Alex Roberts
Curtin University
Abstract
Gaming communities are an integral part of the gaming landscape both online and offline. Thus, being a part of a gaming community directly influences and enhances the experience of a member through relationships and social capital. This conference paper will use literature based primarily on massively-multiplayer online games (MMOG’s) to explore the benefits of community-based gaming from both a player and developer perspective whilst examining their symbiotic relationship.
Keywords: Community, Social Capital, Massively-Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG), Video Games.
Introduction
Playing video games is an inherently social experience. Whether experienced in a single or multiplayer context, it matters not. Video gaming is continuously evolving, and social interaction is an important motive for players (Ruggles, Wadley, & Gibbs, 2005). Thus, the virtual community has become the zenith for gaming interaction. Virtual communities are characterized by the shared goals and interests of people who use electronic communication as a primary form of interaction. Additionally, as people of similar interests engage with one another for long enough periods of time with significant feeling, personal relationships are formed within cyberspace (Ridings & Gefen, 2006). In the context of gaming, Ruggles et al. (2005) explain that video game developers have taken advantage of the internet to connect players both in and out of game. Whether it be to discuss ideas, share resources or play together, the community is based on these foundations, which when strong enough can bleed into the offline world through events such as Blizzcon. A convention run by Blizzard Entertainment which focuses on bringing together the games they have created with the communities they have cultivated. This paper aims to explore how gaming communities and networks enhance the experiences of members and often form the backbone of games themselves once established and will primarily draw on literature referencing massively multiplayer online games / massively multiplayer online roleplaying games (MMOGs/MMORPGs). The following paragraph will outline how developers work to foster communities in their games while the subsequent paragraphs will focus on how player experiences are enhanced through social capital and learning. Additionally, this paper will explore how the developer is an integral part of the community and how the symbiotic player-developer relationship provides benefits. Lastly this paper will explore how communities, once established, form the backbone of video games through examination of mediums such as Twitch.
Virtual Beginnings
While community is important, the genesis lies with the development staff. It was found through interviews with producers, developers and designers from five successful game vendors that had successfully shipped single-player, multi-player and massively-multiplayer games, that an online community is considered important to the success of games by all participants (Ruggles et al. 2005). Furthermore, various techniques are employed by developers both in-game and out-of-game to facilitate the formation of communities. In-game techniques are comprised of supporting formation of player organizations (guilds, clans etc.), encouragement of player competition (competition requires players to interact with one another), design of effective player matching systems (often through a user interface (UI) that allows customization of preferences in content, activities, social groups), effective player-to-player communication tools as well as the design of social spaces in game that can facilitate things such as trade and community events (Ruggles et al. 2005). Out-of-game techniques are then comprised of the provision of official websites and forums, support and encouragement of fan sites, effective interaction between development staff and players, involving players in decisions and encouraging high profile players to become advocates for the game and community (Ruggles et al. 2005). These techniques allow players to create communities through the given tools and design choices of the development staff which as they grow, allow players to have a better experience while playing the game. This will be covered in the proceeding paragraphs.
Motivations in Play
Millions of people play games, and among these players, each have their own motivations. In a study of World of Warcraft (WoW), a popular MMORPG developed by Blizzard Entertainment, 1059 participants answered questions regarding the reasons in which they play the game. Answers included player versus environment (PvE) content, exploration, quest achievements, player versus player (PvP) content, dungeons and raids (Billieux et al., 2013). MMORPG’s are described to be intensely competitive, and players often may not be able to survive alone. Hence the need for players to cooperate and rely on each other in order to achieve a common goal. This forming of groups, and intergroup collaboration is what gives rise to robust communities in which players create and transact these online relationships both in-game through avatars and out of game through voice chat, instant messaging, forums and email (Bessiere, Seay, & Kiesler, 2007). It is this formation of community that enhances the experience of the player. With in-game content often being designed and balanced around multiple players, having a community to tap into affords community members the means to overcome these obstacles and achieve goals they otherwise would be unable to reach on their own. This is exemplified through the in-game social networks known as guilds. These are communities of players who band together with the goals of making friends, accessing guild resources and accessing help and knowledge from more experienced players. Additionally, the positive connotations related to guilds often denote that players participate in this form of engagement voluntarily resulting in individual goals becoming shared goals (Hsiao & Chiou, 2012).
