Beyond seeing the billions of dollars in the gaming industry, people who don’t play video games might not completely understand the appeal of them. In order to understand player motivation in online games, we looked at research from social scientist Nick Yee on massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs). 

If you’re unfamiliar with this genre, MMORPGs typically involve a huge number of players interacting with each other within a virtual world. Some popular titles include World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy XIV, and MapleStory. The variations in player motivation for this game genre suggest that MMORPGs appeal to so many types of players because they can cater to a range of play styles, according to the study.