Welcome to The Daedalus Project

It's the end of my third year in my Ph.D. program, and that dreaded four-syllable word known as "dissertation" is appearing more and more often in my meetings with my advisor. It's like grinding master bio-engineering or revered AV rep, except much much worse.

Thanks to all of you who help spread the word of this site and those who continue to participate in the surveys. I really do appreciate it. As always, feel free to drop me a note here or email at contact@nickyee.com

How You Can Help:

- Post a message on your community forum or message board about the findings.
- Create a link to "The Daedalus Project": http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/
- Add a link to The Daedalus Project in your forum signature.

As usual, your comments and feedback are most welcome. Any questions should be directed to contact@nickyee.com

Welcome to The Daedalus Project

School just started again for me. Lots of synergy with online games stuff recently. Over the summer, I worked at PARC and got to play with a lot of longitudinal census data. I am continuing to work a little part-time at PARC during the school year. As always, feel free to drop me a note here or email at contact@nickyee.com

How You Can Help:

- Post a message on your community forum or message board about the findings.
- Create a link to "The Daedalus Project": http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/
- Add a link to The Daedalus Project in your forum signature.

As usual, your comments and feedback are most welcome. Any questions should be directed to contact@nickyee.com

Welcome to The Daedalus Project

Our department does an unusually cruel thing with qualifying exams. It's a 7-day take-home exam that happens over spring break. So as you can imagine, my spring break wasn't that fun. But I passed and I'm glad it's over.

I'm getting more stuff in press so it's exciting and I'm glad you're still along for the ride. As always, I really do appreciate those of you who participate in these surveys as well as those who help spread word of this project. Feel free to drop me a note here or email at contact@nickyee.com

How You Can Help:

- Post a message on your community forum or message board about the findings.
- Create a link to "The Daedalus Project": http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/
- Add a link to The Daedalus Project in your forum signature.

As usual, your comments and feedback are most welcome. Any questions should be directed to contact@nickyee.com

