Publikationen

The growing phenomenon of Internet gaming has brought with it an increased curiosity into the motivations behind playing these games. It is argued that one of the reasons for playing these games is the motivation to belong to a community. However, it is also the case that solo-playing can be an equally powerful motivation for Internet gaming. We posit that some of this confusion and seemingly-contradictory findings comes from an imprecise and vague notion of Internet gaming, as the term is used to include several types of long-term and short-term, browser-based and client-based games. This paper aims to clarify some of this confusion by distinguishing between different types of Internet games. The paper further attempts to explain how different features of these games specifically, the number of players, game genre, and game setting can make more or less salient community and solo-playing motivations. Results are discussed and placed within the larger framework of game studies.