IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/simgam/v53y2022i2p157-174.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

To Triumph or to Socialize? The Role of Gaming Motivations in Multiplayer Online Battle Arena Gameplay Preferences

Author

Listed:
  • Justin W. Bonny
  • Lisa M. Castaneda

Abstract

Background Individuals choose to engage in multiple types of online team-based video games. Gameplay options allow for player preferences to shape their gaming experience. Within the multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) genre, players can decide whether to play matches with familiar or random teammates and whether their performance impacts their skill rating. Individual differences in video game engagement and genre preferences have been connected with player motivations and uses of video games and psychological traits that influence social interactions. The present study examined the extent to which the match preferences of MOBA players related to these factors. Methods Individuals attending an international MOBA tournament were recruited for the present research. Player MOBA match selection history was collected along with questionnaires measuring video game uses and gratifications, preference for solitude, tolerance of disagreement, and a test of theory of mind ability. Results Three main findings were observed. First, the highest-rated video game motivation was to socially interact with others. Second, players that displayed different preferences for types of MOBA matches varied in social interaction and competition video gameplay motivation scales. Third, although individual differences in fantasy video game motivation were correlated with theory of mind ability and preference for solitude, they did not vary by MOBA match preferences. Conclusion The results of the present study indicated that MOBA players were more strongly motivated by social aspects of video gameplay and variations in video game motivation to compete correlated with the extent to which they engaged in different types of MOBA play.

Suggested Citation

  • Justin W. Bonny & Lisa M. Castaneda, 2022. "To Triumph or to Socialize? The Role of Gaming Motivations in Multiplayer Online Battle Arena Gameplay Preferences," Simulation & Gaming, , vol. 53(2), pages 157-174, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:simgam:v:53:y:2022:i:2:p:157-174
    DOI: 10.1177/10468781211070624
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/10468781211070624
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/10468781211070624?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Engel & Anita Williams Woolley & Lisa X Jing & Christopher F Chabris & Thomas W Malone, 2014. "Reading the Mind in the Eyes or Reading between the Lines? Theory of Mind Predicts Collective Intelligence Equally Well Online and Face-To-Face," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(12), pages 1-16, December.
    2. Bonny, Justin W. & Scanlon, Mike & Castaneda, Lisa M., 2020. "Variations in psychological factors and experience-dependent changes in team-based video game performance," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    3. Burchett, Woodrow W. & Ellis, Amanda R. & Harrar, Solomon W. & Bathke, Arne C., 2017. "Nonparametric Inference for Multivariate Data: The R Package npmv," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 76(i04).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Oubrich, Mourad & Hakmaoui, Abdelati & Benhayoun, Lamiae & Solberg Söilen, Klaus & Abdulkader, Bisan, 2021. "Impacts of leadership style, organizational design and HRM practices on knowledge hiding: The indirect roles of organizational justice and competitive work environment," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 488-499.
    2. Enrico Imbimbo & Federica Stefanelli & Andrea Guazzini, 2020. "Adolescent’s Collective Intelligence: Empirical Evidence in Real and Online Classmates Groups," Future Internet, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-16, April.
    3. Goodall, Amanda H. & Osterloh, Margit, 2015. "Women Have to Enter the Leadership Race to Win: Using Random Selection to Increase the Supply of Women into Senior Positions," IZA Discussion Papers 9331, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Satterstrom, Patricia & Polzer, Jeffrey T. & Kwan, Lisa B. & Hauser, Oliver P. & Wiruchnipawan, Wannawiruch & Burke, Marina, 2019. "Thin slices of workgroups," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 104-117.
    5. Marianne Bertrand & Esther Duflo, 2016. "Field Experiments on Discrimination," NBER Working Papers 22014, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Angeliki Antoniou, 2019. "Compatibility of Small Team Personalities in Computer-Based Tasks," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-12, May.
    7. Ben Weidmann & David J. Deming, 2020. "Team Players: How Social Skills Improve Group Performance," NBER Working Papers 27071, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Christos C Ioannou & Gabriel Madirolas & Faith S Brammer & Hannah A Rapley & Gonzalo G de Polavieja, 2018. "Adolescents show collective intelligence which can be driven by a geometric mean rule of thumb," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(9), pages 1-17, September.
    9. Bonny, Justin W. & Scanlon, Mike & Castaneda, Lisa M., 2020. "Variations in psychological factors and experience-dependent changes in team-based video game performance," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    10. Gunawardana, Asanka & Konietschke, Frank, 2019. "Nonparametric multiple contrast tests for general multivariate factorial designs," Journal of Multivariate Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 165-180.
    11. David Engel & Thomas W Malone, 2018. "Integrated information as a metric for group interaction," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(10), pages 1-19, October.
    12. Elena Botts, 2018. "Discourse on Failure of Intelligence: A Theory of Mind Perspective," Global Economics Review, Humanity Only, vol. 3(2), pages 1-9, December.
    13. Annalisa Paolino & Elizabeth H. Haines & Evan J. Bailey & Dylan A. Black & Ching Moey & Fernando García-Moreno & Linda J. Richards & Rodrigo Suárez & Laura R. Fenlon, 2023. "Non-uniform temporal scaling of developmental processes in the mammalian cortex," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-17, December.
    14. Ben Weidmann & David J. Deming, 2021. "Team Players: How Social Skills Improve Team Performance," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 89(6), pages 2637-2657, November.
    15. Janardhanan, Niranjan S. & Lewis, Kyle & Reger, Rhonda K. & Stevens, Cynthia K., 2020. "Getting to know you: motivating cross-understanding for improved team and individual performance," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 101239, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    16. Shaip Bytyçi, 2018. "The Impact of Product Exposure as a Key Element of Sales Promotion," European Journal of Economics and Business Studies Articles, Revistia Research and Publishing, vol. 4, January -.
    17. Niranjan S. Janardhanan & Kyle Lewis & Rhonda K. Reger & Cynthia K. Stevens, 2020. "Getting to Know You: Motivating Cross-Understanding for Improved Team and Individual Performance," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 31(1), pages 103-118, January.
    18. Panda, Deepak Kumar & Das, Saptarshi, 2021. "Economic operational analytics for energy storage placement at different grid locations and contingency scenarios with stochastic wind profiles," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    19. Runsten, Philip, 2017. "TEAM INTELLIGENCE: THE FOUNDATIONS OF INTELLIGENT ORGANIZATIONS - A Literature Review," SSE Working Paper Series in Business Administration 2017:2, Stockholm School of Economics.
    20. Aguilera, Ana M. & Acal, Christian & Aguilera-Morillo, M. Carmen & Jiménez-Molinos, Francisco & Roldán, Juan B., 2021. "Homogeneity problem for basis expansion of functional data with applications to resistive memories," Mathematics and Computers in Simulation (MATCOM), Elsevier, vol. 186(C), pages 41-51.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:simgam:v:53:y:2022:i:2:p:157-174. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.