The influence of social ties on performance in team-based online games

Social ties are the invisible glue that keeps together human ecosystems. Despite the massive amount of research studying the role of social ties in communities (groups, teams, etc.) and society at large, little attention has been devoted to study their interplay with other human behavioral dynamics. Of particular interest is the influence that social ties have on human performance in collaborative team-based settings. Our research aims to elucidate the influence of social ties on individual and team performance dynamics. We will focus on a popular multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) collaborative team-based game, Defense of the Ancients 2 (Dota 2), a rich data set with millions of players and matches. Our research reveals that, when playing with their friends, individuals are systematically more active in the game as opposed to taking part in a team of strangers. However, we find that increased activity does not homogeneously lead to an improvement in players’ performance. Despite being beneficial to low-skill players, playing with friends negatively affects the performance of high-skill players. Our findings shed light on the mixed influence of social ties on performance and can inform new perspectives on virtual team management and behavioral incentives.