The Social Behaviors of Experts in Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games

Huffaker, David A.; Wang, Jing; Treem, Jeffrey W.; Ahmad, Muhammad Aurangzeb; Fullerton, Lindsay; Williams, Dmitri; Poole, Marshall Scott; Contractor, Noshir

doi:10.1109/cse.2009.13

Cited by 47 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Shim et al [13] discuss the problem of inferring performance of players in games, Huffaker et al [11] studied expert behavior. Earlier studies of networks in MMORPGs have also looked at Trade [1], how can MMORPGs be used to foster learning [18], hence the connection with mentoring.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Many Faces of Mentoring in an MMORPG

Ahmad

Huffaker

Wang³

et al. 2010

2010 IEEE Second International Conference on Social Computing

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Mentoring refers to the phenomenon where a more skilled or knowledgeable person helps a less skilled or less knowledgeable person gain skill in a particular domain. In this paper we study the phenomenon of mentoring in a massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). We identify four different types of mentoring, which map to several important motivational features. We then measure the social networks of mentors at multiple levels, and propose a network model to describe the emergence and evolution of mentoring.

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Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Many Faces of Mentoring in an MMORPG

Ahmad

Huffaker

Wang³

et al. 2010

2010 IEEE Second International Conference on Social Computing

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“…(As mentioned earlier, an alternative interpretation with 'prescience' instead of 'importance' is also possible.) This hierarchy may arise through an imposed chain of command, as in business or military organisations, through a more subtle structure of the type observed in social or criminal networks [5], or may be earned through completion of tasks, as in on-line gaming [15]. The idea that hirearchy can impact communication structure is intuitively reasonable, and is supported in the social sciences by, for example, the empirical discovery of discussion catalysts in an on-line community who are "responsible for the majority of messages that initiate long threads" [9].…”

Section: New Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are similar passive and active explanations for the existence of dynamic receivers. They may have added importance, in the sense that they are the preferred point of contact for any node in the network that is currently bursting with information or passing on requests for advice-for example, in massive multiplayer online role-playing games a preference has been observed for players to send messages to higher level players [15]. More actively, dynamic receivers may have added global, historical knowledge, in the sense that they know which nodes are currently most informative and deliberately form links with them.…”

Section: New Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

A model for dynamic communicators

Mantzaris¹,

Higham²

2012

Eur. J. Appl. Math

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We develop and test an intuitively simple dynamic network model to describe the type of time-varying connectivity structure present in many technological settings. The model assumes that nodes have an inherent hirerarchy governing the emergence of new connections. This idea draws on newly established concepts in on-line human behavior concerning the existence of discussion catalysts, who initiate long threads, and on-line leaders, who trigger feedback. We show that the model captures an important property found in email and voice call data-'dynamic communicators' with sufficient foresight or impact to generate effective links have an influence that is grossly underestimated by static measures based on snaphots or aggregated data.

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“…Where McGonigal and Reeves, Brown and Laurier view time invested in relation to game expertise in an additive sense (the more time one spends playing, the more skilled one becomes), recent studies by Huffaker et al [2009] and Shim et al [2009] use playing time in a very different way: as a factor to measure players' efficiency, that is, the amount of experience points achieved over a certain period of time. The objective in both studies is to generate a quantifiable model of expertise that can be deployed to categorize, and then investigate, the activities of large numbers of expert players.…”

Section: Magic Formulaementioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling play

Taylor¹,

Castell²,

Jenson³

et al. 2011

ACM SIGGRAPH 2011 Game Papers

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With the increasing popularity of massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) such as World of Warcraft, EVE Online, and Maple Story, attempts have been made to define and measure player expertise both within and across online games. Apart from nuanced ethnographic accounts of elite players, which are deliberately localized and small-scale, studies of MMOG expertise to date have either deployed one-dimensional variables such time spent playing and in-game titles and accomplishments, or a combination of the these. These approaches risk obscuring a host of complex considerations, such as players' prior experience with the game or genre, their relationships to other players, and the ludic affordances and limitations of specific games. And they are also significantly less sophisticated than the criteria and tools players themselves use to measure expertise.Our study of expertise in online games is guided by Bruno Latour's injunction to "follow the actors"-which for us in this case meant paying careful attention to how players themselves characterize and pursue 'expertise' in the everyday realities of their everyday/everynight MMOG lives. Drawing from a multisite, mixed-methods study of 250 MMOG players in 8 sites (both university laboratory and public LAN events), this paper proposes a model for identifying and assessing expertise that is better able to take into consideration the multiple forms, components and expressions of 'expert' game playing that players themselves are guided by. This model divides expertise into four inter-related modalities, each addressing a different set of competencies: investment, skill, discourse, and game knowledge. Reviewing each modality in turn, the paper frames this model as an attempt to preserve the complexity of qualitatively-driven, ethnographic accounts of expertise, mobilized in a quantifiable and measurable way.

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The Social Behaviors of Experts in Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games

Cited by 47 publications

References 16 publications

The Many Faces of Mentoring in an MMORPG

The Many Faces of Mentoring in an MMORPG

A model for dynamic communicators

Modeling play

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