MMORPG Lexicon

1337	A numerical translation for "elite" pronounced "leet," 1337 is a slang developed by hackers in the '80s used over the internet. Many words from the slang have leaked to popular culture today ("kidz" is an example; using a z instead of an s is an element of 1337). It is mostly prevalent in the gaming world online where people can interact textually.
AE	Area Effect. Used to refer to area-effect spells or abilities. E.g. fireball, smoke grenade.
AFK	Away from keyboard
Aggro	As a verb, it refers to a hostile mob that has noticed a player and is actively trying to attack that player. As a noun, it refers to the amount of “hostility” the player has generated on the mob. In typical combat strategy, the fighter tries to take as much aggro as possible away from weaker players such as healers and mages.
Alt	Short for "alternate". It refers to the alternate character a player has from their main character. This is not a stable category as sometimes alts can outlevel mains and sometimes mains become moth-balled.
AO	Abbreviation for Anarchy Online. An online game.
AOE	Same as AE. Area of Effect.
Attribute	e.g. Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Intelligence, etc.
Bind	In certain MMOs, characters are teleported back to a safe spot when they die. This spot is predetermined by the user. The act of determining the safe spot requires an explicit action by the user. That action is known as a bind. The spot is typically referred to as a bind spot.
Bio	Short for biological. Usually used to indicate bathroom break.
BoE	Short for "bind on equip" - a term popularized by World of Warcraft. This term refers to items that become soulbound to the player after they have been equipped. In other words, the item can be traded as long as no one equips it.
BoP	Short for "bind on pickup" - a term popularized by World of Warcraft. This term refers to items that become soulbound to the player after it has been picked up from a monster. In other words, the item cannot be traded once a player picks it up. BoP items commonly cause looting conflicts and disputes during game-play.
BRB	“be right back”
Bot	Generally illegal and discouraged form of gameplay, where actions of a character can be automated to perform actions repeatedly in order to gain experience and level without actual user intervention. This practice is continually monitored by GMs and will cause suspension of service if one is suspected of botting.
BRT	“be right there”
BTW	“by the way”
Buff	Temporary boost to character attribute or combat ability
Camp(ing)	The act of waiting in an area to hunt a specific mob or a specific spawn
CoH	City of Heroes
Class	Professional archetypes. In D&D games, these would be warrior, healer, rogue and mage. The most typical class types are: close-range damage, ranged damage, healing, crowd control, support.
Cleric	Typical healing class in D&D style games
Corpse	In certain MMOs, a corpse appears where the player died. Sometimes all the player’s items and money are left on the corpse and the player is teleported back to their bind spot. Corpses typically will decay after a certain time proportional the character’s level.
Corpse Run	The act of retrieving your corpse after you have died. This is typically a dangerous thing because people tend to die in dangerous places rather than safe places.
Crafting	A general category of skills that allows players to manufacture objects from raw resources
Crit	"To crit" refers to landing a critical hit either with melee or spells. Effective damage is usually increased from a base of 150% to upwards of 250% with extra talents/skills/buffs.
Crowd Control	Refers to a set of spells / abilities that temporarily paralyze or stun other mobs or players. Crowd control is an important group support ability when fighting multiple mobs.
DAoC	Abbreviation for Dark Age of Camelot. An online game.
DD	Direct Damage. Used to refer to a class of spells and abilities that allow players to damage enemies from a distance. The firebolt is the archetypal DD.
Debuff	The opposite of a buff. An offensive spell cast on enemies that weakens an attribute or combat ability.
Dirt Nap	Slang for dead. Most corpses lie on the ground when killed.
DKP	Dragon kill points. A fairly elaborate score-keeping system used by guilds to fairly distribute loot based on participation and contribution to the guild.
DoT	Damage over time. Refers to a class of spells that deals damage over a period of time. These spells typically do more damage than DD spells overall.
DPS	Damage per second. Used when figuring out weapon speed and damage.
Druid	Hybrid class in D&D style games - part healer, part support, part fighter.
Eating Grass	Slang for dead. Most corpses lie on the ground when killed face down.
EQ	Abbreviation for EverQuest. An online game.
Experience	A quantity gained when completing tasks/quests, killing mobs, or various other achievements in games. When enough experience is accrued, characters often “level up” and become more powerful.
Farm(ing)	The act of accumulating currency or a specific item by repeatedly killing a mob or repeatedly performing a series of actions
FTW	Acronym for "for the win". Refers to the act, ability, event that's responsible for a victory. For example, "Sheep FTW!!" - sheep being a spell that temporarily paralyzes an enemy.
Gank	Verb. To be ganked is a term referring to one player being overwhelmed and killed by a large group. Can be either by a group of other players doing player-kill or a group of NPC monsters. Used in a sentence, "I got ganked yesterday in Fel." Typically has the connotation that the other people had an unfair advantage (in number or level).
