Automatic analysis and identification of verbal aggression and abusive behaviors for online social games

Online multiplayer games create new social platforms, with their own etiquette, social rules of conduct and ways of expression. What counts as aggressive and abusing behavior may change depending on the platform, but most online gaming companies need to deal with aggressive and abusive players explicitly. This usually is tied to a reporting mechanism where the offended player reports an offense. In this paper, we develop tools for validating whether a verbal aggression offense report refers to a real offense or not, in the context of a very popular online social game, called Okey. Our approach relies on the analysis of player behavior and characteristics of offending players. In the proposed system, chat records and other social activities in the game are taken into account, as well as player history. This methodology is sufficiently generic, and it can be applied to similar gaming platforms, thus describing a useful tool for game companies. We report our results on data collected over a six months period, involving 100,000 users and 800,000 game records, and illustrate the viability of such analysis, while providing insights on the factors associated with verbal aggression and abusive behavior for social games.     

Do World of Warcraft (MMORPG) players experience less loneliness and social anxiety in online world (virtual environment) than in real world (offline)?

The number of online game players continues to grow, as well as the number of hours spent in online world. World of Warcraft (WoW) is one of the most popular Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPG). It is set in an elaborate fictional world, in which players achieve goals through interaction and mutual communication. The present study verified differences in experiencing loneliness (UCLA Loneliness Scale) and social anxiety (Social Phobia Inventory) in WoW players in online and real world (offline) since these two worlds and the functioning of the players in them differ. In the sample consisting of 161 players, it was found that players experience a significantly lower degree of loneliness and social anxiety in online than in real world. The lower degree of loneliness experienced was also associated with playing with friends and known people, with guild membership, as well as frequent communication with teammates through VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) services. The results suggest that WoW is a highly social environment that encourages cooperation, communication and friendship.     

Playing for social comfort: Online video game play as a social accommodator for the insecurely attached

Internet connectivity has changed the way video games are played by allowing individuals to connect worldwide in shared gaming spaces. These highly social environments allow players to connect, interact with, and learn from each other. However, there is a growing concern that these social environments also have the potential to displace real-world connections and interactions, contributing to a variety of losses in ‘offline’ sociability. The current study aims to elucidate what users may be gaining or losing (socially) as a result of continued participation in online video game environments, and what potentially underlies these social changes, by examining the associations between social skills and online video game involvement through the perspective of attachment theory. The results challenge the assumption that online video game play is inexorably associated with negative social consequences for the player and indicates the potential for online gaming spaces to serve critical attachment functions by providing a social outlet that promotes a sense of closeness, belonging, and security that satisfies attachment needs for those high in attachment avoidance.     

What are users’ intentions towards real money trading in massively multiplayer online games?

This study investigates user behaviour in massively multiplayer online games from the perspective of their intentions to engage in real money trading. Players who engage in real money trading purchase resources instead of spending time to acquire them in the game. This behaviour influences not just their own gaming experience, but those of other players as well as the operator??s revenues. We present an online survey which targets the players of World of Warcraft. Players?? relationships with real money trading are investigated using insights from behavioural economics. We propose a model which includes a set of behavioural determinants grounded in empirical research on online games. The study??s findings indicate that a player??s social status and the disinhibiting effects of online play are positive influences on players?? intentions to engage in real money trading, while perceived fairness, anticipated regret and uncertainty about the seller??s behaviour are negative influences. Interestingly, neither the perceived enjoyment nor the potential punishments influence intentions.     

Sex role stereotyping is hard to kill: A field experiment measuring social responses to user characteristics and behavior in an online multiplayer first-person shooter game

Sex role stereotyping by players in first-person shooter games and other online gaming environments may encourage a social environment that marginalizes and alienates female players. Consistent with the social identity model of deindividuation effects (SIDE), the anonymity of online games may engender endorsement of group-consistent attitudes and amplification of social stereotyping, such as the adherence to gender norms predicted by expectations states theory. A 2 × 3 × 2 virtual field experiment (N = 520) in an online first-person shooter video game examined effects of a confederate players’ sex, communication style, and skill on players’ compliance with subsequent online friend requests. We found support for the hypothesis that, in general, women would gain more compliance with friend requests than men. We also found support for the hypothesis that women making positive utterances would gain more compliance with friend requests than women making negative utterances, whereas men making negative utterances would gain more compliance with friend requests than men making positive utterances. The hypothesis that player skill (i.e., game scores) would predict compliance with friend requests was not supported. Implications for male and female game players and computer-mediated communication in online gaming environments are discussed.     

