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Purpose: The rise and popularity of digitalization have made the addictive use in the virtual world more common, which has aroused wide attention from academia and public. Uncovering the underlying mechanism of addictive use is essential to address this serious issue. Design/methodology/approach: By utilizing the context of massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs), this study developed virtual-domain perfectionism of seeking excellence and avoiding failure from the dual process model of perfectionism and identified four affordances in MMOGs from the perspective of technology affordance. The authors surveyed 302 valid samples in MMOGs to empirically test the research model. Findings: The results demonstrate that two processes of virtual-domain perfectionism influence addictive use positively in MMOGs. Technology affordances perform as the antecedents of virtual-domain perfectionism and conduct distinct impacts in MMOGs. Specifically, affordances of interaction and identity are positively related to virtual-domain perfectionism, while achievement affordance is unrelated to virtual-domain perfectionism. Immersion affordance is positively related to virtual-domain perfectionism of seeking excellence and negatively associated with virtual-domain perfectionism of avoiding failure. Originality/value: This study identified virtual-domain perfectionism and specific MMOGs affordances. The research model provides insights into addictive use in MMOGs by leveraging context and combining lenses. Research findings help elucidate the role of virtual-domain perfectionism on the addictive use from MMOGs affordances with the corresponding technical features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A positive relationship between user–avatar bond (UAB; i.e., avatar identification and avatar idealization) and problematic gaming (PG) has been well established among Massive Multiplayer Role-Playing Games (MMORPG) players. However, no study has examined how players' personal identity relates both to UAB and PG. Based on the Motivated Identity Construction Theory, the current study examined the relationships between actual levels of identity motives (self-efficacy, continuity, uniqueness, self-esteem, and belonging), UAB, and PG in a sample of 675 MMORPG players. Results showed that perceiving oneself as the same person over time (continuity) and feeling included and accepted (belonging) directly protect MMORPG players from PG, while perceiving oneself as highly unique (uniqueness) and having low confidence in one's own capacity to reach specific goals (self-efficacy) are indirect risk factors for PG as they strengthen UAB. The reasons explaining these links will be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the concept of the metaverse, which is a virtual world that intertwines with the physical world using mixed technologies. It explores the potential and challenges of the metaverse in various industries such as e-commerce, advertising, education, and tourism. The article also highlights the different perspectives on the societal implications of the metaverse, including both opportunities and risks. It introduces a special issue of Internet Research that focuses on research topics related to the metaverse and provides summaries of the articles included in the issue. The article concludes by emphasizing the need for further research on the challenges and unintended impacts of the metaverse and the importance of a comprehensive understanding of its implications. [Extracted from the article]

Purpose: Massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) are representative metaverse games that are thriving in academia and the industry. This study aims to develop an integrated model based on Yee's motivations and the Proteus effect to explore individuals' intentions of playing MMORPGs. Design/methodology/approach: The data were gathered by conducting an online survey (n = 441) for the players of World of Warcraft, an MMORPG. The collected data were analyzed with a structural equation model. Findings: The outcomes of this research reveal that the Proteus effect positively influenced the intentions of the players to play the game via mediations of social, immersion, achievement motivations and enjoyment. Furthermore, the players influenced by the Proteus effect, which enables avatar embodiment and identification, exhibited a stronger intention to play MMORPGs. Originality/value: This research is one of the first attempts to establish a theoretical framework involving the Proteus effect and Yee's motivations. In addition, the findings of this study imply that the Proteus effect should be considered when investigating the individual experience of metaverse games. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Their results indicated that (i) avatar/user gender consistency increased post-use avatar-self relevance, (ii) high avatar-emotional connection increased post-use avatar self-relevance, and (iii) high avatar-body connection decreased post-use avatar self-relevance. For example, research has indicated that the PE is more likely to occur when an individual is able to customize their avatar (Ducheneaut et al., [12]; Ratan & Sah, [40]), which is due to the greater degree of avatar identification and avatar embodiment that this allows (Ratan & Dawson, [41]; Li & Lwin, [25]; Song et al., [46]). In this research, three PE classes were identified comprising (i) non-influenced gamers (NIGs) who reported lower perception-cognition and lower emotional and behavioral influences from avatars compared to the other two groups, (ii) perception-cognition influenced gamers (PCIGs) who reported some instances of out of game influences related to avatar use, but without high avatar related emotional or behavioral influences, and (iii) emotion and behavior influenced gamers (EBIGs) who were the most likely to report out of game feelings and behaviors being influenced by their in-game avatars. Ratan and Sah ([40]) suggested that this may have occurred due to the disconnection that happens when an individual is separated from their avatar after experiencing high avatar embodiment, and therefore inhibited avatar influenced post-game behavioral changes while increasing the potential for this to occur during avatar use. [Extracted from the article]

