Social Norm Awareness and Norm Compliance in Online Games

Online games are one of the most popular information systems in the world, with over 2 billion users worldwide. Most users follow the social norms and standards of behavior in online games, but some violate social norms, negatively affecting others’ gameplay experiences and weakening loyalty to the game. The social norms in games and other online environments often differ from the social norms in the real world, so are users who violate norms doing so deliberately or are they unaware of the norms? Our results suggest that many users violate social norms because they do not understand them—about a third of the 1,093 participants in our study reported being unsure of the social norms in an online game they played regularly. Greater experience with a game did not significantly increase social norm awareness. Instead, perceptions of social presence, and learning routines (i.e., community learning and instructional support) influenced social norm awareness, which in turn influenced norm compliance. Thus, a technology’s social affordances, social presence, and learning routines are more important than experience using a technology for helping users become aware of and comply with social norms.