Abstract
In the virtual reality of today’s popular online MMORPGs, players participate in the creation and construction of a personal identity. Namely, they assemble it like a jigsaw puzzle of modules and fragments; they create an idealised image of a dream, endowed with superpowers and characteristics unattainable in real life. The space of online games creates all the conditions for active co-presence in the process of multifactorial communication based on the real interaction of fictional characters, acting as a kind of “third place” and a space for building an effective communication strategy for the accumulation of social capital. The phenomenon of interpassivity plays an important role in this process, allowing players to enjoy and share the fun of the game with little or no real action. Creating a personal game auto-project and hierarchy, gaining social recognition and accumulating social capital through the created character is the result of this phenomenon in the game world. The MMORPG provides the player with an immersive world in which to realise the imaginary, but also harbours the dangers of gaming addiction and digital escapism.
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Lisenkova, A., Ray, S., Nam, T. (2023). Identity Strategies in the Space of Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPG). In: Bylieva, D., Nordmann, A. (eds) The World of Games: Technologies for Experimenting, Thinking, Learning. PCSF 2023. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 830. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-48020-1_8
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