In the Wired article “A New Type of Game Turns Web Surfing Into All-Out Information Warfare,” Mary Jane Irwin describes an online game that adds new and exciting dimensions to browsing the Web. In “passively multiplayer online games” (PMOGs), Web users add an application that follows their online activity. The object of the game is to win as many “data points” as possible. Players win or lose points based on which sites they visit. Each player has a supply of objects that they can plant onto websites to defend themselves or deduct other players’ points. For example, players can plant mines on certain pages; the mines will then deduct points from other players when they visit the site. Players can also set up missions for others to complete, which usually involve players going through different sites in order to achieve a goal. Carrying out a mission lets a player earn more objects and points.

In addition to being entertaining, PMOGs allow players to explore different areas of the Web network. As we learned in class, the Web can be thought of as an information network, with nodes acting as pieces of information and edges as links. Missions in PMOGs make full use of the Web as an information network by leading players to different websites and links. Because players take advantage of the information available to them on the Web, the idea of the Web as an information network is strengthened.

PMOGs also allow players to be exposed to parts of the Web network that they may not have encountered before. For instance, the Wired article mentions a mission crafted around the TV show Arrested Development. In the mission, players had to surf through fan sites about the show in order to finish the task. Players who might have never heard of Arrested Development before playing PMOGs ended up learning about something new. Thus, missions can bring previously faraway parts of the network closer together.

There are strong implications that arise from the idea of PMOGs. As mentioned before, players are rewarded (gain points) when they go to certain websites and are punished (lose points) when they go to others. If a player loses points whenever he goes to a favorite site, he may eventually steer clear of the site altogether. On the other hand, if a player is rewarded whenever he goes to a webpage, he may visit that page more often. Therefore, rewards and punishment in PMOGs have great potential in changing user behavior. They may even restructure the Web network: if players have their own websites, they may be more inclined to link to sites where they earn rewards and refuse to link to sites where they are punished.

Furthermore, players in PMOGs have the opportunity to promote their own agenda when they create missions for others. When building missions, players can have others go to sites that support certain political and social views. People with extreme and controversial views can exploit missions to reach an audience that they otherwise may not have come into contact with. For example, someone with a pro-terrorist view could create a mission in which he leads players to sites that support the actions of Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups. While people tend to think that being exposed to different parts of a network is beneficial, it can have possible dangerous consequences.