The Experiences of Self-Extension, Archetypes, and Motivations in MMORPG Online Games: An Analysis of Brazilian World of Warcraft Context
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Abstract
Objective: the relationship between player and character is important to understand the concept of the extended self in virtual markets. This study aims to further understand this relationship between player and online game. MMORPGs have several resources that affect the psychological experience of players, who feel connected to their characters. The online world seems to free us from our physical bodies and provide new ways to express ourselves. Thus, the archetypal structures are part of the social imaginary, as fictional universes and avatars in online games. Methods: a netnography methodology was used in order to participate in an online community of the game and collect information about the construction of the game archetype, the players’ relationships and their extended self, and the motivations that engage the players. Results: it was found that archetypes serve as limitations but also as a guarantee of involvement and satisfaction. We also identified person-building relationships in search of an ideal reality, and we found that the motivations that most drive players are the search for relationships and escapism as a way to immerse and escape from ‘real reality.’ Conclusions: the study was directed toward the archetypal construction of the game. The extended self is a form of consumption and interaction with the avatar but also an escape from ‘real reality’ and the co-construction of an archetype of a virtual fantasy world that forms part of the relationship and evolution of consumption and entertainment patterns.
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Silva, J. P. N., Assis, F. A. A., Pedrosa, G., Grützmann, A., & Rezende, D. C. de. (2025). The Experiences of Self-Extension, Archetypes, and Motivations in MMORPG Online Games: An Analysis of Brazilian World of Warcraft Context. Brazilian Administration Review, 21(Supplement), e240110. https://doi.org/10.1590/1807-7692bar2024240110
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Research Articles
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
References
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Li, D. D., Liau, A. K., & Khoo, A. (2013). Player – Avatar Identification in video gaming: Concept and measurement. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(1), 257–263. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2012.09.002
Liu, C.-C. (2016). Understanding player behavior in online games: The role of gender. Technological Forecasting & Social Change, 111(1), 265–274.
Livingston, I. J., Gutwin, C., Mandryk, R. L., & Birk, M. (2014). How Players value their characters in world of warcraft. Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, CSCW, 1333–1343. https://doi.org/10.1145/2531602.2531661
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Neustaedter, C., & Fedorovskaya, E. (2009). Presenting Identity in a Virtual World through Avatar Appearances. GI ’09: Procedings of Graphics Interface, 1(1), 183– 190.
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Rapp, A. (2018b). Social Game Elements in World of Warcraft: Interpersonal Relations, Groups, and Organizations for Gamification Design. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, 34(8), 759–773. https://doi.org/10.1080/10447318.2018.1461760
Rapp, A. (2020). An exploration of world of Warcraft for the gamification of virtual organizations. Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, 42(September 2019), 100985. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.elerap.2020.100985
Rapp, A. (2021). Time, engagement and video games: How game design elements shape the temporalities of play in massively multiplayer online role-playing games. Information Systems Journal, 32(1), 5–32. https://doi.org/10.1111/isj.12328
Sailer, M., Hense, J. U., Mayr, S. K., & Mandl, H. (2017). How gamification motivates: An experimental study of the effects of specific game design elements on psychological need satisfaction. Computers in Human Behavior, 69, 371–380. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.12.033
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Sohye, L., & Reeves, B. (2009). Being in the Game: Effects of Avatar Choice and Point of View on Psychophysiological Responses During Play. Media Psychology, 12(4), 348–370. https://doi.org/10.1080/15213260903287242
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Thorhauge, A. M. (2024). The steam platform economy: From retail to player-driven economies. New Media and Society, 26(4), 1963–1983. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448221081401
Wang, H., Zhang, Z., Khalid, M. N. A., Iida, H., & Li, K. (2021). Mmorpg evolution analysis from explorer and achiever perspectives: A case study using the final fantasy series. Information (Switzerland), 12(6), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.3390/info12060229
Williams, D., Ducheneaut, N., Yee, N., & Nickell, E. (2006). The Social Life of Guilds in World of Warcraft. Games and Culture, 1(4), 338–361.
Williams, D., Kennedy, T. L. M., & Moore, R. J. (2011). Behind the Avatar: The Patterns, Practices, and Functions of Role Playing in MMOs. Games and Culture, 6(2), 171–200. https://doi.org/10.1177/1555412010364983
Yee, N. (2006). Motivations for Play in Online Games. Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 9(6), 772–775.
Yee, N., & Bailenson, J. (2007). The Proteus Effect: The Effect of Transformed Self- Representation on Behavior. Human Communication Research, 33(3), 271–290. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2958.2007.00299.x
Banks, J., & Bowman, N. D. (2013). Close intimate playthings? Understanding player-avatar relationships as a function of attachment, agency, and intimacy. AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research, 3(1), 1–4. https://journals.uic.edu/ojs/index.php/spir/article/view/8498
Bardin, L. (2016). Análise de Conteúdo. In Análise de Conteúdo (1a Edition). https://doi.org/10.4272/978-84-9745-209-0.ch2
Bartle, R. (2004). Designing Virtual Worlds. New Riders Publishing.
