Thesis on MMORPG Relationship Formation

[Clavat]

O Hai! (Hope this is the right section)

So, my roommate is doing his senior thesis right now and he's trying to gain a better of understanding of the social communities within MMORPG's. Specifically, he wants to learn about how relationships form within the game, and why gamers are so comfortable disclosing information about themselves with other gamers. The survey shouldn't take too long but I know he'd appreciate it if you could elaborate on your answers. He doesn't play MMORPG's so his questions may not always seem relevant but please try to relate them to FFXI or WoW if at all possible. Also, at the end feel free to discuss any other topics that you feel he may be missing. Submissions via reply or PM, whichever you feel more comfortable (all submissions will be anonymous). Any help would be appreciated!!


Interview Questions

Tell me a little about yourself.
• How old are you?
• What is your current occupation?

Tell me a little about your history with MMORPGs.
• How long have you been playing?
• Which game(s) do you play?
• How many hours per week do/did you play (peak or currently)?
• (If the participant no longer plays) What made you stop playing?

Describe your relationships with your friends (non-gamers).
• Do you feel close to them?
• Do you trust them with personal information?
• Do you disclose personal information?
• How often do you hang out with your non-gaming friends?

Do you consistently play with the same individuals online?
• Are you in an online guild?
• Do you personally know the individuals you play with?

Describe the relationship you have with other online gamers.
• Do you communicate outside of the game? If so, how do you communicate and how frequently do you communicate?
• Do you disclose personal information?

If you have online friends, how did you meet them?
• How did you decide to communicate outside of the game for the first time?
• Can you describe the process of getting to know someone in this setting?
• Tell me about the first time you communicated with someone outside of the confines of the game.

In your online profile that is viewable by other gamers, do you have accurate information about yourself?
• Does your profile include a picture of yourself (forums?)?
• Have you seen pictures of your other online friends?
• Do you think the anonymity associated with MMORPGs makes you feel more or less comfortable disclosing information about yourself? Explain.

In general, would you say you are closer to your online friends or your friends outside of the game?

What unique characteristics are there in your online relationships that aren’t present in your relationships out side of the game?
• Describe those.

Is there anything you can think of that is unique to your experiences in the MMORPG community?

[The Stig]

Go to: Nick Yee's HomePage

Tons and tons and tons of info there. And will answer most if not all your questions.

[Silenka]

A topic I'm good at, the majority of my social life is online (by choice, real people are great and everything but sticking to one city in one timezone is boring).

• How old are you? 23
• What is your current occupation? Customer Service Rep

Tell me a little about your history with MMORPGs.
• How long have you been playing? Asheron's Call for 2 years, FFXI for 4-5
• Which game(s) do you play? FFXI
• How many hours per week do/did you play (peak or currently)? peak 80hrs a week


Describe your relationships with your friends (non-gamers).
• Do you feel close to them? Yes, even though we don't hang out that much, we've been friends so long it doesn't really matter how long between visits it becomes

• Do you trust them with personal information? Of course

• Do you disclose personal information? Sure why not

• How often do you hang out with your non-gaming friends? Once or twice a month (sometimes more depending if we have something to do in this shithole city)

Do you consistently play with the same individuals online? Yes
• Are you in an online guild? I guess (linkshells)
• Do you personally know the individuals you play with? We talk on the phone, send each other things through mail, pretty much everything but see each other face to face

Describe the relationship you have with other online gamers. Just like irl there are ones I like and ones I don't like >.>

• Do you communicate outside of the game?If so, how do you communicate and how frequently do you communicate? Yes, we use cel phones usually, or IM/Skype/Ventrilo. Sometimes snail mail

• Do you disclose personal information? Yes

If you have online friends, how did you meet them? By chance, like everyone meets everyone else

• How did you decide to communicate outside of the game for the first time? Decide you want to be good friends, exchange phone numbers or other out-of-game contact info.

• Can you describe the process of getting to know someone in this setting? I am a good judge of character, I've had a majorly online social life since I was 12-13. I've never once felt unsafe by giving my contact info to someone, whether it be email, phone # or address. Once I talk to someone a lot, gradually I become more attached to them and tell them I want to call them, or send them a christmas card or something. In the end, people are just people, whether it's originally an online relationship or not.

• Tell me about the first time you communicated with someone outside of the confines of the game. It's been a long time, I can't remember if he was the first because there were a lot of them at once, but I had an online bf when I was 13 and I used to have to buy phone cards to call him long distance (didn't have free long distance cel phones back then y'see >.>)

In your online profile that is viewable by other gamers, do you have accurate information about yourself? I don't think I have one...

• Does your profile include a picture of yourself (forums?)? I have pictures floating around here somewhere.

• Have you seen pictures of your other online friends? Many of them, not all of them.

• Do you think the anonymity associated with MMORPGs makes you feel more or less comfortable disclosing information about yourself? Explain.
I've never been a very 'private' person, I don't feel I have much to hide from anyone and so I don't mind sharing details about myself to almost anyone (although there are the occasional creepy assholes). I think it's easier to talk to people online, in my case, simply because I'm more eloquent in text than face to face. It's always been easy for me to read people by their typing habits, or irl by their pictures/mannerisms/faces. Anonymity does help me deal with the people I dislike online (I can be nastier to them and not feel as bad about it), but it doesn't really change much with the people I do like.

In general, would you say you are closer to your online friends or your friends outside of the game? I'm probably a lot closer to my online friends, they're the people I spend every day with. My rl friends are great, I truly enjoy doing things with them, but online friends give me someone to hang out with at any time of day (or night), and a much wider variety of people as well (international, across the country etc).

