Awareness and coordination in shared workspaces
CSCW '92 Proceedings of the 1992 ACM conference on Computer-supported cooperative work
Piazza: a desktop environment supporting impromptu and planned interactions
CSCW '96 Proceedings of the 1996 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work
Introduction: The State of Play
Computer Supported Cooperative Work - Special issue on interaction and collaboration in MUDs
Computing, Social Activity, and Entertainment: A Field Study of a Game MUD
Computer Supported Cooperative Work - Special issue on interaction and collaboration in MUDs
Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
The social life of small graphical chat spaces
Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Visualization components for persistent conversations
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
The Laws of the Web: Patterns in the Ecology of Information
The Laws of the Web: Patterns in the Ecology of Information
The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier
The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier
Developing Online Games: An Insider's Guide
Developing Online Games: An Insider's Guide
HICSS '99 Proceedings of the Thirty-Second Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences-Volume 2 - Volume 2
HICSS '04 Proceedings of the Proceedings of the 37th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS'04) - Track 4 - Volume 4
CSCW at play: 'there' as a collaborative virtual environment
CSCW '04 Proceedings of the 2004 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work
The social side of gaming: a study of interaction patterns in a massively multiplayer online game
CSCW '04 Proceedings of the 2004 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work
"Alone together?": exploring the social dynamics of massively multiplayer online games
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Designing Virtual Worlds
Conversation Map: An Interface for Very Large-Scale Conversations
Journal of Management Information Systems
A study of interaction patterns and awareness design elements in a massively multiplayer online game
International Journal of Computer Games Technology - Joint International Conference on Cyber Games and Interactive Entertainment 2006
Proceedings of the 3rd international conference on Digital Interactive Media in Entertainment and Arts
Wii all play: the console game as a computational meeting place
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Problematic Internet use and psychosocial well-being among MMO players
Computers in Human Behavior
The individual and the group in console gaming
Proceedings of the 2010 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work
Collaboration on Social Network Sites: Amateurs, Professionals and Celebrities
Computer Supported Cooperative Work
Interactivity in massively multiplayer online games: a concept explication
Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology
RunWithUs: a social sports application in the ubiquitous Oulu environment
Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Multimedia
"I'm just here to play games": social dynamics and sociality in an online game site
Proceedings of the ACM 2012 conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work
Come meet me at Ulduar: progression raiding in world of warcraft
Proceedings of the ACM 2012 conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work
Brothers and sisters at play: exploring game play with siblings
Proceedings of the ACM 2012 conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work
Computers in Human Behavior
An optimized player taxonomy model for mobile MMORPGs with millions of users
Advances in Human-Computer Interaction
Virtual inequality: a woman's place in cyberspace
Proceedings of the International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games
Journal of Database Management
Designing and evaluating sociability in online video games
CHI '13 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems
How players value their characters in world of warcraft
Proceedings of the 17th ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work & social computing
Reflections on 25 Years of Ethnography in CSCW
Computer Supported Cooperative Work
Subjective Experience and Sociability in a Collaborative Serious Game
Simulation and Gaming
Unveiling group characteristics in online social games: a socio-economic analysis
Proceedings of the 23rd international conference on World wide web
Hi-index | 0.00 |
Georg Simmel [American Journal of Sociology 55:254---261 (1949)] is widely credited as the first scholar to have seriously examined sociability --- "the sheer pleasure of the company of others" and the central ingredient in many social forms of recreation and play. Later Ray Oldenburg [The Great Good Place. New York: Marlowe & Company (1989)] extended Simmel's work by focusing on a certain class of public settings, or "third places," in which sociability tends to occur, such as, bars, coffee shops, general stores, etc. But while Simmel and Oldenburg describe activities and public spaces in the physical world, their concepts may apply as well to virtual or online worlds. Today Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) are extensive, persistent online 3D environments that are populated by hundreds of thousands of players at any given moment. The sociable nature of these online spaces is often used to explain their success: unlike previous video games, MMOGs require players to exchange information and collaborate in real-time to progress in the game. In order to shed light on this issue, we critically examine player-to-player interactions in a popular MMOG (Star Wars Galaxies). Based on several months of ethnographic observations and computerized data collection, we use Oldenburg's notion of "third places" to evaluate whether or not the social spaces of this virtual world fit existing definitions of sociable environments. We discuss the role online games can play in the formation and maintenance of social capital, what they can teach us about the evolution of sociability in an increasingly digitally connected social world, and what could be done to make such games better social spaces.