This dissertation presents a critical examination of the social interactions among MMOG participants by focusing on network patterns, effects and evolution. It is situated in a popular MMOG, EverQuest II (EQII), drawing on a combination of unobtrusively collected behavioral server logs and a comprehensive survey conducted with the players directly through the game engine.

An exploratory analysis of network patterns revealed that the social architecture of the world was quite effective in shaping the structure of interaction, as the involvement in various social networks was influenced by class choice and character level. However, sociability among players was quite diffuse, with a sizable number of players opting to play solo despite the built-in mechanisms that encourage collaborative play. Second, drawing on the theory of social capital, this study tested the effects of different structural properties of player social networks. Players who bridged diverse, otherwise unconnected partners were rewarded with better task performance in EQII. But contrary to expectation, players located in dense and closed cliques did not show higher level of trust towards guildmates or sense of community. Lastly, a longitudinal analysis of tie persistence and decay demonstrated the transient nature of social relationships in EQII, but these ties became considerably more durable over time. Also, character level similarity, shared guild membership and geographic proximity were powerful mechanisms in preserving social relationships.