Online communication and social well-being: how playing
World of Warcraft affects players’ social competence
and loneliness
Mandy Visser, Marjolijn L. Antheunis, Alexander P. Schouten
Tilburg Center for Cognition and Communication, Tilburg University
playing the online game World of Warcraft (WoW) on adolescents’ social competence and loneliness
The hypothesis states that being online affects adolescents’ social competence
as a result of a variety of communication partners and identity experiments online.
There appeared to be no direct effect between playing WoW and adolescents’ social competence and
loneliness. We did find an indirect effect via variety of communication partners.
Adolescents who play WoW vary more in their communication partners, leading to
an increase of social competence and a decrease of loneliness.
>>와우 <와우>의 순기능이네...
<<인터넷 사용-온라인 게임으로 시작하는 서론
Spending time in this medium(게임) is considered harmful for adolescents, because they would be
living their lives on the Internet instead of in the real world.
Therefore, this could be harmful for their social lives.
>>이 점을 까는 논문이 아닐까
Therefore, spending a great deal of time on the
Internet leads to a stagnation침체;
The main
reason adolescents use the Internet is for social purposes
(Subrahmanyam & Greenfield, 2008; Williams et al., 2006;
Yee, 2006). They are online to chat, visit social network sites,
and play games with other Internet users. According to the
positive variant of the hypothesis, the social use of the Internet
gives adolescents the opportunity to practice their social
skills by experimenting with their identity and talking with a
variety of people. This should positively affect their social
competence (Valkenburg & Peter, 2008).
Moreover, being
online provides a range of communication platforms where
social interaction is possible. It is easy for adolescents on the
Internet to get in touch with others (Engelberg & Sjöberg,
2004; Subrahmanyam&Greenfield, 2008). Instead of becoming
alienated fromtheworld, the Internet could broaden their
social world (Matsuba, 2006).
>>인터넷의 순기능
<<그런데 인터넷만 하면 고독감이 올라가기도. 현실 사람들과 시간을 못 보내는 만큼
Online social
interaction is anonymous, interactive, and has no boundaries.
An adolescent can have social interaction and build
friendships on the Internet (Antheunis, Valkenburg, & Peter,
2007, 2010; Ducheneaut & Moore, 2005; Subrahmanyam &
Greenfield, 2008). This online social interaction can replace
disability of social interaction in real life. Therefore, adolescents
who have online social interaction may be less lonely
(Yee, 2006).
>>올ㅋ 외로움 보충
Previous studies that have investigated the relationship
between the Internet and the social competence and loneliness
of adolescents have clearly focused on the negative
consequences of the Internet (Caplan, 2005; Engelberg &
Sjöberg, 2004; Harman et al., 2005; Kraut et al., 1998).
However, these studies do not give a consistent view about the
consequences of Internet use on the social competence and
loneliness of adolescents (Harman et al., 2005; Matsuba,
2006; Wartella & Jennings, 2000).
<<선행사의 결과는 여러가지로 다양한데 인터넷이 사회적 자신감과 고독감에 좋다는 얘기도, 아니라는 얘기도 있음
이건 '인터넷' 사용을 너무 넓게 봐서 그럼... specific 하게 안보니 왔다리 갔다리
>>와우 선행 연구사 정리 + 문제제기 확실하시네여
In our research,we
decided to focus on one aspect of the Internet that is now frequently
used by adolescents for its social function: the online
game World of Warcraft (WoW) (Williams et al., 2006).
>>윌리엄이가 한 연구가 뭐냐 궁금하다
<<중독 얘기 하는 건 외국놈들도 마찬가지구먼ㅋㅋ
<<<여기서도 WoW이렇게 표기하고 있네. WoW 이렇게 표기하자
WoW is by far the most popular massively multiplayer
online role playing games (MMORPGs) at this moment.
There are more than 11 million players throughout the
world who visit the virtual world of WoW on a regular
basis (Bartle, 2010). WoW contains a virtual fantasy world
where people from all over the world can play together at the same time (Steinkuehler & Williams, 2006). The most
typical feature of these MMORPGs is that playersmust complete
certain assignments과제, 숙제, 임무, which can be violent (e.g.,
running a coup일격;
in order to move along in the game. To complete those tasks,
players must cooperate continuously, which they do this by
forming guilds. Guilds are playgroups where every member
has his or her own task. Guild members can communicate
with each other through a non-audio instant messenger
service (Ducheneaut &Moore, 2005).
