I'm sure many people have had experiences with massively multiplayer online games and their unique ability to collect large numbers of gamers into a somewhat cohesive environment. What I find particularly intriguing, however, is how such games can be used to study human social interaction in a way that would be otherwise impossible.
Games such as World of Warcraft and EVE Online have already provided invaluable data on a variety of topics, notably economics and public health. Certain events such as a Ponzi scheme within EVE Online that removed about $50,000 from the in-game economy, causing rampant deflation as many players' money simply vanished, or the accidental plague in World of Warcraft, that, due to a Blizzard oversight, ran rampant through the in-game world for some time, in an event known as the Corrupted Blood incident. Such events provide fantastic data in which the subjects would react just as they would should an analogous real event occur; in fact, the correlation is so remarkable that, in the latter example, the data was analyzed not only by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and universities in order to model the evolution of an epidemic, but also by terrorism experts, as some players attempted to spread the plague in a manner analogous to small terrorist cells.
Nonetheless, while such video games provide fascinating data, they, of course, cannot directly simulate reality. In-game consequences, which may only result in annoyance to the player or at worst, a relatively small amount of money lost, may in reality cause complete financial ruin or even death. Additionally, the cloak of anonymity provided by an online environment changes individual behavior dramatically; well-mannered and law-abiding citizens in everyday society may decide to purposely spread something such as the corrupted blood or fool in-game investors in a massive Ponzi scheme as a joke, or simply because they can do so without directly associating such events with themselves. Nonetheless, the parallel between online gaming societies and similar reality is striking.
Therefore, gaming provides a valuable service to society, contributing data on humanity and human societies as a whole, arguably one of the most difficult things to study. Therefore, gamers of the world can feel justified in their habit. By continuing to play and by echoing decisions they would make in real life, they are providing valuable information that could lead to the prevention of a future terrorist attack or help control or prevent a future epidemic. It is an amazing use of technology for something that it wasn't originally intended for.
Gaming can provide much more than simple enjoyment. It can afford us the opportunity to study human interaction in an environment where people don't even know they are being observed. No it isn't perfect, but it provides researchers with some amazing information.
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