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Wiley InterScience :: Session Cookies
"Online games have exploded in popularity, but for many researchers access to players has been difficult. The study reported here is the first to collect a combination of survey and behavioral data with the cooperation of a major virtual world operator. In the current study, 7,000 players of the massively multiplayer online game (MMO) EverQuest 2 were surveyed about their offline characteristics, their motivations and their physical and mental health. These self-report data were then combined with data on participants' actual in-game play behaviors, as collected by the game operator. Most of the results defy common stereotypes in surprising and interesting ways and have implications for communication theory and for future investigations of games."
**Sorry but I'm not going to copy/paste the entire thing since its quite long. I will post some of the statistics though.**
AGE
"Consistent with both Yee (2006) and Griffiths (2003), EQ2 players are 31.16 years old on average (SD = 9.65, Median = 31.00, capped minimum of 12 and maximum of 65), compared to a median age of 35.3 for the general population (Hetzel & Smith, 2001). Counter to stereotype, the largest concentration of players are in their 30s, not teens or even college-aged (See Table 1). There are more players in their 30s than in their 20s (36.69% vs. 34.59%). Older players also play more than younger players. Excepting a slight deviation in the early and mid 30s, mean hours played per week increases steadily with age."
GENDER
"The gender distribution is 80.80% male and 19.20% female, compared to national estimates of 49.1% male/50.9% female (Smith & Spraggins, 2001). Female players play slightly more hours per week than male players.
RACE
"Table 2 compares the racial distribution of EQ2 players with national averages (Grieco & Cassidy, 2001). Whites and Native Americans play at higher rates, while Asians, Blacks, and Hispanics/Latinos play at lower rates. Within the players, there was no race-based difference for hours played."
INCOME AND EDUCATION
"EQ2 players come from wealthier backgrounds than average. The mean household income for players is $84,715/year (SD =$104.171), compared to $58,526 for the general population (U.S. Census Bureau, 2006). Income was unrelated to hours played. EQ2 players are also more educated than the general population."
RELIGION
"EQ2 players have substantially different levels of spirituality than the general population (see Kosmin et al., 2001). They are less spiritual in general, and less likely to belong to mainstream faiths when they do practice. Although they are as likely to be Jewish (1.46% for players compared to 1.3% for the general population, n.s.), they are far less likely to be Christian (49.21% compared to 76.5%, t =−51.65, df = 7128, p < .001, d = 1.22), more likely to self-describe as belonging to Muslim, Buddhist or alternate faiths (11.64% compared to 2.4%, t = 22.93, df = 7128, p < .001, d = .54) and much more likely to state "No Religion" (37.69% compared to 14.1%, t = 36.82, df = 7128, p < .001, d = .87). Among the players, religious affiliation had no bearing on time spent playing."
MEDIA USE
"EQ2 players' media use data were compared with national-level data to explore what their game play took the place of. The most apparent difference lies in the number of hours spent watching television vs. playing online. EQ2 players spent 21.56 hours per week watching television, compared to 31.5 per week for the general population (t =−29.60, df = 6485, p < .001, d = .74) (Hu et al., 2001). The game players' own difference between mean television use (M = 21.56 hours per week, SD = 27.02) and hours of EQ2 play was 4.30 hours (t = 10.41, df = 6136, p < .001, d = .27). EQ2 players had a very high rate of broadband use, nearly double that of the general population (97.97%, SD = 14.12%. vs. 51.77% for the general population, t = 276.30, df = 7128, p < .001, d = 6.55). They spent fewer days per week reading a newspaper (M = 1.62 vs. 3.93 for the general population; t =−90.77, df = 7124, p < .001, d = 2.15), although they did report using the Internet to learn about local (5-point scale, ranging from 1= never to 5 = frequently: M = 3.19, SD = 1.32) and international events (M = 3.09, SD = 1.53) at a level between "sometimes" and "often."
