Psychology of Elves

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ELVES

Second Life Psychology of Elves

According to Wanda Whybrow, an Elf in SL, lust and sex play a large part in the psychology of elves in SL. The purpose of this is to release tension and to demonstrate a feeling of closeness with other elves as well as a way to express tenderness toward others in their community.

Miravoir Psaltry interviewed some elves and has shared her findings on some of the motivations of their role-play. By clicking on this link, you can access an abridged transcript of the information she gathered. Her research found that Elves have artistic tendencies, are technologically phobic, kind and honorable people with high levels of integrity. They also have a high regard for life and the Elvin attribute of respect. They are considered to be dreamers who seek life through fantasy (Psaltry: 2005).

Inside a human brain

Inside an elf’s brain

Real Life Psychology of Users Who Role Play Elves in MUD’s & MMORPG’s

It has been a difficult task searching for information on the psychology of why people role-play as elves on Second Life. Nick Yee is a PhD. student from Stanford University and has surveyed more than 35,000 MMORPG players since 1999. Whilst that may seem a bit obsessive to some, he has gathered much information regarding the psychology of users role-playing in online games, which is relevant to virtual worlds.

After conducting the research, Yee formed the conclusion that the reasons that people role-play online games are subjective but they can be broadly categorised into five major reasons of motivation. They are: -

1. Relationship factor
2. Immersion factor
3. Escapism factor
4. Achievement Factor
5. Manipulation Factor – (which doesn’t appear to be relevant to elves in SL)

(Yee, 2007; p.195)

Users who are involved in online role-playing for Relationships usually develop meaningful relationships that are supportive but which of necessity, include a certain level of real life disclosure (Yee, 2007; p.195).

Those engaged for the Immersion Factor, enjoy being in a fantasy world as well as being someone else. They obtain enjoyment from story telling, both their own and others (Yee, 2007; p.195). In online virtual worlds it is unusual for role players to complain about their RL jobs or other meaningless things that occur in their day-to-day RW lives and many users found this to be comforting.

Online role players who are interested in the Escapism Factor use the virtual world to temporarily avoid, escape and forget about real life personal problems which could extend to RL poverty, sexuality, lack of social skills, lack of personal contact or interaction and many other issues (Yee, 2007; p.195)

People who perceive their own self worth and self-esteem as enhanced through achieving goals and accumulating possessions were categorised as motivated by the Achievement Factor (Yee, 2007; p.195).

The objective of some online role-players is to obtain feelings of power, superiority and comfort by manipulating others and they are allocated to a group motivated by the Manipulation Factor(Yee, 2007; p.195). From the social research we have done, Elves would have you believe that this is not a motivator for Elven role-playing.

A few online role-play motivators that were identified which did not fit into the five broad categories were:

• Role playing is entertaining,
• It provides a platform to experiment with different ways of communicating,
• It provides a means to practise a way to handle sensitive issues that may present in RL,

• some users have an interest in observing interactions between avatar users (Yee, 2007; p.195).

Whilst not necessarily applicable to Elves, Yee’s research uncovered major gender differences in motivation with males being more interested in Manipulation and Achievement factors (in that order) whereas women were more consumed by Escapism, Immersion and Relationship motivators.

According to research by Sonja Utz, 80% of role players try to play different roles which don’t have much in common with [their] true personality (Utz, 2000).

Utz’ findings (Utz, 2002) also revealed that a lack of social cues undermines perceptions of power and status leading to antinormative behaviour in online role-play. Online, people [who play elves] become depersonalised. Other users are visually observing moving avatars, which are often accompanied by stilted movement/co-ordination and written text. Users gain an equality of participation despite their loss of real life self-identity; they can reduce their self-regulation and lose their self-awareness resulting in disinhibited behaviour(Utz, 2000).

Megan Christie is a Master of Psychology graduate student at University of Western Sydney and is conducting a research project on the motivations and reasons why individuals' engage in MMORPG's . If you would like to participate in her research you can find a link by clicking here.

REFERENCE LIST

Christie, M Help Wanted Sydney Morning Herald 12 August 2008 retrieved on 13 September 2009 from http://blogs.smh.com.au/digital-life/screenplay/2008/08/12/helpwanted1.html

Utz, S. (2000). Social information processing in MUD's: The development of friendships in virtual worlds. Journal of Online Behavior, 1 (1). Retrieved on 16 September, 2009 fromhttp://constructedidentity.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/social-information-processing-in-muds.doc

Yee, N. (2007). The Psychology of Massively Multi-User Online Role-Playing Games: Motivation, Emotional Investment, Relationships and Problematic Usage. In R. Schroeder, R. and A Axelsson, (Ed.), Avatars at Work and Play: collaboration and interaction in shared virtual Environments (chapter 9). AA Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer