Social Interactions and Games

Abstract

Digital games have been gradually transformed from single, co-located experiences into endless, socially oriented, multi-played configurations, due to greater technological affordances (Herodotou, 2009). Multi-User Online Games provide the opportunity to create a social environment for friendships and strengthen the relationships. However, some researchers support the idea that players seeking meaningful relationships within a game might have trouble forming meaningful relationships in the real life (Fang & Zhu, 2011; Peters & Malesky, 2008).  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 gamers in and out of the game environment.