Researchers at the real UNLV are conducting a study about the fantasy universe of ¡°World of Warcraft¡± and those who live there.

Michael McCreery, a learning and technology doctoral student with the educational psychology department, is conducting the study and plans to run it over the summer.

It is the culmination of an idea long in the making.

¡°It¡¯s been brewing for about 10 years ¡ª back when I was a programmer for Intel, before coming to the doctorate program,¡± McCreery said.

The study aims to quantify the social interactions of participants in the game so that future online games can build better environments.wow gold The research evaluates people who play online games and how they project their personality inside those virtual worlds or play as fantasy characters. 

Participants are asked to play with their characters over level 70 in ¡°World of Warcraft¡± using only the in-game chat for two hours ¨C not Ventrilo, a type of voice communication. They are allowed the use of game modifications of their choice while playing.

Afterward, the participants are to take a one-hour survey.

McCreery was motivated to untertake the project when he noticed a lot of development in new multiplayer, online games.

When ¡°EverQuest¡± launched in 1999, McCreery realized that family members were playing together and people who met online through these games were even getting married in the real world.

¡°I knew of a guild that met from all over the country during summers at a theme park down in Texas to socialize,¡± McCreery said. ¡°It made me realize how powerful these games are.¡±

An e-mail announcing the study was sent out,wow gold and the response was overwhelming for McCreery.  Replies to the e-mail have poured in from all over the country, but participation is limited to Las Vegas residents.

McCreery explained that support from gamers, on both personally and professionally, has been fantastic.

With more than 11 million players, ¡°World of Warcraft¡± is the most successful online game to date. McCreery explained that the user-friendly client software made it the obvious choice to study.

Ever since his initial exposure to online games, McCreery has seen them as the next step in social networking.

Other popular outlets such as Facebook and MySpace have similar social networks, but he sees something more in online games.

In ¡°World of Warcraft¡±  for example,wow gold ¡°raids players¡± from around the world work as a team to defeat in-game ¡°bosses.¡±

McCreery wants to be able to harness that type of cooperation to do something educational or therapeutic.

The ultimate goal of his research is to harness the power of these games to do good.

¡°I want the work I do to have a contribution,¡± he said, ¡°and you really can¡¯t do that from a [cubicle].¡±