View Full Forums : "This SuXX0rz; I quit!!11!": An Examination of Player Exit Motivations in MMOGs


Iilane SalAlur
04-26-2004, 05:01 AM
"This SuXX0rz; I quit!!11!": An Examination of Player Exit Motivations in Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) (http://www.thebeholder.org/research/mmogexit.htm)


Conclusion

Player MMOG exit motivations appear to be consistent with the theories of Hirschman (1972). The majority of exit motivations can be seen to tie in decline in MMOG quality, at least in the eyes of that individual player. Due to the reliance of player enjoyment on in-game advancement, any wane in advancement will lead to players becoming dissatisfied with the quality of the MMOG and considering exit. Arguably player in-game advancement is the "core business" of any MMOG (from the players’ point of view) – flaws in this area are expected to cause the greatest number of exits.

The three largest total exit motivations were boredom (22% of cases), advancement issues (21% of cases) and social reasons (18% of cases). Boredom can be seen as a decline in satisfaction as players feel they have precious little novelty to find in the MMOG. Advancement issues can be linked to a decline in satisfaction with their in-game ability to meet goals important to players. Social reasons, often tied to the removal or change in a social network, can be seen as perhaps associated to loyalty in a MMOG – players would continue involvement in a game they no longer fully enjoyed because they were part of something larger than themselves. Once this net was removed, players had little reason to stay and leave soon after.

Cantatus
04-26-2004, 05:45 AM
The three largest total exit motivations were boredom (22% of cases), advancement issues (21% of cases) and social reasons (18% of cases).

Heh, for me it was a little bit of each that made me stop playing EverQuest. I had played in LDoN a lot and became burned out and bored. At the same time, my alliance had just gotten to the point where we could kill elemental gods, but sort of just got stuck there, so it was the same raids night after night. I also had gotten all of my tradeskills over 220 (most at 250 or near) and completed Aid Grimel which was a big goal for me. It just sort of felt like I accomplished everything I could by myself. As far as the social aspect goes, a lot of my friends had quit the game or just weren't playing as much. There were many nights I'd log in and none of my friends were on. Of course, guild politics are never fun either.

I guess my point is sometimes it's all of the above that burns you out on a MMOG.

Iilane SalAlur
04-26-2004, 08:34 AM
Cantatus you made the exact same post in vanguard! :lol

Cantatus
04-26-2004, 09:01 AM
Well, not exactly. :P I posted here, then saw it on the Vangaurd boards. I figured the boards have different audiences generally, so I'd contribute to both posts. ;)

Jinjre
04-26-2004, 09:42 AM
Social reasons for quitting could be as they stated "feeling part of a bigger whole", eg if your friends all stop playing, you no longer feel you have a home and you quit playing as well.

Social reasons for quitting could also be disgust/annoyance/lack of tolerance for the drama. In a game where I am surrounded by intelligent witty fun people, I will continue to play the game for the contacts I made, even if I'm not all that thrilled with the game mechanics anymore. In a game where I am consistantly dealing with 3 year old temper tantrums, I will burn out quickly and not want to log in anymore, even if it is just one person who makes every play session a drama event.

In a game where the game mechanics are superb, but everyone surrounding me is a 14 year old who hasn't gotten past potty humor, and can not express themselves without using vulgar language, I will quickly burn out on the overall social atmosphere and quit.

Way back when, in April of '99 when Jinjre was born, there were two things that really set EQ apart from the others for me. 1. /badword filter on and 2. no blood. Mobs just fell over dead, no need to see gruesome deaths or blood flying everywhere. Later, it seemed those who only communicated using vulgarities seemed to decline, and I changed from /badword filter on to /ignore idiot.

I think their social reasons are a bit on the simplistic side. Much more goes into social reasons for people quitting than simply being part of a greater whole.

B_Delacroix
04-26-2004, 09:46 AM
I am primarily an explorer by the Bartle theory. If I'm in a game, I can probably tell you some interesting trivial tidbits on how to get from A to B or the best way to avoid mobs, or expound on observed behaviour of some of the AI.

