Social roles of players in mmorpg guilds: A social network analytic perspective

Abstract

In this study, we investigated the social roles that emerged from the users' behaviour and interaction (as opposed to pre-defined formal roles) within a virtual community of massively multiplayer online role playing game. Adopting the social network analysis perspective, we identified and analysed three major social roles with distinct interaction styles and network properties. It was found that core members of the community were players who contributed to the community expansion by providing help and fostering group cohesiveness through friendly social interaction. On the other hand, some periphery members were freeloaders whose sole purpose of joining the guild was only to utilize the guild resource.