GM	Game Master. GM's are characters in an MMORPG who are used by employees of the game's creator company. They monitor the actions of the game world and answer the questions and complaints of the players. They have absolute control and power within the game. If the crime (breaking a law of the game, not the real world) committed is serious enough, they could even expel players permanently from the game.
Griefer	Title for a player who enjoys inflicting pain upon other players needlessly. If you kill newbies in a PvP game when you are level 50, you will gain no experience or benefit from the victimization beyond the pure joy of knowing you have given the player “grief.” Though griefers are almost always PKers, PKers are not necessarily griefers.
Guilds	Semi-permanent player groups. In typical games, players must use a substantial amount of capital to start the guild.
GTG	“good to go” and “got to go” - can be confusing when context is unclear
Health	A base attribute of characters
IMHO	“in my humble opinion”
INC	Abbreviation for "incoming". When a tank pulls for group, the tank will use this as warning that a mob is incoming.
IRL	“in real life”
Instance	An instantiation of a particular dungeon for a particular group of players. Instanced dungeons are then parallel worlds such that different groups of players can explore the same dungeon in separate groups.
J/K	“just kidding”
Kite	To lure a mob or player around much like a kite on a string while attacking it in some capacity. A player draws agro and the mobility of the monster is reduced. The monster tries to follow the target (thus becoming the kite on the string with the target hold the string.) In EQ a common kiting is DoT (Damage over time) with a snare (reduces the monsters speed) then running in a large circle until the monster is dead. Methods of kiting vary from game to game.
KoS	Acronym for "Kill on Sight". Usually used to refer to characters who are disliked by a particular guild. E.g., "After corpse-camping several of our guild's members, we put Gorath on the guild's KoS list".
KS	Kill Stealing. When another player attacks the same creature as another player and receives the reward for the kill instead of the person who originated combat. Newer games have mechanisms for discouraging this behavior.
LD	Link dead - when a player is disconnected from the game
Leet	Slang variant of “elite”
LFG	“looking for group”
LFM	“looking for more”, i.e., after a group has been formed and more members are needed.
LFT	“looking for team”
LMAO	“laughing my ass off”
LOL	“laughing out loud”
LoS	Line of sight. A requirement of most ranged abilities is that the view of the target not be obstructed by any fixed obstacle, such as a wall.
Loot	Currency or items that are dropped by a mob when it is defeated
Mana	A commonly-used pool of magic potential (magical analog of health points)
Macro	Programming term applied to user-made macros, or scripts that can automatically send messages, cast spells, and a variety of other functions. Mainly used to automate things that are repeatedly done to expediate gameplay.
Medding	Resting in order to gain back mana in EQ was called Meditating. This is the commonly used abbreviation, also shortened to Med, as in, "Don't pull yet, I need to med."
Mez	Short for mesmerize. A short-hand for a collection of abilities that temporarily stun or immobilize enemies. Falls into the more general category known as crowd control.
Min-Maxing	When players attempt to create their characters as powerful as they can be by crunching statistics, planning their future routes, and any other methods in order to make their characters the statistically best character possible. Optimization.
MMORPG	Massively-Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game
Mob	An AI controlled monster. 'Mob' originally comes from the MUD era, where it was short for 'mobile', to differentiate monsters that would patrol a set of rooms as opposed to monsters which would stay in one place until killed.
Mod	Abbreviation of modification. Used as both a verb and a noun. As a noun, refers to add-ons by 3rd party programmers designed to augment the game (e.g., the self-cast mod). As a verb, refers to the act of performing this modification (e.g., he's modding the interface).
MOO	MUD Object Oriented. Users in MOOs are able to create their own content - both static and dynamic objects.
MT	“mistell”. Mistells occur frequently because of typing in the wrong name before sending a message. Also because of auto-reply features.
MUD	Multi-User Dungeon, although some prefer Multi-User Domain. These were the original textual online worlds.
Mule	In many games, due to long travel times or inventory limits, it is helpful to create a character explicitly for the purpose of being able to check auction houses or store extra items. These characters are seldom actually played and are referred to as mules.
Nerf	To soften or reduce an ability, item, player, or action. Usually this is a term applied when a power or ability is reduced because it is perceived to be too powerful.
Newbie	A new player
Ninja (Looting)	Ninja looting refers to the purposeful and malicious looting of a drop from a monster that doesn't follow the rules set by the group. In a sense, the item is stolen. This can take different forms in different games due to game-specific game looting mechanisms. In World of Warcraft, ninja looting refers to rolling for a BoP drop that a person should not have rolled on. Because WoW warns players when they roll for a BoP object, it is assumed that such behavior cannot be accidental. The player exhibiting such behavior is typically branded as a ninja looter.
Noob	The pejorative form of newbie
NP	“no problem”
NPC	Non-player character (ie. controlled by AI)
Nuke	Refers to casters, to cast the highest damage spell or spell combo to effectively pull or finish of a npc. Mages usually are the most effective class in highest burst damage.