Social Capital
Additionally, social capital plays an integral role in the experience of players both in-game and out-of-game. In a study of 161 people by Martoncik and Loksa (2016), it was found that players experience lower degrees of loneliness and social anxiety when playing with community members in which they have relationships with. This was associated with guild membership and frequent communication with teammates over voice chat. In addition to this, online game community engagement out-of-game can be motivated by meeting new people, information gathering and learning, social interaction, social support, sense of community, external support and alleviation of social anxiety through the content sharing platform Twitch.tv (Hilvert-Bruce et al., 2018).
An additional study of 22 participants explains that they all feel a sense of community and belonging in relation to WoW. This community aspect was noted to be one of the best things about the game and may have provided them with belonging that they lacked in their offline lives (O’Connor et al., 2015). Furthermore, this study examined that of the participants, many of them saw WoW and MMO’s as a medium in which they could assume identities that fit with the communities in which they were members. These included; the WoW player, the MMO player, the gamer and the guild member. Additionally, these players also reported trusting guildmates, giving and receiving in-game help and advice as well as giving and receiving offline advice (O’Connor et al., 2015). While membership to groups in the community assists in enhancing players capacity to tackle in-game tasks, the formation of relationships and acquisition of social capital examined in these studies illustrates how the experience of community members is enhanced through providing a support network of new relationships in addition to the positive influence on their mental health, resulting in more enjoyable playtime and environment. Furthermore, while in-game connection is important, out-of-game connections are equally as important in building and assisting members of the community. Collaboration via Twitch.tv allows community members to enhance their skillset and knowledge base via consumption of content produced by other community members. In addition to this, regarding other game types, it is often not necessary to be connected to the internet to play a single-player game, this does not mean community membership is a null factor in this scenario. While player-to-player interaction is limited in game, online tutorials, tips and hints are all beneficial in helping the player fully realize their experience (Ruggles et al., 2005). This illustrates how despite not having in-game interactions with other plays in other genres of games, it is possible to enhance your experience and be an active member of the community by examining and taking part in the conversation around said game.
Developer Perspective
Until now, this paper has largely focused on how community membership and engagement enhance the experiences of the player. This paragraph will examine this topic through the lens of the developer. Earlier in this paper, it was noted that members from various video game vendors considered the online community to be a contributing factor to a game’s success. In addition to this, online communities based around the use of a product can be important for developing new marketing strategies resulting in reinforcing the customers relationship to the product (Ruggles et al., 2005). That is, a thriving community allows for the developer to employ additional monetization strategies. Furthermore, the more engaged a player is with the community, as seen in the previous paragraph where it was indicated that the community was the best part of the game for some people, the more likely a community member is to stick with the product. As well as this, it is important to note that the developer and the players form a symbiotic relationship. With the developers taking on feedback from the community in order to try and improve the game, which will work to further grow the community as the game evolves. A perfect example of this is Blizzard Entertainment’s WoW question and answer livestreams which aim to address player feedback and ensure players that they have been heard. That they are a part of the process.
