‘DEWA’ AND ‘JOKI’: A STUDY OF MODERN CAPITALISM IN GRANADO
ESPADA ONLINE INDONESIA
Wynne Ert
Abstract
Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG)
has become a lifestyle in Indonesia. Nowadays, playing online game is no longer
motivated by leisure needs only. But it always followed by the second motive,
that is to pursue economical needs. In contrast with its free-to-play feature,
online gaming players tend to execute profit making activities. Therefore, this
study is conducted to analyze the behavior of MMOG players at negotiating
capitalism inside its virtual world. It involves observation and in-game interview
of certain players of Granado Espada Online Indonesia. The result supports
commercialism and consumption culture. Thus, capitalism practices among players
throughout the game are inevitable. MMOG players should, however, carefully
manage their time and resources in order to adapt to this new form of modern
capitalism practices and be able to act accordingly.
Keywords: Massively
Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game, Commercialism, Modern, Capitalism.
Introduction
Leisure
activities are a part of popular culture and it has been attached to our
lifestyle. Conventionally, people tend to have it spent on either a vacation to
certain exotic countries or even to more sophisticated countries. Today, as a
part of modern society and supported by the advanced technology, a lot of
people have started to spend their free time in virtual worlds, such as online
gaming. In Indonesia, online gaming has become a practice of everyday life.
Lytogame, one of the biggest Indonesian commercial online game vendors, provides
15 well known MMOG (Massively Multiplayer Online Game) which have being played
worldwide, such as Ragnarok,
Perfect World, Seal online, Luna Online, Granado Espada online, etc. In this study, the writer chose Granado Espada Online Indonesia. Aside
from the fact that the creator of Granado
Espada Online Indonesia is the same as the creator of Ragnarok
Online,
the most pre-eminent online game worldwide (Shiefield: 2012), Granado Espada Online Indonesia came to
its own success soon after its first release in 2007 (Berger: 2011). The game
has being played in numerous countries, such as Korea, Japan, North America,
Europian Union, Taiwan, China, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Thailand,
Philipine, Rusia, and Indonesia in 2010. Certain game features make this game
more sophisticated and have a rather hard gameplay than the other game
published by Lytogame. For instance, the Multiple Character Control (MCC)
features where players have to control a group up to three characters
simultaneously combined with complicated mouse and keyboard control. Because of
these features require a high intelligence of the player and increase the
tendency of individuality, Granado Espada
Online Indonesia attracts older and more experienced MMOG players. This
kind of MMOG players are dominated by adult, range from young adult until mid.
adult. Therefore, the social environment inside the game is also dominated by
adulthood.
Players
of Granado Espada Online Indonesia
may vary from the ordinary player with less intention to be part of the gaming
community, for example the Joki until the influential high level players with
sophisticated battle skill and equipments (Dewa).
The Joki and Dewa are common address among Indonesian MMOG players. Each address
has its own privilege and it is the proof of commercialization as one form of
capitalist practices that emerges from virtual world. While the game is a
free-to-play game, profit making can still be found in certain circumstances. A
study by Holin Lin & Chuen Sai-Sun (2011) in their journal about Cash Trade in Free-to-Play Online Games,
argues that the distinction between virtual world or the third world—the world
that supposed to be an escape from contemporary life—and the real world is
lessened when commercial mechanism is being practiced in the game.
To
further our understanding, the writer explores players’ commercial behavior
executed in the game and its contribution to the commercial mechanism in the
real world. More specifically, this study has three objections, which are:
1.
to
analyze how politics in Granado Espada
Online Indonesia society works
2.
to reveal the element(s) which classify players in Granado Espada Online
Indonesia,
specifically the Dewa and Joki.
3.
to
determine whether the behavior between the two different players (Dewa and Joki) has significant effect to their everyday life, aside from
their life in the virtual world of Granado
Espada Online Indonesia..
