How to Establish an MMO Social Framework

In previous projects, I have been working on the design of MMO social features. To help myself organize my thoughts and viewpoints, I decided to write this article, hoping to share it with everyone.
My thinking may not be comprehensive or rigorous enough, so if you have any opinions, feel free to point them out in the comments section for discussion.

Before establishing a framework, I want to discuss a question: what is the essence of social interaction?
I believe the essence of social interaction is demand; social interaction is possible only when there is a demand between people.
Assuming a person has no demands whatsoever, including basic needs like food, drink, and entertainment, then they would not need to engage in any social interaction. (Think about it, is this true?) || Does such a person really exist? ||

If we break down demands, I believe there are two types: emotional needs and material needs.

Emotional Needs#

Emotional needs refer to the social interactions that arise from the need for some spiritual satisfaction, such as:

As a child, wanting to receive love from my mother, I would cry to attract her attention.
I want to feel happy, so I play games or watch TV shows.
I want to gain recognition, so I upload videos or articles.
Because we need emotional release, this demand arises.

From the examples above, it is not difficult to see that some needs are immediate and require face-to-face interaction, while others can be communicated over long distances through various mediums (games, TV shows, articles), and even feedback can come much later. This is what we often refer to as real-time and asynchronous social interaction; this part will be elaborated on later, but for now, just have a basic concept.

Material Needs#

Material needs are easier to understand; they refer to social interactions that arise to achieve a certain goal or gain benefits from others. Here, benefits are not just one-sided; mutual gains also count as benefits.

If I want to eat today, I need to buy groceries, and to obtain the groceries, I need to communicate with the seller to exchange for them. In this process, I have a brief social interaction with the seller.
I want to discuss financial knowledge, so I have an afternoon discussion with a friend who also understands finance; during the exchange of knowledge, we also engage in social interaction.

In summary, I believe everyone now has a preliminary understanding of the essence of social interaction. The examples used here are quite straightforward; it is only necessary to have a basic concept of these two types of social demands, which will also be applied in our game design.

Based on the aforementioned social cases in reality, to achieve social interaction in games, we need to meet players' emotional and material social needs.

Material Needs#

Material needs in games are relatively easy to clarify; benefits = rewards in the game. The design purpose is to attract players by setting rewards, encouraging them to participate in social-related gameplay, and creating the possibility of sustained social interaction in the process.

The rewards here are designed to induce players to engage in social interaction, and since social behavior itself is somewhat subjective, caution is needed in the distribution of rewards; otherwise, it may have adverse effects and lead to player attrition. Here are several common forms of rewards:

Development line rewards: These rewards directly affect the growth of the player's character. It is necessary to avoid designing resources that can only be obtained through social interaction; instead, they should serve as auxiliary production pathways.
Personalized rewards: These rewards are generally items like business cards, titles, or avatars, which are very easy to distribute and provide a good player experience. Personalization itself is an expression of players' emotional needs.
Practical rewards: These rewards may include experience bonuses, item acquisition bonuses, etc. For example, teaming up can yield more content and make it easier than playing solo. It is not presented through the final items but is a form of continuous reward.
Currency rewards: Common examples include friendship points, contributions, etc. However, currency is indirect; ultimately, it depends on the value of the items that can be exchanged for. These rewards are quite common, and the items available for exchange will affect the corresponding gameplay's social participation.

Rewards are merely a means to induce players to engage in social interaction; the real goal is to encourage players to establish sustained social relationships. Therefore, while designing rewards, attention must be paid to guiding social behavior.

In simulation games, watering others' farms or stealing vegetables can yield some rewards, and this behavior will also be recorded to inform the other party.
Some holiday events require cooperative gameplay, where both parties need to communicate during the collaboration, and after the event ends, a dialog box for adding friends pops up.

Emotional Needs#

In game design, emotional needs have similarities with human emotional needs in reality, and due to their uncertainty, careful consideration is needed when designing related features to convey the intended emotions. Here are some analyses of emotional needs in games:

