UT Dallas studies how trusting online gamers are

Researchers from the University of Texas Dallas looked at how trusting online gamers are with their information as they spend time on the internet.

People who play massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) are involved in social elements of online games. These people show more trust in other players as well as an increased willingness to give out their personal information. This is especially true when their other players are involved in their specific guild.

This is an important part of a body of research that involves the idea of trust within certain player’s psychology and mindsets.

“Since the early days of the internet, people have used the technology to meet and befriend strangers,” Rosanna Guadagno, associate professor of psychology and emerging media and communication, said. “People have found spouses, long-lost relatives and have had many positive and negative experiences while disclosing personal information to the people we encounter online. MMOGs are one such unique online context in which people need the cooperation of others to achieve their game-related goals, regardless of whether they are achievement, social/relational or something else."

Guadagno said understanding how and why people disclose personal feelings and experiences to other video game players is crucial to understanding the ways in which cooperation and trust form as players interact with each other and work toward both individual and group goals.