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It really varies depending on what the goals of the players are. In my experience the vast majority of socializing happens concurrently with combat. Many players place a priority on making progress in-game (i.e. leveling) and while not everyone has this as their top priority, most want to be making some progress. In other words, while they may not necessarily want to min/max for greatest possible experience gain, they also want to be gaining some experience while socializing, as opposed to standing around.|
Originally Posted by GAtechDM
1. Is there much social interaction outside of combat? I've heard there are some social Supergroups. Do these groups still predominantly socialize while involved in combat or will they spend a fair amount of time engaged solely in casual conversation?
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That said, especially on high-RP servers like Virtue, there are scheduled events where little to no combat takes place and characters act out story. There are also administrative-type social events such as SG meetings which sometimes take place in-game.
Outside of role-playing groups, pure socialization without gameplay is relatively rare for any extended period of time. Long conversations occurring concurrently with gameplay is more the norm in my experience, especially among longtime acquaintances / SG members.
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Originally Posted by GAtechDM
2. Does anyone have an idea of the gender ratio of players? I know there's no official numbers, but perhaps someone has a general sense of the gender balance. (Are players predominantly male? If so, are the female players very rare?)
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I'm not by any means saying that women don't enjoy those two genres, just that the fandom tends to be disproportionately male and in my experience the fandom for this genre is slightly less disproportionately male.
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Originally Posted by GAtechDM
3. Does anyone have a reliable source for the number of active players? I've found some estimates around 140,000 active players. Does this seem about right? Does anyone have some source they can point me to for some reliable numbers?
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Originally Posted by GAtechDM
4. My research will ultimately involve players from the Washington DC area. Does anyone know of any CoH groups that advertise as from the DC area?
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Well, I'm really not sure if something like this is against forum rules or not, but I'll try to do my best to answer them.
1) Yes, there are a lot of people in this game that socialize outside of combat. There are supergroups, but those are just the tip of the iceberg. From what I've seen in-game, most of the socializing that takes place in the game is on Global Chat Channels, which anybody can usually join, or be invited to, and are nothing but a social tool. However, it is going to depend largely on the person in question if they spend more time socializing, or in combat, or a mixture of both.
2) This game tends to be more female-heavy than most, but I'd still say that the player population is mostly of the male gender. I'd say that maybe, maybe a 75% male, 25% female ratio, but even that is likely pretty far off.
3) Don't know what the current numbers are, but the game has been pretty stable around the 120K-150K mark for a while now, fluctuating between issues, of course.
4) I know of no groups on this one, but since I did help to organize the DC area meet and greet last year, I can try to help you out with this one.
Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
"I was just the one with the most unsolicited sombrero." - Traegus
You may run into some people with some hostility towards the idea of being studied.
That's because the last person I know of who came here to study people basically trolled the community for months and wrote a paper about what happens when you're an a-hole to people. Do a search on "Twixt PVP" .
http://brokentoys.org/2009/07/07/the...ved-professor/
http://www.sirlin.net/blog/2009/7/7/...ed-to-win.html
So if you feel the well has been poisoned- in short, if you feel griefed- blame twixt!
Mini-guides: Force Field Defenders, Blasters, Market Self-Defense, Frankenslotting.
So you think you're a hero, huh.
@Boltcutter in game.
Since I pretty much agree with the responses given, I will chip in and say that I too am in the DC area, so if I can do anything to help out, let me know! The Supergroup based on the DC Meet and Greet attendees has since become inactive. :-(
...I forgot what experience means.
1) I can say that my experience on the Virtue server has been that at least fifty-percent of my time is spent socializing, and roleplaying, for the purpose of doing just that. The other fifty-percent involves socializing in conjunction with combat.
2) For what my wild guesses are worth I'd give it about a 70/30 split between genders, favouring males.
3) These numbers aren't published anymore, but the number you cite sounds right to me.
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How would you classify chatting about non-combat related things while in combat?
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Originally Posted by GAtechDM
1. Is there much social interaction outside of combat?
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total kick to the gut
This is like having Ra's Al Ghul show up at your birthday party.
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My experiences with people doing legitimate studies is far different. I've participated in one Informal (thread like this) and one Formal (chat interview through gmail with signed release forms for me and my girlfriend) relating to couples that play together. One bad apple doesn't spoil the whole barrel as easily as you'd think.|
Originally Posted by Fulmens
You may run into some people with some hostility towards the idea of being studied.
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As for the OP's questions
1) Plenty. Snow Globe already mentioned Global Chat Channels, and that is a very primary and active method of communication for a lot of players I know (me included).
2) Anything anyone could give you would be a guess at best. I can say that I know of at least half a couples that play currently or have played in the past. I'd say the population as a whole skews higher in age and a more equal gender ratio than the norm, but as I said, that's just a guess.
3) Estimates are between 100 and 150k players. Without the numbers being posted, this is just a guess. However I'd say in the last 3 months the number would be closer to the low end, simply because of new games launching, and a fairly normal slack period before new issues that cause churn in our population.
4) Sorry, no groups as such. You may want to check the Announcements section since there is an active discussion about the East Coast meet and greet, and a lot of people are discussing where they're from.
Last thing, if your study is meant to be comprehensive and have more than anecdotal evidence, I'd suggest getting in touch with our Community Team. In the past they've been willing to help people doing research, either by giving information or by promoting your study in a more visible fashion.
"Null is as much an argument "for removing the cottage rule" as the moon being round is for buying tennis shoes." -Memphis Bill
Sometimes I do nothing but talk to friends in some of the chat channels so going to say yes to #1
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I'm a Masters student in the Digital Media program at Georgia Tech and am researching MMOs and Virtual Worlds. I have a few questions about CoH and would be most grateful for any responses.
1. Is there much social interaction outside of combat? I've heard there are some social Supergroups. Do these groups still predominantly socialize while involved in combat or will they spend a fair amount of time engaged solely in casual conversation?
2. Does anyone have an idea of the gender ratio of players? I know there's no official numbers, but perhaps someone has a general sense of the gender balance. (Are players predominantly male? If so, are the female players very rare?)
3. Does anyone have a reliable source for the number of active players? I've found some estimates around 140,000 active players. Does this seem about right? Does anyone have some source they can point me to for some reliable numbers?
4. My research will ultimately involve players from the Washington DC area. Does anyone know of any CoH groups that advertise as from the DC area?
Thanks again!