Sense of existence and being noticed: Players desire recognition from others in the game, wanting their existence to be seen and valued. For example, various leaderboards can be set up, such as level leaderboards, strength leaderboards, achievement leaderboards, etc., to attract players' attention. Players at the top of the leaderboard receive more attention due to their outstanding performance in specific areas, satisfying their need for recognition. Special fashion displays, titles above their heads, etc., can also become focal points that attract others' attention, fulfilling players' need to be noticed. More detailed designs can be made for different genders and age groups; for example, male players can have achievements displayed for dungeon challenges, while female players can have designs for fashion contests.
Personalization: Every player believes they possess unique traits and wishes to have space and methods to showcase their individuality in the game, leaving a distinct mark. Therefore, we can provide rich character customization features, allowing players to freely adjust facial features, hairstyles, body types, etc., to create unique character images, or offer functionality to design business card content and layouts, showcasing their game achievements, personal signatures, interests, etc., thus fulfilling their need for self-expression.
Pursuit of flaunting and superiority: This is an expression of players' desire for a superior status within a group, hoping to showcase their uniqueness through their distinct resources, achievements, or abilities. Special titles, exclusive skins, or unique skill effects in the game can satisfy players' psychological need to show off, providing them with a sense of psychological fulfillment.
Self-presentation: Players wish to showcase their knowledge, experience, and insights to gain respect from other players. Features like knowledge quizzes or mentorship can be set up to encourage players to showcase their knowledge, fulfilling this need while enriching the game's social culture.

In addition to positive emotional needs, players may also experience negative emotions in games, such as anger, greed, jealousy, etc. These emotions need to be vented in appropriate ways, so games can design competitive gameplay to satisfy this need.

Revenge: Allowing players to engage in revenge actions against each other; players can attack specific players due to personal grudges or other reasons, allowing them to release their anger.
PVP: Designing various PVP modes, such as 1V1, team battles, etc. Players can compete in PVP, releasing competitive desires and any jealousy or dissatisfaction that may arise.

There are even larger GVGs, and there are many emotional needs in this regard. When designing, we can still apply Maslow's hierarchy of needs for brainstorming and identifying gaps, then select needs that align with our game's values, are feasible, and offer a good cost-performance ratio.

When players have corresponding social needs, what should they use to engage in social interaction? In real life, we use chat software to send text and voice messages to express emotions and connect, or participate in relevant activities (like conventions, mixers, etc.) to meet many people. In games, we need to create corresponding social tools.
Social tools are the foundation and means that support social behavior, providing specific pathways and methods for social activities, serving as a structure and carrier.
Social behavior refers to the various interactions and communication activities that individuals or groups engage in within social contexts, facilitated by social tools, which are used and utilized in relation to each other.
Social content refers to the various information generated, transmitted, and shared during social behavior. The forms of social content are diverse, including text, images, audio, video, etc., such as a social media post, a Weibo article, or the content of a video call. Social content relies on social tools for dissemination.

When mentioning social tools, one might instantly think of current instant messaging software like QQ or asynchronous communication via email, which are indeed effective social tools. However, we can think a bit deeper: when we use social tools, what forms of information do we use to communicate?
Common forms include text, audio (voice or other sounds), images (emojis), video, etc. These content expression forms are what we use for social interaction.
Additionally, our bodies can also express corresponding emotions, leading to interactive actions (expressions, movements).
There are also interactive behaviors; a common example is the "one-click triple action" (like + follow + collect), which is an interactive behavior that can also exist in multiplayer situations, but at that point, it becomes cooperative or competitive.

Some expression methods are relatively difficult to implement; one type is delicate actions led by micro-expressions, which are high-investment, low-return content due to model limitations. Another type involves sensory stimuli primarily based on smell and touch, which may lead to games similar to Sword Art Online in the future.

There are many aspects to explore in the expression of social interaction:

Text: Enlarging text can indicate surprise, adding red text can indicate emphasis, emoticons and special characters can provide additional emotional expression, or text can appear gradually, shake, etc.
Sound: A sharp sound can indicate surprise or fright, while a deep sound can indicate fatigue, etc. Thanks to the development of AI voice changers, the distinction between male and female voices is becoming increasingly blurred; we can even add character voice lines for players to send out in voice form.
Interactive actions: Currently, the coverage of interactive actions in games can meet most expression scenarios. However, the meanings of actions will gradually increase in the future; for example, if I mention a specific basketball move, you might think of a particular dance. Designers may not always keep up with this content, but if we can open up action customization, providing different stages of actions for players to create on their own, the combinations created by players will far exceed our expectations.
Images: Images can also be edited or enhanced to make them more impactful. Recently, I've noticed the expressive features in Monster Hunter: World, which allow for customizable text. Beyond the inherent meaning of the expression itself, it can increase others' understanding, thus achieving broader coverage and influence.

Are there other forms of social expression? Based on the expressive features in Monster Hunter: World, this already belongs to UGC (User-Generated Content). I believe all UGC content has social characteristics. UGC content can include images, text, audio, video, etc., but the original content of UGC can be diverse.

For example, in Final Fantasy XIV, players have used furniture to create a McDonald's, benefiting from the connection between the game and reality, which gives this image a certain level of dissemination and sociality.

