Transparent identities in World of Warcraft

“I came for the game, I stayed for the people” is a quote frequently used by World of Warcraft players. It describes exactly why millions of people around the world have been playing the game for years on end. World of Warcraft is a massive multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG), in which players need to cooperate in an online game environment to achieve certain game objectives. This need for team play serves as a solid foundation for online friendships to develop. These friendships can emerge in a guild, for instance, in which a group of people choose to continue playing together to achieve similar goals. One can speak of mutual dependency, because players need each other to progress further in the game. That dependence grows stronger as the friendship between players evolves.

Although World of Warcraft belongs to the category of “roleplaying games”, the community values the true identity of the fellow player. The social contact between players is usually not confined to the game environment, but often expands to other channels such as forums, voice chat, social networking sites and even face-to-face encounters. A transparent identity is a precondition for trust, which is indispensable to both friendship and team play. The better players are acquainted with each other, the more devoted they are to help each other. Currently there is little room in the game environment for transparency of one’s true identity, which in many cases leads to a lack of (emotional) bonding between players. It is very easy for players to lose track of each other, and existing friendships often slip away when they cease playing together.

Through digital ethnography and qualitative interviews, I am investigating how the player’s true identity can be made more transparent in the current game environment of World of Warcraft. In consultation with a user panel of World of Warcraft players, I am developing a broader basis for personal communication in the game environment. During this development, the principles of social media – these are online platforms where people share stories, knowledge and experiences – are being kept in mind.

The result of this research is an in-game AddOn , which is an extension to the existing interface, that allows the player to establish and maintain friendships from his or her true identity, and thus independent of the virtual character he or she is playing. He or she is no longer playing together with Warrior X from guild Y, but with James from Dublin, Ireland, who’s thirty-two years old and a real football fanatic.

The more that players know about each other, the greater the chances of rapports forming. Since there are more occasions for conversation, profound relationships can be formed. When the core foundation of the game (the interaction between players) is better being supported, both the overall game experience and team play can be improved.

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