Developing social identities in massively mutiplayer online role playing games

As the player population of massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) grows, these games become an increasingly important area of research. Scholars have begun to investigate both MMORPGs and players from all angles. This study endeavors to examine both the development of a player\u27s social identity, primarily through the idea of community of practice, and the connection formed between the player and the in-game avatar. The multiple frames perspective, cultural schema theory, and the Interactive Acculturation Model are used to examine patterns of information-seeking and information-providing behavior within the context of the community of practice. When addressing the avatar/player connection, cyborg theory is employed. A two-part qualitative content analysis of posts on the official forum boards for World of Warcraft, EverQuest, and EverQuest II was conducted in this study. In the first part, the investigator selected three new players from World of Warcraft and three new players from EverQuest II; all of the posts of these six players were examined. In the second part of the study, posts on specified forum boards for all three games were looked at over the course of one month. Though collected separately, the information from each part of the study was analyzed together. The investigator examined the apparent patterns of information-seeking and information-providing behaviors among both new and established players, language and term use, and the building and maintaining of relationships among players posting on the forum boards. From the analysis of the forum boards, a taxonomy of six player roles was created, where each role relates to the language use, apparent level of knowledge displayed by the poster, and whether the player engages in information-seeking or information-providing behaviors. By examining the posts of the six previously identified players, along with the posts over one month, evidence of movement between the roles suggested in the taxonomy was clear. The dimensions of community of practice, as well as adaptation behaviors predicted by cultural schema theory and the Interactive Acculturation Model were found among the interactions between players. The ideas related to the connection between the avatar and the player were not completely supported, and findings may suggest a readjustment to the theoretical approach of social identity development among players of MMORPGs