Showing papers on "Social dynamics published in 2006"
22 Apr 2006
TL;DR: Observations show that the prevalence and extent of social activities in MMOGs might have been previously over-estimated, and that gaming communities face important challenges affecting their cohesion and eventual longevity.
Abstract: Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) routinely attract millions of players but little empirical data is available to assess their players' social experiences. In this paper, we use longitudinal data collected directly from the game to examine play and grouping patterns in one of the largest MMOGs: World of Warcraft. Our observations show that the prevalence and extent of social activities in MMOGs might have been previously over-estimated, and that gaming communities face important challenges affecting their cohesion and eventual longevity. We discuss the implications of our findings for the design of future games and other online social spaces.
761 citations
Book•
15 Dec 2006
TL;DR: Urban Complexity and Spatial Strategies as discussed by the authors develops important new relational and institutionalist approaches to policy analysis and planning, of relevance to all those with an interest in cities and urban areas.
Abstract: Urban Complexity and Spatial Strategies develops important new relational and institutionalist approaches to policy analysis and planning, of relevance to all those with an interest in cities and urban areas.
Well-illustrated chapters weave together conceptual development, experience and implications for future practice and address the challenge of urban and metropolitan planning and development.
Useful for students, social scientists and policy makers, Urban Complexity and Spatial Strategies offers concepts and detailed cases of interest to those involved in policy development and management, as well as providing a foundation of ideas and experiences, an account of the place-focused practices of governance and an approach to the analysis of governance dynamics. For those in the planning field itself, this book re-interprets the role of planning frameworks in linking spatial patterns to social dynamics with twenty-first century relevance.
753 citations
TL;DR: A representative sample of players of a popular massively multiplayer online game (World of Warcraft) was interviewed to map out the social dynamics of guilds as mentioned in this paper, and the resulting interview transcripts were reviewed to explore player behaviors, attitudes, and opinions; the meanings they make; social capital they derive; and the networks they form and to develop a typology of players and guilds.
Abstract: A representative sample of players of a popular massively multiplayer online game (World of Warcraft) was interviewed to map out the social dynamics of guilds. An initial survey and network mapping of players and guilds helped form a baseline. Next, the resulting interview transcripts were reviewed to explore player behaviors, attitudes, and opinions; the meanings they make; the social capital they derive; and the networks they form and to develop a typology of players and guilds. In keeping with current Internet research findings, players were found to use the game to extend real-life relationships, meet new people, form relationships of varying strength, and also use others merely as a backdrop. The key moderator of these outcomes appears to be the game's mechanic, which encourages some kinds of interactions while discouraging others. The findings are discussed with respect to the growing role of code in shaping social interactions.
563 citations
20 Aug 2006
TL;DR: A new mathematical and computational framework is proposed that enables analysis of dynamic social networks and that explicitly makes use of information about when social interactions occur.
Abstract: Finding patterns of social interaction within a population has wide-ranging applications including: disease modeling, cultural and information transmission, and behavioral ecology. Social interactions are often modeled with networks. A key characteristic of social interactions is their continual change. However, most past analyses of social networks are essentially static in that all information about the time that social interactions take place is discarded. In this paper, we propose a new mathematical and computational framework that enables analysis of dynamic social networks and that explicitly makes use of information about when social interactions occur.
280 citations
TL;DR: Experimental dissection of empirical systems is providing important insights into the details of the drivers of demographic responses and therefore dynamics and should also stimulate theory that incorporates relevant biological mechanism.
