1. #1

    I want to hear about the experiences of MMO gamers (win prizes)

    Hey guys,

    I'm doing some research at Flinders University (South Australia) into the experiences of MMO gamers, to further our understanding of the things that motivate us to play. So I'd like to ask people on this forum: What do you believe are the factors that maintain people's involvement with MMOs? Similarly, what are the factors that prevent people from disengaging with MMOs?

    In terms of my personal experience with MMOs, I played WoW for a short period and occasionally play Destiny with friends (although it's debatable whether this is an MMO). Most of my gaming time has been with offline RPG's (e.g. Elder Scrolls games). So I want to be clear that I am not the most experienced person in this area and am looking forward to learning from people with a better understanding than me.

    If you want to get involved with the research directly, feel free to send me an anonymous email at kapt0002@flinders.edu.au. Otherwise, check out the study flyer on Facebook, no login required: https://www.facebook.com/TheBreakFromGaming

    The research is survey-based and there are prizes available.

    Please consider that I am trying to encourage some friendly discussion here and do not mean to cause any annoyance to people of the forum. I just thought MMO-champion would be a good place to hear about the experiences of fellow gamers.

    Dean
    Last edited by Daminoth; 2015-05-26 at 02:23 AM.

  2. #2
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by Daminoth View Post
    What do you believe are the factors that maintain people's involvement with MMOs? Similarly, what are the factors that prevent people from disengaging with MMOs?
    The very short answer to both is... Fun. Fun is what gets you to play, Fun is what keeps you from leaving. Lack of Fun is what makes you leave and stop playing.

    Now, the longer answer revolves around but isn't limited to Fun. In the case of WoW, there's a great amount of lore behind it and many people have played the RTS Warcraft and wanted to "live" in that universe, so they made a character in WoW. Some did it purely for the lore, some purely for the fun of playing, some for both and some just because everyone else was doing it. Why they stick around for years is most likely because of Fun. How I define Fun is irrelevant. Some think the gameplay is fun, some find their fun in the social stuff with their guilds. That's their Fun and that's all that matters.

    As for other games, why would you, in all honesty, play a game, MMO or not, offline as well as online, if it isn't Fun to you? Gaming is not a job for the majority of the gaming population. To start playing a game, I need to be interested in it first. It needs some incentive to get me hooked. Mostly it comes down to having good gameplay, but sometimes I just need to know that "This is the next installment in the series" and I'll be all over it. There's a reason why some sportgames can dish out a new edition every year with minor changes and sell millions of copies. People know what it is and they know what they like and they know they're going to have Fun playing it. Similarly, The Sims can have hundreds of expansions and people will buy them all because the core gameplay is awesome. And Fun.

    I can get hooked on good graphics, an engaging story or the ability to be and do anything I like in that particular game. But if the gameplay is stupid, it's not Fun and I won't be playing it for long. Take World Of Tanks/Warplanes or Star Conflict as a few examples. They all have the same gameplay type, with good graphics, but somewhat boring gameplay. You start out in a small tank/plane/spaceship. You fight other players and earn currency and experience. You use those to improve your current tank/plane/spaceship only to later on upgrade to a bigger, better and sometimes different version. It's awesome in the beginning, because it's action from the start, against people I can actually stand a chance against (instead of a max level coming to gank a newbie), but as each tier of progress takes longer and longer, it gets exhausting. And less Fun. Then it becomes a game I don't play as often as I could have. But I keep coming back to it. Why? Because I am hooked anyway. It's instant action, I don't need to farm mats and find a raidgroup for hours first. I don't have any real responsibility towards others and can pretty much do what I want, when I want it. So if I have 20 minutes to go shoot stuff, I go shoot stuff. Even though there are other more Fun games out there that I could be playing. I really don't like that I have to fight a thousand battles to upgrade my High-tier vehicle to a Higher-tier vehicle and still be far from Highest-tier. But I do like the gameplay it has to offer, in smaller dozes. It's that tiny little bit of progress that hooked me. I can, over time, improve and get to more Fun. Even though I KNOW I'll have to start over in a "crappy" vehicle that needs a lot of upgrading before it becomes "good" again. It's the same, but it's new and that's what I want from that game.

    All in all, Fun is, or should be, the answer. Again, it's not a job, so why stay if it's not Fun? It doesn't matter if your kind of Fun is in the gameplay, the graphics, story, the social aspect of simply chatting with your guildies or a combination of it all. As long as each individual person does what he or she finds Fun to them.
    Last edited by mmoc4ce4b1614a; 2015-05-25 at 11:26 AM.

  3. #3
    Thanks for the insight Ambrodel.

    - - - Updated - - -

    The experience of "fun" (whatever form that might take, as you said), and a good incremental reward system, seem to be a motivation that a lot of people mention.

  4. #4
    All MMO gamers aged 18+ are invited to participate. If you consider yourself to be even a casual MMO gamer you are still welcome to participate and eligible for a prize. See below for more details:


  5. #5
    I'd definitely be hesitant at getting involved in a project like this without knowing more about the research you are doing.

    No offense intended, but there is a lot of one-sided "research" that ends up being used to back biased and negative attitudes around gaming (as I'm sure you would notice by the amount of people who do assignments or studies like "negative interactions in gaming" or "the incredible addictive qualities of gaming") and I wouldn't want to contribute to that in any way.

    In response to your OP:

    People play mmos for a myriad of reasons, but the addictive quality is generally twofold:

    1. Incremental rewards based on continued play
    2. Social obligation through relationships formed online

    People keep playing mmos because you feel like all the hours are building to something of value, and so as your character progresses you get a form of instant gratification that you don't necessarily get from your professional or personal life (and usually this is exacerbated in people that aren't getting a lot of gratification from their daily life, like single, unemployed or lonely people).

