An investigation of collaborative practices in massively multiplayer online role-playing game groups: Online learning in informal groups

Continuing the trend of research into online environments, this study investigates the differences in collaborative practices within Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) and examines how they differ between groups with varying levels of previous experience. This research provides a lens into the cultures and practices of these cooperative communities that have grown in popularity. The most active MMORPG’s currently have around 126 million registered players, with about a million being daily active players. In this study, four groups were chosen and divided based on their previous raiding experience and were each observed attempting a new raid without the use of external support. Following observations, three individuals from each group were interviewed to develop a better understanding of the team mental model for each experience level. The observational analysis showed that more experienced groups spent less time strategizing in between combat sessions because of the higher rate of conversations focused on helping less experienced members learn. Further, team mental models of experienced groups were found to focus on building strong social ties and promoting a varied and frequent use of tools to help them reach a level where they will be recognized among the community. On the other hand, less experienced groups were found to have team mental models defined primarily by two factors. First, these teams used a teacher centric model, revolving around their most knowledge players. Second, these teams placed social interactions as important if not more important than the learning process. The results showed that less experienced teams had trouble balancing tools that were external to the environment and had trouble extending the usage of tools to analyze on a group basis. Recommendations for design include developing more tools within these online environments that promote the usage of data collection and data transformation through a combination of logs and drawing tools.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Curriculum and Instruction

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2023

Author dc:creator

• Guerrero, Brian D.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Lane, H C
• Lindgren, Robb
• Mercier, Emma
• D'Angelo, Cynthia

• Collaboration
• Team Mental Model
• Mmorpg
• Games
• Informal Learning
• Case Study

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2023 Brian Guerrero

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/121513

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F121513