The Warcraft Civilization: Social Science in a Virtual World by William Sims Bainbridge
Imagine a video game bursting out of the screen and merging with the real world around you. You may experience precisely that if a prototype augmented-reality game system called LARP (live-action role-playing games) becomes fully developed, according to William Sims Bainbridge in The Warcraft Civilization.
A LARP’s playing field, Bainbridge says, would be an open-air city or park. Your view would be altered by game-generated holographs of heroes, villains, and action sequences. Gamers who now play World of Warcraft on computer screens might gather in a theme park and face off against each other in real time, disguised as warlocks, elves, orcs, and other characters.
Education might get enhancements, too. Tourists who visit Washington, D.C., and listen to a guide discuss the capital’s role in World War II might relive the era by pretending to be OSS agents or Nazi spies.
Even without LARP, however, World of Warcraft is very much present in the real world and may become more so, Bainbridge adds. In May 2008, scientists held an academic convention as avatars in the World of Warcraft domain. Also, many sociologists are experimenting with the game because of its parallels with real life. Tribes of beings interact with each other and sometimes clash. And there are functioning economic systems, complete with “black-market” transactions.
In The Warcraft Civilization, Bainbridge explores the social trend of role-playing games and their significance for contemporary culture in the years ahead. Gamers and sociologists will both find his observations informative.
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