In
investigating these questions, the writer conducted a qualitative research
based on the ideology of capitalism. The writer specifies the term capitalism
on the profit making behavior.
The
data for this study is collected from the writer’s observation for over a year
relating to the online gaming society. In-game interview from chosen players of
Granado Espada Online Indonesia is
also conducted to collect more reliable data from the players. In order to
maintain the objectivity of this study, the writer specified the interviewee
into two different types. First are the influential high level players with
sophisticated battle skill and equipments (Dewa),
for example the guild captain/members of the outstanding guild. And the other
interviewee is the ordinary player (Joki),
for example nobody.
The structure of the
rest of the paper is as follows: First, it reviews extant literature relevant
to online gaming culture, commercialism, and capitalism and then followed by
the description of research methodology used in the study. Next, the findings
are discussed and summarized. Finally the paper concludes the discussion of
theoretical and managerial implication and direction for future study.
The Invasion of Real World Capitalism
MMORPG
is a game in which players create their own customizable characters in the form
of avatars and explore the virtual worlds. The creation of these virtual worlds
may be based on existing works: World of
Warcraft, Lord of the Rings Online, Star Trek Online, completely original
works: Ragnarok Online, Luna Online,
Cabal,
or they may even based on historical events: Granado Espada, Red Cliff, Three Kingdoms. Baruchnewmedia (2012)
suggests similar traits of MMORPGs worldwide as follows:
1.
Character
development. Players train their characters to gain level and experience. The
character also allows players to interact with other players lively.
2.
Clan/Guilds.
Players create communities via in-game guild/clan systems. It classifies
players according to their ideology, hobby, or interest.
3.
Economy.
MMORPG has a currency, for example Gold. And the exchange cost depends on
traded items. With Gold, players can barter or trade with other players.
Johan
Huizinga (1950) theorized that the act of play shall not connect with material
interest and profit making practices. He suggests the term Magic Circle which has become a standard reference among game
studies (e.g. Consalvo: 2009, Taylor: 2006, Lin, Sun: 2011, Harambam, Aupers,
Houtman: 2011). The concept of Magic
Circle was firstly introduced in 1938. It defined as “a special place in
time and space created by a game” (Salen and Zimmerman: 2004, p. 79).
The
growing influence of modern capitalism in virtual world is affecting in-game
moral implication. Supposedly, the preservation of the traits above is
negotiated within the Magic Circle.
Along with MMORPG’s fast development, Magic
Circle has been put under threat since ‘business becomes play’ and ‘play
becomes business’ (Lasch: 1991: 102). Moreover, Edward Castronova points out
that when the sense of playing erodes, the law, expectation, and norms of
contemporary real world society will increasingly dominates the atmosphere of
game world. Once that happened, living in the virtual world will no longer be
any different from the real world. (2005: p. 76).
The Commercialization of Virtual World
Harambam,
Aupers, and Houtman (2011) argue that no wealth or goods can be transferred
from the ‘real’ world to the game world. Nevertheless, that does not stop the
commercialization in the virtual world. Real Money Trading (RMT) is the most
common issue shared in online gaming societies. It is also one of the ‘orders
of commercialization’ suggested in the study, that is, real money trading. They
also suggest that the concept of economic invasion is affecting its sense of
enjoyment. Because of the “persistence” nature of MMOGs, online games have the
potential to last longer than console or PC games. And players who are willing
to spend a huge amount of time and money to manage their own perfect virtual
life naturally create the value of game-related goods for economic exchange.
However, such practices threaten Huizinga’s (1938) magic circle which protects the spirit of free play. Magic circle has two essential concepts,
they are: the presence of a world that is
not part of reality and the
preservation of the game rules and regulations. The first concept is
already dismissed since the commercial mechanisms blur the difference between
real world and virtual world. The second concept is violated too, because in
the terms and agreement, Lytogame forbids commercial activities without
acknowledgement of the authority (Lytogame).
