The Pixelated Post #2

Classes began yesterday, so everyone is either online or in the bookstore purchasing their textbooks for the upcoming semester. However, about 20 communication students have a different kind of purchase to make for their Interactive Multimedia Communications course. On their textbook list, they see a $75 copy of the collectors’ edition of Final Fantasy XIV. These are the students enrolled in Associate Professor Dr. Aaron Delwiche’s “Games for the Web” class taught each fall. 

Delwiche realized “virtual worlds (and) online spaces were going to change our culture” while playing a text-based online role-playing game during his undergraduate studies in the mid-1980s. Since then he has dedicated himself to the study of new media, especially interactive media such as video games. “Games for the Web” has been a recurring class each fall semester since it first began in 2002 with Everquest.

This semester the class will be jumping into the upcoming Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) Final Fantasy XIV. While Final Fantasy is known for  its RPG series, this is the second massively multi-player game released in the series. The Armoury System is one of Final Fantasy XIV’s biggest changes to the MMORPG world. In most games, players are forced to simply choose one class to play, for example a warrior, archer or mage. In Final Fantasy XIV players will have the ability to choose multiple classes and change from one class to the other. For example, a beginning warrior may also be an experienced mage.

The most recent classes have focused on communication and interaction between international cultures through the project called WorldPlay. Massively multi-player games enable a gamer in San Antonio to connect with and share information with people from all over the world. These virtual worlds erase cultural boundaries as people from different backgrounds befriend each other and work together towards a common goal. Final Fantasy XI was the previous online game in the Final Fantasy series and revolutionized transnational interactions with a translation system. This system allowed people from different language backgrounds to communicate more efficiently while in game and helped overcome what is likely the largest barrier to cross-cultural communication.

The class this semester hopes to continue the WorldPlay work that was started last fall. “What people will do is design quests that promote cooperation,” Delwiche said.  Students will attempt to facilitate these cross-cultural interactions through teamwork and cooperation in game. By working together towards a common goal, players can learn a lot about each other. The whole point of a MMORPG is to allow people to team up and enjoy cooperative adventures.

“Games for the Web” is not just about playing video games all the time; the reading load is  quite heavy. “In 2010 (there are) probably 300 articles published in journals,” Delwiche said. These articles help the students explore the different communication aspects that virtual worlds provide. “Games for the Web” is not a gaming class; it is a class that explores games (and virtual worlds) as a medium for communication between people and cultures. Whether you are a gamer or not, this class is instructive, interesting, and most of all, fun.