Stockholm University research: A social map of the realm!

[Einar Stensson]

Hi everyone in Paragon!

I'm Einar Stensson from the Stockholm University where I work at the Sociological department on a project about social networks in MMO games like World of Warcraft. What we do is create maps over who knows who and how on WoW realms and we will be including your realm in our research.

Basic idea
MMO users have two gaming careers, one is about improving the character one is playing and the other is building relations with other players. Both are neccessary if you want to be part of the most successful guilds. We think that there is a core of players in the major guilds in the realm who trust each other and who are important for how the social life on a realm plays out.

What will we do
We have designed an online survey about who knows who in the realm and how much they trust each other.

Ethics
We will anonymize the people in our social maps and make sure no one can be identified. Taking part is volentary.

How will we use the results
The results will be published in a scientific journal. The results will be used to improve our understanding of how the social life in World of Warcraft works. It will be used mainly by social scientists and game developers who want to improve the social parts of the game.

The maps will look roughly like this:
http://people.su.se/~eist7232/networkexample.jpg

The survey
You can look at the survey here: http://mmonetworks.sociology.su.se/

Note that it is still in development!

We hope that you will find the survey interesting! All ideas, opinions and questions are very welcome. This thread can also be a place for you to discuss what it means to be social in WoW as it is important for us to design this study from your perspective. So what does it mean to be social in WoW for you?

Cheers! :)
Einar Stensson
Stockholm University
The Sociological department
Project web site: http://people.su.se/~eist7232/
E-mail: [email protected]
cell phone: 004673 368 02 44

[arx]

Looks interesting!

Being social for me mostly means interaction inside the guild. Nowadays I seldom join any pugs or stuff like that. Maybe in Cataclysm when there's more to do again :P

[Ladan]

This looks very interesting, Einar, and great to see us mapping the levels and degrees of social interaction across the game. Are you comparing to other MMOs or just focusing on WoW?

I'd say one of the core components of WoW is its socialness, though it's also not approached in consistent ways by WoW players depending on their level of engagement with the game. I have definitely observed some fascinating levels of connectedness among groups of gamers, however, such as families playing together or real life friends raiding. For some WoW has become a way to connect with some friends.

Can't wait to hear how things are progressing!

Ladan

[DiamondTear]

You can enjoy WoW and raiding without being social at all. Though we're probably in the minority.

[Einar Stensson]

Glad to find a fellow researcher here :)

We are working on the final details of the survey tonight, so its its coffee and hard work tonight, i'll keep you posted on how i progresses.

[Hermanni]

For the record, I tried doing the survey but the "time in guild" -part doesn't seem to work for me and I cannot advance further. I rather doubt my contribution would be worth much though as I am relatively new to Lightning's Blade and I hardly know anyone, much unlike how it is on Stormscale.

[xenophics]

I have the same problem. Have tried to do the test a couple of times already but it's not working (using Opera if that matters).

[Zeotrix]

Hi Einar!

Fun that you do a survey about World of Warcraft! (Currently doing that myself also)

But will the survey only aim at analysing the networking at a specific realm and at specific guilds? Or is the survey just far from being completed? (Now this will only be my personal opinion) But why post your survey when it isn't ready? Might deter people from going at it again when it is actually shipped, at least that is what I think it will do.

But interesting to see other academics going into this wonderful world of Online gaming!

[Zeotrix]

(Going completly off-topic now)

Ladan, have you found anything about not only connecting but also reconnecting with friends through World of Warcraft? At least that was what happened to me when I started playing!

/Sebastian

[Ladan]

Hey Zeotrix!

I've not found many cases of people rediscovering long lost friends in the game, but I am finding cases of people connecting or reconnecting with RL friends through WoW--as in it becomes a way to stay in touch and without the game they may not stay in touch as much otherwise.

So yes, in a way it's become a way to maintain social relationships that already existed outside of the game. I do know of several cases of family members using the game to stay connected, too.

Ladan