What unique characteristics are there in your online relationships that aren’t present in your relationships out side of the game?
It's possible to be more blunt and truthful to your friends online rather than face to face. If something is taken the wrong way, people are much happier to accept the explanation of 'you can't tell how I meant it through text'. Online, you needn't worry about your outward appearance, even if you just rolled out of bed but want to talk to someone you can do it with no consequences. People are there right at your fingertips instead of having to call them...make plans...hope the plans don't fall through...drive over there...on and on. Online relationships are ultimately about convenience, except when you develop a real, true need to see the person, and you can't because they live 5000 miles away.

Is there anything you can think of that is unique to your experiences in the MMORPG community? I've met a lot of people I probably wouldn't have met otherwise, and that makes me happy. I have friends in many other countries and we share culture and language, two things I am extremely interested in.

I hope that helped some, ultimately to me online and real life relationships may as well be the same, the only distinction I really make is how I mentioned that the internet is very convenient comparatively. I would love to hang out with all my online friends irl, I just can't because of the distance, but they're no different to me than my local friends, and I trust them just as much.

[Fhloston]

Eh, why not.

• How old are you? 24
• What is your current occupation? Supply Tech II

Tell me a little about your history with MMORPGs.
• How long have you been playing? 5 years
• Which game(s) do you play? None currently. I have played Final Fantasy XI, Everquest Online Adventures, Phantasy Star Universe, Vanguard, and World of Warcraft.
• How many hours per week do/did you play (peak or currently)? Currently, none. At the peak of my time spent online, it would be 8+ hours per day.
• (If the participant no longer plays) What made you stop playing? My work schedule, inability to do most in-game events with my friends, or the server in general. Just an overall lack of motivation to play.

Describe your relationships with your friends (non-gamers).
• Do you feel close to them? Not really.
• Do you trust them with personal information? A very select few.
• Do you disclose personal information? I have in the past, but only a very select few. Now only with the ones I know in real life.
• How often do you hang out with your non-gaming friends? Once or twice per week. Sometimes less.

Do you consistently play with the same individuals online?
• Are you in an online guild? I was.
• Do you personally know the individuals you play with? A few of them, yes.

Describe the relationship you have with other online gamers.
• Do you communicate outside of the game? If so, how do you communicate and how frequently do you communicate? The friends I am closest with have my cell number. Otherwise via IM or e-mail.
• Do you disclose personal information?
Very little, if any.

If you have online friends, how did you meet them?
• How did you decide to communicate outside of the game for the first time? In FFXI, online in the game of course. On WoW, I met a friend at my previous job who brought me in to the game.
• Can you describe the process of getting to know someone in this setting? Lots of ways. You can randomly become friends with players in raids, a guild, a random group. Just depends on the person.
• Tell me about the first time you communicated with someone outside of the confines of the game. It was through IM. Seemed just like on the game, just without being on it.

In your online profile that is viewable by other gamers, do you have accurate information about yourself?
• Does your profile include a picture of yourself (forums?)? Not on my guild website. I have posted a pic or two on this forum before out of general boredom.
• Have you seen pictures of your other online friends? Some of them, yes.
• Do you think the anonymity associated with MMORPGs makes you feel more or less comfortable disclosing information about yourself? Explain. I wouldn't say it does. It actually makes it easier since you most likely won't disclose information as fast as you would outside of an MMORPG. The anonymity usually makes an MMORPG what it was intended to do, just be played as a game. Rather than a social networking site or chat room.

In general, would you say you are closer to your online friends or your friends outside of the game? My friends outside of the game, since I see them face-to-face.

What unique characteristics are there in your online relationships that aren’t present in your relationships out side of the game?
• Describe those. Just the ability to discuss the game in general. Also I have seen that most players who play MMORPGs have a lot of the same interests and hobbies, so it can be sometimes easier to relate to them on certain levels. At least in my experience.

Is there anything you can think of that is unique to your experiences in the MMORPG community? I have made friends in one MMORPG that I have migrated to other games of it's kind with. I also have made a couple of good real life friends because of our shared interest in the game.

[Zimbabwe Justice]

Tell me a little about yourself.
• How old are you? 17
• What is your current occupation? High school student, unemployed.

Tell me a little about your history with MMORPGs.
• How long have you been playing? 6 years
• Which game(s) do you play? FFXI, WoW
• How many hours per week do/did you play (peak or currently)? Oh man, like...50.
• (If the participant no longer plays) What made you stop playing? Money.

Describe your relationships with your friends (non-gamers).
• Do you feel close to them? Yes
• Do you trust them with personal information? No
• Do you disclose personal information? No
• How often do you hang out with your non-gaming friends? Often

Do you consistently play with the same individuals online? Yes
• Are you in an online guild? Yes
• Do you personally know the individuals you play with? Yes

Describe the relationship you have with other online gamers. A friendly relationship where anything can be disclosed, really. I feel way more comfortable telling online people things than offline.
• Do you communicate outside of the game? If so, how do you communicate and how frequently do you communicate? Yes, AIM/Steam.
• Do you disclose personal information? Yes

If you have online friends, how did you meet them? Games or IRC or message boards.
• How did you decide to communicate outside of the game for the first time? MSN/AIM I believe.
• Can you describe the process of getting to know someone in this setting? Talk to them in a game for a little bit and get to know them better, then start talking to them on another messenger.
• Tell me about the first time you communicated with someone outside of the confines of the game. I think it was a friend I met in FFXI, he gave me his MSN address and we started talking.

