The impacts of social interactions in MMORPGs on older adults' social capital

Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) can offer older adults many opportunities to maintain current and develop meaningful and supportive relationships. Social capital plays an important role in later life. This study analyzed the relationships between older adults' social interactions in MMORPGs and their online social capital. A Web questionnaire was published to eight World of Warcraft (WoW, a popular MMORPG) player forums. A total of 222 older adults who were aged 55+ and mainly living in North America completed the questionnaire and became the participants of this study. To answer the research questions and test the four hypotheses, hierarchical multiple regression analysis was applied, and Cohen's f² was computed to compare effect sizes. It is found that enjoyment of relationships has deep impacts on older adults' social capital. The positive effects of gameplay on older adults are much dependent on the context of gameplay and enjoyment of relationships.