This MA thesis examined the differences in vocabulary leaning perceptions and willingness to
communicate (WTC) of players of two video game genres: the players of First Person Shooter (FPS)
games, and the players of Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing (MMORPG) games. The aim of
this thesis was to ascertain which target group of video game-players perceived their genre to be more
useful or conducive to incidentally learning vocabulary and how their genre affected their WTC.
The data for the comparison were gathered using an anonymous online questionnaire created on the
Webropol website. The questionnaire consisted of three sections: the background information section,
the WTC section, and the vocabulary section. A total number of 43 participants took part in the
questionnaire. This number of participants was adequate to apply quantitative methods to the results of
the questionnaire. Questionnaire answers were given simple scores and compared using Microsoft
Excel and the IBM SPSS statistics program. In both sections of the questionnaire, the MMORPG
group outscored the FPS participant group.
An Independent Samples T-test found there to be significant differences (p=.027) in the WTC section,
but no significant differences (p=.245) were found in the vocabulary section. Nonetheless, the
vocabulary section did provide results that skewed in favour of the MMORPG participants in a similar
manner to the WTC section. The results of this thesis indicate that MMORPGs are better suited for
these two facets of language learning. While previous research has highlighted the benefits of
MMORPGs for language learning, no direct comparison has been made with other video game genres.
Future research could focus on comparing additional genres to MMORPGs or different genres
