PEOPLE EXHIBIT PRO-SOCIO BEHAVIOUR AS THE WORLD ENDS

A new study suggests that people will be exhibiting pro-socio behavior like creating new social relationships and strengthening existing ones as the world ends. This study was on the basis of the virtual actions of over 80,000 players in ArcheAge, a role-playing medieval fantasy video-game, which presents a world-end scenario.

"It's kind of like sitting next to a stranger on the airplane. You may keep to yourself during the flight, but as the plane reaches the runway, you strike up a conversation knowing the end is in sight," says one of the researchers. Towards the game’s end, anti-social behavior like murder did increase. However, those were committed only by a small portion of the population.

Though the results are not real life scenarios, they offer a realistic view into people’s behavior in end-times scenarios. This is useful to the game industry as well other research communities.

It provides insights for game designers on reducing the number of people who leave the game half-way to play another game.

This study is thought to be the first large-scale quantitative analysis of the way player behavior alters during a game which is programmed to end.

Content: www.sciencedaily.com