Online gaming is one of the most discussed topics nowadays in the media. However, it seems that the facts that online gaming itself is a term used large group of many different gaming genres is not very well known. The motivational backgrounds to play these different genres were the underlying research question of the presented study. Yee’s (2006) taxonomy of motivation factors in online gaming with his three higher-level factors “Achievement”, “Social” and “Immersion” and 10 underlying components (Advancement, Mechanics, Competition, Socializing, Relationship, Teamwork, Discovery, Role-Playing, Customization and Escapism) originally surveyed MMORPG players and has not been employed for a wide range of game genres so far.

Using a web-based questionnaire 4238 gamers (14+) (mean age 24.29 years; 91.7% male, 7.8% female, 0.5% transgender/genderqueer) from German speaking areas were surveyed. In addition to demographic questions the Gaming Motivation Scale (Yee, 2006) and several clinical scales were used. Participants were categorized according to their preferred game into seven genres (MMORPG, Shooter (incl. MMO & Tactical), Casual, Actions RPG (incl. Horror/Survival), MOBA, Simulation, RTS/S). Statistical analyses included explorative methods and diverse GLM procedures such as ANOVAs and additional effect size calculations.

Motivational differences were significant in all motivational factors between genres. The most relevant results with huge effect sizes were found in the motivational factors “Competition” (F(6, 2736) = 64.618, p<.001, η2=.31) and “Role-Playing” (F(6, 2731) = 29.647, p<.001, η2=.30) as motivational components and “Achievement” (F(6, 2534) = 47,060, p<.001, η2=.33) as higher-level factor. Furthermore gender differences similar to Yee’s (2007) findings were found in all genres with “Achievement” as most relevant differentiating factor (r=.31/Yee: r=.26) and “Competition” as another highly relevant component (r=.31/Yee: r=.17).

Yee’s motivational factors play a crucial role in differentiating between gaming genres and seem to reflect characteristical genre aspects such as “Competition” being most relevant for Shooters and MOBAs and “Achievement” being most relevant for MOBAs in the current study. A unique motivational pattern can be identified for each genre.