SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYSIS OF VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES IN ONLINE GAMES
Author(s):
Lia Carrari Rodrigues,
Pollyana Notargiacomo Mustaro
Paper abstract: Online games have had a noticeable increase in the market. Today, many people interact for hours in a
virtual gaming world called the Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG). Players
maintain relationships and build large communities, which are formed by diverse people who establish
links in very different ways. The research analyzed the development of these communities through the
application of the graph theory and the elements that pertain to social network analysis. For this matter, a
study was made with the players of the Ragnarök Online, brought to Brazil in 2004, where the profile of
the player, the game’s workings and its communication elements were all taken into consideration.
Keywords:
Virtual Communities, Social Networks, MMORPG, Graphs
