Publication Type

Conference Proceeding Article

Version

acceptedVersion

Publication Date

4-2017

Abstract

In this work, we use player behavior during the closed beta test of the MMORPG ArcheAge as a proxy for an extreme situation: at the end of the closed beta test, all user data is deleted, and thus, the outcome (or penalty) of players' in-game behaviors in the last few days loses its meaning. We analyzed 270 million records of player behavior in the 4th closed beta test of ArcheAge. Our findings show that there are no apparent pandemic behavior changes, but some outlierswere more likely to exhibit anti-social behavior (e.g., player killing). We also found that contrary to the reassuring adage that ``Even if I knew the world would go to pieces tomorrow, I would still plant my apple tree,'' players abandoned character progression, showing a drastic decrease in quest completion, leveling, and ability changes at the end of the beta test.

Keywords

ArcheAge; Closed beta test (CBT); Massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG); Online games

Discipline

Computer Sciences | Databases and Information Systems

Research Areas

Data Science and Engineering

Publication

WWW '17 Companion: Proceedings of the 26th International Conference on World Wide Web Companion, Perth, Australia, April 3-7

Editor

KANG, Ah Reum; BLACKBURN, Jeremy; KWAK, Haewoon; KIM, Huy Kang

First Page

435

Last Page

444

ISBN

9781450349147

Identifier

10.1145/3041021.3054174

Publisher

International World Wide Web Conferences Steering Committee

City or Country

Switzerland

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1145/3041021.3054174

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