A formal anthropological view of motivation models of problematic MMO play: Achievement, social, and...

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2013 50: 235 originally published online 20 May 2013Transcultural PsychiatryJeffrey G. Snodgrass, H. J. Francois Dengah II, Michael G. Lacy and Jesse Fagan

play: Achievement, social, and immersion factors in the context of cultureA formal anthropological view of motivation models of problematic MMO

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Transcultural Psychiatry 50(2) 235–262 ! The Author(s) 2013

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DOI: 10.1177/1363461513487666 tps.sagepub.com

A formal anthropological viewof motivation models of problematicMMO play: Achievement, social,and immersion factors in the contextof culture

Jeffrey G. SnodgrassColorado State University

H. J. Francois Dengah IIUniversity of Alabama

Michael G. LacyColorado State University

Jesse FaganUniversity of Kentucky

Abstract

Yee (2006) found three motivational factors—achievement, social, and immer-

sion—underlying play in massively multiplayer online role-playing games (‘‘MMORPGs’’

or ‘‘MMOs’’ for short). Subsequent work has suggested that these factors foster prob-

lematic or addictive forms of play in online worlds. In the current study, we used an online

survey of respondents (N¼ 252), constructed and also interpreted in reference to eth-

nography and interviews, to examine problematic play in the World of Warcraft (WoW;

Blizzard Entertainment, 2004–2013). We relied on tools from psychological anthropol-

ogy to reconceptualize each of Yee’s three motivational factors in order to test for the

possible role of culture in problematic MMO play: (a) For achievement, we examined how

‘‘cultural consonance’’ with normative understandings of success might structure prob-

lematic forms of play; (b) for social, we analyzed the possibility that developing overvalued

virtual relationships that are cutoff from offline social interactions might further exacer-

bate problematic play; and (c) in relation to immersion, we examined how ‘‘dissociative’’

blurring of actual- and virtual-world identities and experiences might contribute to

Corresponding author:

Jeffrey Snodgrass, Department of Anthropology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO

80523-1787, USA.

Email: [email protected]



problematic patterns. Our results confirmed that compared to Yee’s original motivational

factors, these culturally sensitive measures better predict problematic forms of play,

pointing to the important role of sociocultural factors in structuring online play.

Keywords

computer games, immersion, Internet addiction, problematic MMO play

Introduction

There is growing popular concern that online videogame play is addictive and escap-ist, with even players acknowledging that they can overvalue their gaming in waysthat produce distressful conflicts between offline and online lives. Academicresearchers have also begun to speak of ‘‘problematic’’ online gaming, sometimestermed ‘‘overuse,’’ ‘‘excessive or pathological play,’’ and ‘‘toxic immersion’’(Caplan, Williams, & Yee, 2009; Castronova, 2005; Holden, 2001; Mitchell, 2000;Snodgrass, Dengah, Lacy, & Fagan, 2011; Snodgrass, Dengah, Lacy, Fagan, &Most, 2011; Snodgrass, Lacy, Dengah, & Fagan, 2011; Snodgrass et al., 2012;Turkle, 2011; Yee, 2002, 2007; Yellowlees &Marks, 2007). Indeed, some researchersliken distressful online play to substance and behavioral ‘‘addictions’’ such as thoseassociated with alcohol and gambling (Bai, Lin, & Chen, 2001; Clark & Scott, 2009;Holden, 2001; Mitchell, 2000; Young, 1998, 2004, 2009; Young & Rogers, 1998).

One line of research has sought to explain patterns of problematic Internet usagein reference to individual personality. These studies find associations between dis-tressful online activity and psychological factors like self-efficacy (Jeong & Kim,2011), sensation seeking and self-control (Mehroof & Griffiths, 2010), actual–idealself-discrepancies (D. Li, Liau, & Khoo, 2011), and extraversion and impulsivity(Mottram & Fleming, 2009). Central to these psychological theories are concepts ofmotivation: illuminating what motivates individual players in either offline oronline pursuits may also clarify the role of players’ personalities in the drivetoward excessive gaming (Wan & Chiou, 2006). In a particularly influentialaccount, Yee (2006, 2007) builds on foundational work by Bartle (1996, 2003) todocument three motivational factors—achievement, social, and immer-sion—underlying play in massively multiplayer online role-playing games(‘‘MMORPGs’’ or ‘‘MMOs’’ for short). Moreover, researchers such as Charltonand Danforth (2007) suggest that it is these factors that foster problematic play inonline worlds. Following this line of analysis, it is suggested that MMO rewards aredistributed in such a way—for example, one task following another in an endlesssuccession, in-game status and power to be won through hours of pursuing raretreasures and ‘‘gear’’—that players drawn to the achievement dimensions of thesegames find themselves spending more time online than they might wish. Likewise,social players risk getting drawn into communities and collaborations that demandincreasing amounts of time; immersive play may lead gamers to not only tempor-arily escape, but also to more persistently and maladaptively avoid actual-worldproblems.

236 Transcultural Psychiatry 50(2)



The research reported here further explores the relation of Yee’s three motivationalfactors to problematic and distressful play among (predominantly) North Americanplayers of the MMO World of Warcraft (WoW). To refine the explanatory power ofindividualmotivation theories of problematic online play, we drew froma growing bodyof anthropological and interdisciplinary research showing that online worlds such asWoW form communities and cultures (Bainbridge, 2010; Boellstorff, 2008; Castronova,2005; Corneliussen & Rettberg, 2008; Golub, 2010; Malaby, 2009; Nardi, 2010; Pearce& Artemesia, 2009; Taylor, 2006). Guided by this work, we adapted Yee’s (2007) three-factor motivational framework for MMO play to account for the impact of culture, inthe sense of socially learned thought and practice, on distressful WoW play.

Though inspired by qualitative and interpretive work, we draw explicitly onformal anthropological approaches such as cultural consensus and consonance ana-lysis (e.g., Dressler & Bindon, 2000; Dressler, Borges, Balieiro, & Dos Santos, 2005).We use these perspectives to operationalize Yee’s (2007) MMO gamer motiv-ations—achievement, social, and immersion—in ways that might capture how themotivations of individual gamers are situated within socially transmitted and sharedframeworks of meaning, practice, and experience. The formal anthropological tech-niques drawn from psychological and medical anthropology that inform our studyrely on quantifiable methods. These methods allow us to speak directly to quanti-tative psychological investigations of problematic MMO play such as Yee’s (2007).As such, our cultural anthropological critique and partial reformulation of suchresearch might be heard by scholars from both within and outside anthropology.

