Date Approved

2016

Degree Type

Open Access Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department or School

Communication, Media and Theatre Arts

Committee Member

Jeannette Kindred

Committee Member

Tsai-Shan Shen

Committee Member

Nick Romerhausen

Abstract

This thesis set out to explore embodiment, immersion, and personalities in massively multiplayer video games (MMOGs), in particular how players become immersed in a virtual world. Immersion is a focal point in the gaming experience in which players communicate directly with the digital medium. Scholarship has argued that games have specific immersive qualities that draw players into them including storytelling, social and emotional reasoning, among others (Calleja, 2011). Each player has a particular preference as to what immerses them the most in a game. In addition, research has concluded that gamers have unique personalities that they portray while they embody themselves in these virtual environments (Yee, 2007). These personalities align with characteristics of immersion, but the models have not been cross examined until now. Through the correlational analysis of data gathered by MMOG players, relationships between the models became evident. Results were used to develop virtual fingerprints for each personality, or how each persona becomes immersed in an online video game. DISCOVERING

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