Strangers and friends: collaborative play in world of warcraft

Massive Multiplayer Online Games (MMOG) allow a large number of players to cooperate, compete and interact meaningfully in the online environment. Gamers are able to form social networks with fellow gamers and create a unique virtual community. Although research has discussed the importance of social interaction in MMOG, it fails to articulate how social interaction takes place in the game. The current chapter aims to depict how gamers interact and socialize with each other in a popular MMOG, World of Warcraft. Through virtual ethnography, specific interaction patterns and communication behaviors within the community are discussed. It is concluded that the types of social interaction taken place in the gaming world is influenced by the temporal and spatial factors of the game as well as the game mechanisms.

2006

Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) routinely attract millions of players but little empirical data is available to assess their players' social experiences. In this paper, we use longitudinal data collected directly from the game to examine play and grouping patterns in one of the largest MMOGs: World of Warcraft. Our observations show that the prevalence and extent of social activities in MMOGs might have been previously over-estimated, and that gaming communities face important challenges affecting their cohesion and eventual longevity. We discuss the implications of our findings for the design of future games and other online social spaces.

World of Warcraft (WoW) is a massively multiplayer online game (MMO) supporting complex social interactions among over 12 million players. While the -lone gamer‖ stereotype still persists, there is little data on gaming with other players with whom one shares a -real life‖ (RL) social relationship. Our work departs from previous studies in focusing on the hybrid of online and offline sociality, rather than only one or the other. We provide perhaps the first quantitative characterization of MMO play with RL friends, family and other social connections. A large online survey collected data from 2865 WoW players from the US, Europe, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The findings overwhelmingly support the view that playing WoW may often serve to enhance, not diminish, RL social interactions. In addition, we present benchmark results on demographics and play patterns in world regions previously not well-studied, and the consistency of our patterns of findings across East/West and gender groupings suggests fascinating issues for further research.

… of the international conference on Advances …, 2007

Eludamos 7(1): 35-54, 2013

This empirical study focuses on online collaboration and social interaction in temporary group formations. A case study of a massive multiplayer online game World of Warcraft explores these issues. Within this context little attention has been paid to temporary collaboration groups. The phenomenon is analyzed using interaction data complemented with interview data, forum data and consideration of game design. We found two main types of interaction, sociable and instrumental, but investment in the social situation was exceedingly little. We conclude that the low levels of social interaction observed are the result of a game design that makes the cost of social play high and restricts the available space for players to act within the designed architecture of the game, thus limiting the possibilities for played sociality. The connection between designed and played sociality is crucial for understanding online collaboration as it shapes online social worlds and therefore users’ experiences within this social context.

Title: “Rule no.3: Never raid with pants on.”–An Anthropological Study of Communication, Co-Operation and Friendship in the ’Virtual’World of Warcraft Author: I. Haraldsson, 2017 Uppsala University The Department for Cultural Anthropology and Ethnography The significance of technology and technological devices in the modern western society is steadily expanding, and affecting how the consumers of these products interact with one another. Both through these devices, but also how they interact without them the importance of studying these forms of interaction is therefore of rising significance. This thesis explores the world of online-gaming in order to map out how the players use, and are affected by the virtual aspects of the platform theyuse to create and reproduce their social bonds with one another. By analysing the relationship between the virtual and the actual it is possible to shed light on the potentials as well as the limits of online communication. The thesis purpose is to add to a deeper understanding within the anthropological discipline for interpersonal interaction within the frames of virtual spaces. The research has been conducted through a qualitative ethnographic field study with a guild of players who interact through the game World of Warcraft. This thesis will show that there is a strong interaction between the virtual worlds and the actual world. Thus it is possible for events that occurred in either space to affect the player.

Proceedings of DiGRA Nordic 2010: Experiencing Games: Games, Play, and Players, At Stockholm, Sweden., 2010

One of the main components and reasons for the success of the Massive Multiplayer Online Games genre (MMOG) is that these games are seen as arenas for social interaction. The focus of this paper is the phenomenon of Pick up Groups (PUGs), a neglected aspect of online gaming. How is the social interaction structured in these temporary groups?

Technology Lifecycle and Workflow Analysis

Proceedings of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning, C. O'Malley, D. Suthers, P. Reimann, A. Dimitracopoulou (Eds.), pp. 404-413.

A common argument about computer games and learning is that the commitment gamers have might be transformed and used in educational practices. In order to unpack gamers’ commitment, the present study investigates collaboration in a Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG). It investigates gamers’ practices in order to expose their everyday gaming activities and knowledge domains. Drawing on detailed descriptions of team gaming practices, the paper highlights that gamers’ of MMORPGs are hands-on experts in handling a game interface. Their expertise is about skilled stances tied to gaming structures. Also, gamers are members in certain communities and adhere to both community specific epistemologies and to generic ones. These gaming stances are from certain educational approaches difficult to make-sense of, while gamers’ commitments in other perspectives become means for learning. Lastly, in relation to MMORPGs and education, a neglected issue concerns social pressure in gaming communities, resulting in various forms of participation.

International Conference on Computer Supported Collaborative Learning, 2009

A common argument about computer games and learning is that the commitment gamers have might be transformed and used in educational practices. In order to unpack gamers' commitment, the present study investigates collaboration in a Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG). It investigates gamers' practices in order to expose their everyday gaming activities and knowledge domains. Drawing on detailed descriptions of team gaming practices, the paper highlights that gamers' of MMORPGs are hands-on experts in handling a game interface. Their expertise is about skilled stances tied to gaming structures. Also, gamers are members in certain communities and adhere to both community specific epistemologies and to generic ones. These gaming stances are from certain educational approaches difficult to make-sense of, while gamers' commitments in other perspectives become means for learning. Lastly, in relation to MMORPGs and education, a neglected issue concerns social pressure in gaming communities, resulting in various forms of participation.