Online Review Two: Multiplayer games
Multiplayer games are discussed in light of themes such as the panopticon, surveillance, remediation, real and surreal life and the blogosphere.
Multiplayer games, such as MUDs (also knows as Multi-User Dungeon), Second Life, and online poker are blurring the boundaries between the real and the unreal. Most virtual games are cyberconstructed – they link text, graphics, video, audio, blogs, and more – with computers from all over the world (Turkle, 1995). In this context, I will illustrate how virtual multiplayer games impact players.
Online poker games (e.g. poker games) are played in a virtual room in which anyone with access to a network connected computer or smartphone can join. Poker rooms accommodate all levels of game. Beginners can play for free (the so-called freerolls) and win play money at the same token, while more advanced players or experts often pay a tournament fee ranging from $5 up to $10,000 or more, granting them the opportunity to win prizes of up to $60,000 (Everest-Gaming, 2008). The majority of poker aficionados play at multiple tables in different poker rooms – from different software providers – at the same time. Hence, the use of several windows allows them to cycle through different poker rooms (Turkle, 1995).
Each player is able to create many characters (‘avatars’), the self being not only decentered but multiplied without limit. These experiences potentially facilitate self-knowledge and personal growth (Turkle, 1995). Poker rooms further accommodate Internet Relay Chat (IRC), a form of real-time text messaging (Turkle, 1995), drawing in players and allowing them to communicate with others. When players reach out through IRC, they virtually enter everything into the program’s log. They may at any point be confronted with the way in which they have constructed themselves (Turkle, 1995), but also the way they interacted with others.
Bots – inhabitants of virtual worlds such as artificial intelligences (Turkle, 1984) – are used too. They roam, create an ambience, fill up the empty seats, but can also create a sense of falsification (Turkle, 1995). Players may think they are playing against a real player, when in fact they are competing with bots initiated by the ‘software program’.
Once the players enter the room, the virtual room then functions as a round-the-clock surveillance machine (Foucault, 1975). The player does not see the ‘surveillance agent’ – so-called monitoring and auditing features of the software – and realise that he or she has been observed. The ‘auditing software’ protects players from unfair gaming, deceiving falsification by other players, unfair dumping of chips and other unbalancing elements. However, players also monitor their fellow players. Foucault (1977) refers to this type of circumstance as the greater the risk for fellow players of being surprised the greater the anxious awareness of being observed. Rheingold (2002) refers to ‘Smart Mobs’ which describe how people behave – and misbehave – within communities. Users have a certain tendency to penalize cheaters, even at some expense to themselves. These tendencies and the emotions that accompany them influence players to behave in ways that benefit the group (Rheingold, 2002). Centralised databases that software companies use provide a basis for an extended panopticon, a concept developed by the philosopher Jeremy Bentham. This architectural machinery was set up to monitor prisoners without being seen from the outside (Bentham, 1995).
However, in poker games, once players cross the line, real and unreal life converges. The implications of the unreal life impact their real life. For example, collaboration among players is prohibited, and as such transferring money to fellow players, chip dumping and similar actions may impact players’ life offline. The players’ virtual poker account can immediately be blocked. This can extend to shutting down the players’ associated bank account in real life.
There is nothing unreal about this event. Many players reach out to the blogosphere, which is pivotal in the poker community in an attempt to reverse the damage.
What I examine here is that the blurring lines between the real and unreal life diminish once the line have been crossed. Badly chosen acts during online participations have a detrimental impact to offline participations. In addition, entering a poker room is similar to entering a panopticon. One is under surveillance at all times, and misbehaviour will not be tolerated. This is where the ‘surveillance agent’ has extended its power.
Bibliography
Baudrillard, J. 1995. Simulacra and Simulation, Michigan, University of Michigan Press.
Bentham, J. 1995. The Panopticon Writings [Online]. London: Verso. Available: http://cartome.org/panopticon2.htm [Accessed 18 October 2010].
Everest-Gaming. 2008. Everest Poker [Online]. Malta: Everest Poker. Available: http://www.everestpoker.com/en [Accessed 10 October 2010].
Foucault, M. 1975. Discipline & Punish: The Birth of the Prison, New York, Random House Inc.
Foucault, M. 1977. Panopticism. In: KAPLAN, D. M. (ed.) Readings in the philosophy of technology (2004). Lanham. MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Turkle, S. 1984. The Second Self. Computers and the human spirit., New York, Simon & Schuster.
Turkle, S. 1995. Life on the screen: identity in the age of the Internet, New York, Simon & Schuster.
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