Main Interactive Affordances in MMOGs and Players' Experiences: Case Study of World of Warcraft Players’ Experiences

Interactivity has been widely explored in the literature on new media. However, a limited number of studies have explored video game interactivity. This paper has investigated players' experiences with interactivity in a popular Massively Multiplayer Online Game, World of Warcraft, to provide practical implications for designing online games. Through semi-structured interview with ۲۵ veteran World of Warcraft players, we found that game social features that allow player to maintain both weak social ties with unknown players and persistent interaction and strong social ties with in-game or real-life friends make players’ experiences more enjoyable. If video games maintain a balance between providing routine rewards and unexpected rewards players' experiences become more enjoyable and they continue playing the game regularly. Customization is an important game feature that can either create an enjoyable experience or it can make players uninterested in playing the game in the course of time. Customization must keep the balance between difficulty level of the game and player’s capabilities. Finally, implications for designing attractive video games are provided

کلیدواژه ها:

Massively Multiplayer Online Games ، interactive affordances ، players' experiences ، World of Warcraft ، game design