Current Direction

Research using WowLens is part of a larger project supported by the National Science Foundation on understanding and improving success of online groups. Some of the research on this topic is available from the following link. Our own research and research by others shows that online groups need to overcome a series of challenges to be successful.  One of these challenges is commitment.  There is high turnover in many online groups compared to their offline counterparts.  Ducheneaut and his colleagues, for example, show that approximately 25% of the membership of a typical World of Warcraft guild turns over every month. If a guild consists of 16 people on June 1st, on average four will be gone by July 1st.  Our own research suggests that the high turnover is partially a result of a bad fit between the skills and motivations that a particular guild member possesses and those that the rest of the guild desires.  One of the purposes of WowLens is to allow members of guilds and pick up groups to better select players who fit the play style and have traits that a group is looking for.

Previous Research

Our previous research examined how groups and individuals found appropriate matches and whether appropriate matches led newcomers to stay longer in their groups in an online game environment. In the observations and interviews, we found that guilds in WoW used techniques similar to those used in the real world when selecting new member as below.

Results from archival data and surveys in the game World of Warcraft (WoW) indicate that there was a better match between new members and guilds when serious or in-game achievement-oriented guild used brief interaction methods to evaluate players. However, credentials did not have any effect on task fit to individuals. We also found that the relaxed or social-oriented guilds’ use of referrals and probationary periods was associated with better social match, while their use of credentials was associated with worse social match. Finally, we found that players remain in their guilds longer if they found good task match or social match.