My guild, my people: role of guilds in massively multiplayer online games

Massively Multiplayer Online Games continue to grow and attract more users. The social aspect of MMOs differentiates them from single person games, increase user loyalty and often result in users spending increasing amounts of time in these virtual environments. We examine World of Warcraft guilds and identify three components of group identity: affective, behavioral and cognitive components. We present the results of our online survey indicating that the affective component, users liking each other and enjoying their interaction with each other is the strongest component of group identity. The result is significant in understanding user behavior and loyalty in MMOs.