research-article

Functional or social?: exploring teams in online games

Authors:

Nicholas Bennett,

Noshir ContractorAuthors Info & Claims

CSCW '13: Proceedings of the 2013 conference on Computer supported cooperative work

Pages 399 - 408

https://doi.org/10.1145/2441776.2441822

Published: 23 February 2013 Publication History

Abstract

Team collaboration in multi-player online games provides opportunities for players to interact with each other. Facilitating teams has become one of the main design principles to increase social activities. However, there is no research evidence that collaborating on tasks in game teams can produce the desired relational outcome. This paper examines more than half a million solo and team activities during a week in Dragon Nest, an MMO game. We measure the degree of team engagement using the percentage of time played in teams and the percentage of play with repeated teammates, and we then identify different types of players using this. The results show that solo players and team players are two distinct populations and they are highly predictable based on players' in-game status. Moreover, we find that spending more time in teams does not always lead to more social interactions. The interviews with players are conducted to validate the findings.

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Cited By

Zhang ZKou Y(2024)Casual Competition by Design: A Study of the All Random All Mid (ARAM) Mode in League of LegendsProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36869928:CSCW2(1-28)Online publication date: 8-Nov-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3686992
Freeman GMandryk RFrommel JMirza-Babaei PLampe CFarzan RLópez CCardoso Llach DQuercia DMustafa MNiu SWong-Villacrés M(2024)Games and Play SIG at CSCW: Approaching Games Research from a CSCW PerspectiveCompanion Publication of the 2024 Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing10.1145/3678884.3687144(666-668)Online publication date: 11-Nov-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3678884.3687144
Gonçalves DPais PGerling KGuerreiro TRodrigues A(2023)Social gamingComputers in Human Behavior10.1016/j.chb.2023.107851147:COnline publication date: 1-Oct-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.chb.2023.107851
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Functional or social?: exploring teams in online games
1. Human-centered computing

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cover image ACM Conferences

CSCW '13: Proceedings of the 2013 conference on Computer supported cooperative work

February 2013

1594 pages

ISBN:9781450313315

DOI:10.1145/2441776

General Chairs:
Amy Bruckman
Georgia Institute of Technology, USA
,
Scott Counts
Microsoft Research, USA
,
Program Chairs:
Cliff Lampe
University of Michigan, USA
,
Loren Terveen
University of Minnesota, USA

Copyright © 2013 ACM.

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Published: 23 February 2013

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February 23 - 27, 2013

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Cited By

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https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3686992
Freeman GMandryk RFrommel JMirza-Babaei PLampe CFarzan RLópez CCardoso Llach DQuercia DMustafa MNiu SWong-Villacrés M(2024)Games and Play SIG at CSCW: Approaching Games Research from a CSCW PerspectiveCompanion Publication of the 2024 Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing10.1145/3678884.3687144(666-668)Online publication date: 11-Nov-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3678884.3687144
Gonçalves DPais PGerling KGuerreiro TRodrigues A(2023)Social gamingComputers in Human Behavior10.1016/j.chb.2023.107851147:COnline publication date: 1-Oct-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.chb.2023.107851
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Yuan YCao JWang RYarosh SKitamura YQuigley AIsbister KIgarashi TBjørn PDrucker S(2021)Tabletop Games in the Age of Remote Collaboration: Design Opportunities for a Socially Connected Game ExperienceProceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3411764.3445512(1-14)Online publication date: 6-May-2021
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Sapienza AZeng YBessi ALerman KFerrara E(2018)Individual performance in team-based online gamesRoyal Society Open Science10.1098/rsos.1803295:6(180329)Online publication date: 20-Jun-2018
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Wax ADeChurch LContractor N(2017)Self-Organizing Into Winning Teams: Understanding the Mechanisms That Drive Successful CollaborationsSmall Group Research10.1177/104649641772420948:6(665-718)Online publication date: 1-Sep-2017
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Alhazmi EHorawalavithana SSkvoretz JBlackburn JIamnitchi A(2017)An Empirical Study on Team Formation in Online GamesProceedings of the 2017 IEEE/ACM International Conference on Advances in Social Networks Analysis and Mining 201710.1145/3110025.3110094(431-438)Online publication date: 31-Jul-2017
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