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LIVING IN THE WORLD OF WARCRAFT: Construction of Virtual Identities Among Online Gamers
LIVING IN THE WORLD OF WARCRAFT: Construction of Virtual Identities Among Online Gamers
Jung, Dea-Woung
$12
1. What is the profile of the online 12.1
gamers?
10.9
$10
A. Demographic9.3profile Online game
$8 7.7 market
6.1
$6
a. Nationality
4.5
reaches $11
$4 3.4 billion
b. Gender
$2
on Jun, 2009
$0 c. Age
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
charact
erGuil
d
Relationsh
ips
Jobs &
Skills
Proble
m
Chapter
3
Chapter
4Items
charact
erGuil
d
Relationsh
ips
Jobs &
Skills
Professions
Proble
m
Chapter
3
Chapter
4Items
charact
erGuil
d
Relationsh
ips
Jobs &
Skills
e. Choosing a jobs and leveling up skills
Proble
m
Chapter
3
Chapter
4Items
charact
erGuil
d
Relationsh
ips
Jobs &
Skills
Marke Identity and role in
t
Importan
ce
MMORPG
- Identity is defined by motivation, personality, and
personal
connection. Essentially, it is a set of beliefs and goals
that inform why a player would do the things that their
Role lays out.
a. Nationality
b. Gender
c. Age
Market
Importan B. Gaming profile
ce
Proble
m
a. number of hours of playing WoW
c. Joining a guild
- Convenience sampling
- Snowball sampling
Market The subjects of the study
Importan
ce
Proble
m
Metho
1. Survey questionnaires
d
ce
Proble
G2 Male 27 Korean March 3, 2009 4:00 pm –
6:00 pm
m
Metho G3 Male 27 Korean March 2, 2009 06:00 pm-
07:50
d G4 Male 18 Filipino- February 24, 8:30 pm –
American 2009 11:30pm
7. Players think that their personality in WoW partly reveals their personality
in reality.
11. Unlike other chat modes, the private chat mode is used by the players
primarily to maintain relationship.
12. WoW players acknowledge their rights in WoW and they set rights and
rules of their own.
Market
Importan 13 WoW players evaluate other players using realistic moral norms.
ce
Proble
m
Method
14. Most players play WoW with their friends in reality.
Conclusi
on
15. The players’ friends in WoW are not that closed like their friends in
reality.
16. Players choose the jobs and skills that they enjoy; the same way that
the gamers claim to play simply to enjoy the game
Market
17. Players are not really interested in participating in social activities like
Importan online and offline events.
ce
Proble
m
Method
Conclusi
on
Market
Conclusions
Importan
ce
Proble
1. In WoW, online activities take important roles in the construction of the
m
Method gamers’ virtual identities; offline activities are not perceived as
Conclusi significant factors in constructing virtual identities. When player creates
on his/her character, there is no identity at all.
Female
more than
year
charact
er
p.55
Proble Frequency %
m
Chapter
3 1. I don’t customize my character for good outfits because my 16 39%
Chapter character’s physical appearances cannot represent my personality in
4Items cyber space.
charact 2. When other faction attacks my character, I attack other faction to 24 59%
er pay back for the damage they have done to my character.
3. My character’s personality in WoW is different from my personality 7 17%
in real life.
charact
er
Proble
m
Chapter
3
Chapter
4Items
charact
er
Proble - Only 17% of respondents said that their personality online is
m
Chapter different from their personality in reality.
3 This is “I” as a part of one’s identity
Chapter
4Items
charact
er - 39% of respondents of survey questionnaires said that
their character’s physical appearances cannot represent
their personality in WoW
charact
er
c. Joining a guild
Proble
m
Chapter
3
Chapter
4Items
charact
erGuil
d
c. Joining a guild
Proble
m
Chapter
3
Chapter
4Items
charact
erGuil
d
p.59
Proble
m
Chapter Frequency %
3
Chapter
4Items
1. I exchange useful information about WoW with guild members. 23 56%
charact 9. I join my guild because the members are so friendly; we treat 28 68%
erGuil each other like family.
d
Table 5 Joining Guild
Proble - Although characters use their IDs as the names, their ID has
m
Chapter an identity in the world of WoW. Because of continuous relationship with
3 others and virtual community.