Belk, R. (1988). Possessions and the Extended Self. Journal of Consumer Research, 15(2), 139–168.
Belk, R. (2013). Extended Self in a Digital World. Journal of Consumer Research, 40(3), 477–500. https://doi.org/10.1086/671052
Belk, R. (2014). Digital consumption and the extended self. Journal of Marketing Management, 30(11–12), 37–41. https://doi.org/10.1080/0267257X.2014.939217
Belk, R. (2016). Extended self and the digital world. Current Opinion in Psychology, 10(1), 50–54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2015.11.003
Bergstrom, K., Jenson, J., & de Castell, S. (2012). What’s “choice” got to do with it? Proceedings of the International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, 97–104. https://doi.org/10.1145/2282338.2282360
Bessière, K., Seay, F., & Kiesler, S. (2007). The Ideal Elf: Identity Exploration in World of Warcraft. Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 10(4), 530–535. https://doi.org/10.1089/cpb.2007.9994
Billieux, J., Linden, M. Van Der, Achab, S., Khazaal, Y., Paraskevopoulos, L., Zullino, D., & Thorens, G. (2013). Why do you play World of Warcraft ? An in-depth exploration of self-reported motivations to play online and in-game behaviours in the virtual world of Azeroth. Computers in Human Behavior Journal, 29(1), 103–109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2012.07.021
Blizzard. (2017). World of Warcraft – Mais de 100 milhões de Jogadores. Blizzard. http://media.wow-europe.com/infographic/pt-br/world-of-warcraftinfographic.html
Brehm, A. L. (2013). Navigating the feminine in massively multiplayer online games: gender in World of Warcraft. Frontiers in Psychology, 4(December), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00903
Carmona, J., & Whiting, J. B. (2021). Escaping the escapism: A grounded theory of the addiction and recovery process in online video gaming. Qualitative Report, 26(7), 2171–2188. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2021.4643
Choi, D., & Kim, J. (2004). Why People Continue to Play Online Games: In Search of Critical Design Factors to Increase Customer Loyalty to Online Contents. Cyberpsychology and Behavior, 7(1), 11–24. https://doi.org/10.1089/109493104322820066
Debeauvais, T., Nardi, B., Schiano, D. J., Ducheneaut, N., & Yee, N. (2011). If you build it they might stay: retention mechanisms in World of Warcraft. Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Foundations of Digital Games, 180–187. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro2086
Dunn, R. A., & Guadagno, R. (2012). My avatar and me – Gender and personality predictors of avatar-self discrepancy. Computers in Human Behavior, 28(1), 97– 106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2011.08.015
Forbes. (2024, May 5). 10 Great MMO And MMORPG Games. Forbes.
Hall, C. S., Lindzey, G., & Campbell, J. B. (2000). Teorias da personalidade. Artmed.
Jung, C. G. (2000). Os Arquétipos e o Inconsciente Coletivo. Vozes.
Jung, C. G. (2008). Chegando ao inconsciente. In O homem e seus símbolos (pp. 15–132). Nova Fronteira.
Kokkinara, E., & Slater, M. (2014). Measuring the effects through time of the influence of visuomotor and visuotactile synchronous stimulation on a virtual body ownership illusion. Perception, 43(1), 43–58. https://doi.org/10.1068/p7545
Kozinets, R. V. (2002). The Field Behind the Screen: Using Netnography for Marketing Research in Online Communities. Journal of Marketing Research, 39(1), 61–72.
Kozinets, R. V. (2010). Netnography: Doing Ethnographic Research Online. Sage Publications.
Kozinets, R. V. (2020). Netnography Unlimited: Understanding Technoculture Using Qualitative Social Media Research (1st Editio). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003001430
Kromand, D. (2007). Avatar Categorization. DiGRA 2007, 400–406.
Li, D. D., Liau, A. K., & Khoo, A. (2013). Player – Avatar Identification in video gaming: Concept and measurement. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(1), 257–263. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2012.09.002
Liu, C.-C. (2016). Understanding player behavior in online games: The role of gender. Technological Forecasting & Social Change, 111(1), 265–274.
Livingston, I. J., Gutwin, C., Mandryk, R. L., & Birk, M. (2014). How Players value their characters in world of warcraft. Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, CSCW, 1333–1343. https://doi.org/10.1145/2531602.2531661
Mandryk, R. L., Frommel, J., Armstrong, A., & Johnson, D. (2020). How Passion for Playing World of Warcraft Predicts In-Game Social Capital, Loneliness, and Wellbeing. Frontiers in Psychology, 11(September). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.02165
Martínez-Cano, F. J., Cifuentes-Albeza, R., & Nicolás, B. (2019). Videojuegos prosociales como espacio transicional lúdico para la paz: el caso de Reconstrucción. Revista Latina de Comunicación Social, 74(1), 1470–1487. https://doi.org/10.4185/RLCS
Martoncik, M., & Loksa, J. (2016). Do World of Warcraft players experience less loneliness.pdf. Computers in Human Behavior, 56(1), 127–134.
