[MUD-Dev] Social Networks

[Jeff Cole]

From: Dave Rickey, Thursday, August 22, 2002

> True scale-free networks should never collapse from the removal of
> a *single* hub, and even then they shouldn't shatter into their
> component parts.  We're missing something.

The weakness of a scale-free network is exactly that: removal of the
most highly-connected hubs can destroy or significantly impair a
network.  With respect to a guild unit, there may be (most often
is?) a single hub that keeps the component parts together.

To the extent the removal of nodes is not random, then scale-free
networks might not be less sensitive to linkage failures.

From: Koster, Raph, Wednesday, August 21, 2002 1:33 PM

> Pure chat spaces create scale-free networks, not random ones. What
> determines the growth of a scale-free network is whether there are
> differences between nodes that make some nodes more "fit" than
> others. In the case of social networking, it's those people who
> are connectors, who have big Rolodexes. Not only do they tend to
> know more people, they also tend to acquire more friends.

I couldn't agree more.

I would go further and say assert that many (all?) of the current
crop of commercial MMO*'s, notwithstanding any developer's bona fide
efforts to the contrary, provide a downright hostile environment in
which to develop these networks.  In many ways, DAoC moreso than its
predecessors.

That these networks still develop is testament to their tenacity and
the social character of players.

Yrs. Affcty,
Jeff Cole


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