Community
Once a community exists, it often becomes the backbone of the game. As without a community the game would likely not exist. The WoW documentary Looking for Group (2014) illustrates this as much of it features community members. Many of which explain that they continuously come back to the game for the community as it makes them feel welcome, it supports them, and it is part of their identity. Simultaneously, developers comment on the players being integral to the game. Bungie also illustrates this idea through their “This Week at Bungie” (TWAB) blog which communicates weekly changes to the community whilst also featuring user generated content each week. Thus, facilitating collaboration in an online setting out-of-game. While this paragraph is light on literature, it offers real world examples as to what kind of role the community plays in a gaming context. The WoW Twitch channel for example has approximately 538,000 followers while the community member Preach has approximately 136,000. Demonstrating that even as an individual he has a large amount of pull. Additionally, the WoW YouTube channel has 1.2 million subscribers while Preach and Bellulargaming, another WoW community member, have a combined 847,000 subscribers. While the developers maintain the game, content creators and community members contribute largely to the knowledge and skill base of the community due to everyday broadcasting and publishing of user generated content that aims to provide value to community members, whilst providing feedback to Blizzard.
Conclusion
Whether a game is single-player or multiplayer, there will always be a community element. That community element may range from guides and tips for a single-player game to new relationships made in-game or through forums. There are numerous ways that communities interact in the gaming context and it requires effort from both the developers and the players in order to foster a community that can truly enhance the experiences of everyone involved. In the case of WoW which has been briefly examined in this paper, it is the community that increases the capacity of the player to achieve greater goals but more importantly, it is the community that increases the social capital of community members allowing them to enhance their experience through a betterment of their health, identity and other social issues whilst creating an environment in which others are encouraged to join. Although it is necessary for a game to exist in which the community can orbit, the game could not continue to thrive without the community to nourish it.
References:
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This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License
Hi Alex,
Your paper was a great read and I really enjoyed it. I am an avid gamer myself so I found it easy to relate to the points that you are making. I agree that games are a social experience and that gaming communities enhance the experience. The first game that I discovered this with was Destiny back in 2014. My friends and I would stay up late playing the game together most nights, but if I was playing by myself I would not invest as much time or effort as I did. Being able to talk to my friends and have shared goals and interactions really drew me in. It was a new way to keep in touch with friends, make new friends, and have social interactions online that I had never experienced before.
You mentioned that World of Warcraft (Wow) players have an event called Blizzcon where the community comes together to celebrate the game. Destiny has a similar event and it is called Destinycon. I feel like WoW was the blueprint to how games can have successful and engaged communities and games like Destiny have tried to follow this model in order to be successful.
I really like that you touched on the social aspects of gaming communities. You are correct when you say that people in gaming communities feel a social connection to other players and this is something that they may not have in the real world. It helps them to feel less lonely and gives them a sense of community.
You rightly point out that communities are the backbone of games and are very powerful. Gaming communities have the voice and reach to connect directly with gaming developers and impact upon their decisions. Developers are very aware of this and it is an important part of modern game design to keep players in the loop and have active feedback channels. The community can ultimately decide if games prosper or fail.
Regards,
Marcus
Hi Marcus,
You make a really good point about the investment level in a game if you’re friends are playing it. I sank more hours than I care to admit into Ark: Survival Evolved when it was in Early Access, largely due to an awesome server full of amazing people with whom I had many unforgettable gaming moments. When the developers of Ark decided to introduce some unwelcome changes most of my friends stopped playing, and that was the end of my drive to invest any more time.
It seems that Web 2.0 has allowed gaming communities to voice their concerns about games more easily today than in the past. I can’t imagine the difficulty of rallying people together to stop Atari making rubbish games in the ’70s that was one of the major reasons for the crash of the gaming industry.
The evolution of the Internet and gaming is an interesting one. In the earlier days a company released a game and it got reviewed by multiple sources and you decided whether you wanted to buy it. Then you got to find out whether it was good or bad or even glitchy.
These days gaming companies monitor social media and respond to questions and complaints and even release updates to their games to fix the bugs people are so vocal about.
Before, some reviews may have even been paid advertisements but now you can’t ignore thousands of complaints from rabid social media users.
“These days gaming companies monitor social media and respond to questions and complaints and even release updates to their games to fix the bugs people are so vocal about.”
