Toh W.

In this article, I propose a framework to model the weapon manipulation process of gamers, which encompasses the player's and game's weapon customization. I modify Martin and White’s (2005) appreciation concept from their appraisal theory to understand the players' appraisal (aesthetic evaluation) of their weapon(s) during gameplay. I also integrate Martin and White’s affect categories into Lankoski’s (2012) emotion framework to propose the emotions involved during weapon manipulation.

This article focuses on the analysis of emergent gameplay, based on a case study of the author's subjective gameplay experience of Player versus Monster Player (PvMP) in The Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO). The argument presented here is that although there is a core system of Player versus Player (PvP) which LOTRO shares with other online games, each type of online game has a specific kind of PvP system which attracts players to engage in the gameplay.