Abstract: Population dynamics result from the interplay of density-independent and density-dependent processes. Understanding this interplay is important, especially for being able to predict near-term population trajectories for management. In recent years, the study of model systems—experimental, observational and theoretical—has shed considerable light on the way that the both density-dependent and -independent aspects of the environment affect population dynamics via impacting on the organism's life history and therefore demography. These model-based approaches suggest that (i) individuals in different states differ in their demographic performance, (ii) these differences generate structure that can fluctuate independently of current total population size and so can influence the dynamics in important ways, (iii) individuals are strongly affected by both current and past environments, even when the past environments may be in previous generations and (iv) dynamics are typically complex and transient due to environmental noise perturbing complex population structures. For understanding population dynamics of any given system, we suggest that ‘the devil is in the detail’. Experimental dissection of empirical systems is providing important insights into the details of the drivers of demographic responses and therefore dynamics and should also stimulate theory that incorporates relevant biological mechanism.
241 citations
TL;DR: Humans are capable of building a sophisticated conservation ethic that transcends individual species and resources and can lead to increasingly greater sophistication of ecological understanding and the continued encoding of such knowledge in social institutions and worldview.
Abstract: Lessons in conservation are often seen as resulting from cycles of overexploitation and subsequent depletion of resources, followed by catastrophic consequences of shortage and starvation, and finally, development of various strategies, including privatization of the commons, to conserve remaining resource stocks. While such scenarios have undoubtedly occurred on many occasions, we suggest that they are not the only means by which people develop conservation practices and concepts. There are other pathways leading to ecological understanding and conservation, which act at a range of scales and levels of complexity. These include: lessons from the past and from other places, perpetuated and strengthened through oral history and discourse; lessons from animals, learned through observation of migration and population cycles, predator effects, and social dynamics; monitoring resources and human effects on resources (positive and negative), building on experiences and expectations; observing changes in ecosystem cycles and natural disturbance events; trial and error experimentation and incremental modification of habitats and populations. Humans, we believe, are capable of building a sophisticated conservation ethic that transcends individual species and resources. A combination of conservation knowledge, practices, and beliefs can lead to increasingly greater sophistication of ecological understanding and the continued encoding of such knowledge in social institutions and worldview.
219 citations
TL;DR: It is shown that results of technological projects are subject to interpretative flexibility and, as such, are interpreted in the light of the same expectations they are supposed to ‘validate’.
Abstract: The article investigates three mechanisms by which expectation dynamics affect innovation processes. Empirically, it focuses on hype–disappointment cycles in electronic commerce and interactive television, drawing on results from qualitative case studies and secondary analysis. First, two specific ways by which collective, i.e. widely shared, expectations motivate and guide innovation actors are presented. These mechanisms serve as an explanation for the fact that often an impressively large number of heterogeneous actors accept and contribute to high-rising expectations. With reference to a third mechanism, it is shown that results of technological projects are subject to interpretative flexibility and, as such, are interpreted in the light of the same expectations they are supposed to ‘validate’. Sudden changes of the consideration of certain technologies as promising or not are then explained as a result of the interaction between collective expectations and expectations and outcomes at the pr...
211 citations
01 Jan 2006
TL;DR: The resilience perspective is increasingly used as an approach for understanding the dynamics of social-ecological systems as discussed by the authors, which emphasizes non-linear dynamics, thresholds, uncertainty and surprise, how periods of gradual change interplay with periods of rapid change and how such dynamics interact across temporal and spatial scales.
Abstract: The resilience perspective is increasingly used as an approach for understanding the dynamics of social–ecological systems. This article presents the origin of the resilience perspective and provides an overview of its development to date. With roots in one branch of ecology and the discovery of multiple basins of attraction in ecosystems in the 1960–1970s, it inspired social and environmental scientists to challenge the dominant stable equilibrium view. The resilience approach emphasizes non-linear dynamics, thresholds, uncertainty and surprise, how periods of gradual change interplay with periods of rapid change and how such dynamics interact across temporal and spatial scales. The history was dominated by empirical observations of ecosystem dynamics interpreted in mathematical models, developing into the adaptive management approach for responding to ecosystem change. Serious attempts to integrate the social dimension is currently taking place in resilience work reflected in the large numbers of sciences involved in explorative studies and new discoveries of linked social–ecological systems. Recent advances include understanding of social processes like, social learning and social memory, mental models and knowledge–system integration, visioning and scenario building, leadership, agents and actor groups, social networks, institutional and organizational inertia and change, adaptive capacity, transformability and systems of adaptive governance that allow for management of essential ecosystem services
204 citations
TL;DR: Drawing on interviews conducted within an Australian study on chronic illness and disability, the authors explore the performative nature of the interview and how interviewers and interviewees respond to the structural factors shaping the social dynamics of the interviews to produce accounts of social life.
