Massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) are a popular form of entertainment used
by millions of gamers worldwide. Potential problems relating to MMORPG play have emerged, particularly
in relation to being addicted to playing in such virtual environments. In the present study, factors
relating to online gaming addiction and motivations for playing in MMORPGs were examined to establish
whether they were associated with addiction. A sample comprised 1167 gamers who were surveyed
about their gaming motivations. Latent Class Analysis revealed seven classes of motivations for playing
MMORPGs, which comprised: (1) novelty; (2) highly social and discovery-orientated; (3) aggressive,
anti-social and non-curious; (4) highly social, competitive; (5) low intensity enjoyment; (6) discoveryorientated;
and (7) social classes. Five classes of gaming addiction-related experiences were extracted
including: (1) high risk of addiction, (2) time-affected, (3) intermediate risk of addiction, (4) emotional
control, and (5) low risk of addiction classes. Gender was a significant predictor of intermediate risk of
addiction and emotional control class membership. Membership of the high risk of addiction class was
significantly predicted by belonging to a highly social and competitive class, a novelty class, or an aggressive,
anti-social, and non-curious class. Implications of these findings for assessment and treatment of
MMORPG addiction are discussed.