OMG	“oh my god”
OMW	“on my way”
OOC	out-of-character - used to refer to OOC chat
OOM	“out of mana”
ownz	Derived from the original word "own," both words have the same meaning: to defeat some other entity in battle or other form of competition. The "pwnz" origin is probably from the fact that the "o" and "p" keys are adjacent on the standard qwerty keyboard, and were used interchangeably by mistake in games and stuck around since then.
Pat	Short for patrol, a term used for mobs that have a set wandering path. In a dungeon, people will usually say "Wait for the pat" or "Watch the pat".
PB	Point blank. Used to refer to a class of spells that originates in a radius around the caster. Typically, these spells are dangerous to the caster because they require proximity to the enemy. Specific spells are typically concatenated with the ability, i.e. pbae mez, pbae stun
PC	Player Character
PK	Player Killing
PKer	Player Killer - a derogatory term - as in a person who primarily plays to kill other players
Port	Short for teleport. Used as a noun and a verb.
Power Level	When a higher level player tries to help a lower level player level faster. Most games have mechanisms that prevent power leveling.
Proc	Abbreviation of "programmed random occurence", refers to usually the benefits of added damage or other buffing enhancement that occurs randomly when an item strikes or is used.
PuG	Pick-up Group - a group assembled on the spot for a quest, a PvP group, or an instance raid.
Pull	A standard hunting strategy where a player lures a single or a group of mobs to the group so that the group can hunt from a safe area instead of hunting in areas where new mobs may spawn.
PvE	Player vs. Environment. Environment stands for all monsters (mobs) in the world
PvP	Player vs. Player combat
pwnz	same as ownz
QQ	An emoticon that represents eyes weeping/crying. Used as both an emoticon and a verb. As an emoticon, it is usually a sarcastic reply to someone else's complaint or rant. In that setting, it is similar to "go cry me a river" or "oh boo-hoo". As a verb, it stands in for "complaining about" - e.g., "All the shaman are QQing about the nerf". Note that the verb form refers unintuitively to the complaining rather than the crying.
Race	Typically fantastical creations, such as Elves, Trolls and the like.
Raid	A more substantial engagement involving a large organized group of players typically set in a dungeon and involving difficult mobs
Regen	Short for regeneration (of health, mana, or other replenishable attributes)
Respec	At certain high levels in some games, you are given the chance to “respec” your character. When you respec, you recreate your character from level 1 until the present level in terms of skills/powers/abilities/etc.
Rez	Short for resurrection. Refers to abilities that revive players that have just died. Typically only available to healer classes.
ROFL	“rolling on floor laughing”
RMT	Abbreviation for Real Money Trade - selling virtual currency for real currency.
Roll	To "roll" on an item means to type "/random 100", where the server's random number generator puts out a number between 1 and 100, the most generally accepted "fair" way to distribute loot and settle disputes.
Root	Can refer to a class of abilities as well as its effect. A root spell immobilizes a target. The target is then said to be rooted. Early versions of these abilities involved references to plants, hence "root".
RvR	Realm vs. Realm.
Server	Due to technical reasons, each server can only support a limited amount of players. Each MMORPG typically has several servers. Players cannot interact with players on other servers.
Shard	Synonymous with server
Solo	The act of playing alone, hunting mobs alone.
Soulbound	An item-control mechanic where an item cannot be traded. In other words, only one person can own the object and it cannot be traded. See also BoE and BoP.
Spawn	Mobs typically appear (spawn) on a given schedule. This is both a verb and noun.
Spec	Short for specification. When used in games, it usually refers to the build/specifications of your character in terms of skills/abilities/magic/powers/etc.
Stun	A typical form of crowd control ability that immobilizes an enemy
SWG	Abbreviation for Star Wars Galaxies. An online game.
Tank	As a noun, refers to character classes that can take a lot of damage. As a verb, refers to the act of drawing aggro from mobs before other team members strike with their abilities.
Twink	As a verb, the act of giving currency or valuable items to a newbie. As a noun, refers to a character that is twinked. In many games, twinked characters are visually marked by their level-inappropriate gear.
Twisting	To rapidly change from one type of ability to another where the abilities overlap momentarily. In DAOC a bard sings a song that gives a buff. By rapidly changing the song several songs will overlap due to the duration of the songs continuing for a short period of time.
UO	Abbreviation for Ultima Online. An online game.
Uber	Slang form of super
WB	“welcome back”
Wipe	To "wipe" means for the entire group whether party or raid to all die. However, party or raid can only continue if there is a class that can resurrect oneself, thereby avoiding the time consumed from running back from the the graveyard and regrouping at the beginning of the instance.
WOOT	Synonymous with "hooray" or "way to go".
WoW	Abbreviation for World of Warcraft. An online game.
WTB	“want to buy”
WTS	“want to sell”
XP	experience points
Zerg	A combat strategy where a large group of players rush in at the target. Seen as a simple-minded strategy that requires no skill.
Zone	In games where different areas of the world are parceled out for loading reasons, different areas are referred to as zones.

