasy games.

At times, the chemist from West Grove, Pa., may be a barbarian warrior or he may be a Druid priest.

He is one of more than 1 million Americans who have joined the growing online community of role-playing gamers.

"A couple of years ago, another chemist I work with told me about 'Diablo,' this game he was playing on his computer," Styles said. "It sounded interesting enough for me to give it a try. Now, a group of friends go online Friday nights to play."

"Diablo" is typical of multiplayer adventure games. Each player assumes the identity of a character with certain abilities to take part in a quest through a number of graphically depicted levels. Players can gain points as their characters accumulate weapons, treasure and experience.

"The core appeal of these games can be summed up as 'explore interesting places, meet interesting people, kill interesting people and take their loot,' " said PC Gamer magazine editor Steve Bauman.

That is a bit of an oversimplification, Bauman said, because players often can do better by cooperating with one another on an adventure.

'A great big bridge club'

The cooperation is what draws most players, said Northwestern University sociologist Gary Fine, author of "Shared Fantasy," which examines the appeal of role-playing games.

"These games allow people to form communities based on a common interest," Fine said. "In a lot of ways, it is like a great big bridge club, but you can play without anyone leaving home."

The bridge club is going to get a lot bigger, Bauman said, as the power of home PCs increases, allowing more complex graphics, and as the number of high-speed Internet connections increases, allowing close to real-time action.

"Some analysts estimate the role-playing segment of the Internet and software sales will become a $1.5 billion market in the next year," he said.

The first multiuser dungeon (MUD) was created by graduate students at England's University of Essex. It was a text-only adventure that moved players through an underground adventure in response to typed commands.

MUDs got their name because most of the action was originally set in dungeons as a nod to "Dungeons and Dragons," which started the role-playing gamers' subculture when it was launched in 1974.

Thousands of text-only MUDs still flourish on Usenet, and on bulletin boards of services such as America Online, MSN and Lycos, Bauman said.

The growth of the Internet led to the growth of subscription services, which provide the games with detailed graphics on a central server for a monthly fee. The big four are Sony's "EverQuest," "Ultima," "Dark Age of Camelot" and MSN's "Asheron's Call."

They have between 100,000 and 350,000 players each, Bauman said, and typically cost $10 a month.

Information technology expert Kendall Redburn of Richardson Park, Del., who has played "Myth" online, said playing these games allows people to become part of a community.

The appeal is working with other players, Styles said. "Buy a single-player game and put it on your computer. After you finish it, there's no incentive to play it again. Buy a multiplayer game and connect with friends, and it never is the same twice."

Popular with young people

As with the original "Dungeons & Dragons," said sociologist Fine, online games initially attracted young men in search of a common interest. "That's because the Net in the early '90s was the domain of young males."

The profile of role-playing gamers still fits the profile of Internet users, Bauman says, only the profile has broadened to include almost all of mainstream America.

Fine and Redburn caution that self-discipline is essential with online role-playing games.

"Some people can become so involved with their alter egos in the fantasy that it disrupts their lives," Fine says.

As for Styles, he said he may spend an hour or two a night playing online, but he plays instead of watching television.

"A lot of people do that," Bauman said. "It's a new entertainment form. Rather than being passive, it's a lot like interactive television."