MMORPGs will remain to be the untamed aspect of human activity in this century and the next as it establishes undefined influences in our generation and the next.
It will continue to remain as the frontier of the pursuit to blend the world of illusion and the real world. It is without saying, trying effortlessly to achieve a new world that human race isn’t yet ready to deal with but forced to deal with its uncertainty just to secure economic gains. It’s already imbibed too deep into human economic activities as microtransaction now a days becomes the inevitable economic medium.
Many issues will emerge and those at hand will remain unanswered. Among these issues which i think need a frequent look, are the concepts of – sportsmanship, fair play and character in MMORPGs.
In view of the accepted human values, by definition, online-games are far from being categorized as a sport. On-the-ground event would seem to be the starting point but it needs further steps ahead, maybe years for it to be recognized as one. This brings us to the difficulty of establishing fair play and some sense of human character.
In-game “undue advantage” as opposed to “fair play” is pre-defined by the game developer-publisher. A definition determined by the perception of the corporation as to what generates more income and what sustains marketing competitiveness, with respect to the usual principles of supply and demand. Gamers, in general, can’t possibly defined it. The rich and spenders, including the cheaters, always take the upper hand which will always defeat the possibility of giving everyone a fair chance. On the other hand, for free loaders, playing 24/7 has to deal with internet service fees and electric bills, not to mention health risks.
More difficult is the recognition of acceptable ethic and defined character. It is far from real life where at times you may have one chance, you may have to live with a mistake, and so it does require conforming to socially accepted norms and values. It is different in the persistent-world where death or deletion, quitting or starting over, cheating or playing fair is far from life and death in the real life.
And because gamers are interacting and transacting using created virtual characters, which do not truly represent a person, the meaning of “having fun” may turn at various directions. Questions about motive, which are not usually thought of while doing fun games, became relatively important. Answers thereof display facts that many aren’t into the game with the aspiration that the activity be enjoyed for its own sake and many are not into the game to have fun without seriousness or ulterior purpose.
Apparently, online-games were adopted by many end-users as a means of living, a source of income, and an enterprise that has to be followed, to be broken, to be beaten and be exploited for material gains. Others, including cheat provider corporations, even take pride of being the “modern leeches”, have organized fast growing community and even have larger number of subscribers.
Undeniably, both legits and non-legits alike, knowingly or unknowingly, are directly and indirectly benefiting from the use of third party programs (3PPs). Legits who are buying and selling virtual commodities from the item shop can’t deny the truth about this. Their legit method of generating alz (and similar in-game currency) is augmented or affected by the current effectiveness of the employed cheat programs. Thus, the distinction of what seem to be legal or illegal gets blur in that particular gray side of in-game transactions and dungeon party modes. Unbelievably, I fear that very soon the definition of cheating will likewise evolve to technically exclude that which are popular attitudes in-game – bot-ing, hacking and game security bypass.
The psychological influences of these conditions to the personality development of the involved youth sector are yet to take a defined form. I am pessimistic to expect that it will be positive. Most certainly, they will bring forth unusual future issues and challenges to their respective real life, to their existence and to the aspirations of our nation. Mental and emotional abhorrent expressions of gamers, as well as, insolent remarks at the general discussion section of any MMORPG community forum, show some symptoms of what online-games, in Philippine context, can make a person.
Even real world policy making is having difficulty of which way to look into or turn to in this new arena of emerging industry- MMORPGI. In the Philippines, our policy makers have yet to open their eyes to see this particular emerging phenomenon.
It is heartening to say that the unwavering campaign of legit players, together with their respective game “Admins”, against the use of illegal 3PPs, may yield some lasting perceived effects.
Living for Tomorrow 
i am an indirect cheater 😦