In “Strangers and Friends: Collaborative Play in World of Warcraft,” Bonnie and Harris discuss the strength of weak ties in the popular video game World of Warcraft.  Bonnie and Harris argue that the game offers many possible ways of brief interaction between players and that this in turn makes the game very enjoyable and some players describe it as “addicting.”  The game allows strangers to interact in structured and unstructured ways.  For example, strangers can help each other whenever they see someone in trouble.  Structured collaboration also occurs whenever strangers decide to form groups in order to overcome difficult quests or dungeons.  Bonnie and Harris, through ethnographic observation, argue that these encounters between strangers are very important to the value of the game.  They also argue that the game allows people who know each other offline to further strengthen their relationships by playing together.  They interviewed long distance friends and family members who used the game to keep in contact with each other and strengthen their offline relationship.

The game provides multiple ways to create weak ties in the social network of the game.  These weak ties allow the players to feel part of a community and enhances their game experience.  The creation of these weak ties is made easier by the interface of the game.  The game’s designer seems to take good advantage of how these ties can make the game more enjoyable for players.  In a way the game’s designers are taking advantage of the network effect that these weak ties create.  They seem to realize that by allowing players to work collaboratively even if briefly, it will make the game experience better, and thus the players will be more inclined to keep their subscription. 

It is interesting to see how the game makers foster the creation of these weak ties in order to make their product more enjoyable.

Reference:

http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1180875.1180898