By Kenny Chee

THE ways in which ordinary people play popular online computer game World Of Warcraft (WoW) - and go on in-game missions called "quests" - can be used to study how real-life terrorists operate, a recent groundbreaking study reveals.

The United States military and law-enforcement arms have taken an active interest in the findings, with a view towards developing better understanding of how terrorist groups form, operate and adapt to challenges.

The research is already being "fed into Iraq", reported the Guardian newspaper.

The American study, published in June in the science journal Physical Review E, found that the way in which social groups of WoW gamers - known online as "guilds" - form can be described by a mathematical model that can also be applied to an unrelated group of people: street gangs in Los Angeles.

Dr Neil Johnson, the lead researcher of the study, told my paper that the model shows how gamer guilds and street gangs form in a similar fashion despite differing demographics. It is therefore possible to use the same model to study other competitive social groups anywhere in the world.

This includes terrorist groups, said the British physics professor, who teaches at the University of Miami.

He defines competitive groups as organisations that have features like a need to protect themselves from other groups. They develop their own rules, carry out clandestine acts and share a desire not to get trapped.

"No one had thought about the connection between WoW guilds and gangs before our study," said Dr Johnson.

That is why the research has stirred considerable interest "in official circles", including the police and military, he added.

One such "circle" is the United States Southern Command which, among other things, looks into security issues in Central and South America as well as the Caribbean.

The Special Operations unit of that command is using the research to assist its planning process, reported the Guardian.

The research findings are also being pumped into Iraq, where the US military is slowly disengaging from battles against insurgents.

Dr Johnson declined to give details on how the military was utilising his research, citing confidentiality issues.

WoW players in US cyberspace - over 76,000 were studied from June to December 2005 - are evenly divided between men and women, aged between five and 95.

Street gangs - over 5,000 were studied in the same period - mostly comprise male youths and young adults.

Despite the difference in demographics in both cases, social groups still tend to form around individuals who are able to add complementary skills to the collective.

The researchers devised a mathematical model to describe the formation of these social groups.

This model can also be used to analyse how the groups react to or are affected by external forces.

"Any group that satisfies these fairly autonomous, competitive criteria would also (fit the model)," said Dr Johnson.

kennyc@sph.com.sg

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