Gold Farming and Real Money Trading (RMT)
An
article entitled New Media and MMORPGs
introduces MMORPG as a new form of media just like web page introduced as a new
type of document (Santini: p.85). It defines the main
characteristics of MMORPGs altogether with its psychological, social, ethical,
legal and economical Implications.
In
the world of MMORPG, there are four main activities that players spend their
time on, they are Leveling, Hunting, Vending, and Farming. The first two
activities (Leveling and Hunting) preserve to gain experience (EXP) or to
complete quests. And it engages players completely in the magic circle. On the contrary, the rest (Vending and Farming) is
considered as the gold farmer's expertise and totally threaten the immersion of
magic circle. Since the virtual goods
can be traded with each other, players have the tendency to exploit this
opportunity to make real life money. Farmers collect the 'gold' (in-game
currency) or items then sell it to the gold-purchasing players. Because the
process takes a long time, not all players are willing to become a farmer. This
is not only affecting the in-game economic flow, but it also creates a social
gap between the gold-purchasing players and the non gold-purchasing players. It
means that the gold-purchasing players can accumulate their virtual wealth
easily which giving them more advantages over the non gold-purchasing one. This
case is just the same as the upper and lower class case in the real world. The
richer a person is the more prestigious that person would become. And along
with this prestige comes power. When a person has power, he may use it to
become even more powerful so that he can make the most profit out of it
(Martin: 2003)..
Furthermore
in the article, the later concern of gold farming is that it is not different
from drug trafficking. There is correlation of gold farmers and drug dealers
and gangs in term of social interaction (Luke: 2010). However, gold farming may
lead to virtual crimes. This can be done easily by hacking into another player
account and take all of their virtual properties including the gold, then sell
it back to other players. Another article written by Luke (2010) stated that on
October 2010, an EVE Online player
pulled off a massive in-game investment fraud which worth $45.000 in game
currency.
A
study conducted by Lin and Lee (2011) about the identity of cyber worker,
especially RMT worker (Gold Farmer). They find out that gold farming has become
a complex economy system in which players with less time, skill, or patience
can hire the RMT workers to collect in-game currency and items for them.
Dibbell (2006) spent a year as an independent RMT worker, and he earned $4.000
per month. Because his income depends on his input, he has to 'play' the game
more than 12 hours simultaneously every day. In addition, the study suggests
three similar steps of RMT transaction, such as:
·
Seller
posts prices or virtual currency exchange rates to a personal website or
auction.
·
Buyers
make payment by transferring money via credit card/debit card. They can also
opt to do cash on delivery (cod) payment.
·
Finally,
both parties arrange a meeting and log in to the game and complete the
transaction.
Trust
plays an important role in this kind of transaction. Since the exchanged items
are virtual goods, the risk of fraud transaction is high. This is why game
developers around the world prohibit RMT.
Research Methodology
The
study is conducted as a qualitative research based on the ideology of
capitalism, focusing on the profit-making practices. The data for this study is
collected from the writer’s observation for over a year relating to the online
gaming society. In-game interview from chosen players of Granado Espada Online Indonesia is also conducted to collect more
reliable data from the players. In order to maintain the objectivity of this
study, the writer specified the interviewee into two different types, they are
the influential high level players with sophisticated battle skill and
equipments (in Indonesia, such player is addressed as Dewa), for example the guild captain/members of the outstanding
guild. And the other interviewee is the ordinary player with less intention to
be part of the gaming community, for example the Joki.
Findings and Discussion
1. Politics
in virtual world of Granado Espada Online
Indonesia
The Encouragement of
Capitalism
In
answering the question, the writer focuses on the main scenario of Granado Espada Online Indonesia.