As a set of interrelated research questions, we anticipate that individuals who dis-play little consonance with the cultural norms of achievement (e.g., of their offlineculture, here, broadly, U.S. mainstream culture), who play WoW more exclusivelywith strangers as opposed to real-life social acquaintances, and who too fully dissociateinto WoW’s immersive landscapes will be more likely to report playing WoW prob-lematically. Distressful MMO play can arise, we believe, from the erosion of bound-aries separating offline and online worlds. Players who use in-game WoWaccomplishments and social interactions to escape from, rather than to build up,actual-world selves are more vulnerable to distressful play. By contrast, players whouseWoW play to enhance and strengthen rather than compete or interfere with actual-world persons are less likely to experience distressful gaming. We expect that usingculturally sensitive measures of Yee’s (2007) three gamer motivations will allow us tomore effectively explain these psychological structures’ relationship to problematiconline gaming, clarifying relationships between psychologicalmotivations and distress.

We hope that research such as ours might inform debates within transculturalpsychiatry related to emerging forms of technologically mediated sociality and psy-chological distress (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Psychological and psy-chiatric anthropological studies situating individual distress within offline and onlinesocial contexts are critical to understanding phenomena related to compulsive play.Understanding the causes and consequences of distressful online gaming might pro-vide the first steps to treating new technologically mediated problems sometimesframed as ‘‘mental disorders,’’ a goal of increasing interest to cultural psychiatrists.1

Snodgrass et al. 237



Setting: The persistent and immersive World of Warcraft

WoW now has approximately 10 million monthly subscribers, making it one ofthe largest subscription-based MMOs and virtual communities in the West, withsignificant play populations in other parts of the world such as East Asia. Central tothis online reality is its quality of persistence: thousands of users interact in a worldthat persists independently of any particular player. Any individual player may logoff his or her computer. Nevertheless, players continue to compete and interact inways that advance and change the contours of the game-space. WoW’s massivelymultiple play spaces are also immersive. Sophisticated software with powerful 3Dgraphics creates spaces that feel virtually real. The response to commands of theplayer’s avatar, or visual representation of the character-self, enhances this sensa-tion, as do the mentally and emotionally absorbing quests and plotlines.

There is no single way to play WoW, nor any single goal. WoW offers gamers arange of tasks. Some are quests with goals given by computer-controlled nonplayercharacters (‘‘NPCs’’). In completing these, players advance in levels. Each levelacquired bestows additional power and ability on a character, allowing them tocomplete more difficult game challenges, which in turn allows them to advance evenfurther. After completing the game’s highest level, currently Level 90, players com-pete in challenging in-game content such as multiplayer instances like dungeons orraids, requiring cooperation between players with groups balanced between differ-ent character classes. Typically, the most fearsome monsters are faced and mostvaluable treasures are won in these contexts, though comparable challenges can befound in PVP (player-vs.-player) arena and battleground competitions.

Theoretical background

Scholars point to ‘‘structural characteristics’’ of online games like WoW as key totheir compulsive power and thus ultimately to how they lead gamers into distressfulplay. Caplan et al. (2009) found that gaming variables such as using voice-over-Internet (VOIP) technology in MMOs ‘‘contributed a substantively small, ifstatistically significant amount of explained variance’’ (p. 1312) to predictinggamers’ levels of self-reported distress related to online play. Research has alsoshown how computer-mediated play and communication are associated with per-ceived advantages over face-to-face interaction—like greater anonymity, decreasedneed to conform to dominant social norms, and increased control over one’s activ-ities and relationships—that can lead to distressful play (e.g., Caplan, 2003, 2005;Leung, 2004). Yee (2002) speaks of ‘‘attraction’’ factors inherent to MMOs, includ-ing elaborate reward cycles of ever-increasing complexity, networks of in-gamesocial relationships, and immersive computer technologies and absorptive story-lines that make players feel as if they are actually in the game. Clark (2006) pointsto the importance of player-vs.-player combat systems and the structure of in-gameguilds as being associated with compulsive play and MMO engagement.




Many scholars now refer to ‘‘Internet addiction,’’ implicitly comparing out-of-control online behaviors to substance abuse (Bai et al., 2001; Clark & Scott,2009; Holden, 2001; Mitchell, 2000; Young, 1998, 2004, 2009; Young & Rogers,1998). In such discourse, the structural characteristics of MMOs are equivalent to adrug or substance of abuse. Significantly, Internet addiction and videogame addic-tion are not recognized in the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA, 2000) cur-rentDiagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR), althoughproposed revisions to this manual would include such phenomena in an appendix(APA, 2013). While Internet addiction has thus not yet been classified as a full-fledged addiction disorder, researchers using the construct have generally modeledit on compulsive gambling (Young, 1998, 2004, 2009; Young & Rogers, 1998).

In this contested frame, many scholars prefer the term ‘‘problematic Internetusage’’ (PIU) to ‘‘Internet addiction’’ (Yellowlees & Marks, 2007). Such scholarsstill associate PIU with symptoms resembling those associated with substance addic-tions, such as compulsion to stay online, cognitive preoccupation with online activity,maladaptive use of the Internet to regulate mood, experiences of withdrawal whenunable to use the Internet, preference for online to offline interactions, spending exces-sive time online, and experiencing disruptions to work and relationships because ofonline activity (e.g., Caplan et al., 2009; Yee, 2002, 2007). However, the term ‘‘PIU’’has the benefit of not connoting drug abuse, an associationwhich, to some researchers,signals the ‘‘moral panics’’ often associated with illicit substance use (Golub &Lingley, 2008). Indeed, describing Internet use or video gaming as ‘‘addiction’’seems to attribute to technologies a chemical-like structure that propels players intocompulsive play and dependency, a set of assumptions that have yet to be demon-strated (Holden, 2001; Seay & Kraut, 2007; Widyanto & Griffiths, 2006; Yee, 2002).Instead, scholars researching PIU focus on negative personal and interpersonal con-sequences associatedwith Internet use, such as conflicts between online and offline life,damage to school, work, and relationships, and personality factors like loneliness,depression, social anxiety, and tendency toward aggression (Caplan, 2007; Caplanet al., 2009; Lo, Wang, & Fang, 2005; Morahan-Martin & Schumacher, 2000).

Yee (2002), too, sees problems with equating problematic play and chemical depend-ency, and instead examines how gamers’ psychological motivations, such as the drive tofeel strong and competent, might underlie personalities driven to play excessively online.In fact,much recentworkon gamer personality focuses on the role of playermotivationsin MMO addiction. Studies confirm that players driven particularly by achievementrewards more commonly engage in excessive and even compulsive MMO play (e.g.,Charlton & Danforth, 2007; Clark & Scott, 2009; Deci, Koestner, & Ryan, 1999;Kelly, 2004; Snodgrass, Dengah, Lacy, & Fagan, 2011; Snodgrass et al., 2012; Yee,2006, 2007). Such a motivation can lead to distressful MMO play, given the need togrind through in-game content in order to experience rare moments of exhilarating suc-cess. Other research shows how social motivations like the drive to affiliate and collab-orate with others may link to problematic MMO usage (Ducheneaut, Yee, Nickell, &Moore, 2006; S. M. Li & Chung, 2006; Ng & Wiemer-Hastings, 2005; Pisan, 2007;




Snodgrass, Lacy, et al., 2011; Snodgrass et al., 2012; Song, Larose, Eastin, & Lin, 2004;Wolf, 2007). Still further studies of online games like WoW show that players’ motiv-ations to explore, discover, and immerse themselves in an MMO predicts problematicusage (Caplan et al., 2009; Charlton & Danforth, 2007; Chou & Ting, 2003; Smahel,Blinka,&Ledabyl, 2008; Snodgrass,Dengah,Lacy,&Fagan, 2011; Snodgrass,Dengah,Lacy, Fagan, & Most, 2011; Snodgrass, Lacy, et al., 2011; Snodgrass et al., 2012; Yee,2006, 2007).