HEALTH
"To address RQ5 and RQ6, players were asked about their physical and mental health. Physically, EQ2 players are healthier than the regular population. EQ2 players have an average BMI of 25.19 (SD = 8.19), making them slightly overweight, but much less so than the average American adult, who has a BMI of 28 (t =−28.74, df = 6993, p < .001, d = .69) (Ogden, Fryar, Carroll, & Flegal, 2004). 22.2% of EQ2 players are technically obese, compared to 30.5% of American adults. Among children and adolescents (ages 11–19), EQ2 players have lower BMIs, with an average of 21.96 (SD = 10.2), compared to 23.3 (SD = 1.33) for US adolescents (t =−3.52, df = 723, p < .001, d = .26)(Ogden et al., 2004). This difference is smaller than for the total population comparison at all ages, indicating that while adolescent EQ2 players are still healthier than their nonplaying counterparts, they do not have as large an advantage as the older population. Put another way, older EQ2 players are especially fit in comparison to their nongamer counterparts. On average, EQ2 players describe their health as slightly better than "good" (M = 1.92, SD = 0.74, where 1 = excellent and 4 = poor) and report engaging in vigorous exercise between one and two times a week. This compares favorably to national data showing that 62% of Americans over 18 do not engage in any exercise that lasts more than 10 minutes (Center for the Digital Future, 2007). However, EQ2 players do have a higher rate of physical impairments than the general population, 9.51% vs. 7.30% (t = 6.20, df = 6760, p < .001, d = .15).
In contrast, EQ2 players have lower levels of mental health on two out of the three indicators. 22.76% of EQ2 players reported having been diagnosed with depression. This level is larger for the female players (36.52%, SD = 48.17%) than the males (19.38%, SD = 39.63%)(t = 13.567, df = 6776, p < .001, d = .33). These figures are both higher than the respective gender rates for the U.S. population, which has a 23% rate for women and an 11% rate for men. Players had a slightly higher rate of substance addiction (5.56%, SD = 22.91% vs. 4.8% for the general population, t = 2.73, df = 6798, p < .01, d = .07). The exception to this pattern was anxiety, for which EQ2 players reported slightly lower levels (M = 16.60%, SD = 37.21%) than the general population (18.1%)(t =−3.32, df = 6776, p < .005, d = .08)."
CONCLUSION
"The general demographic and motivations findings here have implications for the study of games in general, but they also offer challenges to existing theory and suggest areas where theory building is needed. Theory building occurs when we explain, predict and organize information about phenomena. Therefore, with a set of largely counterintuitive findings in hand, the next step is to develop and extend theories that fit these data. Given that many stereotypes about gaming suggested opposite outcomes, the research can go one of two ways. The first is to ask, as many have done (Herz, 1997; Jenkins, 2006; Williams, 2006a), why innacurate stereotypes about gamers formed and what other social and cultural work was taking place. The second, and ultimately more important task, is to develop theories which would predict these outcomes in the first place, unfettered by (but aware of) cultural baggage. Why, for example, are older female players playing at the highest rates? Why are older players playing more when younger people are thought to have more free time? Why are these gamers physically healthier than nongamers? Why do minorities play at lower rates? Why do so many players not practice religion? Did game play cause the mental health outcomes or vice versa? Theories must be developed or adapted to answer these questions.
There are methodological considerations as well, which are equally important as the booming world of players interacting online becomes increasingly distant from traditional lab settings. Looking ahead, the use of game-server data offers the possibility of longitudinal in-world behavioral measures. Therefore, the logical next step is to gather these data and to develop metrics of player behavior that can be used in theoretical models. These models will likely include the traditional communication topics of effects, community, gender, race and user psychology. Lastly, the use of unobtrusive behavioral data is a boon to researchers seeking to test models without having the act of testing impact the results. This approach is far from the traditional laboratory model and could be a great improvement in the external validity of games research, a shortcoming that has long left the work open to criticism (Goldstein, 2005). With the baselines established here, the study of MMOs can proceed to more nuanced investigations of specific theories and processes. And as Kafai's work has shown (Kafai et al., in press), when done in cooperation with game developers or with increasingly accessible tools, games can be used as controlled experimental platforms in their own right."
