Fun and Fatigue

How much fun are MMO players really having with their current game? And which players are the most likely to quit because they're bored? Four questions in a recent survey explored these issues:

- How much fun are you having with your current MMO?
- How likely are you to quit in the next month?
- Would you sell your account for $200?
- How excited are you about experiencing content (skills, spells, dungeons, etc.) you haven't seen yet?

With regards to the amount of fun with the current MMO, there were no age differences. Players of all ages were having comparable levels of self-reported fun. There was a mild gender differences. Female players reported having more fun overall than male players. A multiple regression with player motivations as predictors found a weak model (r-squared = .06) where the Socializing motivation emerged as the best predictor of current fun. The more a player chats and socializes in an MMO, the more likely they report having fun.

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Female players reported a lower likelihood of quitting in the next month. There was also a mild age correlation. Younger players reported that they were more likely to quit (r = -.11). An ANCOVA showed that the age and gender differences were significant independent of each other. In other words, it's not the case that the age difference is only driven by the gender difference, or vice versa.

A multiple regression with player motivations as predictors found a weak model (r-squared = .04) where again the Socializing motivation emerged as the strongest predictor. The more players chat and socialize, the lower their likelihood of quitting.

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Male players are more willing to sell their accounts. There was also a moderate correlation with age. Younger players are more willing to sell their accounts (r = .20). An ANCOVA showed that the age and gender differences were significant independent of each other. In other words, it's not the case that the age difference is only driven by the gender difference, or vice versa.

A multiple regression with player motivations as predictors found a weak model (r-squared = .09) where the Competition and Relationship motivations emerged as the strongest predictors. The more competitive a player is, the more likely they will sell their account. On the other hand, the more a player enjoys forming relationships in an MMO, the less likely they will sell their account.

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Male and female players are equally excited about getting to content they haven't seen yet. There was a mild correlation with age. Younger players were slightly more likely to be excited about inexperienced content (r = -.11). A multiple regression with player motivations as predictors found a weak model (r-squared = .13) where the Discovery, Advancement and Socializing motivations emerged as the strongest predictors. The more a player enjoys exploration, socializing or leveling, the more excited they are about unexperienced content.