While Yee’s (2006, 2007) psychological motivation approach to problematicplay forms the foundation for our analysis, we believe that anthropologicalapproaches to compulsive behaviors and addictions (e.g., Lende, 2005) suggestthat further insight into distressful MMO play can also come with closer attentionto the way sociocultural contexts shape player motivations. Drawing from contem-porary psychological and medical anthropology, we recast each of Yee’s psycho-logical factors to account for such group structures and processes.

Culture and achievement

Our orientation to achievement draws on theories and methods employed in psycho-logical and medical anthropological investigations of relationships between culturalmodels and health (Kirmayer& Sartorius, 2007; Kirmayer&Young, 1998; Kleinman,1981, 1988). Cultural models, as opposed to idiosyncratic or personal models, areunderstood to be mental representations of the world that are socially transmittedand widely shared within a group (D’Andrade, 1995; Ross, 2006). Of particular inter-est here is the way Dressler and his collaborators (e.g., Dressler & Bindon, 2000;Dressler et al., 2005) have explored how individuals’ fit with culturally normativemodels of success and idealized life-style can produce stress, manifested in negativehealth outcomes.We useDressler’s perspective as the basis of our examination of howWoW players’ success or failure in relation to cultural ideals may channel gamers’behavior and experience in patterned ways, some of which can become problematic.For example, we anticipate that individuals less ‘‘consonant’’ with normative under-standings of success, as culturally defined in the largely U.S. and North Americancontexts where our research unfolded, are more vulnerable to problematic play, asthey pursue success in WoW to compensate for perceived real-life failings.

Social play and conflicts between offline and online worlds

Reworking Yee’s (2006) construct of social motivation, we hypothesize that whetherWoW players game problematically depends on online and offline social commit-ments and relationships. Following the MMO literature and our own previousresearch (Clark, 2006; Snodgrass, Lacy, et al., 2011), we explore how playingWoW with actual-world friends (as opposed to strangers or in-game-only friends)determines whether gamers find their play to be positive or negative. We hypothe-size that playing with actual-world friends might temper WoW gamers’ tendenciesto excessively value online relationships that are not integrated with players’ offline




lives. Cultural consonance can also add to the analysis of the role of social motiv-ations. We suspect that the (mental) health impacts of lack of consonance withculturally normative models depend also on the structure and composition ofactors’ social networks (Gravlee & Dressler, 2005; Gravlee, Dressler, & Bernard,2005; Gravlee & McCarty, 2007). This forms the basis for our own hypothesesrelated to the potentially positive mental health impacts that WoW gamers experi-ence by playing with actual-world friends, which brings together online and offlinesocial networks for potentially therapeutic benefit.

Immersion

In regard to immersion, we frame our research from the perspective of anthropo-logical studies of ‘‘dissociation’’ (Krippner, 1997; Luhrmann, 2005; Luhrmann,Nusbaum, & Thisted, 2010; Lynn, 2005; Seligman, 2005a, 2005b; Seligman &Kirmayer, 2008). ‘‘Immersed’’ players are so concentrated in the richness of thegame-world that they ‘‘lose themselves.’’ To a certain extent, they feel like theyreally are in the game and sometimes actually they are their avatar-character(Bartle, 2003; Yee, 2007). We suggest that some players lose themselves so fullyin the game—or ‘‘dissociate’’— that they become unaware of events happeningaround them in the rooms where they play and feel fully identified with theircharacters as a kind of second self. In our study, we explore how players’ healthmight depend on the extent to which they dissociate into WoW’s virtual landscapesand social-scapes, blurring boundaries between actual and virtual worlds.

Hypotheses

Overall, we explore how problematic MMO play might result from particularforms of interaction between actual and virtual worlds: WoW players’ strivingfor in-game successes to compensate for self-perceived actual-world shortcomings;gamers’ overvaluing virtual relationships that are disconnected from offline socialinteractions; and players’ too-deep dissociation potentially blurring boundariesbetween actual- and virtual-world identities and experiences. We state these inthe form of the following four interrelated hypotheses:

H1: Self-perceived online success within WoW will be positively associated with report-

ing problematic or distressful WoW play experiences. Here, we predict that the attrac-

tion of WoW accomplishment becomes so important to certain players as to propel

them into patterns of overuse and consequent distress.

H2: Self-perceived offline or ‘‘real-life’’ success will be negatively associated with reporting

problematicWoW play experiences.Gamers with low levels of offline success will useWoW

play and success to compensate for their perceived offline failures, and these positive experi-

ences fromWoW successwillmake themmore likely toplay excessively.Conversely, players

with higher offline success will needWoW less, making them less likely to overplay.




H3: More frequent interaction with actual-world friends and relations within WoW will

be negatively associated with reporting problematic play experiences. Here, we antici-

pate that those who play with people they know offline will better avoid distress from

excessive WoW play and will use the game to enhance rather than escape offline

commitments. By contrast, those who do not play with such actual-world acquaint-

ances are more likely to be drawn too deeply into WoW’s virtual environment, report-

ing higher levels of problematic and distressful play.

H4: High levels of dissociative experience while playing WoW will be positively asso-

ciated with problematic play experiences. We think that players who control their

dissociation, and indeed who manage to keep it linked to richer actual-world achieve-

ments and relationships, are less likely to experience their WoW trance-like states in

negative terms. By contrast, those who dissociate too fully into WoW, losing them-

selves too fully in this imagined virtual world, risk blurring too fully boundaries

between their off- and online existences, which can produce distress.

In examining these hypotheses, we hope to add anthropological understandings ofthe meaning and importance of culture to debates about problematic MMO usage.

Method

Sampling and procedures

The work rests on both qualitative and quantitative data collection. In the interestsof brevity, we summarize our procedures in broad outline here, referring interestedreaders to more detailed descriptions elsewhere (Snodgrass, Dengah, Lacy, &Fagan, 2011; Snodgrass, Dengah, Lacy, Fagan, & Most, 2011; Snodgrass, Lacy,et al., 2011). We began online, conducting participant-observation in World ofWarcraft. Three of the paper’s coauthors, Snodgrass, Dengah, and Fagan,played WoW extensively and maintained field journals detailing their online inter-actions and experiences. Members of our research team also conducted informal in-game interviews with players. Field experiences guided the construction of morespecific sets of questions, from which we conducted 30 ‘‘semi-structured’’ inter-views (Bernard, 2006). This was followed by small sample surveys utilizing ‘‘free-lists’’ and rating tasks to understand cultural conceptualizations of success andwell-being in both real life as well as in the game-world.2 Our data collectionculminated with a formal Web-based questionnaire, posted on WoW blogs andgamer sites, to which we also extended invitations through our own play networks.