Anyway, my reasons for leaving EQ are:

Boredom with inability for advancement. That is followed by social reasons as more and more of my friends, also discontent with inability for advancement have left.

So I think I pretty much follow the observations in the article.

Edit: for comment

disgust/annoyance/lack of tolerance for the drama
For me, this increased as the number of "decent" people continued to leave. I think that contributed to the increased size of my own /ignore idiot list.

I think the drama and idiotness increases over time because those who do not wish to tolerate it are leaving thus leaving only drama queens and idiots.

B_Delacroix
04-26-2004, 09:51 AM
On a similar note, I've noticed the amount of complaining seems universal to any of the current MMOG out. Go to any MMOG board and read the number of complaints about any and everything. People just seem to be generally unhappy overall.

Even WOW is getting its share of complaining and it isn't even out yet.

Panamah
04-26-2004, 10:31 AM
I'd definitely say I quite out of an equal 1/3 for all those reasons. :) Most of my closest friends weren't playing and my newer friends/guild was too high drama and I was getting bored with it all and I thought the quality of the game was going downhill with each expansion.

Chenier
04-26-2004, 12:03 PM
Then I'm the oddity. When I left EQ for a time, it was because I knew it was a stupid way to spend time, because I was mad at my situation and because my bf stopped playing. But I was never bored.

It's still a stupid way to spend time, but I just like it too much.

Flintwick
04-26-2004, 12:17 PM
Then I'm the oddity. When I left EQ for a time, it was because I knew it was a stupid way to spend time, because I was mad at my situation and because my bf stopped playing. But I was never bored.

It's still a stupid way to spend time, but I just like it too much.

Think of it this way: you can sit front of your computer and use your brain, and be interactive with it/people.

or you could sit slack-jawed in front of the television, interacting with no one, barely even using brain cells.

It's the difference between passively observing and active involvement :alc:

Jinjre
04-26-2004, 12:33 PM
Or you could go outside in the big room with the blue ceiling and goof off with other people or plants or something.

B_Delacroix
04-26-2004, 01:52 PM
Or you could go outside in the big room with the blue ceiling and goof off with other people or plants or something.

Maybe, if you don't live in a desert where the nearest person is oh, 13 miles away in any direction.

Sorry, I just thought I detected some self riteousness and wanted to throw water on it.

Someone above did hit on why I don't watch TV. Using my computer of entertainment means I use my brain. Talking to other real people, no matter where they are - be that outside in that big room or facing an avatar on the computer screen - is great intellectual stimulation. Ah, intellectual stimulation.

Mannwin Woobie
04-26-2004, 02:13 PM
Ahhhh....choices. If you get to choose what you want to do, and enjoy doing it, consider yourself lucky :)

Panamah
04-26-2004, 03:05 PM
Think of it this way: you can sit front of your computer and use your brain, and be interactive with it/people.

or you could sit slack-jawed in front of the television, interacting with no one, barely even using brain cells.

It's the difference between passively observing and active involvement :alc:

Or you could read a book, work on your house, make money, learn something new...

There are more choices for things to do than watch electrons bounce off one another.

Not that sometimes I don't choose the electrons... :P And I wouldn't exactly say playing EQ uses much more brain power than watching TV most of the time. Maybe it depends on what you watch on TV.

Cloudien
04-26-2004, 03:22 PM
If you watch that crap your lot (assuming American) call "comedy" then yes it will rot your brain :p

Jinjre
04-26-2004, 03:45 PM
thought I detected some self riteousness and wanted to throw water on it

No self righteousness intended. Actually I was shooting more for what Panamah said. There are a lot of other options out there which are mentally stimulating, yet don't require electrons pinging around. Pan said it a lot better than I did. That's what I get for posting before coffee.

Panamah
04-26-2004, 05:43 PM
That's what I get for posting before coffee.

