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"Alone together?": exploring the social dynamics of massively multiplayer online games

Published: 22 April 2006 Publication History

Abstract

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.

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    cover image ACM Conferences
    CHI '06: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
    April 2006
    1353 pages
    ISBN:1595933727
    DOI:10.1145/1124772
    Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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    Published: 22 April 2006

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    Author Tags

    1. activity metrics
    2. massively multiplayer online games
    3. online communities
    4. social dynamics

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    CHI06: CHI 2006 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
    April 22 - 27, 2006
    Québec, Montréal, Canada

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    Overall Acceptance Rate 6,199 of 26,314 submissions, 24%

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    • (2024)Forced to Choose Silence: Social Gaming with DisabilitiesSimulation & Gaming10.1177/10468781241259831Online publication date: 24-Jul-2024
    • (2024)It Takes Two to Negotiate: Modeling Social Exchange in Online Multiplayer GamesProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36373628:CSCW1(1-22)Online publication date: 26-Apr-2024
    • (2024)"I Felt Everyone Was a Streamer": An Empirical Study on What Makes Avatar Collective Streaming EngagingProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36373448:CSCW1(1-25)Online publication date: 26-Apr-2024
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