Status Seeking and the Design of Online Entertainment Communities

Abstract

The main purpose of this chapter is to offer an overview of status seeking in online entertainment communities (OECs) and design issues associated with status seeking. Status refers to one’s standing in a social hierarchy as determined by respect, deference, and social influence (Ridgeway and Walker 1995). The value of status is demonstrated in the status-seeking behavior among participants of OECs. Status seeking is a particularly strong motivating force used by entertainment providers to promote the usage of online entertainment. It is therefore interesting to study the implications of status seeking for the design of OECs. In this chapter, we lay out the theoretical and empirical foundation for status seeking in OECs and provide a game-theoretic framework for analyzing it. We discuss a handful of design issues associated with status seeking in the context of OECs. We also identify several open issues for future research.