That’s a really good point. Web 2.0 has changed that dynamic rather interestingly, as in the space of one day a social media storm can destroy the potential of a game before it has even released.
Hey Marcus, I appreciate you reading my paper.
I have had very similar experiences to yourself in games such as World of Warcraft and Destiny, which again are real world examples of the ideas presented in my paper. While I think the idea of the community being the backbone of the community could have been further articulated in my paper, It is evident that community is an integral part of why people play games and the kinds of experiences they get out of them.
To relate to your example, I lost a lot of motivation to play World of Warcraft when my friend moved to the opposite faction and I moved to a different server, thus resulting in my not having my long-term guild.
Cheers,
Alex
Hi Alex,
As a gamer, I quite liked this paper for highlighting how online communities are as viable as offline communities in promoting friendships and the gathering of social capital for self-development. Being able to rely on others learning and overcoming a challenge no matter your background or skill set is what makes online gaming as rewarding as what you’ve outlined, especially when offline friends who play the same game may not be as accessible, hence the reason why virtual worlds fulfill the need for performances of the self as outlined by Erving Goffman.
In terms of developers being wholly supportive of the online gaming sphere I would argue that, with regards to Oldenburg’s idea of “third places” promoting aspects such as level playing fields, equal opportunities and welcoming veterans, the practices of some developers in fact hinder the online gaming experience rather than encourage it. To use Electronic Arts for example I believe that some publishers and developers deliberately create divisions in their communities to create incentives for players to purchase loot boxes, e.g. the 40 hour grind for each hero in Star Wars Battle Front II where by comparison the heroes in the original SWBFII were unlocked immediately. This move ultimately led to divisions within the community and tensions between fans and EA, which led to the most downvoted comment in Reddit history.
In terms of welcoming veterans it seems that competitive play is more cooperative in games where players have something collectively to lose (e,g. in WoW) versus games like Rainbow Six Siege, where after a round ends your interactions with those players doesn’t matter. Kwak et al. illustrates this point and how it ties into your paper with regards to working towards a goal in that communities seem to form and work together better in general, so long as they’re not pitted against each other, especially for money.
Having said all that I also liked your point about gaming communities being the backbone of games and a conduit between gamers and developers that is dangerous to ignore (looking at you EA). Ultimately the success of developer decisions relies heavily on listening to your fan base, as we’ve seen with issues such as Diablo Immortal and the shunning of the PC community in favour of the mobile market, and the respectable amount of flak that developers receive for ignoring, as you put it, symbiosis.
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Kwak, H., Blackburn, J., & Han, S. (2015, April). Exploring cyberbullying and other toxic behaviour in team competition online games. In Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 3739-3748). ACM.
Oldenburg, R. (1999). The Great Good Place: Cafe´s, Coffee Shops, Community Centers, Beauty Parlors, General Stores, Bars, Hangouts, and How They Get You Through The Day. New York: Marlowe & Company
Hi Joel, I appreciate you reading and commenting on my paper!
My main take-away from your comment is the counter-point you have made regarding developers / publishers actually hindering communities through their decisions. This is definitely an interesting, and important perspective to consider as, like you have mentioned, we have seen many developer backlashes recently. Namely, the Epic Games Store exclusive deals resulting in games getting review bombed and people deciding to boycott them.
Despite this however, I would still argue that the developer is an integral part of the community that more often than not works to improve the game. You mention Star Wars Battlefront 2, and while Dice/EA’s business model for the game was exploitative at launch, it has changed greatly in order to appease fans (which as you also commented on, are dangerous to ignore). The overhaul of the progression system, implementation of new maps and game modes as well as new heroes and villains such as Obi-Wan, Anakin and Count Dooku seems to have earned positive sentiment on sites such as YouTube, Twitch and other social media sites.
Ultimately though, I do think it is important to understand the context in which developers make these choices. While Ubisoft may have worked to build For Honor into a very respectable product in order to grow the community, Companies like EA perhaps only decided to change because of how severe the backlash they received was.
