Kate Compton
Marleigh Norton
Brandon Yarbrough
Conjugal Gaming:
An Analysis of World of Warcraft from
the Perspective of Real Life Couples
Why “Conjugal Gaming”?
• World of Warcraft
– Fastest selling video game of all time
– Just started
• Problem: Too broad a topic.
• Solution: Pick a sub-population to study
– Not the stereotypical gamers
– Real life couples
Outline
• Brief demo
• Participants
• Data and analysis of couple-related issues
– Role-playing romance
– Adventuring together vs. playing at the same
time
– Communication
– Long-distance activity
Demo
Participants
• 6 couples -> 12 participants
– Recruited via personal contacts, forums,
in-game chat
– Some interviewed together, some separately
•
•
•
•
Ages 22-54, average 34
3 couples married, 1 couple engaged
All gamed before WoW
All but one couple gamed together before WoW
Data
Role-playing Romance
• Not common among our participants
– Many didn’t role-play
– Others didn’t want to mix real life romance
with in-game romance
• Bad experiences in the past
Analysis
Role-playing Romance
• WoW supports romance as toy
– Items: wedding dresses, rings, flowers
– Emotes: flirt, hug, kiss, dance
• Could add romantic quests
– Write someone’s name in the stars for a day
• No good solution for in-game/out-of-game
romantic awkwardness
Data
Adventuring Together vs.
Playing at the Same Time
• Adventuring together
– Requires characters near same level
– Coupled characters
– Game dates
• Playing at the same time
– Still a shared experience
– Watch each other play
– Constantly talking about the game
Analysis
Adventuring Together vs.
Playing at the Same Time
• Parties with two characters
– Works well, better than EverQuest
– Classes broader
• Level disparity a big problem
– City of Heroes has good solution
– Link characters
Data
Communication
• Play in same room, if possible
– Communicate by talking
– Faster than text chat
• Can see each other’s screens, usually don’t look
Analysis
Communication
• Text chat clearly not good
enough
– Voice chat
– Redesign chat window
• Awareness is good
Data
Long-Distance Activity
• Something to do with partner when apart
– Business trips
• Long-distance relationship
– Good and bad
When he has problems with the game, it makes
me think that he doesn’t want to play with me,
that my game’s not good enough for him.
Analysis
Long-Distance Activity
• Works great as a long-distance activity
– MMORPGs are designed for that purpose
• Long-distance relationships…
– We can help, sort of
– Better than nothing, but not a substitute for
face-to-face
Summary
• Brief demo
• Participants
• Data and analysis of couple-related issues
– Role-playing romance
– Adventuring together vs. playing at the same
time
– Communication
– Long-distance activity
Questions?
Kate
Compton
Marleigh
Norton
Brandon
Yarbrough