In summary, if we, as designers, can provide more forms of expression, it equates to giving players more social tools, making it easier to create variety and break away from rigid system designs. However, this will also increase development difficulty and players' understanding costs, so it still needs to be considered based on the project's actual situation. The main focus should still be on meeting the most basic communication needs (chat system).

The choice of social tools varies in different usage environments:

In high-operation games (like Honor of Kings): If designers can provide voice, quick menus, expressions, etc., it will enhance players' communication experience, as typing is an inefficient means of expression in such games.
For detailed expression of feelings (like comments on Onmyoji characters): Providing longer text for communication can also promote social interaction, and the length of text that can be sent will affect communication efficiency.

Social content in games can be divided into two parts: one type is the system-provided social content for players, and the other type is content created spontaneously by players.

System-provided social content can be divided into two types:

Various gameplay that requires more than one person to complete, commonly referred to as social gameplay. For example, the Valentine's Day quest in FF14 requires two people to team up.
Social elements that can be operated by a single player, such as likes and shares, which can promote interaction and emotional exchange between players. For example, in Overwatch, players can give teammates a thumbs up after a match.

Why do we need the system to design social content? Isn't social content generated during social behavior? Can't we just let players create social content?
The reasons for having the system provide social content rather than relying solely on player-generated content are as follows:

Guiding Social Interaction: Guided social interaction will occur more frequently than completely open social interaction, such as the friend request invitation that pops up after a stranger gives a gift.
Improving Efficiency: Simplifying operational processes, such as one-click gift-giving; the system can allow players to send friend requests or gifts to others with a single click. Reducing the steps involved in social interaction can increase the frequency of social interactions.
Creating Scenarios and Topics: Many people have certain barriers to breaking the ice in social situations, even in a digital society. The system can provide social activities or scenarios to encourage users to participate. Just like in real life, conventions gather users with similar interests together.
Meeting Different Players' Social Needs: Players with different personalities have varying social needs and preferences. The social content provided by the system can cater to different types of players. For introverted players, the system can offer relatively private social methods, such as privacy settings or home permissions limited to friends or designated individuals. For extroverted players, more public social opportunities can be provided, such as leaderboards and guild activities.

When designing social content, we need to pay attention to the following points:

Focus on Social Goals: Clearly define which players are intended to engage in social interaction (e.g., friends, strangers, paying vs. non-paying players, etc.). Different targets have different focal points (e.g., sharing and cooperation among friends, flaunting and benefits among strangers, etc.). There are no restrictions on focal points, but choosing appropriate focal points for social content will yield better results. After determining the target, clarify the participation range (teammates, friends, guilds, or all online players, etc.).
Select Social Forms: Generally, there are two types of social gameplay (cooperation and competition). Any social form can be wrapped in cooperation and competition to create a new social gameplay. In addition to interactions within gameplay, we also need to add social elements based on different gameplay, simplifying players' social operations and providing social feedback based on the system and gameplay. Based on this, there are several types:
- Fast-paced and short-duration: One-click friend requests or likes on the dungeon settlement screen. More convenient social methods need to be added.
- Slow-paced and long-duration: There are fewer restrictions on adding social elements in this type, but it is necessary to share the current status in a timely manner. For example, in simulation games, cooperative building can set prompts like "Current building construction is slow; invite friends to assist to speed up construction," or when gathering, if a rare herb is discovered, a prompt can pop up saying, "Discovered a rare herb; would you like to share it in the chat channel?"
- Adding at the beginning of gameplay: A representative example is assisting in battles, where players can choose friends' characters to aid in combat. In design, it is best to ensure that social goals can run through the entire gameplay. Additionally, at the end of gameplay, the influence of gameplay can be extended, such as popping up a quick way to gift to the other party or share with them.
Consider Social Costs: Social interaction inherently comes with social costs, which cannot be avoided, but good design can alleviate this cost. The reasons for excessive social costs include:
- Some players inherently dislike social interaction, primarily focusing on single-player experiences.
- Difficulty in recruiting teams, long matchmaking times, consuming a lot of time.
- Designers forcing players to socialize, where not socializing leads to the inability to obtain unique development resources.
  For players who dislike social gameplay, we won't discuss them for now; the focus should be on addressing the remaining cost issues.
- Increase the conditions for recruitment filtering, add estimated matchmaking times, and reduce players' anxiety during waiting periods to lower social costs. For example, in the recent Zhu Xian World recruitment, finding a team took 1 hour, but the dungeon only took a few minutes, making me dislike running dungeons.
- The frequency, number, and duration of social gameplay need to be controlled; prolonged social interaction can lead to fatigue.
- For players who abandon cooperative or competitive gameplay midway, measures should be taken to address the negative impact on other players' experiences, such as using AI to take over.

