Unpacking time online: Connecting internet and massively multiplayer online game use with psychosocial well-being

Communication Research

Volumn 38, Issue 1, 2011, Pages 123-149

  Shen, Cuihua ^a   Williams, Dmitri ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT DALLAS   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA   (United States)

Author keywords

Internet use; media effects; online games; psychosocial well being; social impact; virtual world

Indexed keywords

EID: 78650986010     PISSN: 00936502     EISSN: 15523810     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/0093650210377196     Document Type: Article

References (68)

1. Anderson, C., & Dill, K. (2000). Video games and aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behavior in the laboratory and in life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 772-790.
2. Anderson, C.A. (2004). An update on the effects of playing violent video games. Journal of Adolescence, 27, 113-122.
3. Bargh, J.A., & McKenna, K.Y.A. (2004). The Internet and social life. Annual Review of Psychology, 55, 573-590.
4. Bartholow, B.D., Sestir, M.A., & Davis, E.B. (2005). Correlates and consequences of exposure to video game violence: Hostile personality, empathy, and aggressive behavior. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 1573-1586.
5. Bartle, R. (1996). Players who suit muds. Journal of MUD research, 1(1).
6. Beckford, M. (2009, February 18). Britons' health at risk from time spent in virtual worlds says Dr. Aric Sigman. Retrieved April 29, 2009, from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/4688338/Britons-health-at-risk-from-time-spent-in-virtual-worlds-says-Dr-Aric-Sigman.html.
7. Bessiere, K., Kiesler, S., Kraut, R., & Boneva, B.S. (2008). Effects of Internet use and social resources on changes in depression. Information, Communication & Society, 11, 47-70.
8. Boase, J., Horrigan, J., Wellman, B., & Rainie, L. (2006). The strength of Internet ties: The Internet and email aid users in maintaining their social networks and provide pathways to help when people face big decisions. Washington, DC: Pew Internet & American Life Project.
9. Browne, K.D., & Hamilton-Giachritsis, C. (2005). The influence of violent media on children and adolescents: A public-health approach. Lancet, 365, 702-710.
10. Burt, R.S. (1992). Structural holes: The social structure of competition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
11. Caplan, S.E. (2003). Preference for online social interaction: A theory of problematic Internet use and psychosocial well-being. Communication Research, 30, 625-648.
12. Castronova, E. (2005). Synthetic worlds: The business and culture of online games. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
13. Center for the Digital Future. (2009). The 2009 digital future report: Surveying the digital future-year eight. Los Angeles: USC Annenberg School Center for the Digital Future.
14. Cohen, S., & Hoberman, H.M. (1983). Positive events and social supports as buffers of life change stress. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 13, 99-125.
15. Cohen, S., & Wills, T. (1985). Stress, social support, and the buffering hypothesis. Psychological Bulletin, 98, 310-357.
16. Cole, H., & Griffiths, M.D. (2007). Social interactions in massively multiplayer online role-playing gamers. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 10, 575-583.
17. Cole, J.I., Suman, M., Schramm, P., Bel, D.V., & Aquino, J.S. (2000). The UCLA Internet report: Surveying the digital future. Los Angeles: UCLA Center for Communication Policy.
18. Di Gennaro, C., & Dutton, W.H. (2007). Reconfiguring friendships: Social relationships and the Internet. Information, Communication & Society, 10, 591-618.
19. Ducheneaut, N., Yee, N., Nickell, E., & Moore, R. (2006). Alone together? Exploring the social dynamics of massively multiplayer online games. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factor in computing systems (pp. 407-416). New York: ACM Press. Retrieved July 6, 2010, from http://www.parc.com/publication/1581/alone-together-exploring-the-social-dynamics-of-massively-multiplayer-online-games.html.
20. Ellison, N.B., Steinfield, C., & Lampe, C. (2007). The benefits of facebook Friends: Social capital and college students' use of online social network sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12, 1143-1168.
21. Francis, L., Brown, L., & Philipchalk, R. (1992). The development of an abbreviated form of the revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EQPR-A): Its use among students in England, Canada, the U.S.A. and Australia. Personality and Individual Differences, 13, 443-449.
22. Galston, W.A. (2000). Does the Internet Strengthen Community. National Civic Review, 89(3), 193-202.
23. Granovetter, M.S. (1973). The strength of weak ties. American Journal of Sociology, 78, 1360-1380.
24. Griffiths, M.D., Davies, M.N.O., & Chappell, D. (2004). Demographic factors and playing variables in online computer gaming. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 7, 479-487.
25. Hargittai, E. (2007). Whose space? Differences among users and non-users of social network sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13, 276-297.
26. Hargittai, E., & Hinnant, A. (2008). Digital inequality: Differences in young adults' use of the Internet. Communication Research, 35, 602-621.
27. Haythornthwaite, C. (2002). Strong, weak, and latent ties and the impact of new media. Information Society, 18, 385-401.
28. Herring, S. (2004). Slouching toward the ordinary: Current trends in computer-mediated communication. New Media & Society, 6(1), 26-36.
29. Horrigan, J.B., Rainie, L., & Fox, S. (2001). Online communities: Networks that nurture long-distance relationships and local ties. Washington, DC: Pew Internet & American Life Project.
30. Katz, J.E., & Aspden, P. (1997). A nation of strangers? Communications of the ACM, 40(12), 81-86.
31. Katz, J.E., & Rice, R.E. (2002). Social consequences of Internet use: Access, involvement, and interaction. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