WoW can be seen as a highly interactive game (Schell, 2005).
>>이 연구도 궁금
This gives an MMORPG—and therebyWoW—
its social function for adolescents (Ducheneaut & Moore,
2005; Williams et al., 2006; Yee, 2006). The socially oriented
character, next to the popularity of the game, makesWoW a
suitable place to study the Internet use of adolescents and
their social competence and feelings of loneliness.
>>이야.. 이거 번역해서 게임법 만들려는 사람들한테 보여줘야 한다
이 연구에 따르면 청소년들이 게임을 하는 것은 오히려 그들에게 도움됨
Until recently, few researchers saw games like these as a
social setting (Engelberg & Sjöberg, 2004; Harman et al.,2005; Schot & Selwyn, 2000).
Social intentions can create friendships
online, which have follow-ups in real life.When two people
meet on the Internet and become friends, they can meet in
real life and continue their friendship. These inconsistent
claims lead us to the following research question:
The second aim of our study is to examine the underlying
mechanisms between playing WoW and social competence
and loneliness, based on the positive variant of the Internetaffected
social compensation hypothesis. This variant states
that the influence of being online on social competence is
mediated by two factors; namely, the variety of communication
partners on the Internet, and online identity experiments
(Valkenburg & Peter, 2008).
The main reason forWoWplayers to play the game is
its social function (Lo et al., 2005; Williams et al., 2006; Yee,
2006).
>>와우 플레이어들이 와우를 하는 주된 이유가 사회적 기능?!?1
Identity experiments
Online communication onWoW has three important
features over offline communication. First, WoW provides
anonymity.WoW Players can act without showing their real
identity (Lo et al., 2005; McKenna & Bargh, 2000). Second,
the game is interactive.Unlike in the real world, a playermust
interact with others. WoW players must respond to each
other and cooperate to succeed (Lo et al., 2005; McKenna &
Bargh, 2000). Finally,WoW has no geographical boundaries.
People from all over the world play WoW. The real world is
limited to the adolescent’s actual environment (Lo et al.,
2005;McKenna & Bargh, 2000). These features form a stimulating자극적인, 격려가 되는
environment forWoWplayers in which to experiment
with their identity (Valkenburg & Peter, 2008).
>>와우의 특징 1) 익명적 2) 상호작용적 3) 지리적 경계 음슴
WoWplayers can choose to form a character that is different
from their own personality. Because of the anonymous
feature of the game, they can try out different kinds of activities
in various social situations. When an activity does not
work out, players can adopt another game character and try
again. In this way, WoW players practice their social skills,
which can lead to an improvement of social competence.This
view is supported by several studies about online communication
(Steinkuehler & Williams, 2006; Subrahmanyam &
Greenfield, 2008; Suler, 2005; Valkenburg & Peter, 2008).
Considering the beneficial features of the online environment
of WoW, we expect that this empirical evidence on online
communication in general can also be applied to playing
WoW. Therefore,we formulate the following hypotheses:
Hypothesis 1. Adolescents who play WoW will experiment
more with their identity.
Hypothesis 2. Identity experiments on WoW will
enhance the social competence of adolescents.
<<근데 이런 social skill 높일 수 있다고 하는 건 WoW 뿐만이 아니라 사회적 커뮤니티를 형성한 웬만한 MMORPG는 다 그런듯
social platform으로서의 WoW가 과연 독자적인지는 좀 더..
Therefore, online communicationwould be an appealing
alternative for lonely adolescents’ social interaction.
According to Gross et al. (2002), lonely adolescents often
use the Internet to talk with unacquainted people, in contrast
with non-lonely adolescents, who spend more time on the Internet communicating with people they already know.
>>이거 재밌는데... 외로운 청소년들은 모르는 사람과 더 대화 / 안외로운 애들은 이미 아는 사람들과
Lonely adolescents, therefore, seem to
use online platforms to experiment with their identity more
than do their non-lonely peers (Valkenburg & Peter, 2008).