In your online profile that is viewable by other gamers, do you have accurate information about yourself? No.
• Does your profile include a picture of yourself (forums?)? No. If I get more comfortable then they can see one.
• Have you seen pictures of your other online friends? Yes.
• Do you think the anonymity associated with MMORPGs makes you feel more or less comfortable disclosing information about yourself? Explain. I think it does, I feel far more comfortable with it because I feel there is less risk of rejection.

In general, would you say you are closer to your online friends or your friends outside of the game? Online friends, if only because I feel I can tell them way more than offline ones.

What unique characteristics are there in your online relationships that aren’t present in your relationships out side of the game?
• Describe those. Anonymity and less fear of rejection. There is no real social status besides being skilled or having rare equips.

[Ragnell]

O Hai! (Hope this is the right section)

Interview Questions

Tell me a little about yourself.
• How old are you? 23• What is your current occupation? IT Hardware help @ UBS

Tell me a little about your history with MMORPGs.
• How long have you been playing? Started in 04
• Which game(s) do you play? Only FFXI as MMORPGs go
• How many hours per week do/did you play (peak or currently)? 55-75 hrs
(If the participant no longer plays) What made you stop playing?

Describe your relationships with your friends (non-gamers).
• Do you feel close to them? I dont have "non-gamer" friends
• Do you trust them with personal information? Some Do you disclose personal information? Depends on who
• How often do you hang out with your non-gaming friends? Don't have any of those types
Do you consistently play with the same individuals online? Yes
• Are you in an online guild? Fuck yea, RAGE
• Do you personally know the individuals you play with? Some
Describe the relationship you have with other online gamers.
• Do you communicate outside of the game? If so, how do you communicate and how frequently do you communicate? IM, Text, Phone, Vent
• Do you disclose personal information? Only one person knowns any personal information
If you have online friends, how did you meet them? ...Online
• How did you decide to communicate outside of the game for the first time? Talking about shit outside of the game
• Can you describe the process of getting to know someone in this setting? Depends on how they acted really, I dont deal with idiots, only people with a good sense of humor
• Tell me about the first time you communicated with someone outside of the confines of the game. Basically they though me alot about the game and give me tons of info on what I needed to know and do also helped me alot in game.
In your online profile that is viewable by other gamers, do you have accurate information about yourself? Yes
• Does your profile include a picture of yourself (forums?)? No, I dont care about posting it, I'm just lazy• Have you seen pictures of your other online friends? Yes, some
• Do you think the anonymity associated with MMORPGs makes you feel more or less comfortable disclosing information about yourself? Explain.
If anything less comfortable since they have the same amount of anonymity as you do, it's all about trust, and if you feel you know that person well enough to disclose any kinda infomation about themselves. If you are a good judge of character then feel free to disclose known the risk
In general, would you say you are closer to your online friends or your friends outside of the game? No

What unique characteristics are there in your online relationships that aren’t present in your relationships out side of the game?
• Describe those.

Alot more gay jokes

Is there anything you can think of that is unique to your experiences in the MMORPG community? Nothing better than Wiping with your bros

k

[Katlan]

• How many hours per week do/did you play (peak or currently)? peak 80hrs a week

Holy shit

[Pendas]

Tell me a little about yourself.
• How old are you?
23 Years Old

• What is your current occupation?
University Student, University Employee

Tell me a little about your history with MMORPGs.
• How long have you been playing?
Been playing for over 9 years now, started with Everquest, then FFXI, then I dabbled between FFXI and WoW before resting back into FFXI.

• Which game(s) do you play?
MMO Wise, FFXI

• How many hours per week do/did you play (peak or currently)?
Traditionally around 20-30 Hours per week.

• (If the participant no longer plays) What made you stop playing?
I took about 2 extended breaks totaling over 1 year. I stopped playing because I got burned out, after playing the same game for so long I got bored and decided to take a break.

Describe your relationships with your friends (non-gamers).
• Do you feel close to them?
Do you mean Non-Gamers as in Not in an MMO? or Non-Gamers as in "friends who don't play Video Games"? Because if its the latter than I only have about 2 friends lol. Anyway, yes I am very close to my Non-Online friends, I don't think Its possible to replace them.

• Do you trust them with personal information?
Yes I do.

• Do you disclose personal information?
Sometimes, depends how personal the information is.

• How often do you hang out with your non-gaming friends?
With my "non-online" friends, I usually hang out with them 3-4 nights a week.

Do you consistently play with the same individuals online?
Yes, I'm in a Linkshell (Guild) which is traditionally described as a group of players you spend all your time with in-game to complete a specific goal that is impossible for a single player to complete.

• Are you in an online guild?
See Above

• Do you personally know the individuals you play with?
I've talked to a few on the phone and have some of them on facebook, yes.


Describe the relationship you have with other online gamers.
• Do you communicate outside of the game? If so, how do you communicate and how frequently do you communicate?
Several of my RL friends play WoW, but I knew them way before the game came out so idk how you would rank that. I've spoken to a few of them on the phone sometimes, facebook messages and a webcam convo here or there (you need proof the mithra you're looking at is a woman sometimes)

• Do you disclose personal information?
Only with one person who was a really close friend of mine in the game. And even then it was just login info (I know, lol don't do it you'll get jacked, w/e)


If you have online friends, how did you meet them?
In the game...

