Top Ten Typical Behavior Issues of Online Gaming

The online world is filled with behavior issues that are similar or entirely different from the real world. After conversing with a number of people in the psychological / behavioral field, this list below was consolidated to answer or give light to any and all behaviors active in the online community. Please take note that the article lists TYPICAL behavior, and there will always be a percentage of ATYPICAL, uncommon or deviating occurrences instead. Read on and find out.

10. Obedience

Have you ever wondered how so many of us are compelled to follow an order from an authority we recognize, even if there’s a risk of going against our morality or ideals? Perhaps that question was too much to swallow. Rephrase: have you ever wondered why you follow orders to someone with authority? This is the same issue we can raise in online games. There are instances when we follow orders from GMs during events or sanction-worthy moments, follow our guild leaders during sieges, or acknowledge orders from team captains in FPS / RTS games. It’s actually a typical behavior ingrained within us, to follow whoever we recognize as authority. This happens not just in the real world, but also in the virtual community. Not only are we leaders on our own, but we are also followers.

9. Escapism

Escapism is a means of diverting the mind from stress through entertainment or recreation. Some, if not all of us, believe that escapism is a lot more prevalent nowadays in our fast-paced, stressful, and urbanized society. Any means of entertainment psychologically “removes” us from our expected routines Therefore, in all instances typical, we can see the virtual world as our means of escape.

8. Defense Mechanism – Fantasy

Along with our escape to the virtual world comes a defense mechanism called Fantasy. First, we define Defense Mechanism as a psychological strategy to cope with reality. Fantasy defense mechanism is the predisposition to retreat to a fantasy world as a way to resolve any and all conflicts, both internal and external. Thus, the virtual world is, for most of us, the fantasy world we retreat to.

7. Defense Mechanism – Compensation

Compensation is a certain psychological strategy to conceal, consciously or unconsciously, any weakness or feelings of inadequacy in one area through excellence in another area. For some gamers, there are real-life troubles that cannot be resolved on the get go, hence they spend time being rich, popular, or strong in the online world. The same can be said the other way around. Gamers lacking the prowess to be popular or strong can excel in real life instead.

6. Ubermenschen Complex

In layman’s term, this is the “Superman complex.” A certain population of gamers strives for strength and raw power in the online world, making them quite formidable opponents in PvP or guild wars. The Superman Complex is a mentality of these gamers, completely assuming that, like Superman, they are the strongest and the most elite in the guild or server. Not only in MMORPGs, we can also see this complex in FPS, RTS or any other multiplayer game, with players having tasted victory, memorable frags, winning strategies and the like. The Superman Complex can also be seen in people experiencing Compensation (number 7).

5. Socioeconomic Stigma

Of course, being a powerful adversary needs money. We commonly see the stronger characters having enough money to support their daily online needs, such as upgraded equips or an abundance of cash shop items. A certain population of gamers has this mentality that being rich is equal to being l33t, strong, formidable, or invincible. Thus, we arrive at the stigma typical in the real world, the rich-poor stigma; a seemingly unjust comparison of rich versus poor through possessions and currency.

4. Anonymity

We take the line from Star Trek: Nemesis, “In darkness, there is strength,” however the meaning isn’t what it seems. We refer to the darkness as a means to prevent identification, and strength as the courage to speak your mind. Remember that in the virtual world, we assume different names or personas, as much as possible. With a different name, or an unknown identity, we can say what we want, do what we want, and get away with it.

3. Lying

Lying has been a behavioral issue since time immemorial. And along with an anonymous identity, lying is as easy as breathing. We have the liberty to lie about our lives, our identity, and even in trading or fighting against other players, and we also get away with it.

2. Diffusion of Responsibility

In a nutshell, the greater number of people, the lesser people taking the initiative. Take for example a beggar in the street. In a crowded or busy street, the chances of giving some money to the beggar, or even just noticing, is absolutely slim. The opposite can be said in a street with the least pedestrians; the chances of noticing the beggar are higher. The same can be applied in many online instances. Low-levels or newbies asking for help are ignored by the general population. Why is this so? People generally have this mentality of “passing” the responsibility to others, the mentality of “why get involved when someone else can do it instead?” Apply that train of thought to almost 90% of the people in a busy street or server, and you get the Diffusion of Responsibility Phenomenon.

1. Social Contagion

This phenomenon, same as # 2, happens in large groups of people. Social contagion happens when one, or a select few, gets influenced by the majority of the population. An instance would be assuming something to be right because the majority said so, even though you know it was wrong to begin with. People tend to get swayed by the majority, even if it twists their morals, ideals or knowledge. This also happens online, through actions and responses towards others. Some gamers think of their actions or words to be right, because the “others do it too.” You may also include Peer Pressure in the long list of examples as well.