Although MMORPG such as Granado Espada provides their players with free access
to play, the in-game cultural and economic system is contaminated by real
world's vices of global capitalism. It is important to keep in mind that all
forms of real world capitalism are based on the production of profit. In order
to do so, land, labor, and capitalist goods are needed. These elements are
confirmed in the introduction of Granado
Espada Online Indonesia:
"...Ferrucio
Espada dan ajudannya Jilberto Granado menemukan benua baru dalam petualangan
mereka dan menamakannya Granado Espada..." [Land] "...Tanah yang
belum terjamah, termasuk dengan ancient relic, mineral berkekuatan spesial,
bentuk kehidupan yang langka, dan sumber daya yang melimpah..."
[Capitalist goods] "...Para
bangsawan dan rakyat biasa ..." [Labor].
So, the game offers land (Granado Espada) and capitalist goods (untouchable soil,
ancient relic, minerals with special power, and unlimited resources) to be
‘capitalized’ by the players (labor).
The scenario of the game also encourages players to be the capitalists of
Granado Espada by conquering the lands. The Recoquista
Agreement was issued by the Emperor of Vespanola. It suggests that she
offered a big chance to every social class to change Granado Espada into their
(the players) very own dream destination. Although the emperor said that all
social classes are allowed to participate, practically most of the land is
ruled by the Noblesse. Most of the safe areas (a battle free areas, such as
Coimbra, Reboldeaux, Bahamar) are served under the Emperor's order. People who
do not serve the Emperor stay in two safe areas called Auch and Ustiur. They
are called as Republicans while the
noblesse called as Royalists. Later,
as the first step to be capitalists, the players will have to choose either to
be royalists or republicans. Next, players whose united as a guild and had
chosen side are encouraged to participate in an event called as Colony War. The rule is any guild that
can conquer more zone maps is the winner. It means: more land, more resources,
and more profit. But this is a weekly event (held every Saturday night at 20.00
- 22.00 WIB) in which the winner of the event can be different each week. So
every guild that participates in the event has to build up power and become
even stronger not only to maintain its colonized areas but also to conquer more
areas. This is one example to drive player to be obsessed with greedy traits
just like the game stated: "Rahasia benua
baru ini menjadi obsesi
tanpa akhir
bagi para petualang."
The
Monopoly Exercise: Taking Over the Recources
The
second consideration that determines the politics in Granado Espada Online Indonesia is the basic rules that is shared
and believed by players of Granado Espada
Online Indonesia. The rules below is stated in the official forum of Granado Espada Online Indonesia in
Kaskus website They are mentioned as follows:
·
Player
shall have good hacking ability so he/she can create a more sophisticated cheat
engine software than the rival player in PA (bots[4]).
·
Player
shall have an advanced computer components so he/she can run more than one
Granado Espada program.
·
Leveling?
Player shall go to voucher cave[5].
.
In short, player shall own at least two or three computers to earn money (vis)
and ridiculous amount of game points to increase your level. The tips mentioned
above can also function as survival kit. Only players who follow those
instructions faithfully can survive the game. It means, high level player with
great amount of vis is considered as the survival, thus he/she deserves to be a
member of the hall of fame. Earning fame is also equally the same with earning
power. To have power means to be able to control the flow of the game including
control of the equipments/cash price or even playing around with the destiny of
lower level players. For example, you can hire the lower level player to be
your ''pasukan tiban'' and make them work for you 24 hours a day or killing off weaker players as you pleased.
A
good example of player who applies the ‘survival kit’ faithfully is Sality, a
guild leader and a high level player. He monopolizes a whole zone map in Pulau
Api just for his own advantage. He puts at least seven different IDs to be his Pasukan Tiban. The IDs are scattered
around the area and those IDs are doing gold farming activities for 24/7. All
of the pasukan tiban are Sality’s
IDs. Since one computer can only run one program of Granado Espada Online Indonesia, thus he needs seven different
computers that run the game for 24/7. His pasukan
tiban are controlled by bots, so he just needs to sit back and relax while
keeping his eyes on the computers. He also does not necessarily need to be
anxious for getting killed because, aside from the treasures whose monsters
dropped, killing them also accumulates the experience (EXP) points that can
increase the level of the characters. So theoretically, the longer the
character kills monsters, the stronger it becomes. As a result, he becomes rich
and strong at the same time. His revenues reach hundreds million vis or at
least equals with Rp. 400.000 per week.