• How did you decide to communicate outside of the game for the first time?
I honestly don't remember... usually I want some sort of proof the girl I'm talking to is a girl so I make her plug in a webcam before I even consider treating her like one. Everyone online has a penis until proven otherwise.

• Can you describe the process of getting to know someone in this setting?
It's relatively easy since there is no physical relation whatsoever, all you know about the other person is what they tell you and vice versa. It's pretty easy to get to know somebody when you know they can't really judge you.

• Tell me about the first time you communicated with someone outside of the confines of the game.
I honestly don't remember, I just know we called each other one day randomly and spoke for awhile, thats about it.

In your online profile that is viewable by other gamers, do you have accurate information about yourself?
Don't have an online profile.

• Does your profile include a picture of yourself (forums?)?
Yeah there's a RL pic of me on my old LS Forums.

• Have you seen pictures of your other online friends?
Yes, everyone had pictures of themselves

• Do you think the anonymity associated with MMORPGs makes you feel more or less comfortable disclosing information about yourself? Explain.
No, because I know what information I can disclose and who I can disclose it to. I'm not a teenager discovering the wonders of the internet for the first time, I've been playing MMOs for years and know exactly what "too much" information is.

In general, would you say you are closer to your online friends or your friends outside of the game?
I am a lot closer with my RL friends than my online friends. Although, I do have 2 very very good online friends I've grown close with whom I would consider very good friends. But, overall I have much more RL friends and hang out with them on a more personal level than with my online friends.

What unique characteristics are there in your online relationships that aren’t present in your relationships out side of the game?
I guess we have that partnership of working together a long time to accomplish goals. It's kind of like a work relationship in the way you relate to co-workers. You're always with them, you're working to get a resource and their convenient so you spend your time talking to them and eventually develop a relationship.

• Describe those.

Is there anything you can think of that is unique to your experiences in the MMORPG community?
It's a good way to kill time between RL events, you get to converse with fun people, and as a gamer it gives me the luxury of only spending 12.95 a month instead of the 49.99 I would spend with a normal video game.

[Silenka]

Holy shit

Lol, yes... I would love to say 'I have no life' here, but strangely enough I do. Not sure how that happened.

[Sol-Blackguy]

Tell me a little about yourself.
• How old are you? 26
• What is your current occupation? Office Mover

Tell me a little about your history with MMORPGs.
• How long have you been playing? 6 years on and-off
• Which game(s) do you play? FFXI (retired)
• How many hours per week do/did you play? 12-18 hrs
• (If the participant no longer plays) What made you stop playing? Inflation (18,000,000 gil Haubergeon)

Describe your relationships with your friends (non-gamers).
• Do you feel close to them? Close enough to pass out drunk at each other's houses
• Do you trust them with personal information? Yes (If I've known them for a while)
• Do you disclose personal information? Only to those I trust
• How often do you hang out with your non-gaming friends? Depends on the season. Maybe 2/3 out of a year...

Do you consistently play with the same individuals online? Yes
• Are you in an online guild? Ex leader of Jenova's Witness
• Do you personally know the individuals you play with? Just one or two that I had known for a while.

Describe the relationship you have with other online gamers.
• Do you communicate outside of the game? If so, how do you communicate and how frequently do you communicate? Yes, occasional e-mails
• Do you disclose personal information? No

If you have online friends, how did you meet them?
• How did you decide to communicate outside of the game for the first time? E-mail
• Can you describe the process of getting to know someone in this setting? Usually involved recruiting Linkshell members and getting to know them and their schedule. After a while through chat you get to know them better and better since you spend most of your time playing with them.
• Tell me about the first time you communicated with someone outside of the confines of the game. Funny story, this guy in my Visual Communication class mentioned he played FFXI and told me his character name. (but not his server) Almost a month later I ran into someone with his name and asked if it was him. It turned out we both wound up on the same server. I don't know if this counts...

In your online profile that is viewable by other gamers, do you have accurate information about yourself?
• Does your profile include a picture of yourself (forums?) No
• Have you seen pictures of your other online friends? A few linkshell members.
• Do you think the anonymity associated with MMORPGs makes you feel more or less comfortable disclosing information about yourself? I told a little bit about myself but kept some stuff to myself. I'm a pretty private person to begin with, but once you get to know people and hang with them consistently you learn a little bit about them and they learn a little about you.

In general, would you say you are closer to your online friends or your friends outside of the game? No, the majority of my online friends were all out of state and I would probably never meet them in person. I keep in touch with some of them because of our history and have played other games with others.

What unique characteristics are there in your online relationships that aren’t present in your relationships out side of the game?
• Describe those. One of the things I felt SE did to right with FFXI was have a community that relied on each other. You needed 5 other people for a party and help for most of the quests and missions. By interacting with those people you can build a social network over time. Of course there's some real d-bags out there just like RL, but at least you can /blacklist them.

Is there anything you can think of that is unique to your experiences in the MMORPG community? After going through 3 characters in FFXI, I realized how much the community changed over the years:
During the Ps2 release it was actually fun, everyone was equal for the most part since it was a lot of people's first MMO. We all screwed up from time to time, but laughed it off. People were more concerned with having fun with friends and enjoying the "game." I met some of my best online friends during this time, and I occasionally get a few e-mails from some of them from time to time.
At the peak of inflation, it seemed like in order to have fun, you had to be the best job, (kind of limited due to unbalanced jobs) have the best gear, and do what everyone else did to be "accepted," the first time I got booted from a party for being a Warrior without a Haubergeon because I wasn't 1337, pissed me off to the point of quitting. What happened to the people who were having fun hanging and helping each other?
Post inflation, it seemed like everyone was miserable, but for some reason didn't have the will to quit. You'd always hear damn you SE this and fuck you SE that. Almost as if the programmers were intentionally making people miserable. But people still played, it was like having an abusive spouse that would romance you, abuse and humiliate you until you're on the verge of leaving and then romance you again to get you to stay.

