I was reading an interesting article called “Doing good or doing well? Image motivation and monetary incentives in behaving prosocially”, which is basically a study by some prominent economists to understand what motivates people to invest time or money in charity work. The basic premise is that people do it to improve their image – and the hypothesis is that paying someone to do charity work (ie: donating blood for dollars) can actually be a barrier if other people are aware a payment was being made for the gesture. An interesting read, especially if you like economics and how economists think (and always need to understand behavioural economics). The most interesting part of the study for me was that people gave more when they knew people would know the amount donated.
Of course, I have to go take perfectly good economic reasoning and apply it to MMO’s. Shame on me.
Let’s forget the whole monetary part, as we all pay to play to being with. Let’s also forget the prosocially aspect. What I found interesting was the mindset of the MMO gamer, and whether the premise of “Image Motivation” plays a part in what we accept in games. I used to play WoW that way, I was not in a cutting edge raiding guild but at one point we were ranked top 20 on the Whisperwind server – and we only had 3 raid nights a week, at three hours a pop (and raiders were only ‘required’ to raid 24 hours a month. Hardly hardcore). I was the GM of that guild and while publically I always said that the rankings didn’t matter, they did in a way. How we ranked on the server meant the quality of applicants we could expect, which in turn could push our progression along on our limited play times. This would keep the raid team and guild happy. A happy guild is a happy GM.
Many times, after clearing a boss and getting a fancy loot drop and hanging out in Shattrath, other players would come up and make comments about my gear – how it looked, where did I get it, both in tells and public “says”. It kind of felt good, and I was always glad to sit around and chat with them to build up the image of our guild and my self image as well.
While far from an egomaniac, I do have to say that at that point in my WoW career the whole image thing DID matter. Not only for the good of the guild, but also for some psycological reassurance that my time and energy in Azeroth was paying me kudos in one regard, at least, the respect of my “peers”.
Fast forward to stepping down as GM, removing myself from the raid team and trying to game for fun. Something was missing. My old raid team pushed on into harder content and I was farming the odd heroic for a sidegrade. Why didn’t the game matter as much to me? At this point I critically looked at WoW and the poor treadmill decisions (which I happily ran upon for years) and finally understood that while it is a good game, it is far from great. I started writing long soapbox-style posts about the things I disliked about WoW on my guild forums – but no one really agreed with me, they were still having the fun that I used to get from the game. After bandying about many thoughts on this blog and comments on other blogs, I came to the ultimate realization – that in any game, even an MMO, how anyone else plays or enjoys the game should NOT have an impact on the individual. If my friend buys 5000 gold from the black market instead of grinding it out for his epic flying mount, more power to him! Who cares if player A paid a powerleveller to 70 and I had to “work” my way there. People finding their own paths to get through the bad parts of a game, to enjoy the good parts (which is always a self definition. Some love quests and levelling, some love the end game only) it is more a remedy to the sickness of the treadmill design that is counterproductive for many people to have their fun in the first place. Did my Image Motivation blind me from these things? I was a staunch supporter. What made the coin flip?
I suppose the basic conclusion is that Image Motivation does indeed effect the MMO gamer, definitely moreso than the single player gamer. People on forums and blogs call this the “ePeen”. Image Motivation as a term rolls of the tongue much better.
While IM (see, it is now a fancy acronym) causes people to play a MMO (and often play “nice”), it doesn’t have the same effect on forums. That rolls right along with the hypothesis that the anonymity provided means they can act as they wish without fear of damage to their image. Happy-go-lucky Franco the mage in game, always helpful in game, can be the biggest closet troll on the WoW forums. I know this to be true because a WoW associate of mine played that split personality perfectly. He didn’t want people to dislike his character on the server while at the same time loved riling up the “losers” on the forums.
I’m not sure. Maybe I am stretching this, but the basic premise that people play WoW, and MMO’s to stand out in the crowd and improve their “image” to the server through their in game “achievments” surely is some sort of deciding factor on why we stick with certain titles, and ignore bad design decisions (sometimes vehemently supporting them).
IM is a huge factor, methinketh (yay for wordsmithing!). There is a lot of people who let others define their self-worth, and for some of those, games provide a natural “mask” to manipulate that image with. It’s especially pernicious with WoW or any other treadmill, since personal or interpersonal skills play a distant second fiddle to the time investment in the unholy grind.
It’s simultaneously more and less of a meritocracy than real life; anyone can be special with enough time (and when everyone’s super, no one is), but those with truly exceptional skills (not a warped time schedule and unhealthy devotion) won’t find their skill adequately rewarded by the game mechanics.
Overall, there are some pretty messed up psychological implications inherent in the MMO genre. To be fair, there is a lot of good potential in the genre, too… but the current DIKU lineage is emphasizing the wrong things for psychological health.
The sense of investment that comes from building an “image” in a game most definitely has a heavy effect on the inertia that keeps people in certain games.
*bookmarks article*
Oi, that should read “there are a lot of people” at the beginning. I shouldn’t write when I’m sleep deprived.
My Guild (there was only ever the one…well, one on Alliance, and another on Horde 😉 was very concerned with our image. We were never a Raiding Guild by any stretch, but we did have several players leave and go on to join the top Raiding Guilds on our server. We gained the confidence of those top Guilds, such that they knew a player from our Guild was very likely to be a capable, mature player who would make a solid, reliable Raider.