In different stages of the game, players' social needs will also change. The system can dynamically adjust social content based on players' progress and data. This part is an important aspect of the overall game social design and is also the most flexible part we can adjust under our control. This content does not need to be overly flashy, but it must focus on player experience and have clear goals.

Player-Created Content#

This part of the content can be referred to as UGC (User-Generated Content). Player-created content is a new avenue in today's era, and after 2010, UGC games combined with social games will become mainstream. UGC easily generates topics and is also easily imitated among players due to its creative nature. Many times, UGC can save a game's life, such as how MODs have saved games.

UGC performs excellently in social aspects and is a direction that games should focus on in the future. However, UGC also has certain issues, such as:

UGC content is uncontrollable; designers cannot manage players' usage directions, which can increase management and review costs.
The overall number of UGC creators is not large, and high-quality UGC content requires a significant amount of time and effort to produce. If the corresponding incentive mechanisms are insufficient and feedback opportunities are lacking, it can lead to creator attrition and eventual abandonment of content creation.
There is a significant disparity in the quality of UGC creators; if the UGC content is level-based, it may affect other players' normal gaming experiences due to unreasonable difficulty.
The dissemination of UGC requires functional support, but the system's gameplay design may not initially consider UGC content.

How to Design UGC#

The UGC system can be very large (like Minecraft) or very small (like a comment system), depending on the specific design goals.
Any system and function can incorporate UGC, such as:

Equipment system: Allowing customization of equipment names while keeping total attributes unchanged, players can freely adjust attribute values.
Fashion system: Allowing high freedom in dyeing.
Skill system: Allowing editing of skill effects, enabling players to modify particle playback trajectories.
Friend system: Adding customizable tags and cloud maps.
Story system: Allowing customization of game story branches and writing different plot developments.

There are many areas where UGC can be implemented; here are a few simple examples. When designing UGC, the following points need to be considered:

Lowering the threshold and increasing functional experience: The lower the threshold for player experience, the more UGC content will be generated, increasing the probability of producing quality content and making it easier to form topics. (A low threshold does not reduce the threshold for producing quality content.) When designing functions, it is essential to focus on player experience, considering how players will use this functionality. For example, when placing furniture over a large area, features like copying, editing modules, and one-click application can be implemented, optimizing the functional experience.
Setting rewards to encourage UGC creation: Rewards can be considered from both emotional and material needs perspectives. Emotional needs can be addressed through platform displays, allowing creators to feel recognized and fulfilled. Material needs can include unique in-game items or titles, as well as real-world currency. Emotional needs can be considered from the design stage, focusing on sharing and showcasing creators' perspectives.
Providing convenient dissemination methods: There needs to be a way for other players to notice UGC content, thereby increasing the likelihood of social interaction. For example, integrating basic one-click sharing functions with mainstream social media platforms, or increasing exposure opportunities by adding UGC content display areas in-game, or setting up UGC content leaderboards, increasing keyword search and tag management (like a creative workshop). It can also be linked with other systems; for instance, when related content is published, a message can be generated in the personal space, allowing other users to spread this information, thereby increasing the frequency of comments in the space.

In summary, the design of social content in games is crucial. System social content and player-created content each have their characteristics and considerations. As designers, we should fully consider various aspects and reasonably design social gameplay and UGC systems to enhance players' social experiences, promote the healthy development of the game's social ecosystem, and allow players to gain richer and more interesting social interactions in the game.

Once we have social tools and content to express social behavior, we need to consider who players need to socialize with.
If we place everyone in a single pool, the resulting social interactions will be chaotic and disordered, leading not only to information overload but also diminishing the depth and value of interactions between players. Just as different groups in real-life social interactions form specific circles based on interests, professions, or regions, games also need to be designed this way, allowing relatively similar players to find social goals that meet their needs, thus increasing the likelihood of social interaction.

Social goals created by the system need to balance functionality and demand, forming social entry points.

Common social goals include friends, guilds, factions, nearby players, teams, etc., which can usually be seen in corresponding chat channels. When creating the system, more precise social goals can also be considered, such as the dormitories that can be joined at the beginning of "Harry Potter: Magic Awakened," which also serve as social goals.
Systems like trading posts and arenas are also social goals created by the system, connecting players with similar needs.
Mentor-student and romantic relationship systems define more refined social goals based on demand.

The key to creating social goals through the system is to identify players' demand tendencies while attracting players to actively engage.