Cet article étudie comment les joueurs investissent leur avatar au sein du jeu de rôle massivement multijoueur (MMORPG) et la manière dont cela contribue à la construction de soi. Cet espace potentiel particulier conduit les joueurs à la création d'identités narratives, nourries par les échanges et les expériences partagés avec les pairs. Cette identité est l'objet de projections de fragments de soi et de son histoire personnelle qui vont être mis en scène par le biais de l'image, de l'acte et du langage. Quatre participants ont été recrutés grâce à une annonce déposée sur les serveurs d'échanges de différentes communautés du même jeu en ligne. Les hypothèses ont été évaluées à travers une série de deux entretiens semi-directifs en distanciel reposant sur une grille de dix thèmes. Les résultats montrent que le jeu de rôle est investi comme un outil de réécriture de l'histoire personnelle grâce auquel les participants peuvent réparer fantasmatiquement blessures et traumatismes individuels et familiaux. Nous observons également que la transparence digitale favorise la spontanéité des communications de par sa fonction désinhibitrice : le jeu de rôle dans les jeux en ligne se révèle être un réel espace potentiel de créativité où les participants peuvent interagir par essai-erreur sans crainte d'être mis en échec et exprimer leurs émotions et désirs sans détruire l'autre ou être détruits, car il s'agit de faire-semblant. Ainsi, ils développent leur subjectivité et tentent un meilleur accordage affectif avec la possibilité d'une meilleure intégration au sein de la communauté humaine virtuelle et matérielle. La transparence digitale, incite les participants à investir le jeu de rôle en tant que lieu de projection et de mise en scène de leurs contenus psychiques sous la forme d'une répétition symbolique où l'histoire familiale, voire le roman familial, sont réinterprétés et deviennent des facteurs de transformation, de réconciliation ou d'émancipation. Les identités narratives sont un véritable reflet des préoccupations des participants et sont investies pendant et en dehors des séances de jeu. À travers une position de narrateur, les participants échangent et tissent des liens de sens et d'amitié avec les autres joueurs. Ils cherchent à donner un sens à un vécu subjectif partagé qu'ils inscrivent dans leur patrimoine de soi ainsi que dans la mémoire collective du groupe. Ici, le jeu de rôle fournit une forme de contenance pour les éventuels affects dépressifs et détourne l'attention des angoisses, tel le divertissement pascalien. Cet espace pourrait d'abord servir de sorte de prothèse technologique substitutive de fonctions psychiques défaillantes pour certains joueurs qui peinent à exprimer leurs émotions et à tisser des liens. Mais au fil des années, ceux-ci paraissent plutôt se saisir de l'étayage fourni par cette orthèse psychique, de lien et de liaison, pour réécrire leur histoire, aller à la rencontre de l'Autre et d'eux-mêmes. Dans ce lieu où les espaces potentiels se chevauchent, les joueurs tentent d'orienter leur propres vies en s'étayant sur les expériences qu'ils ont pu co-construire à travers une narrativité individuelle et commune, présentée comme à la fois étrangère et propre à soi. Ainsi, ils peuvent se sentir mieux armés pour affronter cette intersubjectivité parfois vécue comme décevante ou menaçante que peut être le theatrum mundi. The purpose of this research is to study how the way in which players use their avatar in Massive Multiplayer Role-Playing Games (MMORPG) contributes to self-construction. This particular space leads the players to the creation of a specific narrative identity, nurtured by interactions and experiences shared with peers, onto which they project fragments of themselves and their personal history that will be staged through image, action, and language. Four participants were recruited through a notice published on communication servers belonging to different communities of the same online game. The hypotheses were assessed through a series of two semi-structured remote interviews based on a grid of ten themes. The results show that role-playing is used as a tool for rewriting personal history, enabling participants to heal, on the level of the fantasy, their individual and family wounds and trauma. In this study, we also noticed that digital transparency supports the spontaneity of communications thanks to its disinhibiting function. Thus, online role-playing games turn out to be a potential space of real creativity where participants can interact by trial and error without fear of failure, where they can be destroyed and can express their own emotions and desires without destroying the other, because it's just pretend. In this way, they develop their subjectivity and try to develop a better affective attunement in order to integrate into the virtual and material human community. Digital transparency also facilitates participants' investment in online role-playing as a place of projection and staging of their psychic contents in a symbolic repetition where the family history, even the family romance, are reinterpreted and become factors of transformation, reconciliation, or emancipation. Narrative identities are true reflections of the participants' concerns and are invested during and outside game sessions. Through the position of narrator, the participants talk and develop meaningful friendships with other players. They try to give meaning to a shared subjective experience that they record as their own heritage as well as the group's collective memory. In this study, role-playing provides a form of containment for possible depressive affects and diverts attention from anxieties, like Pascal's entertainment. At first, this space could serve as a kind of technological substitute, a "prosthesis" for some players with defective psychic functions, who struggle to express their emotions and to bond with others. But over the years, they seem rather to seize upon the support provided by this "psychic orthosis" that links and connects to rewrite their own history, to seek out and to come to terms with others and themselves. In these overlapping potential spaces of creation, players try to orient their own lives by relying on the experiences they have been able to co-construct through a common narrative, presented as both foreign and unique to themselves. They may feel better equipped to face an intersubjectivity that could sometimes be experienced as disappointing or threatening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMOG), Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes (SWGoH), inspired by the iconic film Star Wars, attracts many players who form guilds and play as a form of entertainment. This study aimed to explore how the activities performed in this online video game may help players develop certain types of competencies, and whether the competencies developed could be considered key elements in the performance of other, more serious, leisure-related activities. An explanatory case study research strategy was chosen with participant observation as the main method of data collection. Results show that SWGoH promotes the development of competencies before, during, and after play. The competencies most often observed were leadership, time management, team management, and goal-setting, while four key elements of the serious leisure perspective predominated: systematisation, perseverance, obligations and responsibilities, and skills and knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored how social capital has been utilized in video-game studies by conducting a scoping review. In total, 74 peer-reviewed publications were analysed from three different databases. The following aspects pertaining to social capital were analysed: definition, methodology, game or genre as stimulus, its utilization inside or outside the stimulus, whether it was the sole concept or variable, how it was utilized, whether social capital was used to predict variables or whether variables were used to predict it, and what where the predicted or predicting variables. The results of the analysis show that Putnam's research, the quantitative method and Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games were most commonly combined. Social capital was predominantly utilized in binary form. It was utilized almost equally inside and outside the video games' sphere of influence. The study then presents the main findings and discusses future research avenues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gaming