Social and Psychological Impacts of Playing MMORPGs on Older Adults
Abstract: This paper is a report on the findings of a study conducted to analyze the relationships of older adults’ social interactions in MMORPGs and three social-psychological factors (i.e., loneliness, depression and social support). A total of 222 respondents who were aged 55 and WoW players were recruited by a Web survey. It is found that enjoyment of relationships and quality of guild play has deep impacts on older adults’ social and psychological wellbeing. Specifically, higher level of enjoyment of relationships was related to higher level of social support and lower level of loneliness; higher level of quality of guild play was related to higher level of social support and lower levels of loneliness and depression.
Presider: Adrian Norman, Macquarie University, Sydney