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You are welcome to post suggested additions to the list via the comments. In general, I've tried to only include terms that are used across several MMOs. I feel that including game-specific terms would overwhelm and make this page unnecessarily unwieldy. The goal here is to provide a lexicon that would allow the parsing of most MMO talk across most MMOs. So terms like "mob" or "camping" make sense, but terms like "ferry" make less sense.

The Daedalus Gateway

Over the past 5 years, I've presented these findings in a variety of formats. I settled on The Daedalus Project as a way to easily present findings, but the problem that emerged was that it became hard to illustrate themes and show the big picture using a blog format.

The Daedalus Gateway is an attempt to provide a coherent gateway to all those findings. Also, they are meant as a set of thematic primers for people who stumble onto the site but have no idea where to start or how to make sense of all the information.

I hope The Daedalus Gateway is useful as a means to navigate through the underlying data that has been presented over the past few years. Those pages will also be updated as new findings and resources become available.

In Search of Fan Videos

One of the easiest ways to explain the complexity of what occurs in MMORPGs is through fan videos (especially to non-gamers). They offer compact, visually engaging distillations of what would take many words to explain. To that end, I am trying to compile a set of high quality fan videos (in terms of content and video resolution) that document the many interesting social phenomena that emerge in MMORPG environments.

Please email me links to videos with the subject "MMORPG Fan Videos". Submitted links can be in the following categories or any particularly meaningful videos you have come across. I will then include them on this page for other readers and for reference.

Submitted video links may be raw footage or edited footage, but in either case should have decent resolution. Submitted links should be to videos with both good content and visual appeal. The goal is not to create an exhaustive list, but to have a selection of great fan videos.

1) Memorials / Tributes. Footage of memorials or tributes to real life events or real people.

- Teletha's Memorial (DAoC)
- Remember (DAoC)

2) Combat/ Raid / RvR. Footage that showcases the complexity of the organizational and leadership skills needed in a large group combat or large scale raid.

- Drakulv Executioners (DAoC)

3) Funny Moments. Footage of hilarious moments or occurrences in the world.

4) Scripted Play / Music Video. Edited footage that uses the MMORPG as a stage for a music parody or scripted play.

- Ice Ice Baby (SWG)
- Go Beyond (E&B) - use DivX player to open
- Justice (CoH)
- Come As You Are (DAoC)
- Drunken Scottsman(DAoC)
- Has Anyone Seen My Corpse (EQ)

5) The Complexity of Play. Footage of how game play involves a lot of work. Crafting professions (such as in SWG) would be great examples.

- Building a Pyramid (A Tale in the Desert)

FAQ: The Good and The Bad

I was recently interviewed over email over some issues centered on game-play and game addiction. I decided to include them here as they answer some of the questions I am most frequently asked about.

What evidence suggests video games and online role playing games are addictive?

60% of MMORPG players surveyed have played the game for 10 hours continuously or more.
44% of MMORPG players surveyed would consider themselves to be addicted to the game they are playing.
13% of MMORPG players surveyed have tried to quit the game but failed.

About 5% of MMORPG players surveyed strongly agree that playing the game:
- makes them feel guilty
- has caused them financial or relationship problems in real-life
- they become irritable and angry if they can’t play the game.
- has caused their social life to suffer.
- arguments have arisen at home because of their game-play

Are there positive factors to playing these games?

Yes there are, and I wish people focused on these more often:

Learning Leadership Skills
Learning Relationship / Communication Skills
Helping Teenagers Deal with Identity / Gender Issues
Helping Individuals Gain Confidence and Self-Esteem
How Playing Helps Romantic Couples who Play Together
How Playing Helps Parents and Children who Play Together:
Using MMORPGs as Therapeutic Spaces
Educational Uses of MMORPGs

What are the primary negative factors?

MMORPGs are designed to encourage time investment and are more addictive than other less complex games. For a more detailed analysis, read through The Skinner Box.

If they are addictive, why is that so?

