Leaderboard: Do you go light side or dark side in MMORPG factions?

We’ve been following gaming research firm Quantic Foundry since last year as it’s been publishing datasets and conclusions based on its Gamer Motivation Model. So far, it’s suggested that factors like age and gender can influence how competitive you are, what classes you play, and whether you go for exploration content.

This week, the firm’s Kaleb Embaugh writes that its survey of over a thousand gamers show that a gamer’s age — though not gender — can influence whether he or she goes for the light side, dark side, or the morally ambiguous side in an RPG. It turns out that 80% of players go for the good or gray side in games, and the older you are, the more likely you are to lean that way. “Two things are happening with age,” Embaugh explains. “Older gamers are less likely to pick the Dark/Evil option, and they are much more likely to have a strong preference for playing a specific faction.” He posits that younger players go for the “evil” side as they score higher on motivations relating to competition, destruction, and power.

Of course, this research isn’t necessarily MMORPG-centric; you might argue that MMO players are more likely to take their friends’ selections and the permanence of a faction selection into consideration, whereas it’s much less a commitment to “go evil” for a playthrough of, say, Mass Effect 3. You might also argue that MMORPG “factions” are frequently written to have no true light or dark side once you dig down into the lore, as in World of Warcraft or WildStar. MMOs definitely complicate the question! So let’s do our own poll and see how our audience sorts out. We’ll be using the same age bands as Quantic!

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