Humans’ reaction to the end of the world has been imagined for years and, recently, science wanted to see with its own eyes what we would do if the apocalypse really arrived.
A group of researchers has found an original way to study human behavior in the face of the last day on Earth: nothing more nor less than an RPG video game (role-playing game).
Scientists used the MMORPG ArcheAge as a testing ground. During an 11-week beta phase, thousands of players explored, completed missions and evolved characters, knowing, however, that the server would be erased at the end and all progress lost — a kind of end of the virtual world.
The team, whose study was presented at the Proceedings of the 26th International Conference on World Wide Web Companion and on arXiv, explains that the elimination of the virtual world worked as an analogy for the real end, removing any future consequences for the participants’ actions. The objective was to understand whether, without moral restrictions or rewards, people would tend towards chaos or maintain social behaviors.
According to , more than 270 million records were analyzed — from progression data to logs of missions — to detect changes in behavior as the “end” approached. The result contradicted apocalyptic expectations: most players maintained a calm and even cooperative attitude. There were some isolated cases of gratuitous violence, but there was no general increase in destructive behavior.
Researchers noticed that, as the “doomsday” date approached, many players stopped investing in character development, stopping trying to level up or complete missions. Because “when the world is ending, it is unlikely that anyone will want to continue improving themselves,” the authors wrote.
Interestingly, the players who stayed until the last moment proved to be the most peaceful and collaborative, while those who gave up before the end showed more antisocial behavior, such as kill other players, apparently because they lost their sense of connection and responsibility towards the game.
But overall, the “end of the world” was surprisingly harmonious. Interactions became more positive and researchers observed an increase in new collaborations and temporary friendships.