One theory of addiction is that people become dependent on a substance/action because it ultimately empowers them as it destroys them. For example, individuals who feel they have no control over their lives might binge eat or shop because in those moments, they can at least feel they are in control. One reason why MMORPGs might be so addictive is because they help individuals deal with a host of very common issues they might be dealing in real-life. For example:

- People with low self-esteem can become a knight or a princess and feel they can achieve something in this virtual world.
- People with poor self-image can become as beautiful and agile as they want.
- People who feel they have no control over anything in life can exert control in a virtual environment where they have super-human abilities.
- People who feel unneeded or under-valued can make a difference.
- People who have trouble sustaining relationships in real life find it easier to do so in the simplified world of MMORPGs.
- People who are stressed and burdened with problems in real life can use MMORPGs as an escape.

====

What are indicators of possible addiction?

A combination of:

- Anxiety, frustration and anger when unable to play.
- Feelings of guilt when playing.
- Continuing to play even when you’re not having fun.
- Peers or family have suggested that game-play has become a problem.
- A deterioration in social life.
- Emergence of financial or relationship problems.

How much time is reasonable for a youth to spend playing video games?

MMORPG players play on average about 22 hours per week. This, on the other hand, is less than the average number of hours that a typical American watches TV per week which is 27 hours. The important thing is to make sure you can set clear time schedules (“I’m only going to play for 2 hours”) and to be able to log off when that time is up. I think around 22 hours is a reasonable amount per week. Of course, if a teenager is out of school, then it is ok to play more since they have more time as long as they can moderate their game-play and aren’t playing the whole day away.

Individually, how can a possible video game addiction be resolved?

Different players play the game for different reasons, and this is actually a fairly complicated issue. Some players are driven by the achievement cycle, while others get tied up with their online social network. Others play to escape real life, and yet others play to become the heroes they can’t be in real life. On an individual basis, the key to resolving addiction is to identify what is motivating the individual to play and address that issue specifically. Of course, this should be done with the help of a counselor who is familiar with online games or non-substance addictions.

How would you recommend solving the problem on a nationwide basis?

I’m not sure if there’s an actual problem per se. Driving automobiles causes far more deaths on a statistical perspective than playing video games. An addiction is not something a substance/game causes as much as it is vulnerability in the individual that has gone out of control. As such, destroying all games won’t suddenly cure all people of their self-image and confidence issues. And in fact, there’s a lot of good that is coming out of these games as well. To me, the problem isn’t the games. The problem is people who blame the game instead of really helping the person when he/she becomes addicted.

What can others do to help eliminate this problem?

As with all other indulgences in life, moderation is the key. I would rather see all these people campaigning against video games to campaign against alcohol because alcohol, by far, causes more deaths and problems in our society than video games …

Download PDF's

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Vol. 1-1
Vol. 1-2
Vol. 1-3
Vol. 1-4
Vol. 1-5
Vol. 1-6
Vol. 1-7

Vol. 2-1
Vol. 2-2
Vol. 2-3
Vol. 2-4

Vol. 3-1
Vol. 3-2 (Motivations Issue)
Vol. 3-3
Vol. 3-4 (WoW Issue)
Vol. 3-5

Vol. 4-1
Vol. 4-2 (Guild Leadership Issue)
Vol. 4-3 (Role-Playing Issue)

Description of Personality Factors

The Dynamics model is part of an elaborate and empirically validated model developed by Edward Murray. It combines the complexity and depth of psychoanalytic theories with the robustness of a modern, empirically-validated personality assessment tool. The Dynamics are underlying motivations that drive an individual. The model does not shoe-horn people in "types". Instead, an individual has a score/loading on each factor to find out what the dominant dynamics are.

Performer: Derives satisfaction from high-energy and thrill-seeking activities. Because Performers derive pleasure from activity, their greatest fear is a sense of emptiness from stagnation or inactivity.

Egoist: Derives satisfaction from self-achievements and improving one's abilities/status. The greatest fear of an Egoist is being worthless and being unable to help himself.

Leader: Derives satisfaction from asserting control over other people. The greatest fear of a Leader is to be subjugated and being in a subservient position.

Manager: Derives satisfaction from order, control and rules. The greatest fear of a Manager is intense shame and guilt from disobeying a rule or losing control.

Theoretician: Derives satisfaction from understanding and mastering a body of knowledge. The greatest fear of a Theoretician is ignorance or irrationality.

Relating: Derives satisfaction from intimate relationships with others. The greatest fear of a Relating individual is not being loved.

