ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses key design changes causing casualization and its corresponding effects on social interactions within Massive Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games (MMORPGs) as well as issues of ecological validity social researcher's face when studying modern MMORPGs. The observed trend of casualization within MMORPGs presents several implications for research on social interaction and gaming culture on two levels. Although this sounds like a rather pessimistic approach to social interaction in current MMORPGs, the process of casualization might also inform new types of research questions or revivify old ones. Through the need for cooperation in the classic MMORPG, players were always required to consider social encounters as a relevant part of the game. The chapter shows not only do the player characters follow a hero's journey by exploring the shared virtual environments the genre itself followed a similar journey and transformed key characteristics up to a degree that directly contradicts the original idea of MMORPGs.
