Formes de l’autorégulation de la vie sociale des joueurs intensifs de Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs)

Abstract

While perceptions of video gaming are moving from being suspicious to being enthralled, the fact remains that the social component of Massively Multiplayer Online Games is now the subject of most recent research. This article presents findings of research undertaken with intensive and formerly intensive gamers of MMOGs to shed light on the break in playing that they experienced. The objective was to better understand how intense gamers handle their social lives despite their time-consuming activity. Results show that players viewed their gaming activity as part of their overall social lives following two ideal-type patterns: leisure and/or a virtual ‘third place.’ Despite the intensity of their gaming, the players demonstrated that they respected their commitments, owing to a sense of prioritization. Findings of this research drastically reduce the presence of an intrinsic addictive characteristic in video games by placing the pleasure of being together at the heart of the activity.

Alors que la perception de la pratique vidéo-ludique est en train de changer passant de la suspicion à l’engouement, il demeure que le côté social des jeux massivement multijoueurs est désormais pointé du doigt par les dernières études. Ce travail présente les résultats d’une recherche effectuée auprès de joueurs intensifs et anciennement intensifs afin d’éclairer le moment de rupture qu’ils ont vécu. La finalité est de comprendre comment ils équilibrent leurs vies sociales en dépit d’une activité vidéo-ludique chronophage. Les résultats ont montré que les joueurs intensifs envisagent l’activité vidéo-ludique au sein de leur vie sociale selon deux modèles idéaux-typiques : un loisir et/ou un tiers-lieu virtuel. Malgré l’intensité horaire de leur pratique, les joueurs respectent leurs engagements grâce à une priorisation de leurs obligations sociales. Les résultats de cette recherche réduisent drastiquement l’éventualité d’un élément addictif intrinsèque des jeux vidéo en replaçant le plaisir d’être ensemble au cœur de la pratique.

Keywords:

• video games
• social life
• MMOG
• third place
• addiction

Mots clés:

• jeu vidéo
• vie sociale
• MMOG
• tiers-lieux
• dépendance

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Le terme « addiction » pour la pratique vidéo-ludique est rejeté par King et Delfabbro, car les deux chercheurs défendent que n’importe quelle activité peut être addictive.

2. En anglais : « salience », « mood modification », « tolerance », « withdrawal symptom », « conflict », « relapse ».

3. Traduction personnelle de : « Leisure is an extraordinary meeting place of the real and the unreal […] an extraordinary meeting place of the serious and superficial. […] In other words, these leisure situations are realities in which the real and the unreal, the serious and the superficial, come together. »

4. Traduction personnelle de : « My avatar is more a continuum of myself than a separate character » (M, 35, AUS).

5. Traduction personnelle de : « I play very competitively and very seriously. […] I gave up playing World of Warcraft because on a competitive game WoW you end up spending a lot of time playing although when I play COD [Call of Duty] Modern Warfare I play only maybe for 2–3 hours and I’ll be, I’m quite at it » (M, 22, AUS).

6. Traduction personnelle de : « binary illusion ».

7. Traduction personnelle de : « My friends in the virtual world were organized around shared activities, mostly PvP combat. We would chat about other things, but the focus of the relationship was on the shared game activities. […] I don’t really consider WoW as being a different life, maybe just a different component of the same life. It’s no different from being one person in the workplace, and another person who is a member of a political party for example. […] When I was still playing a couple of people quit. Some said goodbye, others just dropped out silently. I suppose I felt a little abandoned by those who just dropped out, because even though the subject matter of the relationship was shallow, the friendship still seemed real » (M, 35, AUS).

8. Traduction personnelle de : « I think in some ways I’m not really gaming that much now like two times a week is hmm I think if it became boring or they raised the cost to a certain amount or if I got so busy get married and have kids it will be like just no time for it » (M, 42, CAN).

9. Traduction personnelle de : « I have got to know a lot of people by playing games with them on consoles or PCs or whatever a lot better than I would have otherwise a lot better. It’s very funny how much you can tell about a person when they play. Someone who picks the heavy weapon for them then ride like a hero generally has a little bit of a confidence or arrogance in their personality and it definitely says that like one of my friend he is like whenever he plays a game he just loads up with anything he can and shoots everything he sees and in real life he is like that he charges he just does that » (M, 19, AUS).

10. Traduction personnelle de : « I like the fact that other people are playing the game with me. […] I don’t like PvP but enjoy being in a group and chatting while we do something. […] I sometimes play Sims 3, but that’s rare, and usually only when I don’t feel like playing WoW. It feels empty and quiet without people to chat to while I play » (F, 22, AUS).

11. Traduction personnelle de : « I like going back to the game and helping others because well you know I have been there and being stuck is not fun so I enjoy doing that helping other players » (M, 19, AUS).