Measures

As part of the Web survey, we developed four psychocultural scales to measureplayers’ level of involvement in and with the game. These scales’ individual itemsare detailed in the Appendix.




Problematic WoW play was measured with a 19-item adapted from Young’s(1998, 2004, 2009; Young & Rogers, 1998) commonly used Internet AddictionTest (IAT). Items in this scale involve experiences of playing compulsively inways that negatively affect other dimensions of gamers’ lives, such as jobs andrelationships. In addition, questions in this scale asked about experiences of com-pulsive play, cognitive preoccupation with the game, maladaptive use of the gameto regulate mood, symptoms of withdrawal when unable to play, preferences of forgame world over actual-world interactions, and play of excessive duration. Eachitem asked how frequently the respondent experienced the behavior, rated on a 5-point scale, from 1¼Never to 5¼Always. This scale had a high reliability with aCronbach’s a of .94.3

In the second measure, we adapted two scales commonly used in psychologicalanthropology to assess absorptive and dissociative experiences—the TellegenAbsorption Scale and the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES; Bernstein &Putnam, 1986; Tellegen & Atkinson, 1974)—to create our own WOW-specificmeasure of ‘‘absorptive-immersion-dissociation.’’ Here, gamers were asked torespond toWOW-specific questions related to the extent to which their play eliciteddistortions of perception, memory, and identity typical of absorption and dissoci-ation in other contexts. For example, players were asked about their levels ofimaginative identification with their characters, as well as the extent to whichWOW play led them to become unaware of events happening around them inthe real world, leading them to, for example, ignore the demands and discomfortsof their real-world bodies, lose track of actual-world time, and so forth. This scalewas also very reliable (Cronbach’s a¼ .90).

Third, the WoW Consonance Scale, measured the degree to which individualplayers view themselves as exemplifying the ideal cultural model of a successfulWoW player. Scores were obtained by summing players’ self-ratings, on a 5-pointscale, of the extent to which they agreed that each of the WoW success model itemscharacterized them personally. In parallel, and fourth, a Real-Life ConsonanceScale was constructed (using our respondents’ ‘‘in real life’’ concept), derived bysumming players’ responses when rating themselves relative to each of the real-lifesuccess model items.4 Following routines outlined by Dressler et al. (2005), thesetwo measures allowed us to gauge each respondent’s level of individual ‘‘conson-ance’’ with the potentially culturally shared model of success. Judging how muchindividual players were consonant with dominant expectations regarding successand achievement serves as a proxy for the level of one kind of stress and distress intheir lives, which might in turn predict their risk of playing WoW problematically.Both of these scales (WoW success and RL success) had high reliability (Cronbach’sa .90 and .91, respectively).

Motivations were measured using 10 items capturing Yee’s (2007) three-factor,10-subfactor framework. A principal components factor analysis of these 10 items,reported in detail in Snodgrass et al. (2012), supported Yee’s work, showing threecomponents that accounted for 56% of the total variance. The analysis showed asimple structure, with three items (socializing, relationships, and teamwork)




loading strongly on the first social component; four items (discovery, role-playing,customization, and escape) loading on a second immersion component; and threeitems (advancement, mechanics, and competition) loading on achievement. Noneof the items were cross-loaded, using a zero-loading threshold of 0.4. We used theseitem groups to create measures of motivation corresponding to each of these com-ponents resulting in three scales that closely mirror Yee’s results. The achievementscale had the best reliability (a¼ .78), social was next (a¼ .61), followed by immer-sion (a¼ .60).

We also asked questions regarding each respondent’s real- and virtual-worldsocial life as well as how much the two worlds overlap. The first question askshow many of the people the respondent regularly plays within WoW, s/he knows inreal life. The second asks how frequently the respondent associates within the gamewith people they have never met before. The third question is a control that assessesthe respondents’ feeling towards their own social life. All three questions are codedusing 5-point Likert scales.

Finally, basic demographic data (e.g., gender, education, employment, and rela-tionship status), degree of WoW usage and accomplishment within the game,motivation and styles of game-play, social interactions in the game, and numerousother topics were also included in the survey.

Data analysis

Ethnographic experiences and observations, documented in field-notes, providedthe basis for self-reflexive discussions among members of our research team abouthow our motivations to play and also the cultural context of those motivationsimpacted our own WoW experiences. The 30 formal interviews with participantswere digitally recorded, transcribed, and coded for common themes. Code-mapswere developed and represented graphically, demonstrating, for example, relation-ships between gamers’ motivations (including achievement) and their positive andnegative WoW experiences. Transcripts and codes were managed with ATLAS.ti(v5.2; Scientific Software Development GmbH, 2002–2010), a qualitative datamanagement and analysis program.

Cultural consensus analysis was used to assess the cultural nature of in-gameand real-life success models (Romney, Weller, & Batchelder, 1986; Ross, 2006;Weller, 2007). This method and suite of statistical routines allows one to quantifythe extent to which knowledge across a series of statements and a set of respond-ents is shared. Under the tenets of this theoretical model, sets of statements withhigh consensus are considered to be potentially cultural in nature. All culturalconsensus analyses were conducted with UCINET (Borgatti, Everett, &Freeman, 2002).

The core of our survey analysis rests on linear regression models, in which weused survey scales and individual items as predictors of problematic play. Thecontrols presented in our regressions resulted from exploring various modelswith different demographic indicators and picking for inclusion in further analysis




only the three strongest predictors (as determined by hypothesis tests on the overallmodel), thus helping to avoid an excessive number of predictor variables in relationto the modest (N¼ 252) sample size. Demographic controls turned out to havelimited predictive value here, so the restriction to three should not present a prob-lem. In the presentation of our analysis of WoW problematic play, we begin firstwith a model containing only control variables. Then, we offer successively modelsthat include controls plus different key predictor variables presented one at a time(motivation, dissociation, consonance, and playing with real-life friends). We nextpresent a model that includes dissociation, one of our most effective predictors,along with motivation variables that follow from Yee’s work (2006). Next, we offera complete model that combines all control and substantive variables together in asingle analysis. We conclude by including the original controls along with predictorvariables showing statistical significance in previous models to form a more parsi-monious model of problematic MMO play.

Results

Cultural models of online and offline success: Free-lists and rating tasks

After collapsing related terms from the WoW success free-list into the same cat-egory in order to account for redundancy, the WoW Success Scale, which we mightthink of as an achievement ‘‘model’’ or ‘‘frame,’’ contained 17 items. Top items inthe free-lists included having knowledge of one’s character class and its relatedskills and abilities (listed 98 times), possessing good gear and in-game wealth (38times), and being a dedicated goal-oriented player (also 38). Social relational itemsalso were prominent, with being a cooperative and adaptable player (33) andhaving positive personality traits (23) both commonly listed. We similarly elicitedfrom WoW players a real-life success model, which contained 19 items. Havingpositive personality traits was mentioned most frequently (41 times), followed bybeing involved with friends and family (36), having a high income and beingwealthy (36), working hard at a good job (31), and being happy (28).

