Massively multiplayer single player gaming
by Jennie Lees 
Feb 8th 2006 at 9:00AM
The PlayOn project has been quietly gathering data about how we play World of
Warcraft for the past eight months, across five representative servers, and their findings are neatly summarised
over at Terra Nova. By looking at the time spent in groups, and the social interactions embodied in guilds, they've found some interesting results:
- Players spend about 30% of their time grouped at lower levels, but the majority of their time in groups after level 56.
- 62% of players are in guilds, but 17.5% of players are in one-person guilds.
- The median guild size is only 9, and very few (<10%) have over 35 members.
- Players on average only group with 11% of their guildmates for more than 10 minutes.
The author of the report goes on to explain some of the things we do that require the multiplayer aspect of the game:
- Show off in front of an audience
- Enjoy the social presence of other people; even if we don't adventure with them, we chat and trade
- Watch other people do silly things
Filed under: Virtual selves, Guilds
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Mike Feb 8th 2006 11:25AM
The other very important aspect of having hundreds of players on a server is the economic aspect. Sure you could play a single player game like WoW, but when you find a pretty decent item that you can't really use, you'd have to sell it at a pre-set vendor price. With all the players on any given server, the auction house gives you a legitimately competitive market for all the loot you acquire but can't use.
slybri Feb 8th 2006 1:13PM
The main reason for being in a guild is Instances, raids, and those few elite quests that can't be done alone. Pick up groups and Meeting stones are useless since most of the time the group will fall apart or fail. There's always one player in a PUG that will ruin the thing for you. Instances require a good group of similar level players and you need a guild in which you can plan and schedule instance runs. The rest of the game you play on your own time, usually solo.
When you hit 60 you have nothing but instances and elites to deal with so the only solo thing to do for casual gamers is farm or roll an alt.
AareDub Feb 8th 2006 2:13PM
One aspect that I really like about the MMO environment is that your character isn't necessarily the best in the world. In a single player RPG, you're always the hero, you save the world, get the girl, etc. All you have to do to be the best is turn on the game. In WoW you actually have to compete for certain honors, like rank 1 in pvp for your server, etc.
RighteousDork Feb 8th 2006 2:37PM
I'm Level 30 and I've probably been in less than 10 parties. I don't mind grouping with others, it's just that I usually don't. I have my own agenda most of the time and take my time doing everything. I can't stand grouping with people who just rush around trying to power-level. I like to take time to actually appreciate the scenery in the game and will spend hours investigating every nook and cranny of a place. I finally made it into Darnassus the other day and studied every square inch of it. People in groups usually don't have that kind of patience to tolerate someone like me....so I play alone. I am in a guild with people I know in RL but it's mostly just to exchange items and chit-chat. They're all too high of a level for me to group with.
jdoublep Feb 8th 2006 2:38PM
i think people who are surprised by this data operate under a false assumption: that MMOs have a _necessary_ social aspect. i don't think they do (and i think the data supports this). what makes MMOs attractive is that they provide for the _possibility_ of social interaction should individual players want or need it. most games don't provide the level of social possibilities MMOs offer, which probably leads to the assumption that most players utilize these functions of the game.
(i personally think most people play MMOs because they get addicted to the rush of building up a character.)
i play solo mostly because i'm on at odd hours and don't have the wherewithal for coordinating groups. i do, however, really enjoy the multiplayer aspect when everything comes together (like the a-team).
anyway, thanks for linking to this fascinating study.
bladz01 Feb 12th 2006 10:04PM
I'd like to say that guilds that involve lack of grouping ofter is because of the inflated number of players due to alts. ALso when I Farm I don't group.