Type and Genre as Important Mediators of Desirable and Undesirable Effects of Gaming Gaming characteristics have been identified as important mediators of the association of gaming with various outcomes. Perception of similarity between gaming and gambling activities has been highlighted by the fact that consumers tend to move between these two. SP sp [19] SP sp Though certain activities can be clearly demarcated as gaming or gambling, the consumers perceive many similarities in the case of many others. SP sp [19] SP sp The rise of online "fantasy sports" has complicated this issue even further. For example, Lehdonvita described games as a service and referred to a broad class of online games that provides in-game content on a continuing revenue model. SP sp [51] SP sp Defining the Terms Used in ICD-11 It is important to describe what is meant by "digital gaming" and "video gaming" as included in ICD-11. For example, The Public Gambling Act (1987) of India used the term gaming in the context of gambling-related activities. SP sp [60] SP sp The terms "game" and "gaming" should not be used in the context of gambling. [Extracted from the article]

Introduction: Player experience is the interaction between individual qualities and game attributes. It is becoming a popular topic to understand why individuals are interested in different video games. The current literature offers a range of different scales that measure similar player experience factors but often lack published validity analysis. The Player Experience Index is an empirically validated measure based on the means-end theory. The current study used this measure to analyse player experience factors and enjoyment among single-player shooter, single-player role-playing, massively multiplayer online shooter, and massively multiplayer online role-playing video games. Methods: Analyses were based on a sample of 145 participants who completed an online survey. Results: Results indicated that player experience factors were related to enjoyment, with differing results based on video game genre. It was also found that greater levels of enjoyment were reported by participants who preferred single-player mode of play compared to massively multiplayer online play mode, and participants who preferred single-player role-playing games indicated greater levels of enjoyment than the other three groups. Discussion: While there was an uneven and small sample size for each video game category, the findings of this exploratory study highlight that further research is warranted. Future research should consider analysing the player experience for currently available and marketed video games to better understand how player experience influences enjoyment in the rapidly evolving gaming industry and its role in gaming design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human ingenuity responds to changing environments and resources with technological sophistication and variations in accumulative behaviors. While anthropologists look to the past and to processes of globalization to sketch these shifts in the natural world, there is a growing awareness that these transformations also occur in digital online worlds. I argue that archaeology's attention to materiality provides useful analysis and directions for ethnographic video game analysis. I use research from the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor, where players marshal social and economic resources in both the natural and digital worlds. In constructing reputations and accumulating prestige, players integrate online and offline resources, traversing the tangible/digital divide in their pursuit of achievement. Archaeological perspectives and theories of aggrandizement, containment, systems, landscapes, and ontological materiality provide opportunities to expand ethnographic video game research and debates into new directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Review of The queer games avant-garde: How LGBTQ game makers are reimagining the medium of video games, by B. Ruberg. "At the time of this writing", the authors note, "no other game studies book tracks the lifecycle of a particular persistent online game to see how the game evolved in terms of game design as well as how the player community responded to changes" (Consalvo and Begy [25], 15). Review of The queer games avant-garde: How LGBTQ game makers are reimagining the medium of video games, by B. Ruberg. [Extracted from the article]

Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) provide many opportunities for scientists. Previous research ranges from personality trait prediction to alternative cancer treatments. However, there is an ongoing debate on whether these virtual worlds are able to represent real world scenarios. The mapping of online and offline findings is key to answering this question. Our work contributes to this discussion by providing an overview of the findings from network-based team and leadership research and by matching them with concrete results from our MMOG case study. One major finding is that team size matters. We show that high diversity in the type of teams is a major challenge, especially when combined with the immense amount of data in MMOGs. In our work, we discuss these issues and show that a well-grounded understanding of the data and the game environment makes it possible to overcome these limitations. Besides the team size, the aggregation periods play an important role. Regarding MMOGs as research environments, we show that it is important to pay close attention to the specific game-related contexts, the incentive structures, and the downside risks. Methodologically, we apply support and communication networks to show the influence of certain group-based measures (e.g., density, transitivity) as well as leadership-centered characteristics (e.g., k-core, group centrality, betweenness centralization) on team performance. Apart from our findings on centralization in communication networks, we are able to demonstrate that our results confirm the theoretical predictions which suggest that the behavioral patterns observed in MMOG teams are comparable to those observed in offline work teams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present article addresses the dynamics of the Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPG) with the objective of investigating gender imbalance, focusing on female members of the virtual community. In detail, we seek to understand which factors can influence or inhibit female participation in games and virtual communities. A netnography was employed, collecting about 1000 players' statements from the World of Warcraft (WoW) gaming community. The results indicate that a dominant male share of players enforces sexism and other male-concepts onto the female players. Although not all female players perceive such behaviours, it does affect a large share of them and thus influences their choices and behaviours in the MMORPG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application layer in the Internet protocol suite offers a significant degree of freedom regarding the orchestration of distributed denial-of-service attacks due to many different and unstandardized protocols. The primary focus of defending against application-layer distributed denial-of-service attacks has traditionally been Hypertext Transfer Protocols oriented while observing individual users' actions independently from one another. In this