Friends made through the world's most
popular online role-playing game can help
people cope with 'real life'.
Image: iStockphoto
World of Warcraft players can form online friendships through their online interactions that are meaningful enough to help allay negative real life psychological symptoms such as stress, anxiety and depression, a QUT psychology researcher has found.
World of Warcraft (WoW) is the world's most popular "massively-multiplayer online role-playing game" with more than 11 million players around the globe playing in the same fantasy world.
Huon Longman, from QUT's School of Psychology and Counselling, surveyed 200 WoW players from around the world aged 18 to 65, with an average age of 26.
"Players often form friendships with each other, and while adventuring together in the world, fighting monsters and slaying dragons, they often discuss what is going on in their offline lives with these friends," Mr Longman said.
"This is one of the first studies to investigate the social support people can derive from online friendships and close relationships in the gaming environment.
"Participants completed a questionnaire which measured the support they derived from connections they had with other players of WoW, and from their offline relationships.
"They also completed measures of wellbeing and negative psychological symptoms such as depression and anxiety."
Mr Longman said higher levels of social support derived from both WoW-based and offline relationships were associated with lower levels of negative psychological symptoms.
"This suggests that online relationships can be meaningful and beneficial, dispelling the myth that all gamers are "anti social and shut themselves away alone with their computers," he said.
Mr Longman is using the results from his initial study as a basis for his PhD study which looks at the topic in greater depth.
"I'm looking to better understand these online relationships between players; how they are similar to and different from offline relationships; and how they influence players' identities and their sense of being part of an online community," he said.
"I am conducting qualitative interviews with WoW players so they can tell me more about their online experiences. If any current or former WoW players would like to participate in this research, please email me at huon.longman@qut.edu.au."
Mr Longman's initial study will appear in an upcoming edition of the online journal Cyberpsychology.
Editor's Note: Original news release can be found here.
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