Applications of Strong Triadic Closure to MMORPG’s
A study by Michael Szell and Stefan Thurner highlights how social dynamics in video games are much similar to those that occur in real life. Where these dynamics differ, however, is that the social dynamics in video games, especially MMORPG’s (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games) are far easier to analyze than any other. One of these video games, such as a game like World of Warcraft, is essentially one data file with every data point needed to analyze these social dynamics. Such a file contains information about social and economic data of every individual playing that specific video game. Therefore, it is possible to measure the depth of connection between individuals within these games, factors that may lead to connections, grounds to approximate a connection between a pair of individuals, among other things.
This is connected to a concept known as triadic closure, where if two nodes, B and C have a friend A in common, then the formation of an edge between B and C produces a situation in which all three nodes, A, B, and C have edges connecting each other — a structure referred to as a triangle in a network (Kleinberg, Easley). In social networks, this can be understood in the way that if individual A has a strong connection with B and C, then B and C must have some type of connection, whether that is a strong or weak connection. Similarly, in an MMORPG, if there exists two individuals A and B that both have a strong connection to player C and play the game for a large amount of time, then A and B will eventually meet and form a connection with one another. This structure is a part of the analysis that Szell and Thurner use to analyze social dynamics in video games. Based on social status, economic status, triadic closure, among other things, they are able to approximate social connections between individuals in video games even though these connections, in a sense, do not exist in the physical world. Though they occur on the internet, they still perpetuate one of the most important concepts in social networks.
Sources:
Szell, M., & Thurner, S. (n.d.). Measuring Social Dynamics in a massive multiplayer online game. – arXiv Vanity. Retrieved September 19, 2022, from https://www.arxiv-vanity.com/papers/0911.1084/
Easley, D., & Kleinberg, J. (2010). Networks, crowds, and markets reasoning about a highly connected world. Cambridge University Press.