Modeling Group Dynamics in Virtual Worlds

In this study, we examine human social interactions within virtual worlds and address the question of how group interactions are affected by the surrounding game environment. To investigate this problem, we analyzed conversational data collected from Second Life, a massively multi-player online environment that allows users to construct and inhabit their own 3D world. Our data collection chatbots were created to be sufficiently lifelike to be indistinguishable from other human participants to casual observers, so as not to perturb neighboring social interactions. Using our partitioning algorithm, we separated continuous chat logs from each region into separate conversations which were used to construct a social network of the participants. Based on statistical studies of social network measures, we conclude that there are significant regional differences between social networks formed in Second Life.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2010
• Where: ICWSM
• Authors: Fahad Shah, Gita Reese Sukthankar, Chris Usher
• Keywords: Human Social Interactions, ICWSM 2010, Internet Technology, Social Interactions, Social Networks