"Online games have exploded in popularity, but for many researchers access to players has been difficult. The study reported here is the first to collect a combination of survey and behavioral data with the cooperation of a major virtual world operator. In the current study, 7,000 players of the massively multiplayer online game (MMO) EverQuest 2 were surveyed about their offline characteristics, their motivations and their physical and mental health. These self-report data were then combined with data on participants' actual in-game play behaviors, as collected by the game operator. Most of the results defy common stereotypes in surprising and interesting ways and have implications for communication theory and for future investigations of games."
**Sorry but I'm not going to copy/paste the entire thing since its quite long. I will post some of the statistics though.**
AGE
"Consistent with both Yee (2006) and Griffiths (2003), EQ2 players are 31.16 years old on average (SD = 9.65, Median = 31.00, capped minimum of 12 and maximum of 65), compared to a median age of 35.3 for the general population (Hetzel & Smith, 2001). Counter to stereotype, the largest concentration of players are in their 30s, not teens or even college-aged (See Table 1). There are more players in their 30s than in their 20s (36.69% vs. 34.59%). Older players also play more than younger players. Excepting a slight deviation in the early and mid 30s, mean hours played per week increases steadily with age."
GENDER
"The gender distribution is 80.80% male and 19.20% female, compared to national estimates of 49.1% male/50.9% female (Smith & Spraggins, 2001). Female players play slightly more hours per week than male players.
RACE
"Table 2 compares the racial distribution of EQ2 players with national averages (Grieco & Cassidy, 2001). Whites and Native Americans play at higher rates, while Asians, Blacks, and Hispanics/Latinos play at lower rates. Within the players, there was no race-based difference for hours played."
INCOME AND EDUCATION
"EQ2 players come from wealthier backgrounds than average. The mean household income for players is $84,715/year (SD =$104.171), compared to $58,526 for the general population (U.S. Census Bureau, 2006). Income was unrelated to hours played. EQ2 players are also more educated than the general population."
RELIGION
"EQ2 players have substantially different levels of spirituality than the general population (see Kosmin et al., 2001). They are less spiritual in general, and less likely to belong to mainstream faiths when they do practice. Although they are as likely to be Jewish (1.46% for players compared to 1.3% for the general population, n.s.), they are far less likely to be Christian (49.21% compared to 76.5%, t =−51.65, df = 7128, p < .001, d = 1.22), more likely to self-describe as belonging to Muslim, Buddhist or alternate faiths (11.64% compared to 2.4%, t = 22.93, df = 7128, p < .001, d = .54) and much more likely to state "No Religion" (37.69% compared to 14.1%, t = 36.82, df = 7128, p < .001, d = .87). Among the players, religious affiliation had no bearing on time spent playing."
MEDIA USE
"EQ2 players' media use data were compared with national-level data to explore what their game play took the place of. The most apparent difference lies in the number of hours spent watching television vs. playing online. EQ2 players spent 21.56 hours per week watching television, compared to 31.5 per week for the general population (t =−29.60, df = 6485, p < .001, d = .74) (Hu et al., 2001). The game players' own difference between mean television use (M = 21.56 hours per week, SD = 27.02) and hours of EQ2 play was 4.30 hours (t = 10.41, df = 6136, p < .001, d = .27). EQ2 players had a very high rate of broadband use, nearly double that of the general population (97.97%, SD = 14.12%. vs. 51.77% for the general population, t = 276.30, df = 7128, p < .001, d = 6.55). They spent fewer days per week reading a newspaper (M = 1.62 vs. 3.93 for the general population; t =−90.77, df = 7124, p < .001, d = 2.15), although they did report using the Internet to learn about local (5-point scale, ranging from 1= never to 5 = frequently: M = 3.19, SD = 1.32) and international events (M = 3.09, SD = 1.53) at a level between "sometimes" and "often."
