Author(s): Andrew Moore , Joshua Sukeena ,

Presentation: poster

Are there different types of video gamers? Are some gamers primarily competitive while others play more for social reasons? We sought to discover how video gamers identify themselves and their motivations for playing. The vast majority of research on video games uses a binary classification of video gamers vs. non-video gamers, which may be an oversimplification. Understanding what games people play and why could be important in understanding the effects of video games on behavior. We proposed gaming categories based on the motivations for playing and the types of games played: social, addictive, competitive, immersive, and rewards-based gamers. We then developed a survey of gaming motivations and gathered responses through the use of online services such as Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, Facebook, and email solicitations. We then performed an exploratory factor analysis and found four discrete factors. The first two were consistent with social and addictive motivations for gaming and then two possible types of competitive gamers. These results suggest that people play for different reasons. Such individual differences may be important in understanding the role of video-games in behavior such as aggression.

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