Loyalist: Derives satisfaction from allegiance with a group or authority figure. The greatest fear of a Loyalist is autonomy because they get security from being part of a group.

Mediator: Derives satisfaction from keeping peace and maintaining harmony in their relationships and in their surroundings. The greatest fear of a Mediator is an unprincipled or corrupt environment where peace can never be maintained.

Aesthete: Derives satisfaction from connecting with larger cultural or existential issues. The greatest fear of an Aesthere is apathy or emptiness.

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The Big-5 model is composed of 5 factors - 5 scales that are thought to describe the fundamental traits of human personality. In recent years, each factor has become composed of different sub-facets. 3 of the 5 factors were used (Extraversion, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness), and here are 3 sub-facets from each of those factors.

Factor: Extraversion

Friendliness. Friendly people genuinely like other people and openly demonstrate positive feelings toward others. They make friends quickly and it is easy for them to form close, intimate relationships. Low scorers on Friendliness are not necessarily cold and hostile, but they do not reach out to others and are perceived as distant and reserved.

Gregariousness. Gregarious people find the company of others pleasantly stimulating and rewarding. They enjoy the excitement of crowds. Low scorers tend to feel overwhelmed by, and therefore actively avoid, large crowds. They do not necessarily dislike being with people sometimes, but their need for privacy and time to themselves is much greater than for individuals who score high on this scale.

Assertiveness. High scorers Assertiveness like to speak out, take charge, and direct the activities of others. They tend to be leaders in groups. Low scorers tend not to talk much and let others control the activities of groups.

Factor: Agreeableness

Trust. A person with high trust assumes that most people are fair, honest, and have good intentions. Persons low in trust see others as selfish, devious, and potentially dangerous.

Compliance / Cooperation. Individuals who score high on this scale dislike confrontations. They are perfectly willing to compromise or to deny their own needs in order to get along with others. Those who score low on this scale are more likely to intimidate others to get their way.

Modesty. High scorers on this scale do not like to claim that they are better than other people. In some cases this attitude may derive from low self-confidence or self-esteem. Nonetheless, some people with high self-esteem find immodesty unseemly. Those who are willing to describe themselves as superior tend to be seen as disagreeably arrogant by other people.

Factor: Conscientiousness

Orderliness. Persons with high scores on orderliness are well-organized. They like to live according to routines and schedules. They keep lists and make plans. Low scorers tend to be disorganized and scattered.

Dutifulness. This scale reflects the strength of a person's sense of duty and obligation. Those who score high on this scale have a strong sense of moral obligation. Low scorers find contracts, rules, and regulations overly confining. They are likely to be seen as unreliable or even irresponsible.

Achievement-Striving. Individuals who score high on this scale strive hard to achieve excellence. Their drive to be recognized as successful keeps them on track toward their lofty goals. They often have a strong sense of direction in life, but extremely high scores may be too single-minded and obsessed with their work. Low scorers are content to get by with a minimal amount of work, and might be seen by others as lazy.

- these descriptors were taken from John A. Johnson's page. Dr. Johnson is a Professor of Psychology at Penn State University.

Brief Intro for Big-5 Factors: Bad design decisions, but good content.
International Personality Item Pool: The main site for the IPIP.
Take the IPIP: Take a more extensive assessment.
Critique of the Big-5: Well-written critique of the Big-5 model.

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And finally, here are the brief descriptions from the 5 factors taken from the Facets study:

Relationship: This factor measures the desire to develop meaningful relationships with other players in the game - usually in the form of a supportive friendship.

Immersion: This factor measures the desire to become immersed in a make-believe construct and to role-play different characters.

Grief: This factor measures the desire to objectify and use other players for one's own gains.

Achievement: This factor measures the desire to become powerful within the construct of a game and correlates with a desire to accumulate weapons or symbols of power.

Group / Lead: This factor measures the gregariousness of a player, and correlates with a desire to achieve group success as well as a desire to lead these groups.

Subscription Information

This is not a commerical project, and your email will never to given out, sold or distributed to a third party. The subscription list for "The Daedalus Project" is the same one as the "Online MMORPG Study" list, so if you are already subscribed to the "Online MMORPG Study" list, you do not need to subscribe again.