Because
of this kind of behavior of the high level players, the low level players grow
weary and tend to earn easy money (vis) by offering help to the higher level
rather than to earn it themselves by hunting or completing quests. In Granado Espada Online Indonesia, there
is an event called as Team Arena (TA)[6] every 08.00 pm and 11.00 pm each day. An
hour before the event begins, high level players start to broadcast that they
will pay player(s) who is willing to be a starter with fee about 8 million vis
and a stayer for 10 million vis. Let us do the math; if one player becomes a
starter in every TA, then it will be 8 million x 2 = 16 million vis. That is
the minimum money they can earn in a day. Not to mention that they also earn
good exp. points from doing TA since its objective is to kill monster bosses. Several
players are also offering themselves to be the starter[7] and stayer[8] with competing
fare. Almost all of the
players who become the starter or stayer are low-level player/newbie. So, 16
million vis is enough to satisfy them. But for the high level, such amount of
money (vis) is nothing. It is because just by completing one TA event, they can
earn high level or even rare equipments and items that can reach hundreds
million vis when sold out. The more vis they have the more power they have in
hands.
2. Classification
of the empowered and disempowered player of Granado Espada Online Indonesia
Dewa:
the Superior Player vs. Joki: the Inferior Player
Based
on the findings on the first research question, players of Granado Espada Online Indonesia can be classified into two
different types. The first one is the empowered player and the second one is
the disempowered player. The empowered player is a player who gained power by
having ridiculously huge amount of money (vis) and sophisticated rare equipments
and goods, Indonesian gamers addressed it as Dewa (God), while the disempowered player is a low-levelled player
who does not have intention to be part of the gaming community or usually
called as Joki.
In
order to become a Dewa, player has to
have a lot sum of money, both vis and rupiah. When a player have great amount
of vis, he/she can buy rare items/equipments that is usually ridiculously
expensive. And having a lot of rupiah means that the player is able to buy game
points[9] which
are exchangeable with certain virtual equipments or goods sold by the vendors,
in this case Lytogame.
On
the other hand the Joki does not have
that kind of ability, so he/she created her/his own way in order to gain
profit. Since PA and game events such as TA
is at the hands of the Dewa and there
is no way for the ‘weaklings’ to breach in, therefore the game is no longer fun
for them. The Joki players’ objective is no longer to play for leisure but
rather for the pursuit of economical needs. Their objective is then to earn
easy money from the empowered players. As mentioned above, one of the efforts
is by offering themselves to be starter or stayer in TA. The other one is to
offer leveling up service to the Dewa
who has money and well-equipped but does not have time to play the game because
of his/her real life business. A professional Joki is paid Rp. 150.000 a day to do the service. But since the Joki has to play the Dewa's mighty character, this kind of
job is quite risky. Firstly, the Joki
has to stand by in front of the computer for as long as the contract requires
him to. He/she also has to be well-behave for he/she is playing someone else’s
ID. Not to mention that any lost items or money (vis) will surely discard the Joki's credibility and usually ends up
blacklisted.
3. Significant
effect(s) of the in-game empowered and disempowered player in real life
The Reversed
Capitalist
One
common rule of the in-game politic of empowered and disempowered player of Granado Espada Online Indonesia is that
the one who is empowered has the advantage in taking over the society and
economical flow in the virtual world, while the disempowered one just being
left. Actually, this rule of virtual world is not different from rule in the
real world. According to Martin (2003) in Interpreting Everyday Life and Culture, the disempowered one is the one who gets
hegemonized.
While
the in-game rule gives privilege to the empowered player, it is very
distinctive with what happen in the real world. In the real world, the
empowered player actually is the one who being commercialized and hegemonized. It means, they are the ones who spend
more real money. Below are the prices lists of game points sold by Lytogame,
these coins can be spent on all mall items[10] in the online games published by Lytogame,
including Granado Espada Online
Indonesia.
|
Game On Voucher
|
Cost
|
|
2.500 coins
|
Rp. 10.000
|
|
5.500 coins
|
Rp. 20.000
|
|
10.000 coins
|
Rp. 35.000
|
|
20.000 coins
|
Rp. 65.000
|
|
57.000 coins
|
Rp. 175.000
|
Table 1 Game On Voucher List
The mall items typically classified into
two types, they are the appearance items
and the performance items. The
appearance item is the item which is used to make the avatar aesthetically more
fashionable, but it has minor impact of increasing the status or skill of the
player.
|
Mall Items
|
Cost
|
Features
|
Endurance
|
|
Masks, wigs, hats
|
1200
coins
|
HP
boost +300
|
30
days
|
|
Eyeglasses
|
1250-2000 coins
|
HP boost +300
|
30 days
|
|
Costumes
|
6250
coins
|
HP/MHP
boost +500, DEF boost +10
|
30
days
|
|
Permanent
costumes
|
20.000 coins
|
No feature
|
Permanent
|
|
Costume package
|
20.000
coins
|
Costume set for certain character
|
Permanent
|
|
Raw
materials
|
75-16.000 coins
|
Materials to forge quest items and upgrade equipments
|
One time use only
|
|
Pet Boxes
|
8000 coins
|
Pet creature
|
Permanent
|
Table 2 Appearance Mall Items
Unlike the appearance items,
the performance item focuses on increasing the player’s status and skill
ability significantly.
|
Mall Items
|
Cost
|
Features
|
Endurance
|
|
Potions
|
200-2000
coins
|
Various status and skill boosting effects
|
10 minutes,
1 hour, and 10 hours.
|
|
Mystery
boxes
|
2.500-15.000
coins
|
Contains costumes
|
For 1 time use only
|
|
Packages
|
2.500-40.000
coins
|
Contains several status + skill boost items
|
For 1 time use only
|
|
Duration
items
|
1000-20.000coins
|
Contains free pass and books that boost
10%-40% EXP and drop rate
|
1 day-30 days
|
|
Upgrading & Enchanting materials
|
3500-8000coins
|
Boost status & skill / HP of the upgraded equipment
|
For 1 time use only
|
|
Expert & Master scroll
|
8000 coins
|
Promote the level of
the character.
|
For 1 time use only
|
Table 3 Perfomance Mall Items
A
player has to spend at least 8.700 coins on appearance items for every 30 days.
The MMC feature of the game required the player to use 3 characters, which are
8.700 coins x 3 = 26.100 coins or Rp.90.000/month. It is important to note that
each Dewa may have more than 46 characters. So, a player has to pay Rp.
1.350.000/month to customize all of his characters. But since characters in Granado Espada Online Indonesia
basically consist of five kind of characters (Fighter, Elementalist, Wizard,
Range, and Melee), the cost of appearance mall items can be reduced into 43.500
coins/month or Rp. 150.000/month. Belmonth, A 43 level player spent about Rp.
500.000 each month just for the appearance items.
The
amount of money spent on performance items usually are much bigger, because of
the endurance of the items mostly last for one day/for one time use only. But
recently, Lytogame released the mall items that can last for 30 days for more
economic prices, for instance, Home
Premium Expert, Perfect Warp Lisence 5, Perfect Warp Licsence 10, etc.
These items become hot items among Dewa players. The average game points spent
on these items reaches 40.500 game points. It means they have to pay for
Rp.140.000/month. In short, the minimum amount of money a Dewa spent on both mall items is about Rp. 290.000/month[11].