Here's your coffee... well, it should be coffee, but coffee is rarely so yellow with a foamy head. :cheers:

Tiane
04-26-2004, 06:49 PM
There are a lot of other options out there which are mentally stimulating, yet don't require electrons pinging around. Pan said it a lot better than I did. That's what I get for posting before coffee.

I've thought about this sort of thing. While I havent quit EQ, I'm definitely way less active than I once was. But my question is, why do people believe that there is some extra inherent value in doing these "other" things? Why is being intellectually stimulated via electronic means a bad thing, or at least inferior to such things as "going outside?" Why is interacting with other people via chatrooms, instant messaging, guildchat, whatever, inferior to actually talking to them on the phone or face to face?

I've never really understood why a distinction is made. It's still activity. It's still interaction. A slightly different kind, sure. You may not meet the love of your life online, but many people have done just that despite the limitations.

Comes down to the old Plato / The Matrix theory of life... why is an "artificial" reality less valid than the "real" reality? What's the difference anyway?

I'm still playing EQ for the social aspects. I enjoy helping to run a guild, I find it much more challenging and interesting dealing with that than anything the devs seem able to come up with these days. When that is no longer an option for me, be it from burnout or guild falling apart (we're fine atm, but it's a lot of work) or whatever, then I'll take my leave.

Tia

Jinjre
04-26-2004, 09:25 PM
why do people believe that there is some extra inherent value in doing these "other" things? Why is being intellectually stimulated via electronic means a bad thing, or at least inferior to such things as "going outside?" Why is interacting with other people via chatrooms, instant messaging, guildchat, whatever, inferior to actually talking to them on the phone or face to face?

I think the distinction being made was doing a mentally active activity versus staring at the television, which is inherently passive.

Nothing at all wrong with chat rooms or email correspondences or any of that. The original comparison was 'computer games' vs. 'television'. My point is that you can ALSO do non-electronic things that are mentally active, not that electronic things in and of themselves are inherently passive (with the exception of television).

Panamah
04-27-2004, 10:28 AM
I don't think Jinjre meant it the way you all are taking it. The other poster offered two alternatives to what to do with your free time: Watch TV, play EQ. She was just pointing out there are a few more than that.

However, your point Tiane, is that people do sort of sniff at playing computer games. It *does* have a stigma of a pasty, reclusive person spending too much time alone in front of their computer. And probably in some cases that is true. I know I just played too damn much. My life was definitely out-of-kilter spending so much time on EQ when there really were a lot of things I should have been attending to. For instance, I used to be super organized about my finances, that all went to hell in a handbasket when I started playing EQ.

As far as spending time with EQ friends versus RL friends, I think there is a shallowness to game friends. Those relationships are far more ephemeral and much less enduring than RL ones. I think most electronic friendships are like that. You really can't replace all the nuances of communication and human interaction with a input device. There will be exceptions but I have had some of the same friends for 25 years and I think there's really only a couple of people that I played EQ with on a regular basis that I still communicate with and its fairly rare.

I would rather take a trip to Paris than take a simulated trip to Paris.

B_Delacroix
04-27-2004, 10:49 AM
people do sort of sniff at playing computer games.

That's another phenomena that I find interesting but as my last observation may be starting the next Chicago fire, I'll digress.

Flintwick
04-27-2004, 11:50 AM
However, your point Tiane, is that people do sort of sniff at playing computer games. It *does* have a stigma of a pasty, reclusive person spending too much time alone in front of their computer. And probably in some cases that is true. I know I just played too damn much.

Personally, I think it is stigmatized because this country as a whole has been taught that being alone means something is wrong with you. (ever notice that extroverted people can't stand being alone?) When you are using your computer, you are essentially not interacting with your immediate environment. ("Bob must not really love me, he'd rather play with his computer!") :dance:

It's part of the larger insecure societal distrust of people that don't need to be smothered with affection 24/7/365. :assimilat Some of us, however, learned to entertain ourselves instead of being emotionally needy wretches. :grin:

Jinjre
04-27-2004, 12:11 PM
as my last observation may be starting the next Chicago fire

Not sure if you're referring to me or not, but I took no offense at your observation. It is difficult in text to read 'body language' and tone of voice. When I reread my post, I could certainly see how it could be heard as you did.