Examining these free-lists related to success, we are struck by the overlap inactual- and virtual-world models, represented schematically in Figure 1. There, wedraw readers’ attention to how having good gear in the virtual world corresponds tobeing wealthy in the real world, being dedicated and hard-working in the game cor-responds to working hard at one’s real-life job, and having positive personality traitsand being socially active and adaptable feature prominently in both lists.

A cultural consensus analysis of the WoW success model items (using UCINET;(Borgatti et al., 2002) gave a first to second eigenvalue ratio of 3.3 and an averagecompetency score of 0.49.5 Despite there being three negative competence scores,we felt the eigenvalue results in particular demonstrate that these gamers substan-tially share a normative understanding of a gamer model of successful play. Thethree negative-loading individuals might be thought of as outliers who didnot share knowledge and values related to this dimension of gamer culture. The




consensus analysis of the offline or ‘‘real-life’’ success model generated a first tosecond eigenvalue ratio of 3.5, an average competence score of 0.56, and no nega-tive values. In the consensus framework, this showed substantial cultural sharing ofknowledge and values related to this domain. The fact that these models wereculturally shared gave us confidence to include these items on our Web survey asa potential way to measure the levels of individual ‘‘consonance’’ with these sharedmodels of WoW and real-life success. (The Appendix, which lists the individualitems of these scales, also shows the ‘‘answer keys’’ or culturally ‘‘correct’’responses for each scale item.)

Web survey

There were 252 complete responses to the survey. One respondent with a number ofquestionable responses and a standardized residual of -5.7 (on one of our regres-sion models) was removed from analysis as an outlier. Demographically, the meanrespondent was 26.6 years old (9.0 SD), male (n¼ 195, 78%), in a relationship atthe time of the survey (54%), and a student (53%). In addition, about one third ofrespondents were unemployed (30%) and 36 (14%) of the participants did not

WoW model of success Real-life model of success

Important indicators of a successful

player/character in World of Warcraft

Important indicators of a successful

person living the good [real] life

Having good gear and in-game wealth Having high income and wealth

Being dedicated to one’s goals Having a good job and working hard

Being involved with friends and familyBeing socially cooperative and adaptable

Having positive personality traits (like

humor, friendliness, and being a good

sport)

Positive personality traits and social

skills

(Eigenvalue ratio: 3.3) (Eigenvalue ratio: 3.5)

Figure 1. Correspondence between WoW and real-life success models




classify themselves as White or Caucasian. There were 30 (12%) participants whoplayed WoW for 40 or more hours per week, and about half said they played WoWfor more than 8-10 hours continuously ‘‘often’’ or ‘‘sometimes.’’ Likewise, 73% ofour respondents reported having one or more maximum-level characters. In all,72% of survey respondents were residents of the United States, and 81% played onNorth American servers.

Key descriptive statistics for predictor and outcome scales included in our ana-lyses appear in Table 1. The results of the problematic WoW play scale indicatethat while most players had only moderate levels of excessive play, there was apopulation of players who display negative distressful behaviors related to theirplay. Two respondents resulted in the maximum possible score on the problematicplay scale, while three respondents had the lowest possible score. The mean scorewas 43.4 and the distribution was skewed toward the low-end of the scale. Therewere 37 (14%) respondents who reported frequently being defensive or secretivewhen asked about theirWoW playing. Over 44% (n¼ 112) of respondents reportedthat they often or always found themselves preoccupied or fantasizing aboutWoW.The responses to the problematic play scale captured a wide range of problematiconline play behavior ranging from mild to severe.

The correlations between the theoretically informed predictors as well as theproblematic WoW play scale are found in Table 2. There are notably strong posi-tive correlations between dissociation and problematic play as well as between theimmersion gamer motivation and consonance with WoW cultural success. There isalso a moderate positive correlation between the social gamer motivation and theWoW cultural success scale. The real-life cultural success model is found to have amoderate negative correlation with problematic play.

Table 3 displays a series of regression models, with the problematic play as anoutcome. The control variables (Model 1) showed a small, yet significant effect onproblematic play. Without any theoretically important predictors in the model,being unemployed has a large and significant impact on a respondent’s problematicplay score, while being in a relationship has a large and significant negative impact

Table 1. Psychometric properties of scales (N¼ 252)

Scale Mean SD Min Max Cronbach’s a

Problematic play 43.4 15.2 18 90 .94

Dissociation 29.0 10.4 14 70 .90

Motivation: Social 11.5 2.6 3 15 .61

Motivation: Immersion 13.7 3.2 5 20 .60

Motivation: Achievement 11.2 2.5 3 15 .78

Real life success 73.5 10.8 23 95 .90

WoW success 73.3 10.4 27 90 .91




on distressful play. Control variables predicted only 9% of the variance in prob-lematic play score, but had a large and significant F-statistic (p< .001).

In Model II we use Yee’s (2006) three primary classifications of gamer motiv-ation to predict the WoW problematic play score. The results in this model (as inthe demographic analysis of Model I presented above) are preliminary and prior toour formal hypotheses, where we are interested to understand relationshipsbetween culturally salient indicators and WoW problematic play. Achievementwas the strongest motivational predictor. Its slope coefficient would translate toa standardized slope of about 0.2. Immersion was also significant and positive, witha standardized effect of about 0.13. The motivation for social interaction had asmall but nonsignificant negative relationship with problematic WoW play. Thismodel accounts for a modest amount of the variance in problematic play scores.The two control variables that were significant in Model I remain almostunchanged in Model II suggesting they are unrelated to motivation for play.

In Model III we used our scale for dissociation to predict problematic play,analysis of direct relevance to Hypothesis 4 above. The effect of dissociation onproblematic play is profound. As hypothesized, we found a strong positive rela-tionship (standardized slope¼ 0.75) between a respondent’s reported level of dis-sociation and absorption into the game and reported frequency of negativeaddictive behaviors.

Our scales for real-life (RL) and WoW success consonance are used to predictproblematic play in Model IV, results which are important in relation to

Table 2. Bivariate correlation matrix of problematic play and predictor variables

Problem

Play

Motivation

Dissociation

Success How

many

WoW

friends

in RLSocial Immersion Achievement

Real

life WoW

Motivation

Social .08

Immersion .21 .29

Achievement .15 .12 .00

Dissociation .76 .12 .23 .31

Success

Real life �.40 .09 .13 .01 �.28

WoW .21 .38 .53 .10 .23 .17

How many WoW

friends in RL

�.26 �.14 �.14 �.07 �.18 .11 �.21

How often group

with strangers

.28 .06 .17 .02 .21 �.09 .10 �.29




Tab

le3.

Additiv

eO

LS

regr

ess

ion

modelof

WoW

pro

ble

mat

icpla

y

I. Contr

ols

II.