HEALTH
"To address RQ5 and RQ6, players were asked about their physical and mental health. Physically, EQ2 players are healthier than the regular population. EQ2 players have an average BMI of 25.19 (SD = 8.19), making them slightly overweight, but much less so than the average American adult, who has a BMI of 28 (t =−28.74, df = 6993, p < .001, d = .69) (Ogden, Fryar, Carroll, & Flegal, 2004). 22.2% of EQ2 players are technically obese, compared to 30.5% of American adults. Among children and adolescents (ages 11–19), EQ2 players have lower BMIs, with an average of 21.96 (SD = 10.2), compared to 23.3 (SD = 1.33) for US adolescents (t =−3.52, df = 723, p < .001, d = .26)(Ogden et al., 2004). This difference is smaller than for the total population comparison at all ages, indicating that while adolescent EQ2 players are still healthier than their nonplaying counterparts, they do not have as large an advantage as the older population. Put another way, older EQ2 players are especially fit in comparison to their nongamer counterparts. On average, EQ2 players describe their health as slightly better than "good" (M = 1.92, SD = 0.74, where 1 = excellent and 4 = poor) and report engaging in vigorous exercise between one and two times a week. This compares favorably to national data showing that 62% of Americans over 18 do not engage in any exercise that lasts more than 10 minutes (Center for the Digital Future, 2007). However, EQ2 players do have a higher rate of physical impairments than the general population, 9.51% vs. 7.30% (t = 6.20, df = 6760, p < .001, d = .15).
In contrast, EQ2 players have lower levels of mental health on two out of the three indicators. 22.76% of EQ2 players reported having been diagnosed with depression. This level is larger for the female players (36.52%, SD = 48.17%) than the males (19.38%, SD = 39.63%)(t = 13.567, df = 6776, p < .001, d = .33). These figures are both higher than the respective gender rates for the U.S. population, which has a 23% rate for women and an 11% rate for men. Players had a slightly higher rate of substance addiction (5.56%, SD = 22.91% vs. 4.8% for the general population, t = 2.73, df = 6798, p < .01, d = .07). The exception to this pattern was anxiety, for which EQ2 players reported slightly lower levels (M = 16.60%, SD = 37.21%) than the general population (18.1%)(t =−3.32, df = 6776, p < .005, d = .08)."
CONCLUSION
"The general demographic and motivations findings here have implications for the study of games in general, but they also offer challenges to existing theory and suggest areas where theory building is needed. Theory building occurs when we explain, predict and organize information about phenomena. Therefore, with a set of largely counterintuitive findings in hand, the next step is to develop and extend theories that fit these data. Given that many stereotypes about gaming suggested opposite outcomes, the research can go one of two ways. The first is to ask, as many have done (Herz, 1997; Jenkins, 2006; Williams, 2006a), why innacurate stereotypes about gamers formed and what other social and cultural work was taking place. The second, and ultimately more important task, is to develop theories which would predict these outcomes in the first place, unfettered by (but aware of) cultural baggage. Why, for example, are older female players playing at the highest rates? Why are older players playing more when younger people are thought to have more free time? Why are these gamers physically healthier than nongamers? Why do minorities play at lower rates? Why do so many players not practice religion? Did game play cause the mental health outcomes or vice versa? Theories must be developed or adapted to answer these questions.
There are methodological considerations as well, which are equally important as the booming world of players interacting online becomes increasingly distant from traditional lab settings. Looking ahead, the use of game-server data offers the possibility of longitudinal in-world behavioral measures. Therefore, the logical next step is to gather these data and to develop metrics of player behavior that can be used in theoretical models. These models will likely include the traditional communication topics of effects, community, gender, race and user psychology. Lastly, the use of unobtrusive behavioral data is a boon to researchers seeking to test models without having the act of testing impact the results. This approach is far from the traditional laboratory model and could be a great improvement in the external validity of games research, a shortcoming that has long left the work open to criticism (Goldstein, 2005). With the baselines established here, the study of MMOs can proceed to more nuanced investigations of specific theories and processes. And as Kafai's work has shown (Kafai et al., in press), when done in cooperation with game developers or with increasingly accessible tools, games can be used as controlled experimental platforms in their own right."
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