    They also do it because they want to be a "team player" and keep contributing. Once you fall into the habit of regularly play, particularly involving other people, you often find reasons to continue that play because said people 'depend' on you for progress - so it becomes a selfish decision to not play just because 'you don't feel like it'. This might seem objectively absurd to an outsider looking in, as you are playing the game to have fun and yet are forced to play even when you don't feel like it and thus aren't having fun, but anyone who has played an mmo will know the obligation that comes with any kind of structured play - especially in a competitive raiding or pvp setting.

  6. #6
    People will say "fun", but there is one word that is probably the first thing for MMO players; habit.

    Logging on becomes habitual. Doing those daily tasks become habitual. Especially with an MMO, that can easily grow to become a significant part of your waking life. Stopping playing would be breaking that habit, and would leave a large hole in their life. Which is why so many people get driven away from an MMO (because it is no longer fun) and end up coming back again. In exactly the same way that drug addicts end up falling off the wagon.

    The social aspect can't be ignored either, once MMOs become a major part of people's lives, the social links within those MMOs become that much more important too.
    When challenging a Kzin, a simple scream of rage is sufficient. You scream and you leap.
    Quote Originally Posted by George Carlin
    Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
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    It is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it... anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Kanadei View Post
    I'd definitely be hesitant at getting involved in a project like this without knowing more about the research you are doing.

    No offense intended, but there is a lot of one-sided "research" that ends up being used to back biased and negative attitudes around gaming (as I'm sure you would notice by the amount of people who do assignments or studies like "negative interactions in gaming" or "the incredible addictive qualities of gaming") and I wouldn't want to contribute to that in any way.

    In response to your OP:

    People play mmos for a myriad of reasons, but the addictive quality is generally twofold:

    1. Incremental rewards based on continued play
    2. Social obligation through relationships formed online

    People keep playing mmos because you feel like all the hours are building to something of value, and so as your character progresses you get a form of instant gratification that you don't necessarily get from your professional or personal life (and usually this is exacerbated in people that aren't getting a lot of gratification from their daily life, like single, unemployed or lonely people).

    They also do it because they want to be a "team player" and keep contributing. Once you fall into the habit of regularly play, particularly involving other people, you often find reasons to continue that play because said people 'depend' on you for progress - so it becomes a selfish decision to not play just because 'you don't feel like it'. This might seem objectively absurd to an outsider looking in, as you are playing the game to have fun and yet are forced to play even when you don't feel like it and thus aren't having fun, but anyone who has played an mmo will know the obligation that comes with any kind of structured play - especially in a competitive raiding or pvp setting.
    Thanks for your insight Kanadei. This is the type of information that we are looking for - to understand what really motivates people to play. Jumping to the conclusion that gaming is "incredibly addictive" (which you pointed out has been the thesis of some previous research) seems like a cop-out to me, almost as if to say we don't really want to understand the experiences of gamers, so we'll just label them as addicts. I have played and enjoyed a lot of gaming myself, and I agree that gaming is sometimes "pathologized" in media and research, so I do not have an agenda to propagate this biased view.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Huehuecoyotl View Post
    People will say "fun", but there is one word that is probably the first thing for MMO players; habit.

    Logging on becomes habitual. Doing those daily tasks become habitual. Especially with an MMO, that can easily grow to become a significant part of your waking life. Stopping playing would be breaking that habit, and would leave a large hole in their life. Which is why so many people get driven away from an MMO (because it is no longer fun) and end up coming back again. In exactly the same way that drug addicts end up falling off the wagon.

    The social aspect can't be ignored either, once MMOs become a major part of people's lives, the social links within those MMOs become that much more important too.
    Thanks Huehuecoyotl. We are very interested in finding out more about what these habitual and social aspects "feel" like to MMO gamers before, during, and after a break from games.

  8. #8
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by Daminoth View Post
    What do you believe are the factors that maintain people's involvement with MMOs? Similarly, what are the factors that prevent people from disengaging with MMOs?
    Maintain:

    1.) Operant conditioning
    Do activity A to receive B. Do activity A often to receive B at a later point. Do activtiy A to have a chance to receive B.

    2.) Socializing
    If people play in groups of people they know, its likely less an option for them to quit. Still this only works if people are prevented from being disengaged, as being forced by a group of friends leads to massive frustration. At the end, this leads to quitting the game, with a way lower chance to return.

    Preventing from disengaging:

    1.) Regular content upgrades
    If the developer rarely delivers content, people quit for nothing to do.

    2.) Diversity
    If people only may play the same gameplay over and over, people will quit du to lack of diversity.

    3.) Accessibility
    If people run against brick walls, in special if they move from their addiction phase to the mature playing phase, they will stop playing as well.

    4.) Rewarding activities
    If gameplay is not rewarding, people will not see gameplay as useful. And therefore wont play it anymore. And quit.

    5.) Convenience
    If a game is full of time sinks and brick walls, people burn out way faster. As they have to do dull activities over and over. This leads to people quitting.

  9. #9
    The "break from gaming" challenge begins Friday 5/6/15. Please email Dean Kaptsis (Flinders University) TODAY at kapt0002@flinders.edu.au if you would like to participate. There are $250 in Prepaid Visa Cards to be won, and participation numbers are lower than expected. Anybody aged 18+ who engages in ANY kind of massively multiplayer online video-gaming is invited to participate. See the flyer for more details: https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.n...78511216_o.jpg

  10. #10
    Hi all. Due to continued interest, another "break from gaming" challenge will take place next weekend. There are over $200 in Prepaid Visa Cards to be won. Anybody aged 18+ who engages in any kind of massively multiplayer online gaming is invited to participate. See the flyer for more details, including how to register:


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