[Kayu]

Interview Questions

Tell me a little about yourself.
• How old are you?
22
• What is your current occupation?
student
Tell me a little about your history with MMORPGs.
• How long have you been playing?
about 5 years
• Which game(s) do you play?
FFXI
• How many hours per week do/did you play (peak or currently)?
about 8 hours a day taking 1 or 2 days off
• (If the participant no longer plays) What made you stop playing?

Describe your relationships with your friends (non-gamers).
• Do you feel close to them?

• Do you trust them with personal information?
nop
• Do you disclose personal information?
nop
• How often do you hang out with your non-gaming friends?
everytime i am not in my house
Do you consistently play with the same individuals online?
• Are you in an online guild?
yes
• Do you personally know the individuals you play with?
no
Describe the relationship you have with other online gamers.
• Do you communicate outside of the game? If so, how do you communicate and how frequently do you communicate?
nop
• Do you disclose personal information?
nop
If you have online friends, how did you meet them?
• How did you decide to communicate outside of the game for the first time?
in a middle point person to person(breakfeast)
• Can you describe the process of getting to know someone in this setting?
once you know them online if that was their real personality you it tends to be very easy.
• Tell me about the first time you communicated with someone outside of the confines of the game.
was kinda weird, but out my own protection i made them come to city.

In your online profile that is viewable by other gamers, do you have accurate information about yourself?
• Does your profile include a picture of yourself (forums?)?
nop
• Have you seen pictures of your other online friends?
yes
• Do you think the anonymity associated with MMORPGs makes you feel more or less comfortable disclosing information about yourself? Explain.

kinda.....since you never know with what type of person you are dealing with.
In general, would you say you are closer to your online friends or your friends outside of the game?
not at all

What unique characteristics are there in your online relationships that aren’t present in your relationships out side of the game?
• Describe those.
its easier to say stuff ingame than irl.
Is there anything you can think of that is unique to your experiences in the MMORPG community?
not really

[Mizango]

• How old are you? 31
• What is your current occupation? Network Administrator

Tell me a little about your history with MMORPGs.
• How long have you been playing? FFXI, since NA beta. Used to play EQ, WoW, Runescape etc...
• Which game(s) do you play? FFXI as far as MMOs go.
• How many hours per week do/did you play (peak or currently)? Varies depending on how many hours I'm working during the week and sporting event with my daughter but usually 15-30 hrs a week.


Describe your relationships with your friends (non-gamers).
• Do you feel close to them? Absolutely. I am picky about friends, I don't just hang with any nigga off the street. All of my friends I have known for many many years.

• Do you trust them with personal information? Absolutely. I've done countless amounts of dirt with them, it's too late to go back at this point.

• Do you disclose personal information? If it is relevant yes.

• How often do you hang out with your non-gaming friends? Every so often. Like many of them, I am married with a daughter, a house, a dog, a career....

Do you consistently play with the same individuals online? Yes
• Are you in an online guild? I am in a linkshell, yes.
• Do you personally know the individuals you play with? Quite a few of them absolutely. Chango, Breezymissa, Raistlain,Megaboss, Barotaro.. a few of my old Pandemonium friends I do know extremely well personally outside the realm of FFXI. Woozie, Kyo, Koyuki and a few others here on BG.

•Describe the relationship you have with other online gamers. Some I can stand, some I loathe. Same as real life basically.

• Do you communicate outside of the game? Absolutely, I don't live in a cave. Email, fax, cell phone, messenger, mail etc.. All the normal mediums one would use to communicate basically.

• Do you disclose personal information? Yep if relevant. Kind of like how I am doing now.

• If you have online friends, how did you meet them? Right place, right time? Stars lining up and all that jazz? T'was sheer luck, most I am thankful for having met to be completely honest.

• How did you decide to communicate outside of the game for the first time? Usually via social networking sites linked from Linkshell pages and on to messenger. It usually goes on from there with me helping someone with a computer final or studying via telephone.

• Can you describe the process of getting to know someone in this setting? You pretty much know the person well enough from your everyday dealings to know what to expect. Most of these people at this point you have known for well over a year or two.

• Tell me about the first time you communicated with someone outside of the confines of the game. I helped someone with a home network issue they were having with Linux/Windows butting heads. It was business as usual except I was off the clock.

•In your online profile that is viewable by other gamers, do you have accurate information about yourself? Yes. My city, state and job.

• Does your profile include a picture of yourself (forums?)? My profile? No. The picture thread and the faces of Spam thread have them though.

• Have you seen pictures of your other online friends? Yes, again social networking sites ftw.

• Do you think the anonymity associated with MMORPGs makes you feel more or less comfortable disclosing information about yourself? Explain.

Neither, I have nothing to hide, I mean I am who I am. I will answer any question anytime about myself, there is no shame. I do protect my family ferociously though and will not go into great detail about them under any circumstances.

• In general, would you say you are closer to your online friends or your friends outside of the game? Closer is a unique word, seeing as how over the years many of my online friends have made the transition to my RL friends. One advantage to meeting someone online is that you are forced to get to known their personality and not worry about looks or judging people based on race, religious affiliation or country of origin.