32. Kraut, R., Kiesler, S., Boneva, B., Cummings, J., Helgeson, V., & Crawford, A. (2002). Internet paradox revisited. Journal of Social Issues, 58(1), 49-74.
33. Kraut, R., Patterson, M., Lundmark, V., Kiesler, S., Mukopadhyay, T., & Scherlis, W. (1998). Internet paradox: A social technology that reduces social involvement and psychological well-being? American Psychologist, 53, 1017-1031.
34. Kwak, N., Skoric, M.M., Williams, A.E., & Poor, N.D. (2004). To broadband or not to broadband: The relationship between high-speed Internet and knowledge and participation. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 48, 421-445.
35. Lee, S.J. (2009). Online communication and adolescent social ties: Who benefits more from Internet use?. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 14, 509-531.
36. Lenhart, A. (2009). Adults and social network websites. Washington, DC: Pew Internet & American Life Project.
37. Lenhart, A., Jones, S., & Macgill, A.R. (2008). Adults and video games. Washington, DC: Pew Internet & American Life Project.
38. Lenhart, A., Kahne, J., Middaugh, E., Macgill, A.R., Evans, C., & Vitak, J. (2008). Teens' gaming experiences are diverse and include significant social interaction and civic engagement. Washington, DC: Pew Internet & American Life Project.
39. McKenna, K.Y.A., & Bargh, J.A. (2000). Plan 9 from cyberspace: The implications of the Internet for personality and social psychology. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 4, 57-75.
40. Monge, P.R., & Contractor, N.S. (2003). Theories of communication networks. New York: Oxford University Press.
41. Nardi, B., & Harris, J. (2006). Strangers and friends: Collaborative play in world of warcraft. In CSCW 2006: Proceedings of the 2006 conference on computer supported cooperative work (pp. 149-158). New York: ACM Press. Retrieved July 6, 2010, from http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1180898&dl=GUIDE&coll=GUIDE&CFID=93975890&CFTOKEN=11848780.
42. Nie, N.H. (2001). Sociability, interpersonal relations, and the Internet: Reconciling conflicting findings. American Behavioral Scientist, 45, 420-435.
43. Nie, N.H., & Erbring, L. (2002). Internet and society: A preliminary report. IT & Society, 1, 275-283.
44. Oldenburg, R. (1997). The great good place: Cafés, coffee shops, community centers, beauty parlors, general stores, bars, hangouts, and how they get you through the day. New York: Marlowe & Company.
45. Parks, M.R., & Floyd, K. (1996). Making friends in cyberspace. Journal of Communication, 46, 80-97.
46. Pena, J., & Hancock, J.T. (2006). An analysis of socioemotional and task communication in online multiplayer video games. Communication Research, 33, 92-109.
47. Putnam, R.D. (2000). Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community. New York: Simon & Schuster.
48. Quan-Haase, A., Wellman, B., Witte, J.C., & Hampton, K.N. (2002). Capitalizing on the net: Social contact, civic engagement, and sense of community. In B. Wellman & C. Haythornthwaite (Eds.), The Internet in everyday life (pp. 291-324). Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
49. Russell, D., Peplau, L.A., & Cutrona, C.E. (1980). The Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale: Concurrent and discriminant validity evidence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39, 472-480.
50. Sherry, J. (2001). The effects of violent video games on aggression: A meta-analysis. Human Communication Research, 27, 309-331.
51. Shklovski, I., Kiesler, S., & Kraut, R. (2006). The Internet and social interaction: A meta-analysis and critique of studies, 1995-2003. In R. Kraut, M. Brynin, & S. Kiesler (Eds.), Computers, phones, and the Internet: The social impact of information technology (pp. 210-218). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
52. Steinkuehler, C.A., & Williams, D. (2006). Where everybody knows your (screen) name: Online games as Third places. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 11, 885-909.
53. Taylor, T.L. (2006). Play between worlds: Exploring online game culture. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
54. Walther, J.B. (1992). Interpersonal effects in computer-mediated interaction: A relational perspective. Communication Research, 19, 52-90.
55. Walther, J.B. (1996). Computer-mediated communication: Impersonal, interpersonal, and hyperpersonal interaction. Communication Research, 23, 3-43.
56. Wellman, B. (2001). Computer networks as social networks. Science, 293, 2031-2034.
57. Wellman, B., & Haythornthwaite, C. (2002). The Internet in everyday life. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
58. White, P. (2009). MMOGData: Charts. Available fromhttp://mmogdata.voig.com/.
59. Williams, D. (2006a). Groups and goblins: The social and civic impact of online games. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 50, 651-681.
60. Williams, D. (2006b). On and off the net: Scales for social capital in an online era. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 11, 593-628.
61. Williams, D. (2006c). Why game studies now? Gamers don't bowl alone. Games and Culture, 1, 13-16.
62. Williams, D. (2007). The impact of time online: Social capital and cyberbalkanization. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 10, 398-406.
63. Williams, D., Consalvo, M., Caplan, S., & Yee, N. (2009). Looking for gender: Gender roles and behaviors among online gamers. Journal of Communication, 59, 700-725.
64. Williams, D., Ducheneaut, N., Xiong, L., Zhang, Y., Yee, N., & Nickell, E. (2006). From tree house to barracks: The social life of guilds in World of Warcraft. Games and Culture, 1, 338-361.
65. Williams, D., Yee, N., & Caplan, S.E. (2008). Who plays, how much, and why? Debunking the stereotypical gamer profile. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13, 993-1018.
66. Yee, N. (2006a). The demographics, motivations and derived experiences of users of massively-multiuser online graphical environments. Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 15, 309-329.
67. Yee, N. (2006b). Motivations for play in online games. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 9, 772-775.
68. Zittrain, J. (2007). Saving the Internet. Harvard Business Review, 85(6), 49-59.