Online games - how do they work?

[NickFitz]

You might find this interesting: Doing My Dailies: Why I Quit WoW And Started Working Out.

It has some good links that may be relevant, too.

[Clever Hans]

How the psychology works

Some useful info at ehow, in particular a note on subscriptions.

Maybe it would be a good idea to immerse yourself in the culture by actually joining it?

An old parody of the original online gaming form, which is instructive, and very funny. FWIW.

:
Churchill: lol no more france for u hitler
Hitler[AoE]: tojo help me!
T0J0: wtf u want me to do, im on the other side of the world retard
Hitler[AoE]: fine ill clear you a path
Stalin: WTF u arsshoel! WE HAD A FoCKIN TRUCE
Hitler[AoE]: i changed my mind lol
benny-tow: haha
benny-tow: hey ur losing ur guys in africa im gonna need help in italy soon sum1
T0J0: o **** i cant help u i got my hands full
Hitler[AoE]: im 2 busy 2 help
Roosevelt: yah thats right ***** im comin for ya
Stalin: church help me
Churchill: like u helped me before? sure ill just sit here
Stalin: dont be an arss
Churchill: dont be a commie. oops too late
Eisenhower: LOL
:
etc...

[xoggoth]

Good stuff there cheers. I saw that SP episode, no 1 son may have it somewhere.

[d000hg]

I think most games require monthly subscriptions, though some games offer free subscriptions and make money by those buying premium subs. Often, special items can be bought using real money e.g "$1 for sword of the mighty Zordon".
You may or may not have to pay to buy the game in the first place.

You could also look up the South Park episode: Make Love, Not Warcraft - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. If you can find it online somewhere.

[craig1]

Watch a few episodes of this for a light-hearted look at interactions outside of online gaming. Best starting at episode 1.

That might give you some ideas.

[xoggoth]

Trying to write a short story about a couple of gay online game fanatics who live next door to each other and agree to resolve a trivial real life disagreement over a boundary according to the outcome of an online game. This blurring of the virtual and the real in their relationship escalates towards a doubtless horribly gory and/or pervy outcome which I haven't quite sorted out yet.

Problem is, I have never been into computer games and never tried online ones like World of Warcraft or these other things with lots of monsters you see advertised on TV and have no idea of the details to make it real. So how does it work? Eg, do you pay for a complete download with unlimited use or pay for a session? Can you identify specific individuals by ID/avatar and challenge them to specific fights? What sort of scenes do you get? How do you control your weapons etc?

Found this wikipedia thing on WOW

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_of_Warcraft

Any other tips/links (preferably a bit more succinct than that one) to make the story halfway realistic (right!) much appreciated.