>>그들의 아이덴티티를 실험? 시도? 해본다는 거여 experiment 가 뭐실까라..
Hypothesis 5. Identity experiments on WoW will
decrease adolescents’ feelings of loneliness.
Hypothesis 6. A variety of communication partners on
WoWwill decrease adolescents’ feelings of loneliness.
>>어쨌든 고독감의 감소에 영향을 준다는 거네요ㅇㅅㅇ 아직 가설이지만 어디 실험결과가 어찌되나 봅세다
<<실험 부분은 뛰어넘고 결과로 ㄱㄱ
About 34% of the adolescents who play WoW indicated
that they sometimes or often experiment with their identity
while playing the game.
>>때때로 그들의 아이덴티티를 실험한다
When answering
the questions about the variety of communication partners,
almost everyWoW player (96.7%) stated that he or she
sometimes, often, or always talks with a variety of people on
WoW. only 3.3% of all WoW players indicated that they
almost never or never talk with people with different social or
ethnic backgrounds or ages.
>>이야 거의 대부분이 다양한 사람들과 이야기하네
In addition, 75% stated they feel lonely
almost never or never.
>>이야~ 좋구만.. 거의 외롭지 않아요>.ㅇ
The results show that there is no significant direct
effect of the amount of time playing WoW on adolescents’
social competence
>>헐... 관련이 ... 없다ㅇㅁㅇ? 직접적인 영향력은 없다
<<가설 중에 증명된 것도 있고 안된 것도 있음
The first aim of our study was to examine if playingWoW
affects adolescents’ social competence and loneliness directly.
According to our results, there were no direct effects of
playingWoWon social competence and loneliness. It appears
that adolescents who playWoW do not differ significantly in
their social competence and loneliness, compared to adolescents
who do not play this online game.This means that
playingWoW does not have a positive influence; however, it
does not have a negative influence on social competence and
loneliness, either.
>>그렇지!! 게임을 한다고 해서 꼭 좋아지거나 나빠지는 건 아니란 말야
A possible explanation for our results’ inconsistency with
the study of Valkenburg and Peter (2008) is our focus on one
specific Internet application; namely,WoW. Valkenburg and
Peter used multiple applications of the Internet where young
people communicate. Another explanation for our study’s
inconsistency with Valkenburg and Peter’s results is that the
game element of WoW is more important than is the social
element of the game.
>>이에 따르면 WoW는 짱짱맨이란 것인가... 다른 인터넷 매체에 비해 더욱
When a WoW player
pretends to be someone else, it could be a strategic move to
influence the outcome of the game (Schell, 2005). Therefore,
we think identity experiments in WoW are different,
for example, from identity experiments in chatrooms,
where experiments are mostly used to explore identities
(Steinkuehler & Williams, 2006; Suler, 2005; Valkenburg &
Peter, 2008).
>>이야.. 이건 참고해 볼만도 하겠는데? WoW에서 정체성을 실험해 보는 것은
다른 인터넷 매체(채팅방) 같은 곳의 정체성과는 다른 양상을...
It appears that
people who spend more time playingWoWhavemore variety
in their communication partners.
>>근데 다양한 사람과 커뮤니케이션하는 게 커뮤니케이션의 '질'을 보장해주는 건 아닌듯함
Moreover, our hypothesis
that a variety of communication partners would increase social competence was supported. In the present study,
we found that variety in communication partners indeed
facilitates an indirect effect between playingWoWand social
competence.
<<이 연구의 한계 3가지쯤 말하다
With the present study, we showed that playing online
games like WoW might be beneficial for adolescents.
However, this is only for improving social competence and
reducing loneliness by meeting different kinds of people. Our
research did not study other effects of playing online games,
such as health-related effects. Therefore, more research is
needed to provide a clear view of the overall effects of playing
online games likeWoW.
Online identity experiments appear not to be an underlying
mechanism. This could be explained by the nature of
WoW. Despite its largely social function,WoW is still a game.
This might be the reason for the disposition of identity
experiments. We recommend further research in spending
time online and the social competence and loneliness of adolescents
in other applications of the Internet, where there is
not such a competitive atmosphere as inWoW.
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