Citation
A. Lawson and N. Taylor,” The names we play: Exploring MMOG players’ avatar naming conventions,” presented at Canadian Games Studies Association Symposium, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 2012.
Abstract
Avatars are the primary means by which players navigate with and interact in most Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGS). In recent years, both quantitative and qualitative studies have drawn attention to the opportunities for, and practices around, MMOG avatar creation and customization. Our hypothesis is that naming practices represent one primary (and underexplored) means through which players maintain continuity and a stable identity across their MMOG play. To explore this, we draw on over 1700 avatar names, from over 400 players, obtained through a mixed-methods, multi-site study of players across multiple MMOGs. Here, we report on the avatar naming practices that we identified through both quantitative and qualitative analyses of this data set.
