Social interactions in MMORPGS take the form of in-game communication, virtual behaviors, and the development of interpersonal and group relationships.
A study by Nicholas Yee, titled The Psychology of Massively Multi-User Online Role-Playing Games: Motivations, Emotional Investment, Relationships and Problematic Usage, found that combat-oriented collaborations can become very complex.
PBS Frontline's documentary, Growing Up Online, found that humans seek not only mental and emotional connections, but also physical presence.
[3] MMORPGs also rely on fantastic metaphors and cultural myths, including ideas of chivalric romance, that encourage idealization of persons and relationships.
Because avatars are capable of only a subset of human gestures and expressions miscommunication or slippages in coordination (i.e. communication that is overlapping, missed, or late) do occur.
[4] Although perceptions of these virtual interactions are often inaccurate, the lack of cues and increased control over how a player presents themselves sometimes facilitate romantic relationships.
[7] The choice to enact oneself as a light-skinned male elf, say, could allow a black female player to appropriately role-play her character in the desired fashion without being rejected by the community.
Anonymity may encourage deviance from the game's objectives and the group's decisions,[8] as most MMORPG players feel safe from repercussions in the material world.
Therefore, Reynard will seek to identify the emerging social, behavioral and cultural norms in virtual worlds and gaming environments.
The project would then apply the lessons learned to determine the feasibility of automatically detecting suspicious behavior and actions in the virtual World.