Qualitative study on the intrinsic and extrinsic motivations of second life users

• Main Authors: Almario, Andrea B., Go, Kimberly U., Medalla, Teodoro H.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2010
• Subjects: Virtual reality; Human-computer interaction; Avatars (Computer graphics); Shared virtual environments; Interactive multimedia
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/8631
• Institution: De La Salle University

This study explores the different intrinsic and extrinsic motivations to join and continued participation of users in the virtual environment of Second Life (SL) and their real life implications in terms of psychological need fulfillment. A conveniently chosen sample of 15 participants were interviewed five (5) of which had blogs pertaining to their SL experiences which were also used to support their claims in the interviews. The results of the study show eight (8) different categories of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations to join and continue participation. These include the following curiosity, enjoyment, learning, monetary gains, relationship formation, escape from reality, fantasy fulfillment, control, and self-enhancement. The findings in this study support the idea of users engaging in this virtual environment to fulfill their basic psychological needs for autonomy, competency, and relatedness.