Almost everyone is a member of an online community. Between social media platforms, such as Twitter, Instagram and chat rooms, we have the power of international socialization at our fingertips and the ability to “meet” and connect with people all the time. Within these online connections, we have the ability to find commonalities, support and form online communities. One of the most notorious online subcultures is that of gamers. Gamers have the reputation for being glued to their computers, wearing headsets and communicating with people from all over the world, and when logging off, making plans to play online together soon. When you hear the word “gamer” what’s the first online gaming community that pops into your mind? For me, it’s World of Warcraft (WoW). In 2006, a research team composed of Ducheneaut, Yee, Nickell & Moore, investigated how closely our stereotypes of gamers are a true representation of the subculture’s presence in the WoW, and the results might surprise you.
WoW is a role-playing computer software game with a multiplayer platform. This allows WoW players from all over the world to connect with one another and play together within the game. Together, within the game that is set on a medieval world created by J. R. R. Tolkien, players become members of teams, guilds and go on quests. Considering the millions of people worldwide to indulge in WoW, it leads many to believe that gamers find a sense of belonging within WoW and build real social relationships (Ducheneaut, 2006).
With overwhelmingly little data on the subject, to analyze the value of social interactions within the online community, the team joined WoW and each created two characters of their own, since most WoW players have a primary and secondary character they play as. Measurements including how often players collaborate with one another and how collaboration effects the efficiency of game progression were evaluated (Ducheneaut, 2006).
Characters and players progress through the game by fighting creatures, taking on dangerous tasks and exploring the game world, all of which they can choose to do alone or in collaboration with other players. In order to communicate with other players, there is a chat box feature at the bottom of each player’s screen. Players can choose to communicate through private one-on-one chat, a group chat that includes the members of their guild or “zone” and “spatial” chats, which are public to all players within a certain radius of the game world (Ducheneaut, 2006).
Using a software interface of the game, the researchers were able to obtain a census, updating every 5 to 15 minutes, that measured how many players were within the game. Through their census, the team determined that the average play-time per character per week was approximately 10 hours. This figure indicates that the average weekly play time per player is likely much higher, since most players have secondary or even tertiary characters they play as—predictably around 21 hours (Ducheneaut, 2006).
Progression through the game encourages the development of social interaction. Most people begin the game with an independent mindset, seeking to conquer the game alone, however, as tasks become more difficult, team collaboration becomes more imperative. The interface produced by the researchers indicates that team formation is counterproductive to progression through the game: the most common levels for group dependability are the levels that have the longest average completion time. That being said, the makers of WoW try to encourage social interaction of their players by giving them complementary skills to one another. For instance, priests are the best healers and warriors get injured most often, so it would be a beneficial for a warrior and a priest to befriend one another. Meanwhile, hunter characters are provided with a pet, granting a player control over the hunter and the pet and thereby a multiplayer function as a single player. It makes sense that the hunter is the preferred character for players who want to tackle the game world solo (Ducheneaut, 2006).
Overall, multiplayer gaming worlds, like WoW can be classified as social environments, as they do encourage social interaction and collaboration between players. Contrarily, researchers determined that the social value that is associated with WoW is mostly talk. That is, gamers are likely to enhance the actual social value of the game in order to entice others to play or in order to justify the amount of time they spend playing through the assumption of a strong knit online community over an addiction to the game. Team development and partnerships throughout the game are not common features, as they decrease game efficiency.
Reference
Ducheneaut, N., Yee, N., Nickell, E. & Moore, R. J. (2006). Alone together?: Exploring the social dynamics of massively multiplayer online games. ACM: New York, NY. Pages 407-416. Retrieved from URL: https://www.parc.com/content/attachments/alone_together_exploring_5599_parc.pdf