Canned Goods

The topic for Constance’s class that I will be investigating is types of players in WoW. So far I have it broken down under two headings: motivations and time spent playing. I often read WoW’s general forums, especially after I closed my account for the fall, and one great debate has been ongoing between the “hardcore” and “casual” gamers (if only this was a debate I had to moderate in first-year comp). Understanding motivations for playing games seems incredibly important. Not that I’m a game designer (I just got Salen and Zimmerman’s The Game Design Reader), but it makes sense that with a game such as WoW understanding the possible audiences for your game would allow for greater sales.

For example, there have been times in WoW when I have been at a crossroads and decided I’d like to see what was down one road. I once spent two hours, at lvl 38 to run from Ashenvale to Moonglade and Winterspring (for those not playing–highly dangerous). In general I’d say I always play a game to escapethe “real” world, but this trip also included wanderlust.

When I joined a guild, mostly made up of couples who gamed together, I learned that socializing was a reason people play. Not having played an MMOG before, I hadn’t expected the amount of talk that takes place. Some may see WoW as a role playing game, and one could say it is, though not in the way we often think of roleplay. Jack and Jill, as I’ll refer to them, appeared to play as themselves–only they took on vitrual bodies. The talked about where they lived and worked and life in general, and I admit I played in the same manner. I never pretended to be a female night elf hunter. I was always me. My point here is that many enjoy the socializing that goes on in WoW. The make friends and sometimes make plans to meet in the “real” world. I remember writing pen pal letters in grade school, thinking it would be cool to meet this person from another place. How is it different than in WoW?

So we have a desire to socialize (could I squeeze desire to collaborate in here?), escape, and wander. Another motivation would be achieving–in the form of gaining the next level, getting a mount or that coveted weapon or piece of armor. I resorted to soloing the graveyard in the Scarlet Monastery to grind for my mount. And then there’s immersion, a bit more slippery for me. This could be those that play as their characters, actually taking on another persona–a particular way with words, set of moral principles.

Am I missing any?

Anyway, I’m sure any particular player would be motivated in many ways. So I’m thinking about making up a Likert scale survey to explore these motivations, and if anyone knows of a relevant study, offhand, let me know.

Also, here I am in graduate school studying composition and rhetoric looking at what motivates players of videogames. What’s the connection? Right now the connections, however tenuous, I’m drawing with, say, writing is that I want to understand what motivates my students to write–besides a grade. And I have a feeling that I could give the a survey to writers in first-year comp with similar questions as for the gamers and see indications that these motivations play out in writing also. And what would a curriculum that incorporates these motivations look like?