Stay and Play - Modeling Social Influence of Players in the Steam Gaming Community

Play is a social activity that enables the formation of full-fledged social networks. Multiplayer games connect users in communities, similar to traditional online social networks, where some individuals influence others’ in-game behavior—“influencers.” However, little is known about how influence operates across games or affects behavior beyond gameplay. To explore this, we analyzed Steam, a game distribution platform that lets us study player behavior at a broader level and compare social contagion from explicit friendships to the implicit in-game connections studied in prior work. While Steam influencers share traits with game influencers, they show distinct behaviors (e.g., game preferences, playtime) and can influence new game adoption. These insights expand our understanding of the Steam community and support previous findings on connectedness and the transfer of social bonds across games.