Social architecture and the emergence of power laws in online social games

Ben Kirman; Francesco Collovà; Fabrizio Davide; Eva Ferrari; Jonathan Freeman; Shaun Lawson; Conor Linehan; Niklas Ravaja

Social architecture and the emergence of power laws in online social games

Ben Kirman, Francesco Collovà, Fabrizio Davide, Eva Ferrari, Jonathan Freeman, Shaun Lawson, Conor Linehan, Niklas Ravaja

Theatre, Film, TV and Interactive Media

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

Abstract

This paper explores the concept of the "social architecture" of games, and tests the theory that it is possible to analyse game mechanics based on the effect they have on the social behaviour of the players. Using tools from Social Network Analysis, these studies confirm that social activity in games reliably follows a power distribution: a few players are responsible for a disproportionate amount of social interactions. Based on this, the scaling exponent is highlighted as a simple measure of sociability that is constant for a game design. This allows for the direct comparison of social activity in very different games. In addition, it can act as a powerful analytical tool for highlighting anomalies in game designs that detrimentally affect players? ability to interact socially. Although the social architectures of games are complicated systems, SNA allows for quantitative analysis of social behaviours of players in meaningful ways, which are to the benefit of game designers.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	DiGRA 2011 Conference: Think Design Play
Publisher	Digital Games Research Association
Publication status	Published - 1 Sept 2011

Keywords

ARRAY(0x7f06618ec320)

Access to Document

http://eprints.lincoln.ac.uk/4734/

Cite this

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title = "Social architecture and the emergence of power laws in online social games",

abstract = "This paper explores the concept of the {"}social architecture{"} of games, and tests the theory that it is possible to analyse game mechanics based on the effect they have on the social behaviour of the players. Using tools from Social Network Analysis, these studies confirm that social activity in games reliably follows a power distribution: a few players are responsible for a disproportionate amount of social interactions. Based on this, the scaling exponent is highlighted as a simple measure of sociability that is constant for a game design. This allows for the direct comparison of social activity in very different games. In addition, it can act as a powerful analytical tool for highlighting anomalies in game designs that detrimentally affect players? ability to interact socially. Although the social architectures of games are complicated systems, SNA allows for quantitative analysis of social behaviours of players in meaningful ways, which are to the benefit of game designers.",

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AU - Kirman, Ben

AU - Collovà, Francesco

AU - Davide, Fabrizio

AU - Ferrari, Eva

AU - Freeman, Jonathan

AU - Lawson, Shaun

AU - Linehan, Conor

AU - Ravaja, Niklas

PY - 2011/9/1

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N2 - This paper explores the concept of the "social architecture" of games, and tests the theory that it is possible to analyse game mechanics based on the effect they have on the social behaviour of the players. Using tools from Social Network Analysis, these studies confirm that social activity in games reliably follows a power distribution: a few players are responsible for a disproportionate amount of social interactions. Based on this, the scaling exponent is highlighted as a simple measure of sociability that is constant for a game design. This allows for the direct comparison of social activity in very different games. In addition, it can act as a powerful analytical tool for highlighting anomalies in game designs that detrimentally affect players? ability to interact socially. Although the social architectures of games are complicated systems, SNA allows for quantitative analysis of social behaviours of players in meaningful ways, which are to the benefit of game designers.

AB - This paper explores the concept of the "social architecture" of games, and tests the theory that it is possible to analyse game mechanics based on the effect they have on the social behaviour of the players. Using tools from Social Network Analysis, these studies confirm that social activity in games reliably follows a power distribution: a few players are responsible for a disproportionate amount of social interactions. Based on this, the scaling exponent is highlighted as a simple measure of sociability that is constant for a game design. This allows for the direct comparison of social activity in very different games. In addition, it can act as a powerful analytical tool for highlighting anomalies in game designs that detrimentally affect players? ability to interact socially. Although the social architectures of games are complicated systems, SNA allows for quantitative analysis of social behaviours of players in meaningful ways, which are to the benefit of game designers.

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M3 - Conference contribution

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