Videogames Fill Psychological Needs for Players

Posted by Zonk on Thursday December 28, 2006 @08:21AM from the all-about-the-deepseated-pinata-wants dept.

codegen writes "The CBC (among others) is reporting that researchers at the University of Rochester and Immersyve Inc. have released a study indicating that people enjoy video games because they satisfy a psychological need. The study showed that the interrelations between players in MMOGs were particularly important. From the article: 'Gamers said they felt the best about their experience when the games they played produced positive outcomes in scenarios related to the real world ... The researchers evaluated players' motivations in virtual worlds by asking four groups of people to play different games, including a genre known as massively multiplayer online (MMO) games, which some industry watchers regard as the future of video games.'"

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Duh by 0racle · 2006-12-28 08:24 · Score: 1, Troll

The need is called entertainment.

--
"I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
Just like romance novels... by MatthewAnderson · 2006-12-28 08:41 · Score: 0, Troll

...fill the psychological needs of bored housewives.

That is, all of them that haven't yet gotten addicted to WoW. ;)

Really, how much of this stuff comes as a surprise to anyone?
Re:Significant real world benefits of Mmorgs. by drsquare · 2006-12-28 11:37 · Score: 0, Troll

1) greatly improved ability to "chit chat"
2) greatly improved ability to flirt casually.
5) greatly increased confidence

Empirical evidence says that does not translate into RL, so I'm not sure what use it is.