• Understanding Why Players Engage in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) Guilds: From the Perspective of Core Community Commonalities

Abstract

Purpose – This study investigates the effects of social influence on members’ engagement behaviors in MMORPG guilds, a goal-oriented community, where members interact with each other in a fictional and dissociative virtual world. In this environment, engagement behaviors are crucial to members’ continuous participation. While most studies focus on players’ pathological engaging behaviors in MMORPGs, little information is available on whether social identity and social influence are still important to players’ engagement behaviors when they are helping and supporting the group and other members in guilds, and whether players are inclined to be more socially motivated or more self-interested when they interact behind fictional masks or personas.

Design/methodology/approach – This study proposes a theoretical model of social identity and social influence to verify the effects of the core community commonalities and individuals’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivations on players’ engagement behaviors in MMORPG guilds. An online survey on MMORPG forums was administered to 309 guild players.

Findings – The findings reveal that players’ social identity to the guild has a profound impact on three core community commonalities, and these core commonalities, in turn, affect engagement behaviors significantly. Additionally, social influence - especially shared moral responsibility - has a significant positive impact on players’ engagement behaviors than extrinsic motivations.

Research limitations/implications – Self-selected sampling methods and the participants, who were Chinese college students, might restrict generalizations regarding the results.

Practical implications/Social implications – This study demonstrates that social influence in fictional environments can inhibit personal behavior characterized by a good sense of responsibility and social regulations, and that guild leaders can apply their social identity and the core community commonalities to enhance members’ engagement behaviors in a virtual team.

Originality/value – This paper shows that individuals are still motivated by self-interest, which they tend to use in a social manner, when they interact in a dissociative and fictional environment.

Keywords – MMORPG Guilds, Core Community Commonalities, Engagement Behavior, Social Influence, Social Identity