Abstract: Researchers have paid only limited attention to how social structural factors influence the course and content of interviews. Speech, comportment, and values inherent to gender and other social, structural, and contextual factors, such as age, socioeconomic positioning, and ethnicity, all influence the direction, flow, and content of interviews, informing how we might interpret the information collected in the process. Drawing on interviews conducted within an Australian study on chronic illness and disability, the authors explore the performative nature of the interview and how interviewers and interviewees respond to the structural factors shaping the social dynamics of the interview to produce accounts of social life.
189 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a conceptual and empirical model of the propensity to perform social activity-travel behavior are described, which incorporate the influence of individuals' social context, namely their social networks.
Abstract: Conceptual and empirical models of the propensity to perform social activity–travel behavior are described, which incorporate the influence of individuals’ social context, namely their social networks. More explicitly, the conceptual model develops the concepts of egocentric social networks, social activities, and social episodes, and defines the three sets of aspects that influence the propensity to perform social activities: individuals’ personal attributes, social network composition, and information and communication technology interaction with social network members. Using the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique and data recently collected in Toronto, the empirical model tests the effect of these three aspects on the propensity to perform social activities. Results suggest that the social networks framework provides useful insights into the role of physical space, social activity types, communication and information technology use, and the importance of “with whom” the activity was performed with. Overall, explicitly incorporating social networks into the activity–travel behavior modeling framework provides a promising framework to understand social activities and key aspects of the underlying behavioral process.
183 citations
TL;DR: Barley and Kunda as discussed by the authors conducted an ethnography of technical contractors to produce a detailed, balanced, and accurate depiction of how contractors structure and interpret their experience, and their study documents the social dynamics of skilled "contingent labor", a term economists and sociologists now use for an array of short-term work arrangements.
Abstract: Executive Overview Contract work and outsourcing represent widely acknowledged manifestations of the groundswell of economic change that is shaking the foundations of work and employment in the United States. While these emerging forms of employment have become harbingers of new ways of working, they remain poorly understood; efforts to explain their emergence and significance have suffered from an excess of ideology and a dearth of data. Stephen Barley and Gideon Kunda undertook an ethnography of technical contractors to produce a detailed, balanced, and accurate depiction of how contractors structure and interpret their experience. Their study documents the social dynamics of skilled “contingent labor,” a term economists and sociologists now use for an array of short-term work arrangements. Their goal was to understand how employment relations were changing at the dawn of the 21st century. Closely studying contractors' everyday lives provided a strategic vantage point for viewing, evaluating, and perhap...
TL;DR: This article explore the political culture of hyperpunitiveness through a discussion of two popularized explanations for urban crime: broken windows and situational crime prevention, and suggest that each theory understand society-space interactions too simplistically to provide comprehensive insight into the dynamics of landscape construction and interpretation.
Abstract: The entrenchment of neoliberalism in the United States has coincided with an unprecedented expansion of punishment practices that intensify social divisions rooted in class and race. We explore the political culture of this hyperpunitiveness through a discussion of two popularized explanations for urban crime: broken windows and situational crime prevention. These popular criminological theories help legitimate the deepening of social and spatial divisions. They also rest their precepts upon the foundation of a particular geographic imagination. We use this paper to reveal and critique the core assumptions about space upon which each of these theories critically relies. We suggest that each theory understands society–space interactions too simplistically to provide comprehensive insight into the dynamics of landscape construction and interpretation. We argue further that the logics and practices of broken windows and situational crime prevention possess significant elective affinities with social dynamics characteristic of neoliberalism. For these reasons, these popularized criminologies both reflect and reinforce the processes through which neoliberalism exacerbates social differences.
