On the connection between real-world circumstances and online player behaviour: The case of EVE Online.

ABSTRACT: Games involving virtual worlds are popular in several segments of the population and societies. The online environment facilitates that players from different countries interact in a common virtual world. Virtual worlds involving social and economic interactions are particularly useful to test social and economic theories. Using data from EVE Online, a massive online multi-player game simulating a fantasy galaxy, we analyse the relation between the real-world context in which players live and their in-game behaviour at the country level. We find that in-game aggressiveness to non-player characters is positively related to real-world levels of aggressiveness as measured by the Global Peace Index and the Global Terrorist Index at the country level. The opposite is true for in-game aggressive

SUBMITTER: Belaza AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7577455 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature