Digital Commons Network^™

The Day We All Became Hokies: An Exploratory Uses And Gratifications Study Of Facebook Use After The Virginia Tech Shootings, Sabrena Michelle Carter

Masters Theses

Facebook has been incorporated into the regular activities of over 100 million users. After the Virginia Tech Shootings, individuals began interacting with Facebook in a unique way. This exploratory project analyzed uses and gratifications of Facebook use in the time following the Virginia Tech shootings. In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with seven college students whose Facebook profiles acknowledged the event in at least one area.

The study found preliminary evidence of Blumler's categories of Surveillance, Diversion, Personal Identity, and Personal Relationships. The category of Curiosity was not substantiated in the findings. New categories were suggested based on the results. These …

Designed For Play: A Case Study Of Uses And Gratifications As Design Elements In Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games, Timothy Patrick Gibson

Masters Theses

The World of Warcraft is a paid electronic experience known as a Massively Online Role Playing Game. Since its creation, this video game has attracted over ten million subscribers. A broad question asked why this massive amount of people would join this online environment. The researcher proposed that developers of the game designed certain uses and gratifications into the online environment and that these elements could be observed through a participant observation methodology. Four uses and gratifications were singled out for observation including interactivity, asynchroniety, demassification, and community. The work reports the observations of the uses and gratifications through the …