Game or gamified social platform?

During my ongoing literature review I often discover interesting facts about things I’ve never thought about. Sometimes I can connect these facts with my own observations: The result is mostly a completely new idea why things are as they are. Maybe these ideas are new to you, too. Therefore I’ll share my new science based knowledge with you!

This week: This time, I think about the transition of a computer game from a game to a social platform. World of Warcraft is a real computer game, but sometimes it can be also seen as a social platform.

No doubt, World of Warcraft (WoW) is a computer game and all the different ways to play this game do have specific game mechanics to distinguish one part from another part. A WoW player needs a different set of skills for each game phase. Exploring the game world without the help of others is a completely different approach to the game than grouping up with others to descent deep into a raid-dungeon to defeat evil creatures. A player who is very active in the area of „Player-vs-Player“ (PvP) needs a completely different set of skills than a player who is more interested in the area of „Player-vs-Environment“ (PvE). Last but not least, there are also different forms like „role playing“. In this specific way of interacting with the game, the players have to act as if they would be the avatar. In all the other ways of playing the game, the avatar can also be seen as a tool to interact with the world. However, the role-playing players are jumping right into their avatar and are no longer the person behind the keyboard.

All these different WoW game phases do have the characteristics of a game: a certain set of rules and a defined area where the action is taking place. Moreover, engaging in one of the game phases allows the players to instantly get into the immersive effects of playing.[1]

The raid-instance content of WoW is mostly requiring the players so form a constant group in order to be successful. In this case, the gameplay receives a social component. Although the group of players still do have the shared goal of playing a game, they are forming social bonds among each other and are becoming friends over time. Depending on the mindset of the players, this social part can become the main reason to continue playing the game: it is more about being together with the friends than actually playing the game. This also leads to the fact, that, in the case of one player quits the game, others will stop playing it, too. However, this will only happen, if the interest in being together with the social group has become more important than the interest of playing the actual game.

At this point, it is interesting to ask, if these players are really playing a game or if the virtual world has become a gamified social platform. However, it could be even a combination of both. On the one hand, the social raid environment still offers the phases of pure gameplay: the group is fighting against an evil enemy. During this phase of the game, the players are only focussing on the action of the game. On the other hand, as soon as this intense phase is over, the game becomes a social platform again.

But what is causing this transition from a pure group based game to a combination of a social platform and a game? At which point are the players developing the social bonds? Which game mechanics are causing the formation of social bonds?

References
[1]Huizinga, Johan (2009): Homo ludens : Vom Ursprung der Kultur im Spiel, Hamburg.