Motiva

tion

III.

Dis

soci

atio

n

IV.

Cultura

l

Conso

nan

ce

V.R

L

Frie

nds

VI.

Motiva

tion

and

Dis

soci

atio

n

VII.Fu

ll

Model

VIII.

Par

sim

onio

us

Inte

rcept

37.8

6(3

.49)*

**18.2

7(7

.20)*

9.8

6(2

.86)*

**52.8

0(8

.66)*

**43.8

4(6

.68)*

**12.9

2(4

.97)*

*30.8

3(7

.75)*

**31.9

2(6

.57)*

**

Non-W

hite

2.9

0(2

.64)

2.2

6(2

.61)

0.2

7(1

.79)

2.9

5(2

.38)

3.5

3(2

.46)

0.6

0(1

.80)

1.0

7(1

.71)

0.8

1(1

.69)

Fem

ale

(1¼

yes)

0.4

5(2

.27)

0.8

9(2

.39)

�3.0

8(1

.54)*

1.3

1(2

.07)

�0.0

7(2

.12)

�2.1

1(1

.66)�

1.3

8(1

.59)

�2.8

0(1

.46)+

Age

0.2

1(0

.13)

0.1

8(0

.13)

0.0

4(0

.09)

0.1

1(0

.12)

0.1

6(0

.12)

0.0

7(0

.09)

0.0

4(0

.08)

0.0

2(0

.08)

Student

(1¼

yes)

0.8

3(2

.21)

0.6

7(2

.17)

1.3

6(1

.49)

�0.3

7(2

.00)

�1.1

7(2

.06)

1.1

9(1

.49)

0.0

3(1

.43)

0.1

1(1

.42)

Unem

plo

yed

(1¼

yes)

6.7

1(2

.37)*

*6.4

8(2

.32)*

*2.3

6(1

.62)

3.7

3(2

.17)+

4.3

9(2

.27)+

2.3

2(1

.62)

0.6

4(1

.58)

0.6

7(1

.58)

Inre

lationsh

ip(1¼

yes)

�5.6

7(2

.16)*

*�

4.8

4(2

.15)*�

0.8

4(1

.48)�

2.3

8(1

.99)

�3.4

8(2

.04)+

�1.0

4(1

.50)

0.2

0(1

.44)

0.3

1(1

.42)

Motiva

tion:So

cial

�0.2

2(0

.38)

�0.1

1(0

.26)�

0.1

7(0

.26)

Motiva

tion:Im

mers

ion

0.6

2(0

.31)*

�0.3

8(0

.22)+�

0.3

2(0

.21)

Motiva

tion:A

chie

vem

ent

1.2

5(0

.41)*

*0.1

6(0

.29)

0.1

8(0

.31)

Dis

soci

atio

n1.1

1(0

.06)*

**1.1

3(0

.07)*

**0.9

9(0

.07)*

**0.9

9(0

.06)*

**

RL

succ

ess

�0.5

8(0

.08)*

**�

0.3

2(0

.08)*

**�

0.2

7(0

.06)*

**

WoW

succ

ess

0.4

0(0

.08)*

**0.0

9(0

.07)

How

man

yW

oW

frie

nds

inR

L�

1.7

6(0

.87)*

�1.2

4(0

.61)*

�1.2

8(0

.59)*

How

oft

en

group

with

stra

nge

rs3.5

6(1

.01)*

**1.4

1(0

.71)*

1.4

6(0

.70)*

Hav

eri

chso

cial

netw

ork

�3.3

7(0

.81)*

**0.4

8(0

.80)

N252

252

252

252

252

252

252

252

df

245

242

242

244

241

243

236

241

R2

0.0

90.1

40.5

90.2

70.2

10.5

90.6

50.6

4

p<

.001**

*<

.001**

*<

.001**

*<

.001**

*<

.001**

*<

.001**

*<

.001**

*<

.001**

*




Hypotheses H1 and H2 from above. Both theoretical predictors were found to bestrongly statistically as well as practically significant. As we hypothesized in H2,players with a strong consonance with general U.S. or Western cultural values (reallife success) demonstrate a much lower problematic play score (standardized slopeof -0.58). On the other hand, also as we anticipated in H1, having a strong con-sonance with the perceived WoW culture results in a higher predicted problematicplay score, about 0.27 in standardized terms.

In Model V we examine the role real-life friends and grouping with strangers hason distressful WoW play, in line with Hypothesis 3. The number of in-game friendsthat a player knows in real life (rated on a 5-point Likert scale from 1¼None to5¼All) has a moderate negative effect on problematic play. If all of a player’s in-game friends are also known to the player in the real world the problematic playscore is, on average, about 7 points lower, or roughly half a standard deviation,compared to players who know none of their game friends in the real world. Thefrequency with which a player interacts and groups with complete strangers is alsosignificant, but has a much stronger positive effect on the problematic play score. Ifa player groups with strangers all the time, their problematic play score is expectedto be, on average, almost a full standard deviation higher than someone who nevergroups with strangers. Finally, the degree to which the player believes they have arich social network of friends and support was added as a control in this model andModel VII. This was also found to be significant and, consistent with results for theRL consonance scale, has a strong negative effect on problematic play.

The next regression Model VI tests Yee’s (2006) motivations against our dis-sociation scale. When controlling for our dissociation scale only the immersionmotivation had a slight statistical significance let alone a practical significance.The dissociation scale is still statistically and practically significant.

In the last two steps in our regression analyses, we add all of our predictors andcontrols into a single model then keep only those that had a reasonable statisticalsignificance. In Model VII (our full model) four of our theoretically informed pre-dictors were found to be significant. The two predictors with a positive effect weredissociation and the frequency with which players group with (i.e., formally collab-orate in invited groups) strangers. Dissociation maintained a strong relationshipwith problematic play even when controlling for all other predictors. The two nega-tive predictors were RL success and the number of in-game friends the player knewin the real world. The effect of the RL success scale was moderately reduced whencontrolling for the other predictors while the in-game friends predictor was onlyslightly affected. Notably, gamer motivations appear to have no effect on problem-atic play when controlling for other predictors. Also, consonance withWoW gamerculture also appears to have no effect at all in the presence of other predictors.

In the final model, Model VIII, the original controls and the significantpredictors from the full model were used. There was only a very slight reduc-tion in the R2 and only slight changes in the coefficients for the significanttheoretical predictors as compared to the full model suggesting there was littleissue with multicollinearity.




Discussion

Culture, motivation, and MMO problematic play

Our free-lists, rating tasks, and consensus analyses led us to two cultural models orframes of success, one connected to the virtual and the other to the actual world ofmainstream U.S. culture. Our research demonstrates that, on some level, players doin WoW more or less what they do in real life, striving to achieve and also pursuingmeaningful social interactions and relationships. WoW cultural models of success,then, mirror certain important dimensions of mainstream dreams of success andthe good life. This resemblance to offline goals and commitments enables WoWachievements to symbolically substitute for offline success.

