Gender differential and factors lead to youth participation in massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGS)

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the gender differential and the factors lead youth participation in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs). This study used a quantitative method to obtain the data from the respondents between age of 15-30 years old who actively play online games through Facebook by using purposive sampling method. The respondents were chosen through purposive sampling. A total of 50 respondents were willingly answered the questionnaire. There were consist of 52% male and 48% were female and duration to complete the survey was around one month. Result shows two factors that lead to the youth participation in MMORPGs, namely internal factors consisting of addiction, source of income and stress reliever, while external factors consisting of social influence by the peer group and the influence of mass media. As for the conclusion, the youth participation on gaming activities particularly on multiple role playing games is increasing and many factors has contributed on that participation. The stakeholders such as the Ministry of Youth and Sport or the e-sport team should enhance their programme to attract and recruit more youth to be professional e-sport players that able to grow their passion into carrier and proud the nation later. The findings of this study can be used as a future reference for in-depth studies that should focus more on the effects of involvement of youth in MMORGPs.