Players can also spontaneously create social goals, requiring the game to provide specific functionalities, such as group chats or communication devices like the one in Final Fantasy XIV. Players will naturally gather people with similar interests together.

Player-created social goals are relatively flexible, but the system needs to provide corresponding guidance, increasing search and display tags to make it easier for players to join these circles.

Is there still a need to develop such content for players within the game, given that external QQ groups, channels, and forums are already well-established?
I believe there is still a need to provide corresponding functionalities within the game. There is always a wall between the game and reality, creating inherent barriers in communication. In future development, designers can consider allowing messages sent within the game to also be received in external forums or groups, breaking down the barriers between the game and the outside world.

In summary, the establishment of social goals is to allow social targets to be precise; this is the direction to consider.
|| The larger the social goal, the richer the discussions, and the greater the sense of fulfillment (larger influence range); the smaller the social goal, the lesser the sense of fulfillment (smaller influence range), but the average number of personal gains will be higher. ||

Social scenarios are the events or states that trigger players' social behaviors, providing clear goals and topic foundations for social interaction. Their essence is the natural interactive opportunities that occur within the game, allowing for deeper discussions. The system's role is to create enough scenarios (topics) to avoid meaningless small talk and lay a solid foundation for social interaction.

Tendency: Scenarios need to be designed for specific player groups, and no single scenario can cover all players. For example, players who enjoy gambling or drawing cards will focus on random scenarios like draws or roulettes; players who enjoy achievements will pay attention to leaderboards, racing, achievement points, etc.
Timeliness: Scenarios are not eternal, and only some players can participate. For example, the distribution of red envelopes during the Spring Festival or holiday celebrations.
Scope: Scenarios may not encompass the entire game; they may only involve a small part. For example, the competition for guild territories within the game (only some people participate).
Diversity: The same scenario can have multiple tags, producing significantly different values for each player.

Based on the characteristics of scenarios, we need to create more social scenarios and timely push suitable scenarios to appropriate social goals, enhancing the range of players accessing scenarios.

Game announcements of first kills in dungeons → World chat channels flooded with congratulations.
The troop channel receives a text prompt that xxx has logged in → Sending greetings in the troop channel.
Wandering in the home and seeing a super magnificent building → Taking a photo and sharing it in-game and on external forums.

How to Spread Scenarios#

While scenarios have timeliness, dissemination does not, so dissemination can sometimes be non-real-time (like email notifications).
Common dissemination methods include system notifications or client prompts, such as when players trigger encounters or major events in "Jian Wang 3," which will send messages in the world channel. The system can approach dissemination from the perspective of the medium, such as text, images, or audio, and consider whether to use email or channel notifications for dissemination. The content of the dissemination can also modify text color, size, and position, all of which will affect dissemination efficiency.
Players will also spontaneously spread scenarios, so convenient social tools need to be provided, such as quick screenshot sharing, voice-to-text, emoticons, and expressions.

Considering the Receiver's State#

When disseminating, the receiver's state should also be considered, adding functional processing for different states:

Timeliness: For example, in recruitment channels, a one-click join button.
Asynchronous: For example, email notifications about auction times and locations for rare items; if the receiver cannot respond quickly, adding quick reply functions.

With the above content, our social interaction has already begun. As social needs are continuously met, players will develop a dependency on social goals, and corresponding social goals will become fixed. We need to solidify the social relationships between players and social goals through the system.
This can be done in the following ways:

Establishing activities that require specific goals during which players cannot change their goals, or where not changing yields higher rewards. For example, friendship levels can provide combat bonuses, with higher friendship levels granting greater bonuses.

Various types of relationships can be defined, with common ones including romantic ties, best friends, brothers, fixed teams, etc. Players can also DIY their relationships. The establishment of relationships can also be divided into stages; for example, romantic relationships can progress from infatuation → attachment → deep affection → everlasting love, etc.
There are many types of social relationships.

Social feedback can start from expressing individuality, conveying to players that their relationship with social goals is unique compared to others. This can include special titles, highlighting friends' names, or unique relationship tags, etc., spreading this social relationship to a broader group.

Conclusion#

The general framework for social interaction cycles is as follows:

In summary, social design is a complex topic that requires consideration of various aspects. There are still many areas I need to think about continuously. This is just a starting point, and during the writing process, I have drawn on the thoughts of predecessors, hoping to provide some help to everyone.
Some content has not been detailed, and further elaboration is still needed.

Reference Links#

Analysis of MMO Mobile Game Social Framework

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The original link is https://blog.lolita.best/posts/GameDesign/building-an-mmo-social-framework