Summary by Beth Visser
Have you ever wondered whether people’s real life personality traits carry over into how they behave in a video game? In this study, researchers recruited a sample of World of Warcraft (WoW) players and investigated the associations between gaming behaviors and psychopathic traits.
Who participated in the study and what did they do?
The sample consisted of 348 players of the popular massive multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft (WoW). Most participants were male, under 31 years old, and from North America.
Participants completed measures of psychopathic personality traits (e.g., manipulation, lack of empathy, impulsivity, antisociality). They also answered questions about their in-game behaviors, such as how often they acted antisocially (e.g., disrupting other players), how helpful or altruistic they were (e.g., giving another player in-game money), and whether they were motivated by dominating others. Finally, they were asked whether they had cheated by using real money to buy or sell game items or characters on sites like eBay.
What were the findings?
The study findings supported the researchers’ predictions, showing a clear link between a player’s real-life personality and their in-game actions.
- Antisocial Behavior: Players who scored higher on psychopathic traits reported engaging in more antisocial and manipulative behaviors within the game. Players who were motivated by dominating and deceiving others also tended to have higher psychopathy scores.
- Cheating and Altruism: Higher psychopathy scores were associated with less altruism in the game. Players with psychopathic traits were also more likely to cheat by buying and/or selling game items for real money outside the game. Those who were less altruistic and also cheated had the most psychopathic traits.
- Success in the Game: Interestingly, players who had achieved high-level characters scored higher on the manipulative and callous aspects of psychopathy. However, they did not score higher on the irresponsible and antisocial/rule-breaking traits. This pattern of findings suggests that being callous and manipulative might help players advance in the game, whereas impulsivity and irresponsibility did not seem to help or hinder players’ advancement.
What are the strengths and limitations?
A strength of the study is its large sample of WoW players reporting on their psychopathic traits, in-game behavior, cheating outside the game, and motivations for playing the game. Another strength is that it supports the use of virtual environments like WoW to study real-world personality traits.
However, there are limitations. The study relied on self-report questionnaires, meaning some participants might not have been completely honest (or lacked insight) about their negative behaviors. The sample was also not fully representative of all WoW players, in that female players were underrepresented, and there were a large number of players who reported they felt addicted to the game. This could make the results less applicable to other groups of individuals.
What are the implications of this study?
This research supports the “Social Predator Hypothesis,” which suggests that individuals with psychopathic traits behave like predators in online gaming settings as well as in real-life social settings. It demonstrates that online games can be valuable tools for investigating the associations between psychopathy and behavior. The findings suggest that psychopathy is relevant to multiplayer online games, and that people’s in-game actions tend to reflect their real-life personalities.
Article summarized:
Csordas, A., Book, A., Worth, N., & Visser, B. (2022). The WoW factor: Psychopathic traits and behavior in a Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game. Personality and Individual Differences, 187. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2021.111443
