Large-scale study of social network structure and team performance in a multiplayer online game

A question of interest in both theory and practice is if and how familiarity between members of a team, expressed in terms of social network structure, relates to the success of the team in a given task. In this paper we revisit this important question in a novel manner by employing game outcome statistics from Dota 2, a popular team-based multiplayer online game, combined with network data from Steam Community, a social networking service for gamers. We conduct a large-scale analysis of 4168 teams to study how network density, and the minimum and maximum degree of the within-team social network are associated with team performance, and determine how this association is moderated by team skill. We observe that minimum degree is strongly associated with good performance, especially in teams with lower skill. Together with previous results on network density that we corroborate in this paper, our findings suggest that a successful team is not only moderately connected overall, but its members should also individually have not too few nor too many within team connections.

[1]  Ezra W. Zuckerman,et al.  Networks, Diversity, and Productivity: The Social Capital of Corporate R&D Teams , 2001 .

[2]  Duncan J. Watts,et al.  Collective dynamics of ‘small-world’ networks , 1998, Nature.

[3]  R Core Team,et al.  R: A language and environment for statistical computing. , 2014 .

[4]  Martin G. Everett,et al.  Models of core/periphery structures , 2000, Soc. Networks.

[5]  Jan Kratzer,et al.  Stimulating the Potential: Creative Performance and Communication in Innovation Teams , 2004 .

[6]  G. Stewart.  A Meta-Analytic Review of Relationships Between Team Design Features and Team Performance , 2006 .

[7]  Robert Tibshirani,et al.  An Introduction to the Bootstrap , 1994 .

[8]  Linda Argote,et al.  Individual Experience and Experience Working Together: Predicting Learning Rates from Knowing Who Knows What and Knowing How to Work Together , 2005, Manag. Sci..

[9]  Shawn L. Berman,et al.  Tacit Knowledge as a Source of Competitive Advantage in the National Basketball Association , 2002 .

[10]  Thomas U. Grund,et al.  Network structure and team performance: The case of English Premier League soccer teams , 2012, Soc. Networks.

[11]  Stanley Wasserman,et al.  Social Network Analysis: Methods and Applications , 1994, Structural analysis in the social sciences.

[12]  Juho Hamari,et al.  What is eSports and why do people watch it? , 2017, Internet Res..

[13]  Danielle Smith Bassett,et al.  Small-World Brain Networks , 2006, The Neuroscientist : a review journal bringing neurobiology, neurology and psychiatry.

[14]  Roger Guimerà,et al.  Team Assembly Mechanisms Determine Collaboration Network Structure and Team Performance , 2005, Science.

[15]  S. T. Buckland,et al.  An Introduction to the Bootstrap. , 1994 .

[16]  Alex Pentland,et al.  The Strength of the Strongest Ties in Collaborative Problem Solving , 2014, Scientific Reports.

[17]  Mark S. Granovetter.  The Strength of Weak Ties , 1973, American Journal of Sociology.

[18]  Stephen E. Humphrey,et al.  Developing a theory of the strategic core of teams: a role composition model of team performance. , 2009, The Journal of applied psychology.

[19]  R. Katz,et al.  Investigating the Not Invented Here (NIH) syndrome: A look at the performance, tenure, and communication patterns of 50 R & D Project Groups , 1982 .

[20]  Bradley R. Staats,et al.  Team familiarity, role experience, and performance: evidence from indian software services , 2012 .

[21]  B. Uzzi,et al.  Collaboration and Creativity: The Small World Problem1 , 2005, American Journal of Sociology.

[22]  V Latora,et al.  Efficient behavior of small-world networks. , 2001, Physical review letters.

[23]  Jon M. Kleinberg,et al.  Navigation in a small world , 2000, Nature.

[24]  Douglas A. Wiegmann,et al.  Identifying methods to improve heart surgery: an operative approach and strategy for implementation on an organizational level. , 2008, European journal of cardio-thoracic surgery : official journal of the European Association for Cardio-thoracic Surgery.

[25]  D. Harrison,et al.  TIES, LEADERS, AND TIME IN TEAMS: STRONG INFERENCE ABOUT NETWORK STRUCTURE'S EFFECTS ON TEAM VIABILITY AND PERFORMANCE , 2006 .

[26]  R. Burt.  Structural Holes and Good Ideas1 , 2004, American Journal of Sociology.

[27]  Radhika Santhanam,et al.  The Effects of Social Network Structure on Enterprise Systems Success: A Longitudinal Multilevel Analysis , 2012, Inf. Syst. Res..

[28]  Jonathon N. Cummings,et al.  Structural properties of work groups and their consequences for performance , 2003, Soc. Networks.

[29]  Dennis J. Devine,et al.  Do Smarter Teams Do Better , 2001 .

[30]  J. Lincoln,et al.  Work and Friendship Ties in Organizations: A Comparative Analysis of Relational Networks , 1979 .

[31]  G. Neuman,et al.  Team effectiveness: beyond skills and cognitive ability. , 1999, The Journal of applied psychology.

[32]  Cuihua Shen,et al.  Virtual Team Networks: How Group Social Capital Affects Team Success in a Massively Multiplayer Online Game , 2016, CSCW.

[33]  Robin Cowan,et al.  Network Structure and the Diffusion of Knowledge , 2004 .

[34]  G. Labianca,et al.  Group Social Capital and Group Effectiveness: The Role of Informal Socializing Ties , 2004 .

[35]  Hans J. Thamhain,et al.  Linkages of project environment to performance: lessons for team leadership , 2004 .

[36]  C. D. De Dreu,et al.  Task versus relationship conflict, team performance, and team member satisfaction: a meta-analysis. , 2003, The Journal of applied psychology.

[37]  Ingo Scholtes,et al.  Categorizing bugs with social networks: A case study on four open source software communities , 2013, 2013 35th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE).