Ethnography Blog Entry Two

To pick up from the first entry, I continued playing from Level 10 to Level 13. This got me out of Ereve and into another town, Henesys.

Before I reached Level 13, however, I met with a few problems. After I was promoted to Level 10, I was lost. There were no instructions on where to go, or which NPC to look for. On the other hand, I was eager to level up as there is probably more interaction among players at higher levels, which in turn could provide more materials for ethnography. Hence I tried to find explicit instructions or shortcuts on online forums.

This is similar to the idea of mundane calculated cheating, as mentioned in Game Modding, as I would then blindly attempt the steps provided by online forums to level up faster (as opposed to coming up with new, creative ways to cheat).

Another motivation to cheat was due to peer pressure. This was because I know friends who are already at levels up to the hundreds, and some other players I have met have more fancy costumes and weapons than I do. Moreover, my friends use shortcuts to advance in the game. Hence, it seems that cheating is legitimate, or even something to be looked up to. This fits the description mentioned in Game Modding, where cheating is “orchestrated by masterful players rather than an unlawful, unskilled shortcut.”

Unfortunately, I am an unskilled cheater. (I seldom play games, and if I do, only casual ones. Hence I find it difficult to cheat in MapleStorySEA, as I had to get myself acquainted with the more complex boundaries and rules of the game. Again, as mentioned in Game Modding, “cheaters are more attentive to rules and world limits than non-cheaters”, which probably explains why I failed, somewhat, to cheat.)

My “cheating sheet” comes from this link http://strategywiki.org/wiki/MapleStory/Quests/Cygnus_Knights, which gave instructions for me to find an NPC “Neinheart” after completing Level 10. However, I did not know that the NPC was called “Nineheart” in MapleStorySEA. I only stumbled upon it after some time. Next, after completing the “3^rd Acclimation Training”, I was supposed to be promoted to Level 13 according to the website. However, I was still at Level 12 with no instructions on how to continue from there. Browsing through forums did not help, so I had to ask my friends instead. I then realized I was not promoted as I did not kill enough monsters. From this experience, I think exploring might have been more helpful to level up than looking for shortcuts, as I would have killed more monsters on the way. Perhaps, as The Anarchy of Paidia mentioned, “for introverted people (like myself), the extroverted play of freeform roleplay can be a difficult social challenge.” Thus, although I am playing through an avatar, I subconsciously seek and try to follow rules even when they are not strictly imposed, as opposed to embracing paidia and exploring. Hence, although Bateman proposes that mass market games should minimize rules and let users simply play, this may not work as well for introverts.

*Game Modding also includes consumers modifying skins or game templates, whose ideas may influence game companies, but that is not applicable here. (I can't even cheat successfully!)

Question: Bateman mentioned that paidia games have more mass appeal than ludic ones, for players do not have to learn the rules. However, some people may be more comfortable with rules (especially simple ones). Thus, is it better to design a game that balances ludus and paidia than more paidia?