Cyberpsychologists study WoW social behavior
by Elizabeth Wachowski 
Aug 27th 2007 at 2:02PM
When this article was first submitted as a tip to WoW Insider, we laughed at it because of its cheesy headline: "1 in 3 World of Warcraft Players Attracted to One Another." People can form personal connections on the internet? Paging the obvious police! Or, as one blogger wrote, "Coming up, Channel 13 takes you inside the APA -- and what you find there might startle you: up to 75% of all Americans say that they prefer grape jelly to accompany peanut butter on their sandwich."
But when I actually read the article, I found that it wasn't all torrid e-romances and "ZOMG, don't people know that WoW isn't real?" There were some pretty interesting facts there, all taken from a UK study of 912 self-selected MMORPG players. Notable tidbits:
- Forty percent of respondents said that they had talked to people in MMOs about personal issues that they wouldn't discuss with people they knew offline.
- Forty-three percent of respondents had met with online friends in offline situations.
- Twenty percent of players said that their gaming had a negative impact on their relationships with non-gamers.
- Yep, "one in three" players found themselves attracted to another player. And it might surprise you that this was much more common among female players (42 percent) than male players (26 percent.) And what really surprised me is that ten percent of players said they had developed a physical relationship with someone they met in-game! Wow.
- The average respondent played online games 23 hours a week.
So what conclusions did the researchers draw from this study? A lot of gamers -- particularly women -- use online games as a way to socialize and meet people in a non-judgmental environment. And if over forty percent of gamers have met their guildmates in real life, and ten percent have actually gotten into a live, flesh-and-blood relationship because of gaming, we can't all be maladjusted, antisocial rejects.
What do you think of this study? Has WoW helped or hindered your social life?
Filed under: Virtual selves, News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Hollywood Ron Aug 27th 2007 2:08PM
WoW has neither helped nor hindered my social life. I'm just as antisocial now as I ever was; WoW has just replaced online role-playing chat rooms and console RPGs as my time-waster of choice.
Yes, I'm a dork.
-----
Ron
http://www.flektor-blog.com
Brendan Aug 27th 2007 2:11PM
Here's what happens:
The reason why girl players are more open is because, after discussing their problems with someone offline, they will READ the support, and in their head they will form a picture of the writer's voice, which, if they are feeling sad, will probably end up being really nice and sweet.
For example:
"...and I just don't know what to do." - Girl.
"You'll do fine, you'll do what's right." - Writer.
You probably read the writer's comment in a nice tone. Little did you know, the girl had been rambling on and on, and the tone that the writer had intended was annoyed.
It's the same reason why girls are usually attracted to and end up meeting guys they meet online, because in their minds, they are reading the words as this amazingly handsome guy, their prince charming, when in reality he could be a creep, or a slob.
Just some notes that I've found when doing my own study.
notemo Aug 27th 2007 2:17PM
being married to a non-gamer, there was a bit on tension when she and i both realized that, yes, i will be playing this damn game quite a bit. luckily we respect each other enough for it not to have become a problem.
on another note, i have experienced the attraction of another person to me in game..and the inevitable pissiness from them when I transferred servers to join a raiding guild in my time zone.
gundamxzero Aug 27th 2007 2:30PM
True story, one girlfriend I had left me for someone in wow. Her relationship with that said guy lasted 2 whole weeks.
Hollywood Ron Aug 27th 2007 2:28PM
@3 I transferred servers to game with a woman. Biggest mistake ever.
yoda22281 Aug 27th 2007 2:32PM
Not to be negative, but I would be more interested in the number of real life relationships WoW has destroyed or hindered than created.
PDKM Aug 27th 2007 2:44PM
@6, Ya! That wouldnt be negative at all!
yoda22281 Aug 27th 2007 2:50PM
@7 I guess I don't tend to hold a whole lot of stock in on-line relationships, whether they become off-line relationships or not. Thus, I don't see the point in studying such relationships. Studying real relationships that are affected by on-line activities, however, is far more interesting and pertinent (in my opinion).
yoda22281 Aug 27th 2007 3:03PM
"self-selected" = "volunteer"
An all-volunteer survey is not statistically sound:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biased_sample
Cead Aug 27th 2007 3:15PM
Wow doesn’t destroy relationships anymore than any other interest or hobby. People make choices and then sometimes do not want to own up to their own choices and chose to blame something or someone. I really did not want to go out that woman or guy, so it must have been WoW’s fault.
