Zorean Zenovka

"I don't play any other virtual worlds but this one, and nothing close to 40 hours a week. What if people lie just to get the $25?" Thanks for responding. I fully expect there to be liars. Every questionnaire, no matter what the subject matter, tend to have people respond untruthfully. It is expected by all researchers. There are analyses that can (and will) be performed on the data to weed out these responses. One possible example (there are several tests), if most people respond to a question with "Strongly Agree" because they fit the behavior patterns of an addict, then if someone responds to "Disagree" or "Strongly Disagree", they are considered an outlier. If this happens multiple time (which it would likely do), that person is removed from the dataset. This is one reason I need so many people to respond. The more responses gathered, the more likely it is to find a trend and spot liars.

"i have been using SL for nearly 9 years and have gone through periods where I have spent 100+ hours logged in, but to me SL is a platform to design, create and most importantly to earn money. When I am using SL I see it as work. It's enjoyable work but normally I would much rather be off wasting my time gaming." You raise a good point here. I am certain there are people that consider SL work. I have been an avid player of SL (though haven't played in a few months) and believe that most people are there to have fun and socialize. However, it is also an interesting aspect to see if people that work within the environment also show addictive behaviors. If a player is more addicted to making money than achieving in game goals, then I would think there would still be little difference in how they answer the questions on the questionnaire. It is definitely something to look into in future research. As for other MMOs such as EVE, WoW, and Entropia... I know that in WoW it is against the terms of service to sell in game currency for real currency. Though there are those that do it, I would not expect those people to be interested in answering my questionnaire. I think it is also against the terms of service in EVE, though it has been over a year since I last played. I haven't heard of Entropia.

"Took your survey. Seems slanted to other types of MMO's other than Second Life. Which by the way I haven't played any other MMO's in a LONG time. Anyway, you have some "questions" that are not questions. You're told to answer a certain way. Forgt to post a question there? " Thank you for taking the survey I looked back over the survey and personally I don't feel like it is slanted towards other types so much. My operational definition of an MMO is a persistent online world in which hundreds or thousands of players are playing together at the same time. Second Life fits that definition very well. Moreover, Second Life can have goals, such as building or scripting, that can give fulfillment. I am a builder and know I feel a sense of gratification after I finish a large building project As for your question, the answer is no. That is intentional

My name is Jeremy Hays and I am a graduate student working on my Master’s thesis at Middle Tennessee State University. I am currently working on a research project that will be used to develop an assessment scale for addictive behaviors linked to massively multiplayer online (MMO) games. I am seeking players that are over 18 years old and spend at least 40 hours per week playing MMO games. Please note that I am not using this scale to assess you in any way. Only an email address will be asked for as identifying information for this study. The email address will be used solely to contact the 5 participants selected to win the prize. The purpose of this questionnaire is to find out if behaviors of hardcore players fit known traits of addictive behaviors and to test the questionnaire to see if it is a valid and reliable scale for detecting addictive behaviors. At the end of the study, 5 participants will be selected at random to win $25 U.S. Dollars worth of Lindens. The winners will be contacted by January 31, 2013 via email. Only participants that fill out the questionnaire truthfully and completely will be eligible to receive compensation. If I get at least 300 participants, I will double the number of people selected to receive payment. The link to the questionnaire is https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MMOGS Thank you in advance for your participation! *Edited to reflect payment change from PayPal to Lindens