This is exciting. Sony just handed over 60 terabytes of MMO data to researchers -- that's four years' worth of data, covering 400,000 individuals.
The Ars Technica piece implies the researchers are looking at demographics and usage patterns, which may influence future MMO business models. Interestingly, the data may reveal holes in previous research methodologies, which will no doubt cause a healthy amount of teeth gnashing among demographers and social scientists.
I would have liked to hear more about how researchers could use the data to shed light on behaviour. Unlike demographic research, which looks at who the players are, this data can look at behavioural patterns within the game, effectively turning MMOs into virtual labs (or virtual fish tanks, in this case). I interviewed Dmitri Williams, who was also quoted in the Ars piece, for an article in Cosmos Magazine that touched on this subject. Back then, the difficulty was getting access to the data, but now it's out there, we may start seeing some real insights.
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