A social-cognitive approach to online game cheating

Drawing upon social cognitive theory, the present study constructed a conceptual model to provide an in-depth understanding of the key psychosocial factors shaping the cheating behavior in online multiplayer games. An online survey approach and structural equation modeling were adopted to investigate the hypothesized relationships and to assess the fitness of the model. The findings of this study provided support for the research model and the social cognitive theory perspective on game cheating behavior. The cheating behavior was found to be influenced by both external and self-generated factors. Specifically, individual gamers’ social environment (peer influence), their own attitude towards game cheating, and evaluation of cheating outcomes played an important role in shaping this problematic behavior in online games. Game cheating self-efficacy was interestingly found to be an insignificant factor for the game cheating behavior. The study fills a gap in the current literature on games and cheating, specifically on the social cognitive mechanisms of the cheating behavior in online multiplayer games.     

(A)Social reputation: Exploring the relationship between online video game involvement and social competence

Affordable and accessible Internet has changed the way video games are played, allowing individuals to connect worldwide in shared gaming spaces. On the surface participation within these environments may seem socially beneficial, as these highly social, playful spaces allow players to connect, interact with, and learn from others. However, there is a growing concern that increased participation within online gaming environments comes with a wide variety of social consequences, contributing to numerous losses in ‘offline’ sociability. While considerable research has examined these claims, consistent relationships between social competence and online video game involvement have yet to be established. The current work (N = 515) aimed to examine the extent to which online video game involvement may support, or undermine, the development and maintenance of traditional social skills. The results indicate that there are unique relationships between social skills and video game involvement within online gaming populations. However, among online video game players, these links were not as negative or broad as hypothesized. The results of this assessment dispute the anecdotal attribution of a global level of social ineptitude amongst online video game players and provide insight into the potential effects of online video game play on skill development and maintenance.     

What's in a name? Ages and names predict the valence of social interactions in a massive online game

Multi-player online battle arena games (MOBAs) are large virtual environments requiring complex problem-solving and social interaction. We asked whether these games generate psychologically interesting data about the players themselves. Specifically, we asked whether user names, which are chosen by players outside of the game itself, predicted in-game behaviour. To examine this, we analysed a large anonymized dataset from a popular MOBA (‘League of Legends’) – by some measures the most popular game in the world.We find that user names contain two pieces of information that correlate with in-game social behaviour. Both player age (estimated from numerical sequences within name) and the presence of highly anti-social words are correlated with the valences of player/player interactions within the game.Our findings suggest that players' real-world characteristics influence behaviour and interpersonal interactions within online games. Anonymized statistics derived from such games may therefore be a valuable tool for studying psychological traits across global populations.     

The impact of online game character’s outward attractiveness and social status on interpersonal attraction

Online games resemble miniature societies, in which social interactions occur within a virtual world. Previous studies have realized that the main motivation in playing games is to fulfill interpersonal needs. Players expect to own great interpersonal attraction to help them develop ideal interpersonal relationships. In the real world, individual outward appearance and social status are two important factors having influence on interpersonal attraction. In online games, the outward appearance of characters can be manipulated by changing the clothes and accessories used by those characters. This study proposes that difference in outward appearance, as in real society, affects player interpersonal attraction assessments. Additionally, when game experience and performance of players are accumulated, their grade in game would be raised. This study also proposes that the variation of role grade would influence its social status and the attitude of others. This study conducts experiments, and the results verify that a game character with high outward attractiveness and social status acquires higher online interpersonal attraction than one with low outward attractiveness and social status, and vice versa.     