Subscription to The Daedalus Project allows you to receive notification when:

- a new issue of The Daedalus Project is available.
- a new survey is available for your participation.

An "unsubscribe me" link will be available on every email notification sent to you.

About Me

I was born and grew up in Hong Kong. Both my parents had been in the US for college before moving back to Hong Kong, so I grew up bilingual in Cantonese and English. When I was 14, I went to Choate, a boarding school in Conneticut.

Then I went to Haverford College, a small liberal arts college outside of Philadelphia. It was in my sophomore year (1998-1999) that I took a required methodology course with Prof. Doug Davis where I learned the basics of conducting online survey research and made my first webpage. In the beginning of my junior year, a pair of seniors were carrying out research in exploring whether players of different game genres have different personalities. They chose Quake, StarCraft and EverQuest as the exemplar of 3 genres. At that time, none of us had ever played EQ, so we went and got a copy to try it out. I was the only one who got hooked.

So in the spring of my junior year, I took an independent study with Doug Davis to apply my skills in an area I was interested in - immersive online environments. At that time, there was a paucity of quantitative data related to MMORPGs. Under Prof. Davis’ guidance, I defined my research goals and collected narratives and demographic data from around 1000 EverQuest players through online surveys which I created, publicized, processed and analyzed statistically. Apart from the demographics, I also gathered qualitative data relating to the appeal of the environment, the in-game relationships that users developed, and gender dynamics.

For my senior thesis the following year (2000-2001), I continued my research in EverQuest by using my earlier findings to guide and structure a more quantitative project. I was interested in how age, gender, personality and play frequency interacted with a variety of issues – such as gender-bending, relationship formation, and in-game dynamics. I also collected data on the experience of playing the game with a real-life romantic partner, or playing with a child or parent, as well as exploring how individuals project or idealize their personalities onto their virtual personas and what they might learn from their online experiences.

Over the course of the year, I collected over 20,000 surveys from about 4,000 individual respondents. I also developed and refined my methodology to be able to efficiently publicize my surveys, process large data files using spreadsheet, database and statistical software, and accumulate a growing respondent base. Early on, I realized the value of a sustained respondent base because I could collate data from an individual’s past and future surveys, thereby allowing me to ask more complex questions, as well as obtain rich profiles of individual users.

I also learned the importance of publicizing the findings of my research online. My research has been cited in the Washington Post, CBS, TechWeek, CNET, the Associated Press, Nature.com, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal among other news outlets.

The work presented here has also been used as course reading at academic institutions, such as Stanford (History of Computer Game Design), UC Berkeley (Research Topics in HCI), U. of Washington (Intro. To New Media), U. Mass (Social Issues in Computing), Loyola New Orleans (Interactive Media), and Haverford College (Foundations of Personality).

After college, I worked for about 2 years in a Tech R&D group in Chicago (2001-2003). I am currently in a PhD program at Stanford in the Communication Department where I am doing research in immersive virtual reality in addition to online games.

General FAQ

What is your motivation for carrying out this research?

Currently, the research presented here is not part of any commercial venture, nor am I receiving funding for this research from any commercial source.

This research is being carried out as an extension of my personal and academic interests. I am motivated by the ease with which I can survey and analyze data in a fascinating area that has a paucity of empirical data. The presentations also help me build upon and apply my tech skills.

How can I contact you?

You can reach me at contact@nickyee.com

How do I cite articles in "The Daedalus Project"?

Each article has its own perma-link, and includes the word "archives" in the URL. So for example, http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/archives/000192.php

The perma-link should be used in all citations when referencing specific articles. The general form of the citation should be:

"<Article Name>"
from "The Daedalus Project"
by Nick Yee
http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/archives/<perma-link>.php

If you are citing more than two articles, feel free to cite the site as a whole:

"The Daedalus Project" by Nick Yee, available at:
http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus

What is the general methodology used?

Links to online surveys are publicized on main portals catering to specific games. Respondents from past surveys are also notified of the available surveys. Most surveys are multiple choice and consist of 30-50 questions, and usually take about 5-10 minutes to complete. Approximately 2000-4000 respondents participate in each survey phase. While self-selected surveys have certain weaknesses, I think that many common critiques of The Daedalus Project are overstated.