People may believe (mistakenly) that because they share an interest in a hobby or game that will translate into other areas and sadly, more often than not it does not.
There are great people in game and many would be friends in everyday RL if they lived in the same time zone as I did. But this is a hobby and not RL. That may be where the confusion is.
thundercougarfalconbird Aug 27th 2007 3:53PM
All I know is, I've got a crush on Krystalle.
amasen Aug 27th 2007 4:16PM
@8
[quote]
8. @7 I guess I don't tend to hold a whole lot of stock in on-line relationships, whether they become off-line relationships or not. Thus, I don't see the point in studying such relationships. Studying real relationships that are affected by on-line activities, however, is far more interesting and pertinent (in my opinion).
[/quote]
Are you suggesting that a relationship started online isn't real?
As someone who's dated quite regularly through more traditional methods, I'd say my relationship that started from WoW has not only lasted MUCH longer than any of my "real relationships", but it is a much stronger stronger relationship because I fell in love with a personality first and then the person.
How a relationship starts matters not. How it continues and endures is more important than what your limited views of social interactions can even begin to comprehend.
MartinC Aug 27th 2007 4:17PM
WTF? Wowinsider is recycling articles already?
Wasn't this posted last week?
Darlene Aug 27th 2007 4:24PM
I am a female gamer.
I have formed some very close relationships with some fellow male guildies...
One in particular we talk via e-mail, WoW and call each other daily....
One day I'd like to meet him.
I can see how it happens :)
Coherent Aug 27th 2007 4:25PM
This has nothing to do with WoW necessarily. A lot of this same info has been attributed to any online communications medium, such as instant messaging.
That doesn't mean it's not true for WoW, but it's more in the nature of the medium than WoW specifically.
As for being attracted to people online, that's because people tend to form a mental image of someone based on very limited cues, a mental image that often has nothing to do with the way they actually look.
However, I met my S.O. online and I can attest that they didn't look anything like what I had thought. At first, I was revulsed by them, but persisted because I loved them. After a while though I realized that their physical appearance was a non issue, and the person I loved was always inside of them, and I started to see them as the one I loved and wanted to be with always. We've been very happily together for a long time now.
I'm kind of an anomaly though! For most people the "after a while though" would have been followed by "...I realized that it would never work out because they were too ugly." or something like that. That's why only 10% of people have ever had a physical relationship based on an online meeting, despite a 42% attraction rate.
As for females feeling more attraction than guys, it's because guys think there's only guys online with them. They don't feel attracted because that would be gay. GIRLS ALSO THINK THERE'S ONLY GUYS ONLINE, so they have a much higher attraction rating! They KNOW they're in a TARGET RICH ENVIRONMENT, so they feel more free to form connections.
If you studied casual games, where females predominate, you might find the statistics reversed for males & females.
Zerrian Aug 27th 2007 4:39PM
Funny this topic comes up finally. I met my last girlfriend through WoW. We talked in game for a long time. I would help her with quests and getting around. Eventually we took it to talking through AIM. Which eventually led to talking on the phone and then we made plans to meet each other. Luckily for both of us, we only lived 5 hours apart from each other. (^_^) Traveling to Canada to visit her was very fun.
Coherent Aug 27th 2007 4:48PM
The most amazing thing about people like this is that they see the OMG $15 PER MONTH!!! as such an INCREDIBLE BURDEN. Man, I spend $15 going out for a nice lunch and I do that way more than once a month.
If you played another game to break you of your "WoW addiction" you'd have to buy AT LEAST one per month, and that's going to set you back $50 each, so that's from $15 to $50 per month. Make sense yet? I didn't think so.
yoda22281 Aug 27th 2007 4:49PM
@12 You and I will just have to agree to disagree I think. I meant no disrespect (bad choice of words there with "real", I didn't want to use "off-line" to avoid confusion with meeting on-line).
Nonetheless, I do contend that face time is very important in social interactions. Although I work in a profession where I could easily telecommute, I much prefer coming in the office everyday for the face-to-face interaction with colleagues, something you don't get in a "virtual" environment.
Anyway, again, I meant no disrespect. My apologies.
Coherent Aug 27th 2007 4:49PM
Oops, red face, replied to the wrong thread. Mods, please delete this and my previous comment.
Chadwick Aug 27th 2007 4:56PM
Elizabeth you laugh, but see, cheesy headliners can have a lot going for them. lol