Ang, Zaphiris - 2010 - Social Roles of Players in Mmorpg Guilds - A social network analytic perspect

Page 1

Chee Siang Ang & Panayiotis Zaphiris SOCIAL ROLES OF PLAYERS IN MMORPG GUILDS

Downloaded By: [HEAL-Link Consortium] At: 19:30 18 June 2011

A social network analytic perspective

In this study, we investigated the social roles that emerged from the users’ behaviour and interaction (as opposed to pre-defined formal roles) within a virtual community of massively multiplayer online role playing game. Adopting the social network analysis perspective, we identified and analysed three major social roles with distinct interaction styles and network properties. It was found that core members of the community were players who contributed to the community expansion by providing help and fostering group cohesiveness through friendly social interaction. On the other hand, some periphery members were freeloaders whose sole purpose of joining the guild was only to utilize the guild resource. Keywords

MMORPG; SNA; social roles; virtual community

(Received 8 March 2009; final version received 18 August 2009)

Introduction Like its real life counterpart, a virtual community does not consist of only homogeneous people with similar interaction patterns. For instance, some people contribute to the growth of the community by actively providing help to newcomers, and others by creating a friendly atmosphere and hence a sense of belonging through friendly behaviour. Some people, on the other hand, operate at the periphery, enjoying observing the community activities and only engaging in the community activity very rarely, if any. From the design point of view, such diversity is one of the key factors for a virtual community to be successful (Anderson 2004), and thus the challenge lies in the sociability design of tools/social policies that can facilitate and coordinate various types of interaction styles. We believe that this can be achieved by Information, Communication & Society Vol. 13, No. 4, June 2010, pp. 592 –614 ISSN 1369-118X print/ISSN 1468-4462 online # 2010 Taylor & Francis http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals DOI: 10.1080/13691180903266952


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.