City of Heroes for College Credit - City of Heroes Forums

sadronmeldir · 01-19-2007, 06:32 AM

I'm a student at WPI and I'm taking a class titled "Social Issues in Interactive Media and Games". For our final project, we have to find a social issue within the realm of a particular multiplayer game and write a paper on it.

Some Examples Are:
1) The tension between kill-on-sight guilds and "honorable" pvp guild in Asheron's Call
2) The society of gold farmers on WoW.

I was going to use Guild Wars, but the game is so limited socially because everything is instance-based.

...So moving on to my actual question: would CoH be a good game for this kind of project. Is there any social issues in CoH that might be particularly noteworthy or specific t this game, such as the relatively high number of role players?

Any ideas would be helpful. I have an old account for CoH, but before I renew I need to know if I have a working thesis to work off of. Since all of you know CoH much better than I, do you have any thoughts of topic suggestions?

THANKS!

Pinny · 01-19-2007, 06:41 AM

"hardcore" PvPers vs. "Carebares" (non PvPers) might be good.

Or maybe the number of RPers on Virtue vs. the number of RPers on say freedom

sadronmeldir · 01-19-2007, 06:50 AM

Is there a big difference in RPer's? Is one the unofficial RP server?... It sounds like a possible lead... any other ideas?

Pinny · 01-19-2007, 07:23 AM

Yep, Virtue is CoX's unoffical RP server

Gaia · 01-19-2007, 07:39 AM

Even the hardcore RP'ers that live in Pocket D and Atlas all day long vs regular gamers/casual RP types out to experience the entire content of the game would be an interesting contrast. I know the hardcore RP group is very cliquish and distane the casual guilds invading their "turf" for RP nights or themed nights.

Charon · 01-19-2007, 09:31 AM

You could actually do something based around cliques, as there are a lot of them in CoH/V, and they all end up clawing for attention over one another. This game seems to attract a lot of people who want to make something of an internet celebrity of themselves.

Ironically (and unfortunately) however, if you try and research this topic you'll likely get no where or you'll get flamed... No one likes to admit to clique-ish or elitist behaviour.

thebluecanary · 01-19-2007, 02:25 PM

Just talk to Grae Knight. He knows everyone.

Grae Knight · 01-19-2007, 02:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thebluecanary

Just talk to Grae Knight. He knows everyone.

Sorry, not doing interviews this week. Leave your name and address with my secretary and she will mail you an autograph picture.

sadronmeldir · 01-19-2007, 02:51 PM

Haha! I'm already liking this forum...

So far it sounds like my best bet for an interesting paper would be to join a RP server and for all essential purposes stay completely in character for a few weeks... make acquaintances and friends, possible join an RP supergroup... then one day stop being an RP'er and see what happens.

That's just the first idea that comes to mind given what you guys have told me. It probably needs a lot of tweaking. What do you think?

Grae Knight · 01-19-2007, 02:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sadronmeldir

Haha! I'm already liking this forum...

So far it sounds like my best bet for an interesting paper would be to join a RP server and for all essential purposes stay completely in character for a few weeks... make acquaintances and friends, possible join an RP supergroup... then one day stop being an RP'er and see what happens.

That's just the first idea that comes to mind given what you guys have told me. It probably needs a lot of tweaking. What do you think?

Got one better..make a female character, tell everyone you are female in RL, interact with male character/players as such to the point of being intimate and then later reveal you were actually a guy!