Compliance without pressure on the web: social influence and MMOG

Abstract

MMORPGs stand as very successful among people all around the world. MMORPGs (World of Warcraft or SecondLife, for instance) are not simply a pastime for teenagers, but represent a valuable research tool, on which millions of users inter-act via real-time 3D avatars or buddy icons. Regarding user's motivations, it seems that they are interested both in escaping from reality and in relating to other players. Thus, it appears that one of the main motivations of the users is related to online interactions. The question remains as to whether the social norms -as they can be observed in offline interactions- are salient and efficient in online interactions. Some of these rules are related to compliance without pressure techniques, which efficiency has been demonstrated in offline interactions. As expected, the results show that avatar-to-avatar communication is regulated by processes similar to those effective in offline communication, suggesting that users are not fully able to leave behind the pre-established social rules of interaction.