Without the access to online MMO's I would not have met many of my friends from other countries.

•What unique characteristics are there in your online relationships that aren’t present in your relationships out side of the game?

None, they are completely indistinguishable from one another.


• Is there anything you can think of that is unique to your experiences in the MMORPG community? I have countless friends from many different continents and countries from all over the globe that I know unequivocally I would not have met otherwise. For that I am extremely thankful. I love different cultures of the world and seeing how others live and go about their daily rituals and activities is something that intrigues me and always has.

Good luck on this project, I hope this helped just a little.

[Ferien]

Tell me a little about yourself.
• How old are you? 23
• What is your current occupation? Systems support

Tell me a little about your history with MMORPGs.
• How long have you been playing? 5 years
• Which game(s) do you play? FFXI
• How many hours per week do/did you play (peak or currently)? Peak 50+
• (If the participant no longer plays) What made you stop playing? b&

Describe your relationships with your friends (non-gamers).
• Do you feel close to them? A handful of them, yes
• Do you trust them with personal information? Those mentioned above
• Do you disclose personal information? Again
• How often do you hang out with your non-gaming friends? Roommate always, rest ~twice a month

Do you consistently play with the same individuals online?
• Are you in an online guild? Was
• Do you personally know the individuals you play with? No

Describe the relationship you have with other online gamers.
• Do you communicate outside of the game? If so, how do you communicate and how frequently do you communicate? Yes. IM, other games, occasional phone/text
• Do you disclose personal information? Yes

If you have online friends, how did you meet them?
• How did you decide to communicate outside of the game for the first time? Became good friends through our interactions within game (and Ventrilo was a massive help)
• Can you describe the process of getting to know someone in this setting? Same as IRL...spend more time with the person, you get to know them better. I spent more of my waking hours with IG friends than RL friends for a solid year or two.
• Tell me about the first time you communicated with someone outside of the confines of the game. First time on voice chat was strange and interesting, but it was also while we were playing. Had one or two friends who I would chat with over AIM outside of game. The biggest though is when I was in the hospital, I had at least 2 of my LSmates call me to see how I was doing, one of them called international just to check up on me.

In your online profile that is viewable by other gamers, do you have accurate information about yourself?
• Does your profile include a picture of yourself (forums?)? Forums no, but I did put a pic on ffxiplayers.com when it first came out
• Have you seen pictures of your other online friends? Yes
• Do you think the anonymity associated with MMORPGs makes you feel more or less comfortable disclosing information about yourself? Explain. Not necessarily MMORPGs, but the internet in general. It's easy for them to keep a secret when they'll never meet anyone else you know.

In general, would you say you are closer to your online friends or your friends outside of the game? At one point, I was definitely closer to my online friends than most of my other friends. Now it's about evened out.

What unique characteristics are there in your online relationships that aren’t present in your relationships out side of the game? Honestly, nothing. It was just like talking to my other friends, except we had a game to chat about as well as other shit.

Is there anything you can think of that is unique to your experiences in the MMORPG community? The complete ease of meeting and befriending someone who lives halfway across the world. Besides the people spread across the US, I also have multiple contacts in Europe, Asia, and Australia that I never would have had if I didn't play FFXI.

[Azalee]

Tell me a little about yourself.
• How old are you?
20
• What is your current occupation?
Student

Tell me a little about your history with MMORPGs.
• How long have you been playing?
Since May 2005
• Which game(s) do you play?
FFXI onry
• How many hours per week do/did you play (peak or currently)?
Between 30-40
• (If the participant no longer plays) What made you stop playing?
I stopped playing at one point in time because I had a new school schedule and I was doing a lot of activites in the evenings.

Describe your relationships with your friends (non-gamers).
• Do you feel close to them?
Some of them
• Do you trust them with personal information?
Minimal information, and it also depends on the person.
• Do you disclose personal information?
Some of it
• How often do you hang out with your non-gaming friends?
One or twice a week

Do you consistently play with the same individuals online?
Yes
• Are you in an online guild?
Yes
• Do you personally know the individuals you play with?
One or two of them

Describe the relationship you have with other online gamers.
• Do you communicate outside of the game? If so, how do you communicate and how frequently do you communicate?
AIM with some, and some of them have my cell phone number. Communication outside of the game is not frequent other than one or two people I text during the day at school
• Do you disclose personal information?
Sometimes

If you have online friends, how did you meet them?
• How did you decide to communicate outside of the game for the first time?
If someone asks for like an AIM screen name or cell phone number then I give it to them
• Can you describe the process of getting to know someone in this setting?
Just depends on how frequently you talk to them. The more you talk, the more personal info you or them discloses, you get to know them better.
• Tell me about the first time you communicated with someone outside of the confines of the game.
I ended up giving someone my cell phone number and we just started talking.

In your online profile that is viewable by other gamers, do you have accurate information about yourself?
Sometimes
• Does your profile include a picture of yourself (forums?)? On forums sometimes
• Have you seen pictures of your other online friends? Some of them
• Do you think the anonymity associated with MMORPGs makes you feel more or less comfortable disclosing information about yourself? Explain. I don't think it matters. I am totally comfortable with who I am so I don't think it makes a difference.

In general, would you say you are closer to your online friends or your friends outside of the game? Outside friends

What unique characteristics are there in your online relationships that aren’t present in your relationships out side of the game?
Nothing that I can think of
• Describe those.