I appreciate the perspective you brought here.
Cheers,
Alex
Hi Alex
I enjoyed reading your paper. I also believe it is very important for a company to implement tools in-game and externally for community interaction. Personally, my favorite part of gaming is the meaningful interactions both in and out of game. Communicating with guild mates in WoW or other users on WoW forums was a great part of the MMORPG experience. Some say the implementation of “group-finder” in WoW had a negative effect on community interaction, rather than having to communicate to other players directly to form groups to achieve a common goal, it has become an automated system. It has however, allowed more users of different skill-levels to come together across multiple “realms” seamlessly.
You mentioned the importance of streaming services in your paper. I believe this will have a large impact on the future of entertainment and i focused a lot of my research on this topic. The community interaction it offers is something very unique to streaming. Developers are now implementing the ability to stream to twitch directly into games, which is great for community interaction.
It is interesting seeing new and improved ways companies are adding ways for users to communicate in and out of game. eg. Twitter implementation into WoW to share in-game experiences and in-game “selfies”, among many others.
Hey Matt, thanks for your contribution!
I think “group-finder” is an excellent example of the developers implementing a design choice with the intention of facilitating social interaction. Among the community though, it has indeed sparked debate about whether or not it has had a negative impact. I think while it allows more people of different skill groups to connect and achieve goals, the over-designing of the community experience can hamper the development of the community.
The example I would pose in this situation would be that in the recent WoW Classic beta, people have had to revert to the classic ways of forming groups and undertaking difficult tasks. These examples have largely been observed on Twitch.tv, which relates to your paper, as over 100,000 people were concurrently viewing streamer Asmongold play this beta, indicating that interest in older, more “traditional” social interaction in MMO’s is sought after. Additionally, he also commented that he believes the best parts of the stream were the interactions he had with others.
Cheers,
Alex
Hi Alex,
Thanks for your article. It was very insightful and had plenty of information for someone like me as a non-gamer to understand the impact of gaming on people. I suspect that the communities are bigger then I could ever imagine. Is there a mechanism within communities to recognise people that may be addicted to the gaming lifestyle? If everyone is in the bubble and playing, then who can as the question RUOK? Are there support groups that people can tap into? Also, who polices the game?
Do you also know of any technical glitches that have occurred to interrupt gameplay? I imagine that this would be a very catastrophic incident with far-reaching effects on the gaming community a whole. Is there like a helpdesk for such matters etc? Sorry if these are dumb questions but I want to get a feel of how the community would band together in times of hardship or struggle. (In the game or in real life)
Cheers,
Luki
Hi Luki,
I used to play on a server regularly where most people knew each other well enough to know real names, occupations, other hobbies etc., with some members often meeting up in real life to hang out. One particular veteran spent unhealthy amounts of time in-game to avoid real life responsibilities which were causing some issues, and after several consecutive 18+ hour long gaming sessions the administrators banned him from the server. While this might seem harsh, the administrators and players who knew him called and messaged him outside of the game to help him through his problems, and eventually through the community he recovered.
Gaming addiction itself is a relatively new phenomenon, and can often be difficult for a community to recognise as long play sessions are nothing especially odd, unless real life is clearly being avoided. While the issue is being recognised as a tangible condition, there aren’t many official support structures that people can turn to. This is when reliable and quality communities within gaming can help, if somewhat unorthodox at times.
Hi Joel,
Thanks for the reply. That’s a fantastic good news story and it gives hope to people that you were able to get a successful outcome. It must be a bit more difficult now with larger games spanning the globe and a fair bit of anonymity involved. Do you think that people get involved now anonymously because of that’s the way they like it? Are you still involved in online gaming?
Hi Luki,
These questions definitely aren’t dumb! Not everyone is initiated to the goings on of every community.