MMO Populations. (2024, July 3). World of Warcraft Player Count. MMO Populations.
Muhammad, A. N., & Hidayanto, A. N. (2023). Gamers Intention Towards Purchasing Game Items in Virtual Community: Extending the Theory of Planned Behavior. International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications, 14(12), 215–221. https://www.ijacsa.thesai.org
Nardi, B. (2010). My Life as a Night Elf Priest: An Anthropological Account of World of Warcraft (1st ed.). University of Michigan Press. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvndv9nw
Neustaedter, C., & Fedorovskaya, E. (2009). Presenting Identity in a Virtual World through Avatar Appearances. GI ’09: Procedings of Graphics Interface, 1(1), 183– 190.
Pace, T., Bardzell, S., & Bardzell, J. (2010). The rogue in the lovely black dress: Intimacy in world of warcraft. Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings, 1, 233–242. https://doi.org/10.1145/1753326.1753361
Patzer, B., Chaparro, B., & Keebler, J. R. (2020). Developing a model of video game Play: Motivations, satisfactions, and continuance Intentions. Simulation and Gaming, 51(3), 287–309. https://doi.org/10.1177/1046878120903352
Pearce, C. (2011). Communities of Play: Emergent Cultures in Multiplayer Games and Virtual Worlds. MIT Press.
Rapp, A. (2018a). Gamification for self-tracking: From World of Warcraft to the design of Personal Informatics systems. Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings, 2018-April, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1145/3173574.3173654
Rapp, A. (2018b). Social Game Elements in World of Warcraft: Interpersonal Relations, Groups, and Organizations for Gamification Design. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, 34(8), 759–773. https://doi.org/10.1080/10447318.2018.1461760
Rapp, A. (2020). An exploration of world of Warcraft for the gamification of virtual organizations. Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, 42(September 2019), 100985. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.elerap.2020.100985
Rapp, A. (2021). Time, engagement and video games: How game design elements shape the temporalities of play in massively multiplayer online role-playing games. Information Systems Journal, 32(1), 5–32. https://doi.org/10.1111/isj.12328
Sailer, M., Hense, J. U., Mayr, S. K., & Mandl, H. (2017). How gamification motivates: An experimental study of the effects of specific game design elements on psychological need satisfaction. Computers in Human Behavior, 69, 371–380. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.12.033
Silva, J. P. N., Valadares, G. C., Pedrosa, G., Rezende, D. C., Cappelle, M. C. A., & Assis, F. A. A. (2021). Gender imbalance in MMORPG: the case of World of Warcraft in Brazil. Feminist Media Studies, Ahead of Print, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2021.1973060
Slater, M., Spanlang, B., Sanchez-vives, M. V, & Blanke, O. (2010). First Person Experience of Body Transfer in Virtual Reality. PLoS ONE, 5(5), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0010564
Sohye, L., & Reeves, B. (2009). Being in the Game: Effects of Avatar Choice and Point of View on Psychophysiological Responses During Play. Media Psychology, 12(4), 348–370. https://doi.org/10.1080/15213260903287242
Statista. (2024a). Number of gamers in selected gaming markets in Latin America as of September 2023. Statista. https://www.statista.com/forecasts/1419133/gamers-in-latin-american-countries
Statista. (2024b). Video Games - Brazil. Statista. https://www.statista.com/outlook/dmo/digital-media/video-games/brazil
Taylor, T. L. (2006). Does WoW Change Everything?: How a PvP Server, Multinational Player Base, and Surveillance Mod Scene Caused Me Pause. Games and Culture, 1(4), 318–337.
Thorhauge, A. M. (2024). The steam platform economy: From retail to player-driven economies. New Media and Society, 26(4), 1963–1983. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448221081401
Wang, H., Zhang, Z., Khalid, M. N. A., Iida, H., & Li, K. (2021). Mmorpg evolution analysis from explorer and achiever perspectives: A case study using the final fantasy series. Information (Switzerland), 12(6), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.3390/info12060229
Williams, D., Ducheneaut, N., Yee, N., & Nickell, E. (2006). The Social Life of Guilds in World of Warcraft. Games and Culture, 1(4), 338–361.
Williams, D., Kennedy, T. L. M., & Moore, R. J. (2011). Behind the Avatar: The Patterns, Practices, and Functions of Role Playing in MMOs. Games and Culture, 6(2), 171–200. https://doi.org/10.1177/1555412010364983
Yee, N. (2006). Motivations for Play in Online Games. Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 9(6), 772–775.
Yee, N., & Bailenson, J. (2007). The Proteus Effect: The Effect of Transformed Self- Representation on Behavior. Human Communication Research, 33(3), 271–290. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2958.2007.00299.x