Publication details

Playing MMORPGs: Connections between Addiction and Identifying with a Character

Authors

ŠMAHEL David BLINKA Lukáš LEDABYL Ondřej

Year of publication 2008
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source CyberPsychology & Behavior
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Social Studies

Citation
Field Psychology
Keywords MMORPG; games; player; addiction; youth; adolescence
Description Addiction to online role-playing games is one of the most discussed aspects of recent cyberpsychology, mainly for its potentially negative impact on the social lives of young people. In our study, we focus on some aspects of youth and adolescent addiction to MMORPGs. We investigated connections between players and their game characters and examined if, and in what ways, player relationship to their character affected potential addiction. Players attitude to their characters seems to play a specific role, since players who tend to be addicted view their characters as being superior and more often wish to be like their characters in their real lives. Our research also confirmed that younger players are generally more prone to addiction.
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