Friday, September 08, 2006
"Alone Together"
And now, for something psuedo-intellectual:
"Alone Together": Exploring the Social Dynamics of Massively Multiplayer Online Games
Someone actually did a proper scientific study on people's playing patterns across all servers in World of Warcraft, looking at socialisation patterns. The conclusion (summarised by me): people generally like the casual social nature of the game - having other players around you, giving the feeling of a big world - but generally don't seem to be as into "the community" as the game advertising might have you believe. Instead, they are more interested in the awfully well designed series of incremental rewards.
Well, duh!
Seriously, this is a very interesting article, and it's generally not too hard to read, especially if you're already familiar with the WoW environment. I am linking it here mostly so I can find it later.
The funniest part of the whole thing is that some students (I assume they were students) have managed to scam a way where they could play WoW for hours and call it "research"! ;)
"Alone Together": Exploring the Social Dynamics of Massively Multiplayer Online Games
Someone actually did a proper scientific study on people's playing patterns across all servers in World of Warcraft, looking at socialisation patterns. The conclusion (summarised by me): people generally like the casual social nature of the game - having other players around you, giving the feeling of a big world - but generally don't seem to be as into "the community" as the game advertising might have you believe. Instead, they are more interested in the awfully well designed series of incremental rewards.
Well, duh!
Seriously, this is a very interesting article, and it's generally not too hard to read, especially if you're already familiar with the WoW environment. I am linking it here mostly so I can find it later.
The funniest part of the whole thing is that some students (I assume they were students) have managed to scam a way where they could play WoW for hours and call it "research"! ;)
// posted by Cass @ 10:44 AM 
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I haven't read your link yet, but I'm guessing its similar stuff to work that this guy: http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/
... has been doing.
(Sorry. Deleted my first post 'cause I used the wrong "you're". Yes, I know thats anal, but I can't find any other editing mechanism.)
... has been doing.
(Sorry. Deleted my first post 'cause I used the wrong "you're". Yes, I know thats anal, but I can't find any other editing mechanism.)
PS Had a look at that site. Very interesting. The main difference between it and the link I posted, however, seems to be the data source. The "Alone Together" article actually looks at data available from the game (lots of automated use of the "who" function, I suspect) to track activity and groupings, rather than surveys to ask the players what they think. :)
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