One time we had an issue with a younger player who (he later claimed) had let a friend play his toon, and apparently “his friend” had sent nasty tells to a couple of players leveling in the zone alongside him. I apologized to the player who messaged me, performed basic damage control, then messaged my Guildie, again, and again, and again. Even though I’d sponsored his admission to our Guild (we had an in-game relationship) he flat out ignored me. So I made a post in the Officer’s section on our Guild Forum. The responses from the other officers over the next 24 hours revealed that there had already been a couple of complaints about this player.
Before I got home from work that afternoon he’d been kicked out of the guild, and as soon as I logged on he was messaging me, begging to be let back in. I could practically read the tears in his words as he told me it had been a friend on his account, etc, but it was a consensus that he be kicked out and I had to stand by my fellow Officers’ decision.
I’d also friended the person who’d made the complaint against him, so when I saw that person had logged in, I messaged them to let them know we’d kicked the player out of our Guild, and I apologized on behalf of the Guild.
We may never have been a Guild in the league of Nihilum, or November25, or whatever they’re calling themselves now, but we still took our in-game reputation very seriously.
Hmm… what’s the difference between building a sense of self-worth out of an image in a game, and maintaining a reputation for decency and common courtesy in a game setting? Is it coming from the issue from two different directions? Perhaps the person trying to build themselves up via the game has problems that need to be addressed in real life, but the person who has a good sense of self in real life has a good image in the game, and works to maintain that?
It is an interesting shift in MMO land. I have friends who are Lawyers and CEO’s who play. Back in the day the typical MMO person I met was, well, supergeek. The type that would be an incredible conversationalist online but when you met them for a beer, they couldn’t look you in the eye.
That sounds a bit extreme, but it happened to me on 4-5 separate occasions. This is back in the 90’s. The user base has matured that more socially social people (as compared to internet-anonymous social) are big time users.
Tesh, your question about the in game vs out of game image problem goes back to anonymity and no fear of consequence. I always thought it would be awesome on the WoW forums if they had your full name listed (Chris F, for example) and if you clicked on the name it would give a full list of character names and servers. No where to hide for the jerkoffs.
And reputation, decency, and common courtesy in game only serve to push self gains. Whether IM, or Guild building. Most strangers I have met in games are nice because they want something. Want to run a 5 man. Want to get into a guild. Need an enchant. Need a question answered.(Disclaimer there, I did say STRANGERS. There are a ton of great people in those games I consider friends). The in game setting is mostly used to promote ones self, or promote their character. Sometimes both.
Indeed, the anonymity of the ‘net is always going to be a prime route to the dark side.
I’m idly reminded of the “reputation” I have over in Three Rings land. I’m an artist, and have done several contests where I produce great art… even if it doesn’t win. I’ve also written tutorials and helped with other art contests (notably the Easter Egg design annual contest). I have a reputation for being helpful, such that I’ve received the occasional request for art or question for help with an art program, or even the random game design conversation, despite not having advertised my services. (And I’m happy to help, just busy.) Even popping over to Whirled, I met a random visitor, and we traded “pirate” names. She said “oh, yeah, you’re the artist”.
It may be a small thing, but that sort of floored me. I’ve not cultivated an “image”, I’m just helpful because I feel like it. I’ve certainly been fairly prolific on the forums, but to have someone remember my name out of the blue is unexpected.
…then again, I’m a bit opinionated, as my blog may attest to, so I’ve also got a bit of a reputation as a conservative libertarian freak when it comes to political/ethical discussions. Whatever. I am who I am, and while I’m in no rush to advertise my home address on the internet, I’m not going to hide behind a manufactured persona. It’s too much work trying to remember who I am supposed to be if I do that.
…and in that same vein, thinking that other people might *really* be the jerks they present themselves to be saddens me.
The PvP Arenas just opened up in W101. My son has been doing a lot of it, and he wanted us to play together so we joined up for a 3v3 Team. (Why not a 2v2 Team? I don’t know, but there ya go.)
We got into a match and the other team was made up of Wizards in “Oni”/end-game gear, and they all had over 2,000hp. By contrast, I was the only one in our team with over 2,000hp, and barely at that. One of their Wizards kept apologizing to her team mates because she’d been farming a Boss, so she’d come in armed with her PvE Deck, not her PvP Deck.
The Wizard on our Team (nobody we knew, just a PUG) was talking smack, but basically saying “This is it, we’re going to die.” When my son was knocked out this Wizard cast a HOT on him and brought him back into the game, only to see him get knocked out again when one of our opponents hit us with an AOE.
Our team-mate then Fled the battle, even though it was a 2v2 at that point because we’d also knocked out one of their Wizards.
My former team-mate then ran around as a spectator (apparently you can do that) jeering at us, and cheering for our (& his former) opponents.
“Whatever,” I said to him. “You ran like a girl.”
(Apologies to the female readers & Wizards out there, I didn’t mean it like that, and immediately regretted typing it the second after I hit Enter).
“We were going to lose!” he said, as if that justified his actions.
“Fleeing disrespects both your partners and your opponents,” I said, and I was amused to see my opponents agree with me.
When I got hit with a DOT that was going to Tick and knock me out before I had my turn, instead of wasting time selecting a spell, or even just passing, I quickly typed, “Looks like that’s it for me. Excellent match! Lots of fun! Thank you.”
Karma was that because we lost the match my son and I both lost points off our Arena rating, but so did our so-called team-mate 😛
Nice story Capn. In that case, even though you lost, you gained the respect of everyone in that match except your jackass PUG partner.
The fun part is that next time he runs into those opponents he may want to join them because they are so “good”. Those opponents will never accept him. By being a baby he just lost 5 potential grouping and playing partners in the W101 world. Do that 5 times a day and pretty soon he will be one lonely player.