My guild, my people: role of guilds in massively multiplayer online games

ABSTRACT

Massively Multiplayer Online Games continue to grow and attract more users. The social aspect of MMOs differentiates them from single person games, increase user loyalty and often result in users spending increasing amounts of time in these virtual environments. We examine World of Warcraft guilds and identify three components of group identity: affective, behavioral and cognitive components. We present the results of our online survey indicating that the affective component, users liking each other and enjoying their interaction with each other is the strongest component of group identity. The result is significant in understanding user behavior and loyalty in MMOs.

REFERENCES

• 1: Abrams, D., & Hogg, M. A. (1988). A Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations and Group Processes: London: Routledge.
• 2: Bartle, R. (1996). Hearts, clubs, diamonds, spades: Players who suit MUDs. Journal of Online Environments, 1(1).
• 3: Brewer, M. B., & Kramer, R. M. (1986). Choice behavior in social dilemmas: Effects of social identity, group size, and decision framing. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 543--549.
• 4: Chen, X. P. (1996). The group-based binding pledge as a solution to public goods problems. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 66, 192--202.
• 5: Ducheneaut, N., & Moore, R. J. (2004). Let me get my alt: digital identiti(es) in multiplayer games. In Proceedings of The CSCW2004 Workshop on Representation of Digital Identities, Chicago, IL.
• 6: Nicolas Ducheneaut , Nicholas Yee , Eric Nickell , Robert J. Moore, "Alone together?": exploring the social dynamics of massively multiplayer online games, Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human Factors in computing systems, April 22-27, 2006, Montréal, Québec, Canada [doi>10.1145/1124772.1124834]
• 7: Festinger, L., Schachter, S., & Back, K. (1950). Social pressures in informal groups. New York: Harper & Row.
• 8: Henry, K. B., Arrow, H., & Carini, B. (1999). A Tripartite Model of Group Identification: Theory and Measuremen. Small Group Research, 30(5), 555--581.
• 9: Hinkle, S., Taylor, L., D. L., F.-C., & Crook, K. (1989). Intragroup identification and intergroup differentiation: A multi-component approach. British Journal of Social Psychology, 28, 305--317.
• 10: Koster, R. (2005). Raph Koster's writings on game design. Retrieved 1 June 2007, from http://www.raphkoster.com/gaming/laws.shtml
• 11: Piper, W. E., Marrache, M., Lacroix, R., Richardsen, A. M., & Jones, B. D. (1983). Cohesion as a basic bond in groups. Human Relations, 36, 93--108.
• 12: A. Fleming Seay , William J. Jerome , Kevin Sang Lee , Robert E. Kraut, Project massive: a study of online gaming communities, CHI '04 extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems, April 24-29, 2004, Vienna, Austria [doi>10.1145/985921.986080]
• 13: Tajfel, H., Billig, M., Bundy, R., & Flament, C. (1971). Social categorization and intergroup behavior. European Journal of Social Psychology, 1, 149--177.
• 14: Turner, J. C., Hogg, M. A., Turner, P. J., & Smith, P. M. (1984). Failure and defeat as determinants of group cohesiveness. British Journal of Social Psychology, 23, 97--111.
• 15: Woodcock, B. S. An Analysis of MMOG Subscription Growth. Retrieved 1 June 2007, from http://www.mmogchart.com
• 16: Nick Yee, The demographics, motivations, and derived experiences of users of massively multi-user online graphical environments, Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, v.15 n.3, p.309-329, June 2006 [doi>10.1162/pres.15.3.309]

INDEX TERMS

Keywords:
MMOs, digital identity, games, group identity, virtual environments