Is there anything you can think of that is unique to your experiences in the MMORPG community?
I have learned a lot from talking to people in other places, whether it be someone from Pennsylvania, Canada, or Lebanon.

[meeeeeep]

Tell me a little about yourself.
• How old are you? 17
• What is your current occupation? Student - No Job

Tell me a little about your history with MMORPGs.
• How long have you been playing? 4 years
• Which game(s) do you play? FFXI, And lots of non-mmorpgs
• How many hours per week do/did you play (peak or currently)? around 50+ easily
• (If the participant no longer plays) What made you stop playing? I still play.

Describe your relationships with your friends (non-gamers).
• Do you feel close to them? No
• Do you trust them with personal information? No
• Do you disclose personal information? No
• How often do you hang out with your non-gaming friends? Daily at school, rarely outside school.

Do you consistently play with the same individuals online?
• Are you in an online guild? Yes
• Do you personally know the individuals you play with? Not irl, know a few quite well though.

Describe the relationship you have with other online gamers.
• Do you communicate outside of the game? If so, how do you communicate and how frequently do you communicate? Yes, MSN.
• Do you disclose personal information? Sometimes, yes.

If you have online friends, how did you meet them?
• How did you decide to communicate outside of the game for the first time? Via MSN, I sent a picture to one of them.
• Can you describe the process of getting to know someone in this setting? It initially started with just doing events in my linkshell, and went from there, eventually I did things outside of event times with them, such as offering to help with quests, fights, etc.
• Tell me about the first time you communicated with someone outside of the confines of the game. It felt more or less no different to comunicating in game.

In your online profile that is viewable by other gamers, do you have accurate information about yourself?
• Does your profile include a picture of yourself (forums?)? No
• Have you seen pictures of your other online friends? Yes
• Do you think the anonymity associated with MMORPGs makes you feel more or less comfortable disclosing information about yourself? Explain. It can be hard, but personally, I just don't care, because it's not as if the ones who do have a problem with me can do anything about it. As far as talking about rl problems with them, I find it's easier, as I often worry that my rl friends will gossip and tell others, this isn't a probem with someone over the internet.

In general, would you say you are closer to your online friends or your friends outside of the game? In game friends.

What unique characteristics are there in your online relationships that aren’t present in your relationships out side of the game?
• Describe those. I'm really not sure what to put about this, I fell I can be somewhat more open to people I've met over the internet because if something get's too personal, or uncomfortable, it's easy to end, whereas irl you may have to put up with said person every day.

Is there anything you can think of that is unique to your experiences in the MMORPG community?

[Fayttt]

Tell me a little about yourself.
• How old are you?
18
• What is your current occupation?
Babysitter / programming with VB6

Tell me a little about your history with MMORPGs.
• How long have you been playing?
9-10 years
• Which game(s) do you play?
Played Everquest, Everquest Online Adventures, Final Fantasy XI, World of Warcraft, Phantasy Star Universe, Eve, Shaiya, Rappelz, Everquest II
• How many hours per week do/did you play (peak or currently)?
Since I was homeschooled while I played MMOs I managed to pull off about 80-90hrs a week. Nowadays I probably get about 7-10hrs/day still so I could probably cap out at 70-75hrs/week.
• (If the participant no longer plays) What made you stop playing? Pretty much just grew bored of how similar every game is.

Describe your relationships with your friends (non-gamers).
• Do you feel close to them?
Somewhat.
• Do you trust them with personal information?
Not really, they've screwed with me before
• Do you disclose personal information?
If they really need it and have a valid reason sure, if not then no way
• How often do you hang out with your non-gaming friends?
Pretty much every day

Do you consistently play with the same individuals online?
• Are you in an online guild?
I was in a lot of guilds but haven't played an MMO in a couple months.
• Do you personally know the individuals you play with?
Quite a lot of the guilds I was in I did know the majority of people personally as I went out of my way to get to know people.

Describe the relationship you have with other online gamers.
• Do you communicate outside of the game? If so, how do you communicate and how frequently do you communicate? All the time - E-mail, IM, phone
• Do you disclose personal information?
My address phone number or account info for whatever game is pretty much it.

If you have online friends, how did you meet them?
Really I just went with the flow to say and just bumped into people and kept in contact with guildies of mine
• How did you decide to communicate outside of the game for the first time?
Phone.
• Can you describe the process of getting to know someone in this setting?
To be honest, my process of getting to know them just consisted of talking with them alot and pending on how they communicated back determined whether they were good people or not.
• Tell me about the first time you communicated with someone outside of the confines of the game.
Well, the first time (I was like 13 I believe) I called my friend up on his phone, and I had known him for a good year. I was bored sitting in town doing nothing and so we just talked for a good few hours. We were both on speaker too, though I was home alone, but I talked with said friend's sister and stuff too.

In your online profile that is viewable by other gamers, do you have accurate information about yourself?
Generally speaking, yeah.
• Does your profile include a picture of yourself (forums?)?
Nah, I'm too lazy to add one.
• Have you seen pictures of your other online friends?
Yeah, I've went as far as webcam before, lol.
• Do you think the anonymity associated with MMORPGs makes you feel more or less comfortable disclosing information about yourself? Explain.
It really depends. I feel more comfortable if I can tell that the person isnt a jerk or something and I can kind of just..tell how people are. If they're a good person then I don't mind disclosing information about myself.

In general, would you say you are closer to your online friends or your friends outside of the game?
I'd say closer to the friends inside of the games I play simply because I've known most of them for a very long time; much longer then I know my RL friends seeing as how often I move towns.

