{"id":600,"date":"2006-05-18T05:57:33","date_gmt":"2006-05-18T05:57:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.docbug.com\/blog\/archives\/600"},"modified":"2006-05-18T05:57:33","modified_gmt":"2006-05-18T05:57:33","slug":"social-dynamics-in-mmogs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.docbug.com\/blog\/archives\/600","title":{"rendered":"Social dynamics in MMOGs"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s a common belief that Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) are more interesting than their single-player counterparts because of the ability to socialize in the game. A paper presented at this year’s ACM Computer Human Interaction<\/a> conference, “Alone Together?” Exploring the Social Dynamics of Massively Multiplayer Online Games<\/i><\/a>, offers a different spin on that. After installing \/who-bots<\/i> on several World of Warcraft<\/a><\/i> servers and watching people’s play habits, researchers from PARC and Stanford University concluded:<\/p>\n

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“Our observations show that, while MMOGs are clearly social environments, the extent and nature of the players’ social activities differ significantly from previous accounts. In particular, joint activities are not very prevalent, especially in the early stages of the game. WoW’s subscribers, instead of playing with other people, rely on them as an audience for their in-game performances, as an entertaining spectacle, and as a diffuse and easily accessible source of information and chitchat. For most, playing the game is therefore like being “alone together”\u2014 surrounded by others, but not necessarily actively interacting with them.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Some other interesting tidbits from the paper:<\/p>\n