Guild Play in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGS) as a Predictor of Online Social Support and Victimization

Abstract

Although the negative social effects of video games have been carefully studied, there is less work on the positive social effects of video games. Because video games are so ubiquitous in modern-day society, research is needed on the ways that playing online games, specifically MMORPGs, can result in both social support and victimization. In order to determine this, an online self-report survey was used to collect data regarding MMORPG players’ levels of online and in-person social support as well as online and in-person victimization and compared these to their levels of perceived stress, depressive thoughts, and self-esteem. Results indicated that playing in guilds in MMORPGs is related to both more online social support and online victimization, both of which have significant but opposite associations with stress, depressive thoughts, and self-esteem.