Overall, our survey data support our first hypothesis (H1), pointing to howWoW achievement is associated with gamers’ reports that their play can be asource of distress in their lives. Specifically, we find significant associations betweenthe extent to which players achieve in-game success—that is, the extent to whichthey are culturally ‘‘consonant’’ with shared models of WoW success—and gamers’reports of distress related to their play. We also find support for Hypothesis 2 (H2)in our survey results. Players with less satisfying real lives as defined by the dom-inant offline culture—that is, who are less ‘‘consonant’’ with mainstream U.S.cultural models of offline success—are more likely to have adverse consequencesassociated with their gaming. This may show how in-game successes compensatesuch individuals for their perceived offline failures. In-game rewards received byless conventionally successful individuals make them more likely to play exces-sively, with unwanted personal consequences. By contrast, players with higheroffline success need WoW less, making them less likely to need the positive feed-back from successful WoW play.

Also, we find that whether WoW is experienced as wondrously restorativeadventure or, by contrast, as highly addictive and thus disruptive to gamers’lives, depends critically on the extent to which players achieve and also successfullynegotiate normative models of success, situated in potentially competing virtual-and actual-world moral universes and social networks. In support of Hypothesis 3(H3), our study suggests that it is not only whether WoW players seek meaningfulsocial interactions that is determinant of whether this game becomes distressful, butmore specifically how players interact with others and with whom (real-worldfriends or not) in these online game-worlds. To explain these results, considerthat WoW players become heroes, defeating evil and rescuing friends even whenthe odds are against them. While this may lead some gamers to excessive play inthis haven from actual life, for others, the transfer of in-game accomplishments andstatus to real-life networks enhances relations with friends and family and thus asense of well-being.

Further, our survey analysis and statistical models point to a strong positiveassociation between rates of dissociation and problematic play, supportingHypothesis 4 (H4). Players who dissociate too fully into WoW, losing themselves




more completely in this imagined virtual world, risk problematically blurringboundaries between their off- and online existences. In the terminology of culturalpsychiatry, they are more likely to get lost ‘‘ghost-like’’ in WoW—separated toofully from their real-world selves. By contrast, those who control their dissociation,and indeed who manage to keep it linked to richer actual-world achievements andrelationships, are more likely to experience their WoW trance-like states as akin toinvigorating and empowering shamanic magical flights.

Finally, our final two regression models (VII and VIII) show that our sociocul-turally sensitive measures of achievement (consonance with real-life models of suc-cess), social (whether one plays with friends known offline or only with strangers),and immersion (‘‘dissociative’’ experiences) remain significant, while Yee’s motiv-ational factors do not, suggesting the potentially greater predictive power in thisanalysis of these constructs drawn from formal anthropological perspectives.Accounting for the role of culture and society in these play contexts thus furtherenhances Yee’s (2007) and others’ already persuasive analytical models.

Results in relation to the problematic online play literature

The ‘‘addiction’’ frame does not do justice to our respondents’ WoW play experi-ences.6 Nevertheless, our research shows that some WoW players find their playdistressingly compulsive and ‘‘problematic.’’ We thus see merit in connecting ourresearch to work such as Lende’s (2005) on the cultural dimensions of ‘‘addiction’’and substance abuse. Likewise, we see similarities between our study and ‘‘psycho-social’’ approaches to problematic MMO play (e.g., Caplan et al., 2009), in thatindividuals’ motivations to play MMOs, and thus their problematic patterns ofplay within game-worlds, emerge from an intersection of psychological propensitiesand social contexts.7 While we find these perspectives useful, we nevertheless sug-gest that more attention can be placed on the role of ‘‘culture’’ in the sense ofsocially shared and transmitted cognitions, social networks, and frameworks for inter-preting experience. Rather than speaking simply of society as a neutral space orcontext where individuals interact with others, researchers might focus on themanner that such spaces are shaped by traditions of local knowledge and practice,which vary across cultures and subcultures. Cognitions like ‘‘I am worthless offline,but in the online game world I am someone’’ (Davis, 2001, p. 191)—or evenachievement motivations or a preference for online as compared to offline inter-action—are socially learned and thus likely to be more prevalent in some culturesthan others.

Limitations of research

Our sample of survey and interview respondents was relatively small, nonrandomlyselected, and limited to WoW players drawn almost exclusively from the USA andoverrepresenting more serious gamers. It is thus difficult to generalize beyond oursample to the WoW or MMO population as a whole. In defense of our




methodological choices, we would suggest that focusing on one online game-world,comprised of North American gamers, allowed us to understand that virtual realityin enough detail to ask meaningful interview and survey questions and also toconvincingly interpret these responses. Further, in the absence of longitudinaldata, we cannot definitely establish the causal direction of the mechanisms wedescribe. Additionally, while we have analytically separated cultural frames,social networks, and psychocultural experiences, we recognize that each of theseaffects the other: for example, socially shared and transmitted frames aboutwhether losing oneself absorptively in WoW is a good or bad thing probably influ-ence the positive or negative tenor of gamers’ social and dissociative experiences.

Conclusion

This study has explored the perils of certain forms of Internet gaming activity, in anattempt to add the insights of psychological anthropology to our understandings ofthe problematic dimensions of online play. We do recognize the hesitation byanthropologists and others to label cultural behavior such as that described inthis article ‘‘addictive’’ or even ‘‘problematic’’ (Boellstorff, 2008; Castronova,2005, 2007; Golub & Lingley, 2008; Nardi, 2010). In the anthropological case,such a move would seem to go against our famous dictum of cultural relativismand mandate to capture the ‘‘native’s point of view’’ (Geertz, 1974). Still, a growingbody of research, typically structured by an individual personality and motivationframework, points to the link between Internet use (and MMO play in particular)and psychological distress (Bai et al., 2001; Clark & Scott, 2009; Holden, 2001;Mitchell, 2000; Turkle, 2011; Young, 1998, 2004, 2009; Young & Rogers, 1998).Anthropologists and cultural psychiatrists can bring new perspectives to thedebates on these pressing public health issues.

Our research shares much in common with previous studies of problematicInternet use, but shows how attention to shared cultural patterns of thought andpractice—related specifically to the manner that players respond to cultural normsof success, situate themselves in social networks of play, and experience states ofconsciousness that more or less lead them to blur boundaries between real- andactual-world identities and places—can refine our understanding of players’ abil-ities to immerse themselves healthfully, rather than problematically, in WoW. Assuch, we hope that studies such as ours will enable cultural psychiatrists to engagemeaningfully in recent debates regarding the identification and eventual treatmentof problematic online play increasingly framed by mainstream psychiatrists asonline or gaming ‘‘addiction.’’ Determining whether and when such a label isappropriate requires more research like that profiled in the present article.

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial,or not-for-profit sectors.