My personal view is that any one thing taken to an extreme or to the exclusion of other activities is probably not good. I know people who hide in their computer games. I know people who hide in their gardens. I know people who hide by making black powder rifles from scratch. *shrug* All of those activities are at least mentally stimulating. The people I know who hide in their tv's seem to me to be stoned half the time.

I also know people who do some or all of those activities but find a balance between those activities and other activities.

There are people I know who can't stand being alone, they are very uncomfortable in their own skins without some sort of diversion. There are also people I know who have very limited tolerance for being around other humans for whatever reason.

The stigmatization of computer geeks, I think, comes from the cliquishness of geeks and the fact that your average person can't understand a word of what they're saying, thus marginalizing them. Case in point: my hubby's friend came over for dinner. They spend the entire time talking about sorting data and different ways of sorting. They might have well been speaking swahili for all I understood of the conversation. Since there are more non-geeks than geeks, this self imposed separation tends to make the rest of the population view geeks as being reclusive or antisocial. In reality, the geeks I know are quite social, they just speak in geekspeak which is unintelligible to many of the rest of us, and they tend to run in little geek packs where the people around them can find a 2 hour discussion of list sorts to be intriguing. Personally, I thought they were sucking the oxygen out of the room, but they were having a good time, so I wandered into a room with more oxygen and let them have a little geekfest. (Just to clarify, I use the term 'geek' with affection. I too am a geek, just of a different variety)

um, seems I've gone off track and have forgotten where I was headed with this, but suffice to say I don't see anything wrong with electronic entertainment of the mentally stimulating variety. But I do think having variety in one's life is a good thing.

B_Delacroix
04-27-2004, 01:24 PM
No no, my observation posted in the gripes forum about the general unhappines of MMOG players recently is the one I was referring to.

Cantatus
04-28-2004, 05:40 AM
But my question is, why do people believe that there is some extra inherent value in doing these "other" things? Why is being intellectually stimulated via electronic means a bad thing, or at least inferior to such things as "going outside?"

These are questions I often asked myself over the past few years. My parents would tell me, "Why don't you get a hobby or read a book?" The thing they don't understand is that gaming is a hobby. It's something that brings me enjoyment just as much as someone who enjoys gardening or making model airplanes. True, it's probably not the most physically active hobby I could choose, but considering my general shyness, it is a great social outlet for me. Even after playing EverQuest for many years I don't think my parents (and to some extent, my friends) understand why I got so hooked to it, and they probably never will.

I think a lot of the problem comes from the fact that gaming in general still is something that sort of carries a negative connotation in our society. I think it sort of stems from the fact that originally computers took a lot of intelligence to figure out and those that played with them were the same ones that were considered "nerds" in school. Add in the fact that sitting alone in your room with a computer is considered antisocial, and you have the stigma that's always been associated with gaming and computers. From what I've seen, there are the people that look at gaming negatively and those that look at it positively. The ones that look at it positively though are usually the gamers themselves and in the minority. I still have to laugh everytime they do a report about a MMOG on the news and they always end it with, "...and some people play it 40hrs a week. Can you imagine!?" I do think it's entering the mainstream more though.

And I'll admit, sometimes the pressure from others did make me reconsider my choice for a hobby. I've had several friends of mine swear up and down that once they were done with EverQuest, they'd never play another MMOG again. They got too involved in it and really didn't want to do that again. For a time, I had the same mindset, but as time went on, it just seemed stupid for me to completely write something out of my life that I enjoyed so much. True, I really shouldn't do it as much as I used to - and I don't - but I really don't see any point of just not doing something I enjoy so much. Perhaps there will come a time in my life where I have too many other distractions or other things I enjoy doing more, but I'll probably be spending some of my freetime with either a mouse or controller in my hands until then.

B_Delacroix
04-28-2004, 08:12 AM
This brings to mind another thread I will start that I hope will be positive.