Incentive and Social Networks
I was reading an article on how an economics experiment managed to get worked to pick a lot more strawberries. The line that struck me was:
Again, workers prioritized money over social ties, abandoning groups of friends to ally themselves with the most productive co-workers who would accept them.
To me this sounds a lot like guild hopping in World of Warcraft. The desire for rewards or for proof that you excel at the game often trumps social networks.
I’ve found that this is one of the most frustrating things about being a raid leader. Everyone has a cutoff point at which the new epics are not worth the social cost to obtain them. For some people reaching endgame or raiding for 3 hours straight costs them too much time that they’d rather spend socializing outside the game. Once some people reach a certain level of gearing they stop playing or greatly cut back on their play time or roll another alt. Still others form social networks that are specifically aimed at beating the final boss or getting that legendary gear. As each person reaches their cutoff point, they have broken ties with those whose cutoff point was earlier and they are breaking ties with those whose cutoff point is higher. Trying to balance cutoff points for a group is tricky and leads to hurt feelings.