Learning about organizational capabilities, structures and strategies from virtual gaming teams

Abstract

The second generation of web development and design commonly referred to as Web 2.0 focuses primarily on user generated content and inter-human connections. The effectiveness of the applications and services increases with the number of people and the type of people making using of them. This concept has now extended to online computer games with the evolution of the Massively Multiplayer Online Games genre. These games are based on continuous real interactions with real people although in a virtual environment. Furthermore the game play promotes team building with complex game goals that necessitate large strong teams. Such teams often slowly turn into large communities containing hundreds of players. The online communities thus formed are consistently active and dedicated towards success. They begin to develop intricate team structures, processes, and strategies towards winning. Even the players are assigned specific roles and are part of specialized functional teams. These communities have become organizations in their own sense; they have become highly dynamic and evolving virtual organizations. An analysis and study of these communities and virtual organizations has a unique prospect of understanding the evolution and formation of an organization. Furthermore, frequent inter-organizational interactions in the game world and the easy access to self made leaders in these organizations make it a unique study on development of leadership, building organizational capabilities and organizational strategy in a dynamic environment.