Social Interactions and Games

Abstract

Digital games have become popular due to great technological improvements in recent years. They have been increasingly transformed from co-located experiences into multi-played, socially oriented platforms (Herodotou, 2009). Multi-User Online Games provide the opportunity to create a social environment for friendships and strengthen the relationships. However, several researchers supported the idea that gamers seeking meaningful relationships within a game environment might have problems in forming meaningful relationships in the real environment (as cited in Redmond, 2010). This study was conducted with the sample of 168 university students to explore the social interactions in and out of game environment in terms of personality type, gender and game preferences. As a result of the study, it was found that participants mostly prefer playing multi-player games with their real life friends and family members. While they tend to make friends in game environments, they do not prefer sharing sensitive issues with their gaming friends. Moreover; students who reported themselves more extraverted, spend more hours in games. This paper contributes to the debates on the impact of games on social interactions of players in and out of the game environment.