Time to kill : a psychological study of world of warcraft as a cultural phenomenon

Abstract

In the last five years, online games have grown in popularity. Thus a growing trend of so called massively multiplayer online role- playing games (MMORPG’s) has developed. With over 11 million players worldwide, World of Warcraft is the largest MMORPG today. The media and past research have a heavy focus on the addictive qualities of this game and other MMORPG’s, at the same time there is limited research done on the player’s social relationships outside the game and players’ and non- players’ stereotypes and attitudes. This study looks at what happens with the WoW players’ social relationships, the motives for playing, and how players are affected by stereotypes and attitudes. The method we have used is a mixed methods design. We conducted an online survey (n=228) through two large forums in Norway and some of these participants volunteered to also participate in an interview where we talked to the players and a friend, partner or family member of their choice. We conducted a total of 26 interviews with 13 pairs. The survey data was analysed and then used as a background for the qualitative part of this research, and the interviews were analyzed using a thematic approach. Identifying several themes, most interesting is the time aspect, motivations for playing, attitudes and stereotypes and social relationships. The results suggest that players with friends outside the game tended to talk about the game as a hobby, rather than as something that was their life, a more common response by those with few social relations outside the game. This indicates that strong relationships to people outside the game are a key factor when it comes to playing for fun and it being a hobby. This is an important notion in the further discussion of the stereotypic player. Negative attitudes and media publicity also affects the player to some extent. Further the results suggest that most of the players play because they are bored and have too much time on their hands. This is quite interesting in a time where most people see themselves as having too little time.