Abstract
The study was designed to explore the connection between parasocial friendship with non-playable video game characters to motivation for gaming and the type of passion a player has for gaming (harmonious or obsessive). A structural equation modeling approach showed that friendship quality with a non-playable character is positively related to gaming motives for social, fantasy, escape, and coping. The direct effect of friendship quality was not significant to harmonious passion or obsessive passion suggesting that the motives fully mediated the effects of friendship quality onto that passion type. Socialization motives mediated the association between friendship quality and both harmonious and obsessive passion. Fantasy, and coping motives mediated the association between friendship quality and only harmonious passion, while escape motives mediated between friendship quality and only obsessive passion. An alternative model revealed that friendship quality with a non-playable character does not significantly mediate between fantasy motives and passion outcomes. The present findings are discussed within the context of the broader literature.
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