paper, we present and analyze a novel application-layer DDoS attack in massively multiplayer online games that utilize the cooperative efforts of the attackers to deplete the server's or players' bandwidth. The attack exploits in-game dependencies between players to cause a massive spike in bandwidth while the attackers' traffic remains legitimate. We introduce a multiplayer-relations graph to model user behavior on a game server. Additionally, we demonstrate the attack's devastating capabilities on an emulated World of Warcraft server. Lastly, we discuss flaws of the existing defense mechanisms and possible approaches for the detection of these attacks using graph theory and multiplayer-relations graphs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The information on the use of Videogames (VG) in general samples fundamentally reflects the characteristics of men, bccause of their greater participation in VG, making it difficult to identify the characteristics of women and their gaming activity. Objective: To describe the gaming behaviour of adolescent and young women in Madrid, and its relation with the development of gaming problems. Method: A self-report questionnaire (Gamertest) was applied to a sample of 1,228 women (12 - 22 years old) (M = 14.84; SD = 2.469), selected by randomized sampling in schools in the Community of Madrid. Results: 51% of women admit gaming. The typical profile is a woman who plays VG sporadically and for short periods of time, preferably Action and Adventure games or Puzzles and Platforms, mainly on smartphones, at home and alone, with the purpose of having fun. The main predictive variables of gaming problems, identified with the Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) in women are: a greater number of hours of use, playing Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Cíame (MMORPG), and Strategy VG. The most protective factor is playing VG accompanied. The results are discussed [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Game addiction is a growing problem all over the world. The present study aimed to evaluate the prevalence and psychological, social, and behavioral effects of internet gaming disorder (IGD) on young adults. Methods: A preliminary study was conducted and the game types most commonly played on the internet were determined. Then, approximately 60 gaming site managers were contacted. After obtaining consent, the questionnaires were sent to gaming site members and they were asked to complete the questionnaires. Data were collected through a sociodemographic form, Internet Gaming Disorder Scale-Short Form (IGDS9-SF), Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). Findings: The study was conducted with 613 participants. The age of the participants ranged from 15 to 30 years, with a mean age of 20.80 ± 4.63 years. The prevalence of IGD was 10% (n = 67). Those with low-income families and low academic performance were identified as more likely to develop IGD. Moreover, IGD was revealed to be more likely in individuals with fewer close friends, playing games from an early age, and those with a habit of devoting extensive time to watching online game videos on Twitch or YouTube. In addition, the risk of gaming disorder was approximately two times higher in individuals who preferred First Person Shooter (FPS) games and Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPG). Conclusion: The results of this study could be useful for estimating the level of IGD and carrying out more comprehensive studies to possibly be able to control IGD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online excessive gaming has been associated with negative player identity constructions depicting an abnormal life-style. Up-to-date, there is limited insight into player identity management talk about excessive online gaming. To address this gap, drawing from discursive and rhetorical psychology, we investigated naturally occurring talk of 134 players of World of Warcraft (WoW) -a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG)- from three publicly available websites and of five players from one focus group. The analysis illuminated participants' dilemmatic and contradictory ways of constructing the player identity, while displaying immersion in the game. Participants invoke identity constructions like 'nolifer', 'hardcore' or 'clean' player, which they disavow or assign to themselves and to each other depending on the conversational context, while attending to concerns about (ab)normalcy. The study's findings highlight a dynamic process of player identity construction in talk, occasioned by and exemplifying the contingencies of the discursive context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In January 2014 over seven thousand EVE Online players engaged in a 21-h battle that came to be known as the Battle of B-R5RB, in which an estimated $330,000 of virtual property was destroyed, calculated in real U.S. dollars as measured by time. Aim: To discern why players were willing to commit time and resources to fight in a large-scale virtual battle, which in turn informs how players perceive risk and develop large-scale emergent political structures. Method: Drawing from multiple case history and journalism reports on the Battle of B-R5RB, the author combines the inductive ideographic case study approach and process tracing method to uncover key causal mechanisms. Results: The author inductively theorizes that the Battle of B-R5RB resulted from the Null-Sec's anarchic structure, player commitment to their respective Corporations, measurable economic value, and risk associated with permanent loss. These mechanisms closely align with the offensive realism and anarchy. Discussion and conclusion: The Battle of B-R5B is a relevant example of real-world emergent political behavior developing in a virtual world setting. Analysis of this single battle suggests that players are willing to project actual value onto virtual assets. Perception of value is magnified in virtual worlds lacking overt governance or security structures. Players must form groups to mitigate risk, and the greater the risk, the greater the commitment to the group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we examine how a loosely knit, mediated community in the massively multiplayer online game EverQuest II rapidly coalesced to carry out collective action in response to a request to help a terminally ill child. We examine the factors that motivated hundreds of people to donate their time, expertise, and in-game resources to people they had never met. These factors included specific affordances of the many technologies relied upon, the emotional weight and urgency of the initial post, both trusted and well-connected actors in the network, and a sense of belonging to the greater community by many of those who helped. Furthering our knowledge on how rituals surrounding death and mourning work in digital networks can provide insights into the continued health of online communities in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

No matter what else this stunning video game diptych is about - and it strikes many an urgent topical chord with its central theme of a modern-day pandemic - it also offers an existential journey which unsettles the expected, codified workings of in-game affect and empathic processes in order to make the gamer "grow up" by questioning what they emotionally take for granted in a video game's identificatory mechanisms and patterns. Concisely defined, empathy involves one's affective experience of the other person's emotions based on some minimal recognition and understanding of their emotional state.[8] A stock-in-trade lever of immersivity, it came to the forefront of game creation during the last decade, with the rise of the more specific "empathy game", a term patented by the creator of the first such instance to achieve global attention for seeking to foster emotional empathy.[9] However, critical dissensus soon appeared as to whether, despite the conceptual underpinnings of such games often inspired by autobiography, players are truly emotionally invested in the storyline or more concerned with beating the game, therefore whether the game still motivates action over empathy.[10] As Gordon Calleja neatly summarises in his chapter on "Affective Involvement", an important difference with digital games [from other, non-ergodic media] is the way they place the player in a cybernetic feedback loop between human mind and machine. Tendencies in video game development are not immune to the perception of paradigm shifts or at least modulations in the contemporary mindset. [Extracted from the article]

Sex differences in the use of competitive tactics have been well established. Although many factors may contribute to these sex differences, according to social role theory (SRT), stereotypes and expectations about men's and women's typical social roles are crucial. We addressed the potential impact of social roles by studying massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), a setting where individuals represent themselves with avatars and thus enjoy the opportunity to compete without regard to the typical expectations and behaviors associated with men's and women's roles. We surveyed players via MTurk (63 women, 191 men) and Reddit (166 women, 1,326 men) regarding their frequency of engaging in five competitive behaviors and the sex and role of their primary avatar. As expected, there were reliable sex differences in competitiveness: men were more likely than women to engage in player-versus-player duels (MTurk d = 0.19; Reddit d = 0.51), do solo runs of difficult content (0.30, 0.35), and work to acquire expensive items (0.32, 0.19); women were more likely than men to seek in-game awards (−0.38, −0.36) and spend real-world money on expensive microtransactions (−0.16, −0.27). Contrary to SRT, these sex differences in forms of competitive behavior were generally unrelated to players' chosen avatar sex or avatar role. These results instead indicate that sex differences in competitiveness largely reflect evolved predispositions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study explored negotiated interaction with Grade 6 students (age 11–12) engaged in communicative tasks supported by Club Penguin Island, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). Unlike previous studies on digital games, the present study assessed the use of Club Penguin Island during face-to-face interaction. Objectives were to assess the presence of focus-on-form episodes (FFEs), identify their characteristics, evaluate the impact of task type, and explore participants' attitudes following the use of the game. The project was carried out with 20 Grade 6 intensive English as a second language (ESL) students in the province of Quebec. An information-gap task, a reasoning-gap task, and a task with a writing component were carried out in dyads using iPads. Recordings and an attitude questionnaire were used to gather data. The analysis revealed that FFEs were triggered while carrying out tasks with the game and that students were able to negotiate interaction without the help of their instructor. The information-gap task was found to lead to more FFEs, and attitudes were found to be positive toward the game and tasks. Pedagogical implications underscore the impact of using MMORPGs and add to the literature on negotiated interaction with young learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the concept of the Metaverse rapidly spread, massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), one of the Metaverse games, received public's attention again. Additionally, MMORPGs have garnered significant academic interest in multidisciplinary fields, including human-computer interaction, computer science, and psychology. This study provides a general overview of the knowledge structures on MMORPGs in various academic fields using a bibliometric approach. To this end, we collected articles on MMORPGs published between 2001 and 2021 from the Web of Science. Then, main research forces in the field of MMORPGs are identified by examining productive authors, institutions, and countries/regions. Additionally, we applied VOSviewer to conduct co-citation analyses for identifying highly cited authors, journals, and literatures on MMORPGs. The results revealed that the USA and South Korea are the most productive countries. In addition, players' motivation, players' demographics, in-game social interaction, and pathological usage are the main research topics in the field. We expect that our results will help researchers and stakeholders to gain a general understanding of the development of the MMORPG academic field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excerpts from both observational and interview-based data are used to illustrate ways in which social interaction in ASD is mediated via interaction with the material world. Thus, it seems that the technological mediation further constrains the framing of an interaction, creating a tightly formed province of meaning, and making social interaction via the game even more predictable. B R b esearch on autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) commonly describes autistic individuals as displaying: i) a preoccupation with the world of objects and ii) a withdrawal or detachment from the world of subjects. [Extracted from the article]

Starting from the dualistic model of passion by Vallerand and colleagues (2003), this study aimed to identify "obsessive" and "harmonious" involvements in MMORPGs and to verify their relationships with players' self-esteem and well-being. An international sample of 147 MMORPG players participated in a longitudinal design filling out for 3 times an online questionnaire measuring game involvement (in terms of Internet Gaming Disorder [IGD] symptoms, time spent playing the video game, sense of presence while playing, and avatar identification), global self-esteem, and well-being (i.e., meaningful life, engaged life, and pleasant life). Results supported the presence of these two different types of involvement: Obsessive involvement, characterized by a close association between IGD symptoms and playing time; Harmonious involvement, characterized by a close association between presence, avatar identification, and IGD symptoms. Cross-lagged effects showed that, over time, low self-esteem and low meaningful life predicted obsessive involvement, which in turn predicted engaged life. The present study contributes to a better understanding of the effects between video games use and the users' self-esteem and wellbeing. Furthermore, it contributes to the theoretical debate about problematic involvement in videogames, also providing some indications about problematic gaming assessment and prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this grounded theory study was to describe the experience