TL;DR: An information systems framework that aims at integrating different actors' perspectives and tools across different activities, by explicitly addressing the knowledge and social dynamics of the whole process is presented.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the characteristics and challenges of peer review from three different perspectives: a social dynamics perspective defining peer review as an important control mechanism in the research community; an uncertainty perspective focusing on the inherent uncertainty in judging research quality; and an organizational perspective focusing the effects of different ways of organizing peer review.
Abstract: Characteristics and challenges of peer review are elucidated from three different perspectives: a social dynamics perspective defining peer review as an important control mechanism in the research community; an uncertainty perspective focusing on the inherent uncertainty in judging research quality: and an organisational perspective focusing on the effects of different ways of organising peer review. Findings from a broad set of empirical studies are used. Peer review often has some conservative and risk-minimising aspects, which may disfavour interdisciplinary and non-conventional research. When the aim is to actively promote interdisciplinary or other kinds of non-conventional research, the involved peer-review system consequently needs to be adjusted to a more risk-taking mode. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.
TL;DR: An innovative methodology called Photovoice is used to obtain a greater understanding of themeanings residents ascribe to the salient characteristics of their neighborhoods and communities.
Abstract: Place-based approaches to community change have become increasingly popular strategies for addressing significant social problems. With their intentional focus on ‘place,’ most efforts have sought to gain greater understanding into how neighborhood contexts affect people. However, while both aggregate characteristics and social dynamics of neighborhoods have been subject to scrutiny in the literature, less attention has been paid to understanding how the environmental characteristics of neighborhoods and communities as places have meaning for residents. The present study used an innovative methodology called Photovoice to obtain a greater understanding of themeanings residents ascribe to the salient characteristics of their neighborhoods and communities. As part of a place-based initiative, 29 adult and youth residents in seven distressed urban neighborhoods photographed and dialogued about the meaningful physical attributes of their community. According to participants, place characteristics provided cues about their personal histories as members of the community; communicated messages about the value and character of the community and its residents; defined social norms and behavior within the community; and provided markers that could remind residents of who they are and inspire a sense of possibility for who they could become. Implications for practice are discussed.
TL;DR: In this paper, the legal protections that shape the employment environment for people with invisible identities and how invisibility influences the common social dimensions of stigma these individuals experience are explored and compared on the basis of their comparisons of social identity groups with invisible characteristics.
Abstract: Diversity research assumes that social interaction is influenced by a social categorization that arises from visible and readily detectable differences. How does this process work when the differences are not readily detectable? We explore the legal protections that shape the employment environment for people with invisible identities and how invisibility influences the common social dimensions of stigma these individuals experience. These social dimensions are resistant to change and therefore change occurs slowly: stigma cannot simply be legislated away. On the basis of our comparisons of social identity groups with invisible characteristics we discuss four dimensions that are especially relevant for understanding the social dynamics of invisible diversities.
08 Jun 2006
TL;DR: It is provided empirical evidence that while change at the center of FLOSS projects is relatively uncommon, participation across the project communities is highly skewed, with many participants appearing for only one period.
Abstract: This paper furthers inquiry into the social structure of free and open source software (FLOSS) teams by undertaking social network analysis across time. Contrary to expectations, we confirmed earlier findings of a wide distribution of centralizations even when examining the networks over time. The paper also provides empirical evidence that while change at the center of FLOSS projects is relatively uncommon, participation across the project communities is highly skewed, with many participants appearing for only one period. Surprisingly, large project teams are not more likely to undergo change at their centers.
Book•
01 Jan 2006
TL;DR: This chapter discusses the Genealogy of Tourists' Universe of Discourse, as well as the Microgenetic Economies of the Touring Act, and the Social Dynamics of Mind.
