Gaming Together. When an imaginary world affects generalized trust

Abstract

This thesis, by employing a four month self-selected panel-study of players from the Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft as well as a control-group of non-players, find that generalized trust is negatively affected by participation in an online gaming environment. By creating an analytical framework of what constitutes a voluntary association this thesis also find that the Guilds in World of Warcraft constitutes such an association and that some of the negative effect by playing World of Warcraft can be explained by playing in ethnically homogenous guilds and off-set by playing in ethnically heterogeneous guilds. In other words, by playing MMORPG:s we are no longer only playing games, we are gaming together and that affect how we evaluate society.