of people who struggled with self-described addiction to World of Warcraft™ (WoW). WoW is a massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), and many players have shared their stories of compulsive use and recovery efforts on two different websites: www.wowdetox.com, and a Reddit forum called /r/noWoW. We analyzed 140 unique posts on these sites to develop a process model describing how posters experienced addiction and recovery from WoW. We used grounded theory methods to create a model with categories including, time sink, impairment in work and relationships, and realization of loss. The process of recovery from compulsive WoW use included a series of realizations and the gamer "coming to themselves." Implications for clinicians and researchers who study internet gaming disorder and related issues are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gaming related experiences and addictive behaviours are emerging causes of adverse psycho-social health such as depression, anxiety, in adolescents and young adults around the world. Nonetheless, there remains a dearth of information relating to adolescents and young adults in India, a country which has millions of gamers. Present study examined the effects of massively multiplayer online role-playing games on the psychological health and inter-personal relationships of adolescents and young male adults of sub-urban Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Questionnaires were used to collect data on socio-economic and lifestyle traits, psychological health and inter-personal relationships were obtained from both gamers (n = 150) and non-gamers (n = 150). Data on gaming experiences and addiction were obtained only from gamers. MANCOVA and linear regression were performed to understand the effects of socio-economic and lifestyle traits, gaming experience and addiction traits on psychological health and inter-personal relationships of gamers. Study findings revealed that both gamers and non-gamers derived from a similar age group (mean age = 19.94 years) and socio-economic cluster. Disparities in psychological health in terms of depression, anxiety and stress and inter-personal relationship in terms of parent and peer attachments were present across social groups and between gamers and non-gamers. Various problematic gaming experiences and gaming related addictive behaviours resulted in poor psychological health and inter-personal relationship with parents and peers. Male gamers were at high risk to develop adverse psychological health and poor inter-personal relationships with parents and peers due to problematic gaming experience and gaming addiction. Proper education and counselling regarding the beneficial and detrimental sides of gaming may ensure better psycho-social health of adolescents and young adults in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The immersive witch is the mirror image of the outsider, historical stage witch: she is instead the very source of private experiences to be consumed and recycled.23 And so, I theorize that the witches emerging from these immersive performances are networked, neoliberal witches. This element of witchcraftderives from early modern conceptions of witches as agents of Satan; this was articulated in the Malleus Maleficarum of 1486, a work that underpinned the witch trials and crazes of England, France, and Germany through the seventeenth century.10 In the early modern period, witchcraftwas regularly associated with a standard characterization, which included a ride by night, a pact with the Devil, a secret meeting/orgy that desecrated Christian sacraments, and the sacrifice of infants and children.11 Depictions onstage and in writing of witches' anti-Christian rituals have repeatedly attracted audiences, historically and today. Compulsion, Seduction, and Neoliberal Spectatorship The witch's glamour isn't simply an illusion in these performances; witches are some of their most beautiful and mysterious figures, especially in the case of Sleep No More. The Boy Witch character reveals himself naked, bloody, wearing a goat-head mask; another witch births a figure of a small child.8 Other missing children appear elsewhere in the performance, from the inclusion of Agnes Naismith, a character from the historical Paisley witch trials in Scotland, who wanders the town square looking for her lost sister, to the mournful dances of Lady Macbeth, whose child, presumably, has died, or never existed, and the MacDuffs, who perform a mournful duet in a nursery, underscored by Vera Lynn's 1940 song "Goodnight Children, Everywhere.". [Extracted from the article]

In the context of modern secularization, Legendism can be defined as a cultural form adjacent to traditional religion, taking supernatural narratives seriously but not devoting faith or authority to them. Design teams in South Korea have been creating massively multiplayer online games inspired significantly by the folk religion of their country, but well-integrated into the cultural diversity of their worldwide audience. Extensive description of the first case provides a conceptual grounding for the others, based on both qualitative ethnography and quantitative collection of statistics. With that introduction, the diversity of games is demonstrated through brief consideration of five others. Deeper explorations of two currently very popular theocratic virtual worlds affirm the continuing significance of Korean integration into legendary global culture. Primary themes include the relationship between magic and religion, the personal characteristics attributed to avatars and deities, and the cultural dynamics of globalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mobile gaming has experienced rapid growth with the development of mobile technology. A mechanic of constant risk in the mobile massively multiplayer online real-time strategy game Lords Mobile prompted us to investigate the effects of the game on players' work activities. Through a 19-month virtual ethnography of Lords Mobile, we found that game and work activities affected each other. Study participants played the game at work due to the constant risk mechanic, resulting in time-based and strain-based work interference. Players also reported receiving some social support for work stress, but development and use of social capital around work topics was unexpectedly limited. Resisting the "work" and "non-work" binary, some players avoided some areas of interference by playing tactically throughout the day. In the context of work–game relationship, players reported interference more often than use of social capital or tactical play. We suggest that the constant risk mechanic needs more research and that players structuring their play and work activities so that the relationships between them are positive instead of negative could be called work–game balance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the COVID-19 pandemic affects us all, I focus here, in this editorial, on some aspects related to gaming and simulation in these challenging times. It is not only difficult to change physical game elements into digital game elements but also, as our experience shows, the original game cannot be translated in all aspects and the new game cannot meet all of the same learning objectives (and on a personal note, the new game is less enjoyable for me as a facilitator). These artifacts are often a hybrid mixture of entertainment games, educational learning games and simulation games. [Extracted from the article]

It is a mainstay in game studies that Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games are boasting social relations and community formation. Considering games as "sociotechnical" environments, this article studies how the usage of external communication technologies in an online video game guild shapes the members' social dynamics. Based on a one-year ethnographic study of a women's guild in The Elder Scrolls Online (TESO), the analysis shows that the infrastructure of TESO guards anonymous interaction by default and contributes to the game as a "safe space." The displacement of guild communication to media platforms outside the game, however, unleashed mechanisms of disclosure: a leakage of information from the private, domestic domain via TeamSpeak and the "sharing" imperative of personal information on Facebook. Such techno-induced forms of personal disclosure act as a double-edged sword: they strengthen the guild's social bonds but, simultaneously, breed tensions, peer-to-peer surveillance, and social control within the guild. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study concentrates on two kinds of video games, Massive Online Battle Arena and Massive Multiplayer Online Role Play Game, and examines the scores obtained by the subjects in the sample. Score analyses pointed out that they do not exceed the respective cutoff scores for each scale. The sample was divided into three clusters to differentiate three kinds of users: nonproblematic, problematic, and "addicted" players. The study highlights that the variable "video game typology" relates to some personality traits. Players who excessively use them tend to experience relatively more negative emotions (anxiety and depression), avoid socioemotional involvement, and report bizarre and culturally incongruent thoughts (accompanied by the respective behavioral displays). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate methodologies for modeling quality of experience (QoE) for networked video games, focusing on massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), and using Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft (WoW) as a case study. In two user studies, involving a total of 104 players, we investigate system, user, and context parameters and evaluate their impact on QoE and related quality features. We also discuss some methodological questions related to measuring gaming QoE, which can be used as guidelines for future gaming QoE studies. We further analyze a set of quality metrics "beyond MOS". Having evaluated different modeling techniques, we present and evaluate four linear statistical models and three (non-linear) machine learning models for estimating MMORPG QoE. Finally, we make our datasets available to the research community to foster further analysis and reproducibility of results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Until today, literature indicated the effect of the type of game and motivations for playing were significantly related. However, a small study examined the differences in these motivations for playing between MMORPG and RTS players. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to compare MMORPG players, RTS players, and other game players in terms of time for playing, motivations about enjoyment, flow, positive attitudes, and intention to use among MMORPG, RTS, and other games. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted. We recruited 175 participants from websites or social networking sites. They were asked to complete the questionnaires about time for play and motivations for playing (flow, positive attitudes, enjoyment, and intention to use). Results: our results found that a higher proportion of MMORPG players reported playing games for at least 2-3 hours, and RTS and other games did not have significant differences. Then, we found substantial differences in the motivations about flow, enjoyment, positive attitudes, and intention to use among the three groups and significant differences in positive attitudes between MMORPG players and other games. Conclusions: unexpectedly, the no significant differences in motivations between MMORPG players and RTS players. The effect of social functions could be compared with the three groups further. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Gamers with poor self-concept, high social anxiety, and high loneliness are at risk of problematic involvement in massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs). There is a research gap concerning treatment approaches to cater to socially anxious MMORPG gamers with problematic patterns of gaming involvement. This study tests the feasibility and initial efficacy of a structured protocol in which socially anxious online gamers are exposed in offline social skills and exposed to real-life social interactions while playing a tabletop role-playing game. Methods: The experiment lasts 10 weeks and involves 10 sessions organized within 3 modules in which participants play the tabletop roleplaying game Dungeons and Dragons. Each module deploys one written role-playing scenario designed to challenge the players in game terms, as well as to involve them in a story based on maturing relationships with other characters and on solving challenges by social means and investigation. Our study uses an experimental single-case design with multiple baselines across groups (4 groups of 5 gamers with problematic MMORPG use and social anxiety) and a 3-month follow-up. Outcomes assessed include social skills, self-esteem, loneliness, assertiveness, and gaming disorder symptoms. Results: Ethical clearance has been obtained. Results are forthcoming as data collection will conclude in July 2023. Results will be available at the time of ICBA2023. Conclusion: Our proof-of-principle study has the potential to provide pilot data that are likely to be used to develop new types of interventions that may be more accessible and engaging for persons having a problematic involvement in MMORPGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents a theoretical and empirical analysis of involvement phenomenon in massively multiplayer online role-playing games among high school students. The characteristics of the virtual world are analyzed; its role in the life and activity of modern people is substantiated. The main features of the games that make them the most attractive to users and contribute to their active involvement in the game process are highlighted. The advantages of mass multiplayer online role-playing games are substantiated. On the basis of the theoretical analysis was formulated the aim of the study: to identify differences in the manifestations of innovativeness and creativity in high school students involved and not involved in MMORPG. Hypotheses about the existence of significant connections and differences in the manifestations of innovativeness and creativity in those involved and not involved in this type of games are formulated. The study involved 120 students of 10-11th forms and was based on the following methods: 1) questionnaire to assess the degree of enthusiasm in role-playing computer games; 2) questionnaire for the study of gaming activity, experience and gaming genre preferences of the individual; 3) self-assessment scale of personal innovative traits; 4) a multidimensional questionnaire "Innovativeness of a personality" - MQIP; 5) "Creativity" test. As