MMORPG Roles, Civic Participation and Leadership Among Generation Y

The notion of an 'effective citizen' is very complex and has very different meanings for varying individuals. However, the development of an effective citizenry is critical for a democratic society to thrive. One potential method of developing an effective citizenry is through the use of MMORPGs in civic education. In this paper, the authors report the results of a survey of the civic engagement and civic participation of college student players of the massively multi-player online role playing game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft (WoW). Findings indicate that respondents reported being more civically engaged than other segments of the population within the same age-range. Lastly, the authors explore the implications of the results and the potential of MMORPGs for developing an effective citizenry.