What unique characteristics are there in your online relationships that aren’t present in your relationships out side of the game?
• Describe those.
Just knowing that I could stop talking to the person with a simple slash command is pretty much the only unique characteristic I can think of. I honestly don't see a huge difference out of a game and in a game; either way, talking to people is talking to people.

Is there anything you can think of that is unique to your experiences in the MMORPG community?
Well, just that I've played my fair share of games and so have met a lot of people. I think what's unique to my experiences is really just my talent of being able to tell if the person I speak to is going to be a jackass or if he/she is going to be a nice person.

[Rivero]

Tell me a little about yourself.
• How old are you? 18
• What is your current occupation? Student

Tell me a little about your history with MMORPGs.
• How long have you been playing? Since I was 12.
• Which game(s) do you play? I've played DAoC/FFXI/RO/Runescape/WoW/Lineage
• How many hours per week do/did you play (peak or currently)? I played around 40-60 depending on how much free time/enjoyment factor.
• (If the participant no longer plays) What made you stop playing? All MMO's dulled in comparison with WoW and unfortunately WoW has become too easy thus making it quite boring after you repeat the same content over and over.

Describe your relationships with your friends (non-gamers).
• Do you feel close to them? Yes
• Do you trust them with personal information? Yes
• Do you disclose personal information? Sometimes
• How often do you hang out with your non-gaming friends? A lot

Do you consistently play with the same individuals online? Nope
• Are you in an online guild? I was
• Do you personally know the individuals you play with? Yes

Describe the relationship you have with other online gamers.
• Do you communicate outside of the game? If so, how do you communicate and how frequently do you communicate? MSN/Skype and quite often.
• Do you disclose personal information? Depends on the information.

If you have online friends, how did you meet them? Uhh...Starting conversations and hanging out in-game I guess.
• How did you decide to communicate outside of the game for the first time? Ventrilo
• Can you describe the process of getting to know someone in this setting? I tried to do in-game activities with said-person and we slowly got to know each other better as we did stuff inside the game.
• Tell me about the first time you communicated with someone outside of the confines of the game.


In your online profile that is viewable by other gamers, do you have accurate information about yourself? Yes
• Does your profile include a picture of yourself (forums?)? No
• Have you seen pictures of your other online friends? Yes
• Do you think the anonymity associated with MMORPGs makes you feel more or less comfortable disclosing information about yourself? Explain. I'd say the same roughly. I tend to be the same person online as I am offline.

In general, would you say you are closer to your online friends or your friends outside of the game? Its hard to say. I have great friends on both sides.

What unique characteristics are there in your online relationships that aren’t present in your relationships out side of the game? None really..
• Describe those.

Is there anything you can think of that is unique to your experiences in the MMORPG community?

Yes. Playing MMO's as a kid growing up in my opinion has helped me mature a lot both in-game and in the real life community. I think it's a great social experience and you can come out with some great friends.

[Nitsuki]

why not lol.

Tell me a little about yourself.
• How old are you?
25
• What is your current occupation?
Retail sales

Tell me a little about your history with MMORPGs.
• How long have you been playing?
5 years
• Which game(s) do you play?
Played: FFXI, WoW.
Currently playing: Aion
• How many hours per week do/did you play (peak or currently)?
Peak: 9 hours FFXI or WoW
Currently: 1-2 hours
• (If the participant no longer plays) What made you stop playing?
Got bored

Describe your relationships with your friends (non-gamers).
• Do you feel close to them?
No
• Do you trust them with personal information?
No
• Do you disclose personal information?
Not really
• How often do you hang out with your non-gaming friends?
almost never

Do you consistently play with the same individuals online?
• Are you in an online guild?
Not anymore
• Do you personally know the individuals you play with?
Very few

Describe the relationship you have with other online gamers.
• Do you communicate outside of the game? If so, how do you communicate and how frequently do you communicate?
AIM, MSN
• Do you disclose personal information?
No

If you have online friends, how did you meet them?
FFXI, WoW, random forums
• How did you decide to communicate outside of the game for the first time?
AIM, MSN
• Can you describe the process of getting to know someone in this setting?
Just talked really, and knew each other more from there.
• Tell me about the first time you communicated with someone outside of the confines of the game.
"Hi, what's up?" "nm bored playing (insert game here)" "cool"

In your online profile that is viewable by other gamers, do you have accurate information about yourself?
Yes
• Does your profile include a picture of yourself (forums?)?
No
• Have you seen pictures of your other online friends?
Yes
• Do you think the anonymity associated with MMORPGs makes you feel more or less comfortable disclosing information about yourself? Explain.
Less comfortable, there are scary ass people out there.

In general, would you say you are closer to your online friends or your friends outside of the game?
No

What unique characteristics are there in your online relationships that aren’t present in your relationships out side of the game?
Not being able to see the feelings of someone else since they're behind a computer.

• Describe those.
Online feelings are kinda unemotional most of the time

Is there anything you can think of that is unique to your experiences in the MMORPG community?
Endgame is fun if you don't burn yourself out.

[Linliel]

Like someone else said (and no offence meant, but as an academic specialising in ethics I feel I should comment) this isn't a particularly good survey, also most universities require ethics clearance for surveys which requires a whole lot of other paperwork regarding informed consent for surveys which I haven't seen in this ^^;
You might want to check with your friend about his/her university requirements for ethics clearance regarding surveys. Any report/thesis I marked without fulfilling these requirements would get a big fat 0.

That said though, gl and all ^^b