Capability, Opportunity, and Motivation in a Social Multiplayer Online Game: Player Influence Dynamics in Sky: Children of Light

Wen Zeng, Chandni Kumar, Sinong Zhou, Donggyu Kim, Aimei Yang, Dmitri Williams, Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, University of Southern California, Los Angeles

Social Science Computer Review

Published online on January 19, 2026

Abstract

Social Science Computer Review, Ahead of Print.
This study investigates networked social influence inSky: Children of the Light, a social multiplayer online game. Drawing on survey responses (n= 9,254) and in-game data from over 660,000 players, we use an innovative graph-based machine learning ...