Things
that they bought using their cash are not merely mall items. Based on the rare
items/equipments that players sell through in-game auction, the writer finds
out that the cheapest items are Expert
Rings cost 150 million – 500 million vis. Followed by Expert Armors that cost 400 million – 453 million vis. The most
expensive one are weapon, Dragonic Fury
Crossbow for 600 million vis and an upgraded Golden Fist for 1 billion vis. Meanwhile, the super rare items/equipments
are being sold outside the built-in auction using real world currency. The
cheapest one is a weapon called Constel
that costs 1.500.000.000 vis or Rp. 150.000. and the most expensive one is an
Expert Armor, ELN that cost Rp.
750.000. Vonz, a Dewa player, was
able to spend nearly Rp. 50 million for the virtual goods because he was
supported by his monthly income as a manager that reaches Rp. 20 million.
Because of the Dewa players are able
to pay a lot of real money to maintain their superiority and virtual prestige,
most of them is rich people in real life. But most of them are acutely unaware
to the fact that they are being hegemonized economically either by the game systems
or the Jokis’
In
contrast, although their existence is considered inferior, the disempowered
players tend to be more realistic. The level of their characters is relatively
lower than empowered players. But unlike Dewa players, they earn quite a great
sum of real money. Because Granado Espada is considered complicated both in control
or in-game missions rather than the other MMORPGs, players who play Granado
Espada find it satisfying and prestigious when they are able to reach the
highest position in the game society. The disempowered players see this motivation as a chance to earn profit from. Halim,
a Joki, he was hired by a Dewa, to play the Dewa’s other Granado Espada ID for three months. He confessed that
his monthly income reach Rp. 3.500.000. His daily fee is Rp. 150.000/day,
usually he got hired for about 2 weeks each time, that is Rp. 150.000 x 14 days
= Rp. 2.100.000. If he got hired for a month then his earning reached Rp.
4.200.000. Indeed, it was easy money considering that all he has to do is to
‘play’ an online game.
Moreover,
most Joki in Granado Espada Online Indonesia includes Halim, uses additional
software created to hack the game called as NIX to make the job even easier.
Players usually address the software as Bot. The application of NIX enables him
to do gold farming activities at the same time while ‘playing’ as Joki. On the first release of Granado Espada Online Indonesia on August
2007, the exchange value per 1 million vis is Rp.50.000. At that time he could
collect about 50 million vis in one week, it equals with Rp. 2.500.000/week or
Rp. 10.000.000/month. Lately, he got a Kawasaki
Ninja 250R
from selling out his own characters includes all of its vis and equipments, or
it equals with more or less Rp. 40 millions / 50 millions. Therefore, although
being classified as the inferior within the virtual society, Joki is actually the one who gained a
lot of real money by engaging themselves into the virtual world.
Conclusion
The goal of this study was to analyze
the behavior of Granado Espada Online
Indonesia players in negotiating modern capitalism inside its virtual
world. The commercialization of a free-to-play MMOG, such as Real Money Trading
(RMT) divides players into two distinctive types. The first one is the Dewa player or the empowered player or
the gold-purchasing player or the superior. The other one is Joki or the disempowered player or the
gold farmer or the inferior. Determining the amount of real money that Dewa player has spent only to maintain
their virtual prestige or privilege, and the amount of real profits that Joki players earned from the virtual
goods, online gaming can be argued as another system of modern capitalism that
exists within human life. As stated in the previous study (Lin, Sun: 2011)
about RMT, the concept of economic invasion is affecting the sense of enjoyment
in playing MMOGs. Consequently, the preservation of Magic Circle (Huizinga: 1963) of the game is being put on the line.