Notes

1. This article explores the distressful dimensions of online play. However, research also

demonstrates that online play can be therapeutic, enhancing participants’ emotional andsocial lives (e.g., see Bartle, 2003; McGonigal, 2011; Snodgrass, Dengah, Lacy, & Fagan,2011; Dengah, Lacy, Fagan, &Most, 2011; Snodgrass, Lacy, et al., 2011; Snodgrass et al.,

2012).2. See Weller and Romney (1988) for a description of the free-list method, where respon-

dents list in a relatively unconstrained way key terms, objects, and ideas related to aspecific domain of understanding. They also discuss how rating tasks can be used to

understand the relative cultural importance of the most salient or commonly recurringfree-list items.

3. As mentioned, we follow other researchers (Caplan et al., 2009) and measure problematic

MMO play through symptoms like those commonly associated with addiction, althoughwe avoid the term ‘‘addiction’’ in light of its disputed status, and clinical and pejorativeassociations.

4. There are two ways to calculate consonance scores: weighting the behavioral (conso-nance) responses by the consensus answer key; and including only those items that aredeemed more ‘‘important’’ in the cultural model (Dressler et al., 2005, p. 33). This

research uses the latter method, which entailed dropping items from our consonancemeasures that were judged to be not important (based on the consensus analysisanswer key and affirmed by our qualitative interviews and observations), i.e., Items 10,11, and 13 from our WoW Consonance Scale and Items 3 and 4 from the Real-Life

Consonance Measure (see Appendix).5. Based on our interviews, observations, and own in-game experiences, we adjusted the

wording of our original free-lists for our subsequent success item-rating tasks.

6. In other contexts, Castronova (2005) speaks of ‘‘toxic immersion’’ as a form of addictiveand harmful game-play.

7. Such psychosocial perspectives are also available in the work of Caplan (2005; social

skills and susceptibility to MMO), Liu and Peng (2009; distorted thoughts about the selfin the online vs. real world), and, of course, Yee (2002, p. 10–11; 2006, 2007), whichprovides the focus for this article.

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Appendix: Measures

WoW-Specific Problematic Play Scale

1. How often do you neglect household chores to spend more time on WoW?2. How often do you prefer the excitement of WoW to intimacy with your

partner?3. How often do you form new relationships with fellow WoW users?4. How often do others in your life complain to you about the amount of time

you spend on WoW?5. How often do your grades or school work suffer because of the amount of time

you spend on WoW?6. How often do you regret the amount of time you spend on WoW?7. How often does your job performance or productivity suffer because of WoW?8. How often do you become defensive or secretive when anyone asks you about

WoW?9. How often do you block out disturbing thoughts about your life with positive

thoughts related to WoW?10. How often do you find yourself anticipating when you will go on WoW again?11. How often do you fear that life without WoW would be boring, empty, and

joyless?12. How often do you snap, yell, or act annoyed if someone bothers you while you

are playing WoW?13. How often do you lose sleep due to late-night WoW playing?14. How often do you feel preoccupied with WoW when offline, or fantasize about

being on WoW?15. How often do you find yourself saying ‘‘just a few more minutes’’ when

on WoW?16. How often do you try to cut down the amount of time you spend on WoW

and fail?17. How often do you try to hide how long you are on WoW?18. How often do you choose to spend more time on WoW over going out with

others?19. How often do you feel depressed, moody, or nervous when you are not playing

WoW, which goes away once you are back online?

WoW-Specific Dissociation Scale

1. I can become so absorbed in the game of WoW that I am unaware of otherevents happening around me.

2. I find that I can sit in game, doing and thinking of nothing, and I am not awareof the passage of time.




3. When I’m playing WoW, and someone in the real world is talking to me, I findthat I do not remember all or part of what was said.

4. I find that I am able to ignore discomfort from ignoring bodily needs such asneeding to use the bathroom, eat food, sleep, or hygiene while playing thegame.

5. I find that when I am playing the game I talk out loud to myself.6. I find that I bring elements of the game into my real-world experiences.7. I find that I can become so involved in the game of WoW that it feels like it is

really happening to me.8. I find that events in WoW are more vivid or memorable than events in my real

life.9. I have the experience of remembering a past event (raid, quest, etc.) so vividly

that I feel like I am reliving the event.10. I find that I act so differently in game compared to how I act in real life, so

much so that I feel as if I am two different people.11. I feel like I am my character.12. I can confuse my own name with that of my characters.13. I have the experience of not being sure if conversations or experiences hap-

pened in game or in real life.14. I can feel as if I am looking at the real world as though I were in game.

WoW Success Consonance Scale and Cultural Consensus Answer Key

(7-point Likert scale; 1: Not at all important, 7: Very important)

1. Plays their character, character class, and the game more generally with knowl-edge and skill 6.28.

2. Has succeeded, or will succeed, in some challenging game context—this couldbe ‘‘end-game’’ 25-man raids, PVP arena competitions, or winning an exaltedreputation with multiple factions 4.90

3. Intelligently ‘‘specs’’ their characters, wisely distributing points in class-specifictalent trees that help them meet their particular game goals 6.17

4. Acquires good gear for their characters—this could include epic gear thatallows their characters to excel in arena competitions or raids, epic mounts,or some other type of gear 5.62

5. Is adaptable, flexible, and a quick learner—this could include possessing theability to make wise decisions under pressure 6.20

6. Is a cooperative, respectful, and responsible team player—this means beingattentive and responsive to other players’ goals and needs 6.13

7. Is generous and helpful in ways that help their fellow players (such as those inone’s guild) meet their goals 5.41

8. Excels at their chosen role, which they can play well in a variety of solo orcooperative group situations 6.38




9. Demonstrates some degree of autonomy in the game—a good player of WoWis able and interested to independently solve some problems 5.22

10. Is dedicated and committed to the game 3.6311. Plays a lot, putting in the hours necessary to succeed in the game 3.1712. Plays efficiently—a successful player uses their time in the game wisely so as to

more efficiently achieve their goals 5.1013. Puts in the necessary hours of out-of-game research in order to succeed in their

goals—this could mean visiting game websites in order to prepare for challen-ging game content 4.00

14. Displays a healthy competitive spirit and a will to succeed 5.2115. Plays with confidence 5.4416. Plays with a positive attitude—this could mean remaining funny, courteous,

and sociable in difficult game situations 5.9917. Enjoys the game 6.23

Real-Life Success Consonance and Cultural Consensus Answer Key

(5-point Likert scale; 1: Very important, 5: Not at all important)

1. Is smart and knowledgeable 1.662. Is well educated 2.323. Is wealthy and materially prosperous 3.364. Is economically secure 2.545. Has a good job and a satisfying career path 2.186. Is dedicated and determined in pursuing their life goals 1.457. Is well-liked and respected 2.398. Has a good personality 2.349. Has a good sense of humor 2.46

10. Is generous 2.2111. Has satisfying family relationship 1.6512. Has a rich social life and network of friends 2.2713. Is responsible 1.6314. Is happy and satisfied with life 1.1915. Is healthy 1.6216. Is in good physical condition 2.1517. Enjoys a range of hobbies and leisure activities 2.2818. Finds time to play and relax 1.7219. Lives everyday to its fullest 1.21




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