MMOs and Students: The Impact of Online Multiplayer Games on Today’s College Culture
Gaming has long become an integral part of our everyday life. According to the latest data, in 2023, there are over 3 billion active gamers around the world. This number has risen by 32% (over 1 billion people) in just seven years. And it keeps growing, predicted to reach the point of 3.3 billion by the end of the year.
While gaming can take many forms today, online gaming is a separate trending niche that’s especially popular among college students. For decades, this form of gaming as a whole, and MMO, in particular, has been influencing young people and college culture. Today, MMOs still play an important role in on-campus life. In this article, an expert academic writer from a trusted write my essay service for college students and a true MMO fan will tell you how this kind of game is transforming college culture. Let’s dive in!
MMO: The Definition
In order to understand how these games influence young people’s lives in college, it’s essential to know what they are and where they take their roots.
In a nutshell, the abbreviation MMO is short for Massively Multiplayer Online. This is a type of video game that can be played online and by a large number of players simultaneously.
The concept of MMOs roots back to the mid-1970s when the first networked games were created. However, the first real MMO game (Ultima Online) that is credited for popularizing this genre appeared only in 1997.
It is believed that MMOs originate from MUDs, Dungeons & Dragons, and similar social games. Throughout decades, games of this genre were developing rapidly and gaining huge popularity among young gamers. They can be sports, fighting, and racing-themed. Currently, some of the most famous games that fall under the MMO umbrella include World of Warcraft, FarmVille, Minecraft, and many others.
Today, these games tend to be a big part of students’ lives. Many young people spend hours playing their favorite MMOs. Sometimes, they even find professional paper writers to do my dissertation or other assignments just to have more time for gaming. But how else have these games changed college culture? Read on to learn about the top three ways.
Gamified Learning
First and foremost, college culture starts in the classroom. So the effects MMOs have on education, in particular, can be considered their influence on the college culture as a whole.
Now, there is no secret that gamified learning is a massive trend today. According to numerous studies and research, gamification can improve students’ engagement, skills, and academic performance. However, while there are quite many ways to gamify learning, MMOs play a big role here.
Being multiplayer online games, MMOs are the easiest games to adopt in a classroom. They can facilitate all students from one class simultaneously and let them play while also learning, competing, and acquiring teamwork skills.
Also, different MMOs can be used at home for self-learning. And the options are endless. There are plenty of fun MMOs that can also provide educational benefits.
Esports
Another thing we have to note speaking about the impact of MMOs on college culture is the rise of esports. For years, sports have been an important part of college culture. Young people always wanted to join teams to make more friends and achieve some accomplishments in college. Now, apart from traditional sports, there are also esports that offer the same opportunities.
Esports became a significant part of the college culture not so long ago. This field is still advancing. However, we can confidently say that the popularization of MMOs had an influence on the rise of college esports.
Today, esports is already widely available in many colleges across the world. In the US alone, there are already at least 170 schools that are a part of the National Association of Collegiate Esports.
How does this affect college life from students’ perspectives? First of all, there are esports clubs and teams that students can join. In some schools, teams even recruit new talents and provide them with scholarships as conventional sports teams do. Also, there are many exciting championships for college players. And, of course, there are championships played in MMOs.
Leisure
Finally, we can’t deny the fact that MMOs changed college culture by offering young people an entirely new type of leisure. Unlike traditional video games that you can play on your own, MMOs provide opportunities for socialization, competition, and teamwork.
Today, college students gladly delegate their homework to the best assignment services to save some time and play their favorite games with friends online. They gather in their dorms to compete against players from all across the world, and they also make a lot of new friends from all across the globe.
The Bottom Line
For over 30 years, MMOs have been advancing and expanding their influence. As you can see, these games have significantly transformed the lives of young people and college culture as a whole.
Now, it’s hard to find a student who doesn’t know at least one popular MMO. They play these games at home with friends, in the classroom, at international championships, etc. And they actually gain a lot of benefits from them.