Human group formation in online guilds and offline gangs driven by a common team dynamic Export

@article{citeulike:5074131, abstract = {Quantifying human group dynamics represents a unique challenge. Unlike animals and other biological systems, humans form groups in both real (offline) and virtual (online) spaces\—from potentially dangerous street gangs populated mostly by disaffected male youths to the massive global guilds in online role-playing games for which membership currently exceeds tens of millions of people from all possible backgrounds, age groups, and genders. We have compiled and analyzed data for these two seemingly unrelated offline and online human activities and have uncovered an unexpected quantitative link between them. Although their overall dynamics differ visibly, we find that a common team-based model can accurately reproduce the quantitative features of each simply by adjusting the average tolerance level and attribute range for each population. By contrast, we find no evidence to support a version of the model based on like-seeking-like (i.e., kinship or \“homophily\”).}, author = {Johnson, Neil F. and Xu, Chen and Zhao, Zhenyuan and Ducheneaut, Nicolas and Yee, Nicholas and Tita, George and Hui, Pak M.}, citeulike-article-id = {5074131}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://scitation.aip.org/getabs/servlet/GetabsServlet?prog=normal&id=PLEEE8000079000006066117000001&idtype=cvips&gifs=yes}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRE/v79/e066117}, citeulike-linkout-2 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.79.066117}, doi = {10.1103/PhysRevE.79.066117}, journal = {Physical Review E (Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics)}, keywords = {communities, community-evolution, dynamics, evolution, formation, groups}, number = {6}, pages = {066117+}, posted-at = {2009-08-13 23:34:33}, priority = {2}, publisher = {APS}, title = {Human group formation in online guilds and offline gangs driven by a common team dynamic}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.79.066117}, volume = {79}, year = {2009} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:5074131 L3 - citeulike-article-id:5074131 N2 - Quantifying human group dynamics represents a unique challenge. Unlike animals and other biological systems, humans form groups in both real (offline) and virtual (online) spaces—from potentially dangerous street gangs populated mostly by disaffected male youths to the massive global guilds in online role-playing games for which membership currently exceeds tens of millions of people from all possible backgrounds, age groups, and genders. We have compiled and analyzed data for these two seemingly unrelated offline and online human activities and have uncovered an unexpected quantitative link between them. Although their overall dynamics differ visibly, we find that a common team-based model can accurately reproduce the quantitative features of each simply by adjusting the average tolerance level and attribute range for each population. By contrast, we find no evidence to support a version of the model based on like-seeking-like (i.e., kinship or “homophily”). IS - 6 JF - Physical Review E (Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics) TI - Human group formation in online guilds and offline gangs driven by a common team dynamic PB - APS VL - 79 SP - 066117 KW - communities KW - community-evolution KW - dynamics KW - evolution KW - formation KW - groups AU - Johnson, Neil AU - Xu, Chen AU - Zhao, Zhenyuan AU - Ducheneaut, Nicolas AU - Yee, Nicholas AU - Tita, George AU - Hui, Pak PY - 2009/// UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.79.066117 ER -