A measure of social behavior in team-based, multiplayer online games: The Sociality in Multiplayer Online Games (SMOG) scale

Video games have become a platform for social interaction. Across three studies, we develop a scale to measure social behavior in team-based, multiplayer online games -- the Sociality in Multiplayer Online Games (SMOG) Scale -- and provide evidence for its initial construct validity. We reviewed all measures relating to video games (N = 253 measures) to determine whether there was a need for such a scale. As a pilot study, we conducted two focus groups (N = 16) to inform item generation. In Study 1 (N = 250), we ran an exploratory factor analysis on the items. The SMOG scale was made of two orthogonal factors, assessing anti-social behavior (destructive, SMOG-D) and pro-social (constructive, SMOG-C) behavior. In Study 2 (N = 104), we conducted a confirmatory factor analysis and provided evidence supporting initial construct validity of the SMOG: when statistically controlling for age, sex, and frequency of game-play, dominance positively predicts both SMOG-D and SMOG-C scores; and affiliation negatively predicts SMOG-D and positively predicts SMOG-C.