a result of the study those involved in computer games are characterized by higher originality, imagination and creative thinking than their peers not playing massive multiplayer online role-playing games. The article presents a number of recommendations on the use of the plot potential of multiplayer online role-playing games for the development of high school students' personality in modern teaching practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Symptoms of problematic Internet use (PIU) may be increased in people who display an excessive involvement in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs). Notably, impulsivity and alexithymia have not been investigated together in the literature addressing the predictors of PIU among gamers, despite evidence that these personality traits may play a pivotal role in the development of problematic gaming patterns. The purpose of this research was to explore the relationship between facets of alexithymia and impulsivity and PIU scores among MMORPG players. Method: In the current study, 364 World of Warcraft (WoW) players (272 males, 74.7%) aged 18 to 48 years old provided socio-demographic information and completed questionnaires on PIU, time spent online playing WoW, alexithymia, and impulsivity. Results: PIU scores were negatively associated with age and positively associated with alexithymia scores, impulsivity scores, and time spent online playing WoW. A linear regression analysis showed that PIU scores were predicted by time spent online playing WoW, the alexithymic features concerning difficulties identifying and describing feelings, and attentional impulsivity. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that MMORPG players with difficulties concerning affect awareness and a tendency to be distracted by novel stimuli may spend an excessive amount of time playing video games and may also show prominent symptoms of PIU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Similar to charitable giving in real world, donation behaviors play an important role in the complex interactions among individuals in virtual worlds. However, it is not clear if the donation process is random or not. We investigate this problem using detailed data from parallel virtual worlds adhered to a massively multiplayer online role-playing game. We find that the inter-donation durations follow power-law-tailed distributions distributed with an average tail exponent close to 1.91, have strong long-range correlations, and possess multifractal features. These findings indicate that the donation process is non-Poissonian, which has potential worth in modeling the complicated individual behaviors in virtual worlds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A positive relationship between problematic gaming and escapism motivation to play video games has been well established, suggesting that problematic gaming may result from attempts to deal with negative emotions. However, to date, no study has examined how emotion dysregulation affects both escapism motives and problematic gaming patterns. Methods: Difficulties in emotion regulation, escapism, and problematic involvement with video games were assessed in a sample of 390 World of Warcraft players. A structural equation modeling framework was used to test the hypothesis that escapism mediates the relationship between emotion dysregulation and problematic gaming. Results: Statistical analyses showed that difficulties in emotion regulation predicted both escapism motives and problematic gaming, and that escapism partially mediated this relationship. Conclusion: Our findings support the view that problematic players are likely to escape in online games as a maladaptive coping strategy for dealing with adverse emotional experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Research on playing motivation and passion for MMORPGs and gender has so far mainly focused on biological sex and neglected variables related to social gender such as masculinity and femininity. As some playing motivations and obsessive passion are assumed to be related to problematic game play, problematic game play is still considered a male phenomenon, often based on mainly male samples and disregarding underlying causes in problematic tendencies that could explain or extent findings on biological sex difference.Method. This survey based quantitative study investigated the impact of masculine and feminine personality on game play motivations, passion, and problematic game play. Massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) players (N = 375, 44.3% female) were recruited via Facebook and online games. Feminine and masculine personality traits were assessed along with game play motivations, passion, and problematic game play.Results. Stepwise regression analyses revealed that gender traits add significant value for almost all variables of interest. Negative masculine traits were positive predictors for achievement as game play motivation while positive feminine traits predicted social interaction. Harmonious passion was predicted by positive masculine traits. Negative feminine traits were found to predict immersion as well as obsessive passion and were also important for problematic game play.Conclusion. Gender traits add valuable information to mere biological sex concerning different game related concepts such as motivation, passion, and problematic game play. Despite the idea that problematic game play is a male phenomenon, negative feminine traits seem to be linked to problematic tendencies. We suggest including gender and personality variables for future games and/or media studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the unique philosophical challenges that video games pose as forms of interactive fiction and examines the different types of fictional truth which they present in order to lay the groundwork for further discussion of video games as fictions not only by generating useful vocabulary and an ontological framework to aid continued study but also by using the fictional truths found in video games to challenge one of the most influential models of fictional truth: that of Kendall Walton. I argue that Walton's definition of fictional truth cannot account for all of the fictional content presented by video games and use video games to provide two counterexamples to his claims. By shedding light on these challenges, this article establishes video games as an interesting and unique form of narrative art worthy of the attention of philosophers not only for the fictional content which they present but also for the way in which they present it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Video games have gradually developed since the introduction of the first game consoles in the early 1970s (van Rooij, 2011). Consumption of video games has become a significant economic and cultural phenomenon worldwide. Starting from one-dimensional graphics, games have evolved to become more and more realistic, even three-dimensional and massively populated. In the late 1990s, the prevalence of Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games became significant (Dupuis, & Ramsey, 2011). In the last few years, video games and MMORPG industry has grown rapidly, allowing players to access online games and interact with each other in order to achieve the game's goals in a symbiotic way (Badrinarayanan et al., 2015). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]