Chapter
4Items
charact
erGuil - When players join a guild, the anonymity players
have in virtual world become weak
d
charact
erGuil
d
Relationsh
ips
D. building and maintaining
Proble relationships
m
Chapter
3
Chapter
4Items
charact
erGuil
d
Relationsh
ips
D. building and maintaining
Proble relationships
m
Chapter
3
Chapter
4Items
charact
erGuil
d
Relationsh
ips
D. building and maintaining
Proble relationships
m
Chapter
3
Chapter
4Items
charact
erGuil
d
Relationsh
ips
p.62
Proble Frequency %
m
Chapter
1. I have friends in WoW 23 56%
3
Chapter 8., When my guild members ask for my help to go hunting to complete 25 61%
4Items the quest, I am happy to help them.
charact 9. I like to answer the questions from my guild members about WoW. 24 59%
erGuil 10. I don’t hesitate to share my gold to fellow guild members and to 18 44%
low level players.
d
Relationsh 11. I enjoy “boosting” a low level character in my guild. 23 56%
ips 13. I respect other player’s rights in WoW. 32 78%
15. I apply realistic moral norms (like honesty, responsibility, and so on) 23 56%
to evaluate other players in WoW.
18. I play WoW with my friends. 27 66%
charact
erGuil
d
Relationsh
ips
e. Choosing a jobs and leveling up skills
Proble
m
Chapter
3
Chapter
4Items
charact
erGuil
d
Relationsh
ips
Jobs &
Skills
e. Choosing a jobs and leveling up skills
Proble
m
Chapter
3
Chapter
4Items
charact
erGuil
d
Relationsh
ips
Jobs &
Skills
e. Choosing a jobs and leveling up skills
Proble
m
Chapter
3
Chapter
4Items
charact
erGuil
d
Relationsh
ips
Jobs &
Skills
e. Choosing a jobs and leveling up skills
Proble
m
Chapter
3
Chapter
4Items
charact
erGuil
d
Relationsh
ips
Jobs &
Skills
e. Choosing a jobs and leveling up skills
Proble
m
Chapter
3
Chapter
4Items
charact
erGuil
d
Relationsh
ips
Jobs &
Skills
p.67
Proble
m
Chapter Frequency %
3
Chapter 1. I choose a popular job because it can help me enter the guild easily 5 12%
4Items and find party to play with.
2. I choose my job because it is related to my personal interests. 35 85%
charact
erGuil
Table 7 Choosing a jobs and leveling up skills
d
Relationsh
ips
Jobs &
Skills
Proble - In reality, jobs and skills people have are very
m important because it will decide people’s life
Chapter
3 style and capability. It is the same in WoW.
Chapter
4Items
- 85% of respondents said that they choose
charact their job because it is related to their personal
erGuil interests (see Table 7) and according to
d
Relationsh Table2, 80% of participants are playing WOW
ips to simply enjoy the game.
Jobs &
Skills
Activities
- The jobs and skills define the players’ roles in
WoW. This is one of the ways to construct
their virtual identity
f. Participating in social activities
Proble
m
Chapter Frequency %
3
Chapter
4Items
1. I often participate in online events in WoW (including guild events). 17 41%
charact 2. I often participate in offline events about WoW in reality (like WoW 8 19%
erGuil convention, offline guild meeting and so on).
d 3. I always organize new activities to enjoy WoW with other players. 15 37%
Relationsh
ips 4. Other players often evaluate my personality in WoW. 16 39%
Jobs &
5. I participate in interactive events on the official web page of WoW 11 26%
Skills
Activities and guild homepage.
c. Age Casual
10%
Data: DFC
Intelligence
Data collection
Proble The researcher sent survey questionnaires to 178
m
Chapter WoW players through e-mail.
3
Method
samplin
g
Subject
s
Instrumen
t
Data
collection
WoW Somegate
Proble
m
Chapter
3
Method
samplin
g
Subject
s
Instrumen
t
Data
collection