Gaming Works! Mental Health and Wellness in Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games

Author(s):  
Diane Rasmussen Neal ◽  
Caroline Whippey

The popularity of video games as a source of entertainment is undeniable, but games attract unfortunate attention regarding the potentially negative impact on gamers’ lives. Through semi-structured interviews and phenomenographical analysis, we will explore the relationship between hardcore gamers’ views on MMORPG features and their feelings of mental well-being.La popularité des jeux vidéo comme source de divertissement est indéniable, mais malheureusement les jeux suscitent des craintes quant à leurs effets potentiellement négatifs dans la vie des joueurs. Grâce à des entrevues semi structurées et une analyse phénoménographique, nous explorerons la relation entre l’opinion des joueurs avides de jeux RPG massivement multijoueur sur les caractéristiques des jeux et leurs sentiments de bien-être mental.

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Byungchul Park ◽  
Duk Hee Lee

A narrative structure is one of the main components to constitute the genre of Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs). Meanwhile Real Money Trade (RMT) enables a player to adjust an ex post level of challenge by skipping the narrative structure of a game. However, RMT may concurrently disturb a player who enjoys game following the narrative structure hierarchically. In pursuance of developing the knowledge about the relationship between RMT and the usage of MMORPG, we investigate the role of the strictness of predetermined narrative structure. We present the dual structure of societies to describe a player that arbitrarily decides to reside in a virtual society. Then we adopt the social nominalism to explain how individual motif of playing a game is expanded to the nature of game. Finally, we argue that a game with weakly predetermined narrative structure is more positively associated with RMT volume, since these games arouse a player’s sentiment of fun by relying more on their socially oriented motivation. With empirical evidence from the Korean MMORPGs market, we proved the hypothesis.


2013 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Héctor Fuster ◽  
Xavier Carbonell ◽  
Andrés Chamarro ◽  
Ursula Oberst

AbstractKnowledge about users interacting with Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPG) is fundamental in order to prevent their potential negative effects on behavior. For this reason, the present study analyzed the relationship between styles of play and motivations. An online questionnaire asking for socio-demographic details, playing style, characteristics of the game played and motivations for playing, was answered by 430 Spanish-speaking MMORPG players (45.1% males). The identified profile for players, far away from the stereotype of an adolescent, consisted in a person who mainly plays on PvP (Player versus Player) servers, choosing the type of game according to his experience. Regarding motivations, they were interested in relating with other players through the game (Socialization), in discovering the game’s possibilities and development of its adventures (Exploration), to a lesser extent in leadership and prestige (Achievement) and, lastly, identification with an avatar and escape from reality (Dissociation). Although part of the reason for playing was escapism and/or stress relief, the main motivation had a social nature. We conclude that MMORPG offer an attractive environment for a broad spectrum of people, and we have not been able to confirm the stereotype of a loner avoiding reality, taking refuge in games.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hazita Azman ◽  
Nurul Farhana Dollsaid

This article explores the use of massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) as a type of serious games that have English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learning potentials. It highlights evidence from a case study which investigated the effects of role-playing in MMOGs on communication behaviours among EFL game players. Additionally, findings from the study elucidate the learning principles of good games that incorporate the dynamics of gaming which induce the language learner to be active generators of information, knowledge and language. Essentially the preliminary findings reported affirm the viability of online games as a potential tool for teaching and learning in the 4.0 era, which endeavours to engage the digital natives of the 21st century. The study thus claims that MMOGs in particular the massively multiplayer online role-playing games or MMORPGs can facilitate in providing contextualized and authentic language interaction opportunities in English between online multilingual speakers.


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