Duality between Online and Offline (Paperback)

"Meeting people online is something increasingly common in modern societies. Looking for people with similar interests and tastes is something natural. The relationships that begin in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) share these characteristics. In MMORPGs relationships tend to be characterized by mutual interests - players need the support and cooperation of other players to achieve certain goals, overcome different obstacles, get items or access to certain areas of the game, etc., but also by coexistence and leisure. These virtual interests and the taste for the same game often give rise to intimate relationships on and off the screen. The reverse is also true when players seek to recruit their friends, family and/or peers to play the same video game and share virtual adventures. These two perspectives, despite having different origins, go against the same point: MMORPGs as a social space. The purpose of this research is to study, analyze and compare the emerging relationships in these spaces with the offline world".