Here is a summary of the findings from my research that I posted on this website. I would like to thank all of you who participated in this research. If you have any questions please email at clyde_jamison1@eku. There may be future publications and presentations that will result from this research.
Addiction, Socializing, and Personality Expression in MMORPGs: Reasons Why Users Play
The purpose of this project was to investigate why gamers are playing MMOs and MMORPGs. We investigated personality, addiction, social support, sunk costs of money, and avatar personality. We investigated whether or not addiction to video games was related to frequency of game play due to sunk costs of money. It was investigated if there was a relationship between online social support and addiction. Also, we explored the link between personality online and offline for extraverts. Lastly, we also investigated social support both online and offline for extraverts.
Sunk cost is when a person has some sort of investment in something, be it money or time. By having an initial investment of money or time the person feels forced to use the thing they have invested in. For this study we investigated sunk costs of money to see if higher sunk costs would lead to more frequent game play. There are two principles of sunk cost that must be understood to understand the feelings and thoughts a consumer experience. One of those principles is wastefulness. Feelings of wastefulness occur in a consumer when they do not use or fully use with they have purchased. Another principle to understand is commitment. Commitment occurs when a consumer pays a membership fee or when a person is the creator of an endeavor (Dick & Lord, 1998; Ayton & Arkes, 1998). This makes consumer use that product more validating the fee.
We investigated whether the costs of money for a game would affect the frequency of game play in a gamer. Sunk cost was divided into three different scenarios the monthly fees, the initial purchase of a game, and if a game was given by a relative. In the monthly fee scenario it was found that a game that had no monthly fee was played as much as a game that had a $10 or $15 monthly fee. When the fee was over $20 game play dropped greatly. When looking at just purchasing the game, there was a mild increase in frequency when comparing those who paid $20 to buy a game to those who paid $60. If they paid $60 they would play more. The game being given to the gamer by a relative had no effect on the gamer time gaming.
After investigating the sunk costs of a game, we investigated whether or not there is a relationship between addiction and sunk cost. An addiction has been defined as any behavior that is excessive and compulsive in nature. This behavior takes over the addicted life and can cause psychological and physical problems if they do not satisfy their addiction (Mendelson & Mello, 1986). Video game addiction takes on similar characteristics of other addictions; as being excessive, compulsive, and potentially crippling in nature. To test addiction we used a seven item addiction scale that measured all of the DSM IV’s symptoms of addiction (Lemmens, Valkenburg, Peter, in press).
It was found that there was a significant relationship between sunk cost and addiction. When a game cost more money to purchase there was an increase in the strength of the relationship between addiction and sunk cost. When looking at the monthly fees, the strength of the relationship was about the same for a free game as a game that had a monthly fee attached. A game being given to a gamer by a relative had a mild affect on their frequency of game play when comparing distant and close relatives. When a game was given to a gamer by a member of their immediate family it increased their game play.
In both instances of sunk cost, it seems that the cost of a game does not completely affect game play. It would seem that there are other factors that must be accounted for like the plot of the game or how enjoyable a gamer finds the game. It seems that an addicted gamer will play games frequently. Costs of the games may affect their game play, but it may just be they will play frequently no matter how much a game costs because they have to satisfy their addiction.
Personality online and offline was investigated, for this study we focused on extraversion. An extravert is someone is very talkative and socially out going (Gosling, Mannarellie, & Morris, 2002; Srivastava, 2008). It was found that those who were highly extraverted were highly extraverted in their personality they display online. Also those who have lower levels of extraversion also have lower levels of extraversion online. From our findings it seems that the online world just serves as another place for users to be expressive of themselves. This seems to be very true for those on both spectrums of extraversion.
Social support was investigated both online and offline. Social support is considers behaviors of comforting or taking care of someone. For social support we looked for a relationships between online and offline social support and personality. Again, we only focused on extraversion. It was found that those with high levels of extraversion had high levels of social support both online and offline. When looking into the two types of social support it seems that those who have higher levels of extraversion tend to prefer offline social support. Those who have lower levels of extraversion prefer social support online. An interesting finding when comparing both types of social support for those who are highly extraverted they tend to create online relationships more often. It could go back to the characteristics of an extravert; they tend to be more socially outgoing and create many relationships. The online world serves as another place for them to create new relationships. From our finding those who are highly extraverted are creating many relationships online. It was found in previous research that those who were extraverted prefer face to face interactions and those who are introverted prefer the online world (Amichai-Hamburger et al., 2002). This seemed to be very true for our sample.
Lastly, we investigated if there was a relationship between addiction and social support online. In previous research, it was found that socializing was one of the most popular reasons why gamers play online (Smyth, 2007; Hussain & Griffiths, 2008). For our research a different finding was found. Those who are addiction to video games did receive socially support behaviors online. They did not create new relationships online, disclosure personal issues, or were satisfied with their online relationships. This may be that those gamers who are addicted to online games may be at higher levels with their avatars. Previous research has shown that once a gamer’s avatar reaches higher levels it becomes involved in guilds (Ducheneaut, Yee, Nickell, & Moore, 2006). Once a gamer is a member of a guild, they may stop creating new online relationships. That would explain why there was not a significant relationship between addiction and of initiation of online relationships. They may also find that their online relationships are more focused on success in the game, so they may not be disclosing information or be satisfied with them. They may just consider online game relationships more practical. There may be someone in their guild that is providing them with socially supportive behaviors and they may only turn that person instead of creating new relationships.
This research showed that there are many possible reasons why gamers play online games. It was shown from the sample, as the sunk cost gets greater it has no affect on game play. A relationship was found between sunk cost and addiction. Those who are addicted may be playing games more frequently without even factoring in sunk costs. The online game was found to be used as a place for personality expression. Those who were highly extraverted offline were highly extraverted online, and the same was true for those who were not highly extraverted. When comparing social support online and offline, those who are highly extraverted prefer offline support and those who have lower levels of extraversion prefer the online support. Lastly, those who are addicted did receive social support online, but not are initiating, disclosing, or satisfied in those relationships.
References
Amichai-Hamburger, Y., Wainapel, G., & Fox, S. (2002). “On the internet non one knows I’m an introvert”: Extroversion, neuroticism, and internet interaction. Cyberpsychology &Behavior, 5, 125-128.
Ayton, P., & Arkes, H. R. (1998). Call it quits. New Scientist, 158, 40-43.
Dick, A. S. & Lord, K. R. (1998). The impact of membership fees on consumer attitude and choice. Psychology & Marketing, 15, 41-58.
Ducheneaut, N., Yee, N. Nickell, & E. Moore, R. J. (2006). Building an MMO with mass appeal. Games and Culture, 1, 281-217.
Hussain, Z. & Griffiths, M. D. (2008) Gender swapping and socializing in cyberspace: An exploratory study. CyberPsychology, 11, 47-53.
Lemmens, J. S., Valkenburg, P. M., & Peter, J. (in press) Development and validation of a game addiction of a game addiction scale. Media Psychology.
Mendelson, J., & Mello, N. (1986). The addictive personality. New York, NY: Chelsea House.
Smyth, J. M. (2007). Beyond self-selection in video game play: An experimental examination of the consequences of massively multiplayer online role-playing game play. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 10, 717- 721.
Srivastava, S. (2008). Measuring the Big Five Personality Factors. Retrieved June 19, 2008 from
http://www.uoregon.edu/~sanjay/bigfive.html.
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