Abstract: Introduction. Chapter I: The Social Act. Chapter II: The Touring Act. Chapter III: The Microgenetic Economies of the Touring Act. Chapter IV: Genealogy of Tourists' Universe of Discourse. Chapter V: Genealogy of Ladakhis' Universe of Discourse. Chapter VI: Mapping the Generalized Other. Chapter VII: Navigating the Generalized Other. Chapter VIII: The Social Dynamics of Mind. Chapter IX: Becoming Other to Oneself.
TL;DR: The low-income population's practices and strategies for coping with daily problems, especially in relation to the search for health care, are analyzed by means of therapeutic itineraries and indicates an interdisciplinary and multi-methodological and conceptual approach.
Abstract: The low-income population's practices and strategies for coping with daily problems, especially in relation to the search for health care, are analyzed by means of therapeutic itineraries. To unveil this population's coping strategies in relation to their health-disease process means identifying the individual and collective strategies and the meaning of these social dynamics related directly or indirectly to health. The search for treatment is described and analyzed here in relation to socio-cultural practices in terms of the paths chosen by individuals in the attempt to solve their health problems. The study thus indicates an interdisciplinary and multi-methodological and conceptual approach relating concepts of practices, strategies, and health and life situations. The point of departure is that ways of coping with health problems require an understanding of the strategies developed in a process of (re)appropriation and (re)construction of knowledge. It is equally important to identify social support networks and individual capacity to mobilize such resources. The recognition of these practices allows (re)directing actions in collective health.
Book•
30 Jan 2006
TL;DR: Pamela Laird as discussed by the authors demolished the popular American self-made story as she exposes the social dynamics that navigate some people toward opportunity and steer others away, and the answer is social capital - all those social assets that attract respect, generate confidence, evoke affection, and invite loyalty.
Abstract: Redefining the way we view business success, Pamela Laird demolishes the popular American self-made story as she exposes the social dynamics that navigate some people toward opportunity and steer others away. Who gets invited into the networks of business opportunity? What does an unacceptable candidate lack? The answer is social capital - all those social assets that attract respect, generate confidence, evoke affection, and invite loyalty.
Journal Article•
TL;DR: Interventions for bullying require a combination of scaffolding and social architecture to provide comprehensive supports and to change the social dynamics that enable bullying.
Abstract: INTRODUCTION: Bullying is a complex relationship problem associated with many psychosocial difficulties for children who bully, as well as those who are victimized. A recent international volume of school-based bullying programs revealed modest effectiveness, highlighting the need to refine interventions using research on developmental profiles of children who bully and those who are victimized, as well as on their relationships. METHOD: Based on developmental-systemic theory, a research review was conducted on individual and relationship risk factors associated with bullying and being victimized. RESULTS: THE REVIEW LED TO THE PROPOSAL OF TWO ORGANIZING PRINCIPLES FOR INTERVENTIONS: Scaffolding and Social Architecture. Scaffolding focuses on providing tailored and dynamic supports for the needs of individual children who bully or who are victimized. Social architecture requires that adults focus on the social dynamics of children's groups and create social contexts that promote positive peer interactions and dissipate contexts that foster negative interactions. CONCLUSION: Interventions for bullying require a combination of scaffolding and social architecture to provide comprehensive supports and to change the social dynamics that enable bullying. With an empirically derived, comprehensive perspective, we may move closer to reducing the burden of these relationship problems in the lives of children and youth. Language: en
TL;DR: In this article, a conceptualization of adaptive educational environments as creative spaces for fostering certain intellectual abilities associated with creativity, notably transference and synthesis in cross-disciplinary situations is presented.
