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I always knew role-playing games can be educational, but I guess I never thought about using them to explore human behavior. Peter Gorniak of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is running a Neverwinter Nights game module to study human behavior:

Computer role playing games are an intriguing platform for studying people's behaviour [sic] in a socially and contextually rich setting. At the same time, they still allow you to shape the world and the interactions between people in ways such that people's behaviour [sic] does not get out of hand. That's exactly what I'm doing in this work - having players interact as they would otherwise, while solving a puzzle within Neverwinter Nights.

While he does not go into any real detail, I can certainly imagine some interesting scenarios, especially using the DM client as a blind.

I'm not sure when this study is being conducted or when (and where) the results will be published. I suspect he'll be posting more information here: MIT Media Lab.

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