Title: Why MMORPG players do what they do: relating motivations to action categories

Authors: Mirko Suznjevic, Maja Matijasevic

Addresses: Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, University of Zagreb, Unska 3, HR-10000 Zagreb, Croatia. ' Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, University of Zagreb, Unska 3, HR-10000 Zagreb, Croatia

Abstract: This paper presents an analysis of relations between player motivation and behaviour in a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG). Player motivation is measured in terms of percentile ranks of motivational components for MMORPG players defined by Nick Yee. Player behaviour is described through previously defined action categories for MMORPGs (Trading, Questing, Dungeons, Raiding, Player versus Player Combat, and Communication). We conduct a player survey and perform measurements on the client side for a group of 104 players of World of Warcraft. Additionally we examine the importance of both voice and textual communication in MMORPGs.

Keywords: MMORPG; massively multiplayer online role-playing games; player motivation; player behaviour; session characterisation; session patterns; action categories; VoIP; computer games; gaming; World of Warcraft; voice communication; text communication.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAMC.2010.036838

International Journal of Advanced Media and Communication, 2010 Vol.4 No.4, pp.405 - 424

Published online: 11 Nov 2010 *

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