Exploring game experiences and game leadership in massively multiplayer online role-playing games

This study explored the in-game experiences of massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) players focusing on game leadership and offline leadership. MMORPGs have enormous potential to provide gameplayers with rich social experiences through various interactions along with social activities such as joining a game community, team play and others. In this study, a total of 808 Korean online gameplayers participated in an online survey. Amongst them, 300 MMORPG players were used as the final sample group. The results showed that joining a game community and playing in teams may help players build their leadership experience in games. The findings also suggest that there is a significant positive relationship between in-game leadership and offline leadership. However, there were no significant differences in gender regarding in-game and offline leadership. This study suggests that MMORPGs offer a useful place where people can grow their leadership skills and potentially transfer them into the real world.