Disruptive behavior in video game communities

Every day, more than a billion people play multiplayer video games online, but research is lacking in the game after their behavior. The video game game community is full of players with a variety of personalities: While some are there to enjoy the community that created in the gaming experience, many players show anti-social behavior.

The understanding of what drives these behaviors and some of their effects on the game and in real life is a focus of Dmitri Williams, professor of communication at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. A study that was recently coincided by Williams examines the psychology of the video players and the prompt that players have disruptive behavior.

USC News recently discussed video games and their players with Williams.

Where do you see poisonous behavior in video games?

Williams: In the past five years, toxic behavior has been most common in games where players can be anonymous, and in games in which relationships are relatively short. A crucial factor is to be able to communicate when playing through text or voice. If you jump on one of these games and play with a stranger, you or she does not keep you or she much polite, apart from your own moral compass.

However, if the game requires cooperation or a longer association, players can get to know each other and make real connections. It also means that the players behave much less likely because they tempt you to need the relationship to be successful. Sociologists call this “the shadow of the future” and we see it in the data.

What do you research?

Williams: One aspect of my research is the behavior of players. People are social, no matter where they study them, but the social roles when playing are unique. In games, people depend on each other, which leads to all types of connections between completely different people who would otherwise not meet.

My laboratory mainly studied players in two games: World of tanks And Heaven: Children of Light. These are very different games, and the study enables us to see relationships between players over time. Many of the relationships are flat, but some are as deep as “IRL” bonds and can actually lead to real offline friendships, marriages, etc. I saw this in my own gaming experiences and in the scale in the data. The special sauce of my laboratory in this area is a recent discovery called “Social Value”, with which we can understand which players influence other players.

How does “social value” differ from word of mouth?

Williams: The social value is a direct measurement of how people affect each other. Mundpropaganda is only one way and it is difficult to quantify. By using the consumer data of a company, my laboratory can say with a known degree of security that people prompted other people to know more or less.

In a game, this means that a player who may not spend any money can be shown that other thousands output dollars. Or to prevent others from spending what they would have! We develop a method to expand this beyond the games.

Where do your research data come from?

Williams: I have been working with a number of game companies for about 20 years now. We make you anonymize your data and share it with us. This is a big step in the quality of research because we don't have to try to reach the players directly and ask them what they did. This leads to all possible quality problems. Instead, we can all see and know everything they do anonymously.

We often work with the companies to carry out polls for these players or to interview them so that we can add their psychology and feelings to their actions and social ties. If we see these things for millions of players for years, we have made it possible for ourselves to create research, among other things.

What are some of your favorite video games?

Williams: My favorites are very social games like World of Warcraft or League of LegendsBut I also enjoy a great solo indie title like Monument Valley. Experiencing social ties in all their colors through playing these games has led many of my research questions.

What's next for your research?

Williams: I am everything on social value, in games and beyond.