Researchers study browser game community to understand wealth

26 August 2014 - 13:24 By Times LIVE
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Image: Pardus

Researchers have used the massively multiplayer game Pardus in order to figure out the effects of wealth inequality.

The researchers, whose study was published in the online journal PloS One, state that in a world where 1% of the population owns 50% of the assets, and the top 10% own about 86%, understanding what leads to wealth is important.

By using the science fiction game Pardus, the researchers found they could look at how "wealthy" players interacted with their poorer counterparts.

What they found was that the level of wealth inequality in-game was roughly equivalent to Sweden or the UK, and that there were certain things wealthy players had in common.

"Players who entered the game earlier have higher wealth-increase rates.

"We found that wealthy players organise in social groups. A group size between three and 120 members appeared to be best for wealth and achievement-factors.

"We found that wealthy players invest in their social reputation by constructive actions. Personal wealth in Pardus is connected to skills for collecting resources and high “political” influence, but not to combat skill and fighting experience.

"Analysing the trade network, we observed that wealthy players trade with many others, while their trade partners trade with fewer others, and hardly among each other.

"Taken to the extreme, the wealthy organise their local trade network so that they are the hub of a star-like network. In the friendship and enmity networks we observed that the wealthy are well respected, and show animosity – if at all – only towards public enemies," the researchers said.

Or to put it another way, wealthy players got in early, traded with a lot of people and weren't trolls.

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