ABSTRACT
Online video games can be seen as medium for the formation and maintenance of social relationships. In this paper, we explore what social relationships mean under the context of online First-Person Shooter (FPS) games, how these relationships influence game experience, and how players manage them. We combine qualitative interview and quantitative game log data, and find that despite the gap between the non-persistent game world and potentially persistent social relationships, a diversity of social relationships emerge and they play a central role in the enjoyment of online FPS games. We report the forms, development, and impact of such relationships, and discuss our findings in light of design implications and comparison with other game genres.
- Bungie. www.bungie.ne.Google Scholar
- Dabbish, L. Jumpstarting relationships with online games: evidence from a laboratory investigation. in Proc. CSCW 2008, ACM Press (2008), 353--356. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Designing for Social Interaction: Strong, Weak, and Temporary Ties. http://boxesandarrows.com/view/designing-for-socia.Google Scholar
- DeKoven, B. The well-played game: A playerís philosophy, New York: Anchor, 1978.Google Scholar
- Driskell, R. and Lyon, L. Are virtual communities true communities? Examining the environments and elements of community. City & Community, 1, 4 (2002), 373--390.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Ducheneaut, N. The chorus of the dead: roles, identity formation, and ritual processes inside a FPS multiplayer online game in Wright, T. ed. Utopic Dreams and Apocalyptic Fantasies, Lexington Books, 2010.Google Scholar
- Ducheneaut, N. and Moore, R.J. The social side of gaming: a study of interaction patterns in a massively multiplayer online game. in Proceedings of the 2004 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work, ACM (2004). Google ScholarDigital Library
- Ducheneaut, N., Yee, N., Nickell, E. and Moore, R. " Alone together?": exploring the social dynamics of massively multiplayer online games. in Proc. CHI 2006, ACM Press (2006), 407--416. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Ducheneaut, N., Yee, N., Nickell, E. and Moore, R. The life and death of online gaming communities: a look at guilds in world of warcraft. in Proc. CHI 2007, ACM Press (2007), 839--848. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Ferguson, C. The good, the bad and the ugly: A meta-analytic review of positive and negative effects of violent video games. Psychiatric Quarterly, 78, 4 (2007), 309--316.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Fisher, D. Using egocentric networks to understand communication. IEEE Internet Computing (2005), 20--28. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Granovetter, M. The strength of weak ties. ajs, 78, 6 (1973), 1360.Google Scholar
- Herbrich, R., Minka, T. and Graepel, T. TrueSkill(TM): A Bayesian Skill Rating System. Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems, 19 (2007), 569.Google Scholar
- Hughes, L. Beyond the Rules of the Game, Why Are Rooie Rules Nice. The Game Design Reader (2006), 504--516.Google Scholar
- Jansz, J. and Tanis, M. Appeal of playing online first person shooter games. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 10, 1 (2007), 133--136.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Kossinets, G. and Watts, D. Empirical analysis of an evolving social network. Science, 311, 5757 (2006), 88--90.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Lo, S., Wang, C. and Fang, W. Physical interpersonal relationships and social anxiety among online game players. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 8, 1 (2005), 15--20.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Mandryk, R. and Inkpen, K. Physiological indicators for the evaluation of co-located collaborative play. in Proc. of CSCW04, ACM Press (2004), 102--111. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Manninen, T. Interaction forms and communicative actions in multiplayer games. Game studies, 3, 1 (2003).Google Scholar
- Nardi, B. and Harris, J. Strangers and friends: Collaborative play in World of Warcraft. in Proc. CSCW 2006, ACM Press (2006), 149--158. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Oxford, J., Ponzi, D. and Geary, D. Hormonal responses differ when playing violent video games against an ingroup and outgroup. Evolution and Human Behavior, 31, 3 (2010), 201--209.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Pace, T., Bardzell, S. and Bardzell, J. The rogue in the lovely black dress: intimacy in world of warcraft. in Proc. CHI 2010, ACM (2010), 233--242. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Parks, M. and Roberts, L. Making MOOsic': The development of personal relationships on line and a comparison to their off-line counterparts. Journal of social and personal relationships, 15, 4 (1998), 517.Google Scholar
- Salen, K. and Zimmerman, E. Rules of play: Game design fundamentals. MIT Press, 2004. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Steinkuehler, C. and Williams, D. Where everybody knows your (screen) name: Online games as" third places". Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 11, 4 (2006), 885--909.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Taylor, T. Play between worlds: Exploring online game culture. The MIT Press, 2006. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Voida, A. and Greenberg, S. Wii all play: the console game as a computational meeting place. in Proc. CHI 2009, ACM Press (2009), 1559--1568. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Wright, T. Killing Zombies, Terrorists, and Aliens: The pleasures and anxieties of symbolic violence. Midwest Sociological Society (2006).Google Scholar
- Wright, T., Boria, E. and Breidenbach, P. Creative player actions in FPS online video games. Game studies (2000).Google Scholar
Index Terms
- Sociable killers: understanding social relationships in an online first-person shooter game
Recommendations
Socializing by Gaming: Revealing Social Relationships in Multiplayer Online Games
Multiplayer Online Games (MOGs) like Defense of the Ancients and StarCraft II have attracted hundreds of millions of users who communicate, interact, and socialize with each other through gaming. In MOGs, rich social relationships emerge and can be used ...
Fanboys, competers, escapists and time-killers: a typology based on gamers' motivations for playing video games
DIMEA '08: Proceedings of the 3rd international conference on Digital Interactive Media in Entertainment and ArtsIn this paper, the different general motivations of gamers for playing video games are explored. Surprisingly, to date little research has been devoted to the characterization of the gamer, based on general game motivations. By means of an online survey,...
The Trojan Player Typology
New scale developed for motivations to play video games.Validated using a North American MOBA and a Chinese MMO.Validated using both survey and server-side behavioral measures. While many video game researchers have built scales to tackle the ...
Comments