#StayHome Playing LoL -- Analyzing Players' Activity and Social Bonds in League of Legends During Covid-19 Lockdowns
Simone Petrosino, Enrica Loria, Johanna Pirker

TL;DR
This study analyzes how Covid-19 lockdowns affected player activity and social bonds in League of Legends across three regions, revealing increased engagement and stronger social ties during restrictions, especially among dedicated players.
Contribution
It provides empirical evidence on how online multiplayer games fostered social bonds during Covid-19, highlighting regional differences and the importance of consistent teammates.
Findings
Player activity increased during Covid-19 restrictions.
Stronger and more recurrent social bonds formed among players.
Players with consistent teammates were more likely to continue playing post-restrictions.
Abstract
Humans are social beings. It is therefore not surprising that the social distancing and movement restrictions associated with the Covid-19 pandemic had severe consequences for the well-being of large sections of the population, leading to increased loneliness and related mental diseases. Many people found emotional shelter in online multiplayer games, which have already proven to be great social incubators. While the positive effect games had on individuals has become evident, we are still unaware of how and if games fostered the fundamental need for connectedness that people sought. In other words: how have the social bonds and interaction patterns of players changed with the advent of the pandemic? For this purpose, we analyzed one year of data from an online multiplayer game (League of Legends) to observe the impact of Covid-19 on player assiduity and sociality in three different…
Peer Reviews
No public reviews on file for this paper yet. If you reviewed it on a platform where reviews are public (OpenReview, ICLR, NeurIPS, ICML), you can paste yours below so the community can read it here.
Videos
No videos yet. Explain this paper in a talk, walkthrough, or lecture? Add one.