The role of trait emotional intelligence in gamers’ preferences for play and frequency of gaming

This paper examines the role of trait emotional intelligence (trait EI) in gamers’ preferences for play and frequency of gaming in a sample of 1051 young adult US/European gamers, who play frequently the online massively multiplayer game, World of Warcraft (WoW). Trait EI was shown to predict social and achievement preferences for play as well as frequency of gaming. In particular, trait EI was positively correlated to a preference for social practices per se and negatively correlated to a preference for achievement-oriented, instrumental practices. These findings advocate that gamers’ preferences for play are in accordance with their emotion-related personality characteristics. Trait EI was also negatively associated with frequency of gaming suggesting that lower scorers on trait EI are more likely associated with more frequent game use.     

Time,engagement and video games: How game design elements shape the temporalities of play in massively multiplayer online role-playing games

Researchers and developers constantly seek novel ways to create engaging applications that are able to retain their users over the long term, make them desire to spend time using the application or go back to using it after a break. With this aim, video games can be an insightful source of inspiration, as they are specifically designed to maximise playing time, increase players' intentions of playing during the day or enhance their willingness to replay. In a gaming context, ‘time’ is an important factor for engagement because game designers can design the game time to retain players in the game environment. Drawing on social practice theory, which is increasingly used in Information Systems (IS) research, I conducted an ethnographic study in World of Warcraft (WoW) to understand how various temporalities are produced within a video game and the effects that they have on players' engagement. The findings show that game temporalities stem from the complex interaction between the design features of the game and the norms, routines and expectations that are part of the game practices. Moreover, these temporalities can engender temporal experiences that may stimulate engagement in various ways. The study contributes to IS literature by proposing a novel understanding of how time can be intentionally designed to sustain user engagement. Finally, it suggests that ‘time design’ in video games could inspire designs in broader IS contexts, such as in the gamification of online communities, crowdsourcing platforms and crowd working systems.     

Problematizing excessive online gaming and its psychological predictors

This study problematizes the common methodology in studies on excessive internet use where psychological characteristics are sought as unique predictors of negative outcomes. It suggests that some predictors may be significant only by virtue of being examined in isolation. In an attempt to add to this methodology the present study explored motivations for a particular online activity, MMO gaming, and the association with excessive use. The study used survey data from players of World of Warcraft (WoW), a popular MMO game. The psychological characteristics investigated were based on previous studies of excessive internet use and included social anxiety, loneliness and stress. The motivations were achievement, escapism and social interaction. The results revealed that although loneliness and social anxiety were correlated with excessive use, they lost significance when stress was controlled for. Furthermore, all psychological predictors lost significance when escapism and achievement were controlled for. These results suggest that psychological characteristics only have an indirect effect on negative outcomes and that this relationship can be better explained by motivations acting as a mediating variable. Based on these results an alternative conceptualization was offered, termed compensatory internet use, emphasizing that excessive use may be more usefully framed and investigated as a coping strategy rather than compulsive behaviour.     

The effects of collective MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games) play on gamers’ online and offline social capital

This study examines the impact of collective MMORPG play on gamers’ social capital in both the virtual world and the real world. Collective MMORPG play is conceptualized as the frequency of joint gaming actions and gamers’ assessment of the experience in MMORPG guilds and groups. Social capital at the individual level refers to the resources and support provided by bonding and bridging social networks; collective-level social capital refers to people’s civic engagement. A two-wave online survey was conducted to collect data from 232 Chinese MMORPG players.Two structural equation models were developed to test whether collective play influences offline social capital via the mediation of online social capital; the results did not demonstrate the existence of mediation effects. Specifically, collective play positively influences gamers’ online bonding social capital, online bridging social capital and online civic engagement. The effect of collective play on offline bonding and bridging social capital is not significant; the effect of online bonding/bridging social capital on offline bonding/bridging social capital is not significant either. The study finds a significantly positive impact of collective play on offline civic engagement. The effect of online civic engagement on offline civic engagement is not significant. In contrast with collective play, the time of gaming is found to negatively influence online and offline social capital.This study contributes to the knowledge of social capital because it tests the effects of new media on online and offline social capital in the Chinese culture. In addition, this study provides empirical evidence for the positive effects of online games and highlights the social experience in MMORPG play and how it influences gamers’ social networks and collective participation.     

