Effects of Players’ Social Competence on Social Behaviors and Role Choice in Team-Based Multiplayers Online Games

Abstract

Recently, social interaction between gamers has caught the attention in sociology and psychology. The purposes of this study are: (1) to explore the relationship between gamer background information and social competence with player social behavior and role choice in team-based multiplayer online games. (2) To verify the relationship which found in the exploration. Therefore, an online survey (N = 177) and an experiment (N = 37) were conducted to find out how the background and social competence of player affects the gamer social behavior and role choice. The results showed that: social competence and player background have an effect on social behavior and role-choice in game. Specially, conflict management has a significant positive effect on negative communication frequency and game ranking has a significant positive effect on leadership. Additionally, KDA (Kill/Death/Assists) and cooperation behavior have a significant positive on winning. Finally, author gave some suggestion to future research and gamer based on the conclusion.