Furthermore, the study finds out that such virtual social classification is
inversely proportional with the one portrayed in real life. Even though Dewa is
classified as the superior class in the virtual world, their achievement is
merely just a fake prestige. In the end, Dewa
players are the one who ends up commercialized and hegemonized. Unlike Dewa players, Joki
players as the inferior class do not share the same privilege as the superior
has. But, despite of wasting money, they chose to become gold farmers and earn
real money by profiting from the system itself. As Lin and Lee (2011) suggest
in their study, the Gold Farmer (RMT worker) sees MMOG as an opportunity to
turn this internet-based hobby into self-employed occupation. In addition, the
execution of the profit making practices is also a form of resistance towards
the regulation of Lytogame that tends to commercialized players through the
sale of game points. However, to measure a broader critical threat of
capitalism towards the virtual world of MMOGs, a larger sample is needed in
order to run more powerful analysis accordingly. Therefore, future studies
should incorporate more samples and more thorough observation that involves not
only one or two participants, but MMOG players as a whole. The current research
is limited to the aspect of economics, business, and ethical implications (i.e.
RMT and Gold Farming). Future work should examine other potential factors that
might influence the invasion of real world capitalism towards the virtual world
of gaming. In particular, involving social, psychological, moral, or legal
implications to the raise of ‘virtual capitalism’ may offers fruitful avenues
for future research.
References
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[1]“Pasukan
tiban” consists of a group of
players who stay in Pulau Api and hunting down monsters to get items dropped by
the monsters. One group can be extended up to 12 players and one map ussually
consists of 4-5 groups. Generally the member of the group use characters that
can spread out torrets all over the map. The higher the torrets level are, the
bigger chance for the dropped items to belong to the player.
[2] Vis is the non-commercial
currency in Granado
Espada Online Indonesia. The commercial one is called as Feso. To earn 100.000 Feso you have to buy an
Item Mall that cost for 2.500 game points/ Rp. 10.000.
[3] Pulau Api (PA) is the most crowded virtual location/map in Granado Espada Online Indonesia. Many players hunt there
24/7 non-stop to earn precious dropped items. Because the monsters are easy to
kill, re-spawn time is short, drop rate is great, and the drop items produce
vast amount of vis, PA becomes the
perfect place for those who want to be rich in an instant. It has three maps
and the capacity Is 14 players per map. Recomended for player at level 80-127.
[4] Bots is a software that is created to hack
the game script and changes certain parts of the scripts, so that it can take
over the actions of the characters. It is like the auto-pilot feature on an airplane.
[5] Voucher cave is a
metaphor created by players of Granado
Espada Online Indonesia. It refers to the locations/maps, usually in
form of caves or dungeons, that require a special key to enter into the map.
That special key is one of the virtual goods that purchaseable by using game
points which is sold by Lytogame and called as the Game-On Voucher.
[6] Team Arena (TA) is a
daily event in Granado
Espada Online Indonesia and is held every 08.00
pm and 11.00 pm every night. It consists of maximum 12 players which is devided
into two teams: the blue team and yellow team. Each team has the objective to
kill Dios Lantern, the main monster boss, that stays at the rear base of each
team. In doing so, players have to go against other players from opposite team,
and the sub-monster bosses that guarding each passage way. Each time a player
kills another player/monster boss, he will get TA coins and equipments. And
when they succeed in killing Dios Lantern, it will drop a lot of very rare
precious items. Recommended for player at level 100-120.
[7] Player whose only
required to stay for ten minutes inside the Team Arena map. The aim is to
fullfill the event regulation where it has to cotain at least 3 players each
team for about ten minutes after the event started. Otherwise the event will
automatically cancelled. Each event can have at least two stayers each team.
[8] Player is required to
stay inside the Team Arena map from the beginning until the end of the
event or until one Dios Lantern is
killed. The estimated time is about 30-120 minutes. Each event only need one
stayer.
[9] Game points can be used
to buy mall items/commercial items sold legally by Lytogame.
[10] Mall items/Cash Items are commercial
virtual goods produced by game devloper as additional items to help players in
levelling up their characters. To get Mall Items, players have to buy game
points using real money.
[11] The amount of money is
only estimated calculation based on mostly exchanged mall items. Each player’s
outlay can be bigger or smaller because of the interest on the items may be
vary from one with another.