The social influence of online collaborative community: the moderating effect of achievement

Online collaborative communities become particularly influential in contemporary Internet economy. However, these communities are often characterised by limited liability. Following the perspective of social influence, this study examines the impacts of three social influence modes in online collaborative communities of a famous online game. The moderating role of a player’s game achievement is also explored. Our results show that community identification is the most influential on online game continuance intention, especially for high achievement players. Community value congruence is likely to affect online game continuance intention for low achievement players. The impact of community normative influence on online game continuance intention appears to be curvilinear. This is more obvious for low achievement players. Implications for research and practice are also discussed.     

Falling in love with online games: The uses and gratifications perspective

Playing online games is experience-oriented but few studies have explored the user’s initial (trial) reaction to game playing and how this further influences a player’s behavior. Drawing upon the Uses and Gratifications theory, we investigated players’ multiple gratifications for playing (i.e. achievement, enjoyment and social interaction) and their experience with the service mechanisms offered after they had played an online game. This study explores the important antecedents of players’ proactive “stickiness” to a specific online game and examines the relationships among these antecedents. The results show that both the gratifications and service mechanisms significantly affect a player’s continued motivation to play, which is crucial to a player’s proactive stickiness to an online game.     

Sexism in online video games: The role of conformity to masculine norms and social dominance orientation

Sexism toward women in online video game environments has become a pervasive and divisive issue in the gaming community. In this study, we sought to determine what personality traits, demographic variables, and levels of game play predicted sexist attitudes towards women who play video games. Male and female participants (N = 301) who were players of networked video games were invited to participate in an anonymous online survey. Social dominance orientation and conformity to some types of masculine norms (desire for power over women and the need for heterosexual self-presentation) predicted higher scores on the Video Game Sexism Scale (i.e., greater sexist beliefs about women and gaming). Implications for the social gaming environment and female gamers are discussed.     

An investigation of social casino gaming among land-based and Internet gamblers: A comparison of socio-demographic characteristics,gambling and co-morbidities

Social casino games are free-play online games that feature gambling themes, but do not payout winnings in monetary form. These games are distinct from Internet gambling; however, the cross-over between these consumer markets is not well understood. This study compared the use of social casino games among a population of 2010 Australian adult Internet and land-based gamblers who completed a nationally representative telephone survey. The most popular social casino games were poker, gaming machines and casino table games and this popularity differed by gender. Social casino game players were more likely to be younger than non-social casino game players and had more similarities with Internet than land-based gamblers. Internet gamblers were more likely to also play social casino games than land-based gamblers, and use of these games was related to high engagement with gambling. Social casino gamers were more likely to smoke and use illicit drugs, and to have higher levels of psychological distress and gambling problems compared to non-social casino game players. This study is highly significant as it is one of the first comprehensive studies to examine the relationship between social casino game play and gambling in a representative adult population. Consumer protection measures should be strengthened where social casino games are offered in close proximity to gambling and when social casino players are encouraged to migrate to gambling opportunities.     

A model of cognitive loads in massively multiplayer online role playing games

Being one of the most commercially successful entertainment software applications, massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPGs) continue to expand in term of the revenue they generate as well as the involvement of users who congregate in their virtual space and form communities around them to support each other. Unlike conventional offline computer games, or networked games with limited numbers of players, MMORPGs are not merely software applications as they are usually seen as a space with complicated dynamics of social interactions. Hence, it is believed that playing these games might cause cognitive overload problems among the players as they have to constantly interact with the game world as well as with other users. We conducted an exploratory study using qualitative methods to explore cognitive overloads in Maple Story, a typical MMORPG. Our results reveal that several types of cognitive overloads emerge during the game playing. While some of these overloads pose serious problems even to expert players, players seem to develop strategies to overcome them. It is found that some forms of cognitive load are actually desirable in order to make the game challenging. We have also created a set of recommendations that can help game developers handle cognitive load problems in MMORPGs.