Information Behavior and the Formation and Maintenance of Peer Cultures in Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games: A Case Study of City of Heroes

This paper offers a conceptual framework for a planned study of how players in Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) form and sustain small peer groups such as guilds, clans, and teams, using the massively multiplayer game City of Heroes as its case. The author argues that play theory and information behavior theory, particularly meaning-making, together can explain how these groups develop their own rules and mores despite players' anonymity and the absence of the social cues available offline. The framework is still under construction and is presented as an early stage of a larger investigation rather than a set of empirical results.

The framework treats MMORPGs in three ways: as games, as play spaces resembling a "virtual sandbox," and as cultures in which knowledge, behavior, and artifacts are learned and negotiated. Drawing on the work of Spradley, symbolic interactionism, and studies of identity by Turkle and others, the paper contends that avatars serve as vehicles for role-play and identity experimentation, and that players use in-game information such as appearance, statistics, and speech to convert data into personal knowledge. Supporting observations come from the author's unpublished 2002 pilot study and from prior research by Yee, Ducheneaut and Moore, and Leppalahti, though the paper's claims rest largely on this literature rather than on new data.

Methodologically, the author plans participant observation within City of Heroes, chosen for its depth and richness of description. The paper identifies several indicators of group formation, including shared in-game languages such as l33tsp33k, negotiated back stories, hierarchies, self-imposed rules, and visual affiliation markers such as matching costume colors and guild tags. These are presented as anticipated focal points for analysis rather than confirmed findings.

The author openly acknowledges that much of the framework may change as the research proceeds, and notes both the advantages and limitations of approaching the subject as a newcomer to heavy gaming. The paper's contribution at this stage lies in mapping the theoretical territory, bridging play and information behavior research, and identifying the questions the forthcoming study will address.