Often, as Joel also mentioned, there aren’t a great deal of official structures in place to help people who may be addicted to video games. Though, active and inclusive communities often work to help and guide their members to make the most of life and their well-being. A great example, that relates to Matt’s core idea of streaming, is the streamer Bajheera. The entirety of his content revolves around video games and fitness. Thus, he is forever encouraging his viewers to enjoy themselves playing games but to not neglect other important aspects of their life. Namely, their fitness.
In terms of who polices games, it can be a co-operative effort between the players and the developers of the game. In terms of rules, and conduct, players can often self-govern through muting, blocking, or voting to kick toxic members. Additionally, anti-cheat software and the developers can be very active in banning those who are cheating or bullying.
Lastly, in further support of my papers idea about developers needing to further improve the game in order to foster a greater community, the technical glitches you speak of are of great relevance. The recent release of a game called “Anthem” was riddled with technical problems which, coupled with lack of content, led to the community pronouncing the game “dead”. Additionally, Ubisoft is constantly working to fix the technical issues of their game “Rainbow Six Siege” as when game-breaking bugs occur, they are circulated around social media (often by professional players) and it really seems to hurt the communities perspective on the game. These interruptions in gameplay can definitely hurt a community however much of the communities loyalty is based upon how dedicated the developers are to fixing them.
Cheers,
Alex
Hi Alex,
Although I am not a gamer both my son and daughter are very much into the gaming space so I get my views mainly from interaction with them. The idea of coming together in a guild or community I can see really does get them socially active and it does go into the physical world as there are a lot of gamers locally that they meet and discuss points with. The developers really do tap into the way people are using the game, my daughter said there has been many failures because the developers did not listen to the users and missed the mark with new versions and lost a lot of money. An interesting aspect is that game developers and console makers move to the high end of the market requiring high speed internet, hi definition televisions and high sped hardware so I do wonder if they miss a lot of market as they are trying to push the experience with the technology and not the game itself. Thank you for the paper I was able to relate a lot to it through observing my children in this space.
Hi Graeme,
You make a great point about developers missing the market when they focus on internet etc. instead of the product itself. There is actually quite often a lot of outrage when it is announced that games will be online-only. That is, developer choices are limiting the ways in which players can choose to experience the game. While it is important for some games to be online only to avoid cheating and hacking, as well as online based games. It is definitely a poor decision when games that have often been playable offline become online only. Again, I think context is important as developers will rarely choose to hurt their own game.
I again think that it is important for developers and players to form a symbiotic relationship and strengthen the community as much as possible, as this way they both win.
Cheers,
Alex
Hi Alex,
Loved reading your paper, you have so many good points here. I believe games rely on the players and the community it forms to keep players motivated, but the developers need to make sure they are doing everything possible to give players an opportunity to form said community. One of the more popular ways for gamers to now talk during gaming is via Discord when Skype and Teamchat used to be the more widely used text and talk softwares for gamers. Discord make community gaming much more accessible cause it is free and available on a range of devices.
Also, with streaming, if the game is through Steam, by Steam powered they let anyone on your friend list become a spectator of the game you are playing through the software. This gives players an opportunity to watch the game and become part of the experience/community without actually playing.
Discord, https://discordapp.com/, accessed May 13, 2019.
Steam, https://store.steampowered.com/, accessed May 13, 2019.
Hi Stacey!
This is a great point! Appreciate you reading. While developers and players often work to form the backbone of the games themselves, I failed to take into account and cover the platforms in which they may use in addition to the games themselves. While I have expressed that content sharing platforms such as YouTube and Twitch are important, the “infrastructure” that gamers use such as Steam and Discord are equally important in building communities around games.
While many games feature voice chat etc, these platforms really refine the experience and allow for the most intuitive, clear and immediate access to communication, friends and other content. I don’t think I could picture playing a game on my PC with friends without using Steam and Discord nowadays, and I know that I’m not alone with that sentiment.
Cheers,
Alex