Death of a child, birth of a guild: Factors aiding the rapid formation of online support communities

Abstract

In this article, we examine how a loosely knit, mediated community in the massively multiplayer online game EverQuest II rapidly coalesced to carry out collective action in response to a request to help a terminally ill child. We examine the factors that motivated hundreds of people to donate their time, expertise, and in-game resources to people they had never met. These factors included specific affordances of the many technologies relied upon, the emotional weight and urgency of the initial post, both trusted and well-connected actors in the network, and a sense of belonging to the greater community by many of those who helped. Furthering our knowledge on how rituals surrounding death and mourning work in digital networks can provide insights into the continued health of online communities in general.

Keywords:

• EverQuest II
• MMO
• online communities
• online memorials
• social network

Notes

1 EverQuest II and the original EverQuest before it has been a focus of prior research, often for the community behavior therein (Castronova 2005; Jakobsson and Taylor 2003; Poor and Skoric 2014; Taylor 2006).

2 Technological affordances—capabilities made available by a technological system to a user—are central for online communities, as they provide the means through which the community communicates and thus forms and maintains itself (Dourish 2004; Gibson 2014; Haythornthwaite 2002; Kraut and Resnick 2011).

3 In a game such as EverQuest II, such influentials may include in-game group leaders (players) as well as employees of the company who play the game and act as intermediaries between the company and players.

4 In general, online spaces allows for many social capital enhancing activities, including emotionally bonding actions such as building online memorials (Skoric et al. 2010).