Abstract: This paper integrates theoretical perspectives and practical insights to offer a conceptualization of adaptive educational environments as creative spaces for fostering certain intellectual abilities associated with creativity, notably transference and synthesis in cross‐disciplinary situations. When educational environments are modeled as systems, mechanisms that maintain stability or lead to change in the system can be described. Educational systems in stasis may be good for promoting some kinds of learning, but not so good for promoting intellectual abilities associated with creativity. It is proposed that designed interventions may change the system so that it is more conducive to certain outcomes. Such designed interventions may involve the use of facilitating technologies and pedagogies that change situational and social dynamics. The potential of digital tools in this context is considered. Examples of designed interventions are drawn from work on ‘Playful Triggers’ and ‘eccentric objects and odd e...
Book•
01 Jan 2006
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe strategies of commitment in practice, in policy, and in a theory of rational choice, in order to cope with lapses from rationality and against backsliding.
Abstract: Preface 1 Strategies of Commitment Climate and Society 2 What Makes Greenhouse Sense? 3 The Economic Diplomacy of Geoengineering 4 Intergenerational and International Discounting Commitment as Self-Command 5 Self-Command in Practice, in Policy, and in a Theory of Rational Choice 6 Coping Rationally with Lapses from Rationality 7 Against Backsliding 8 Addictive Drugs: The Cigarette Experience Society and Life 9 Life, Liberty, or the Pursuit of Happiness 10 Should Numbers Determine Whom to Save? Economics and Social Policy 11 What Do Economists Know? 12 Why Does Economics Only Help with Easy Problems? 13 Prices as Regulatory Instruments Weapons and Warfare 14 Meteors, Mischief, and War 15 Research by Accident 16 Vietnam: Reflections and Lessons Social Dynamics 17 Social Mechanisms and Social Dynamics 18 Dynamic Models of Segregation Decisions of the Highest Order 19 The Legacy of Hiroshima Credits Index
19 Apr 2006
TL;DR: The design and architecture of the UbER-Badge is described, a wireless sensor node and wearable display designed to facilitate group interaction in large meetings and acquire a wide range of data for analyzing social dynamics.
Abstract: This paper describes the design and architecture of the UbER-Badge, a wireless sensor node and wearable display designed to facilitate group interaction in large meetings and acquire a wide range of data for analyzing social dynamics. The platform design and its application suite are described. Data is presented that shows the social patterns developing across large events and indicates that certain individual characteristics (interest, affiliation) can be determined from the sensor data from deployments of this system with groups of over 100 people.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the growing population of informally employed workers as a class and found that the decreasing proportion of formally employed workers (and the subsequent rise in informal employment) signifies a decline in all class-based organization.
Abstract: The rigidity of early class analysis and the recent demise of any type of class analytics have turned attention away from examining the growing population of informally employed workers as a class. By not examining informal workers as a class “in themselves,” we are losing insights into how they are translating their positions into a class “for themselves.” As a consequence, the recent literature on globalization and liberalization is increasingly concluding that the decreasing proportion of formally employed workers (and the subsequent rise in informal employment) the world over signifies a decline in all class-based organization. Such arguments have obscured our understanding of the current social dynamics of exploitation and resistance. In an attempt to begin filling this gap, this article recovers class as an important analytical tool with which to examine (1) the current relations of power between the state, employers, and the majority of India's workers, and (2) how the structures of produc...
01 Jan 2006
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the learning ecology of the virtual world, Second Life, and determined how the design and social dynamics of one virtual world support as well as constrain various types of learning.
Abstract: This research investigated the “learning ecology” of the virtual world, Second Life. Study goals were to: (a) determine how the design and social dynamics of one virtual world support as well as constrain various types of learning, and (b) suggest implications for the use of virtual worlds in adult education. Background A burgeoning body of scholarship addresses adult learning in various web-based contexts, from formal online courses to informal contexts such as chatrooms. One type of online “space” attracting a growing number of adults is the social virtual world (Book, 2004; Castronova, 2005; Hayes, 2005). These worlds are characterized by a shared social space, a graphical user interface, real-time interaction, user-generated content, persistence, and active support for in-world social groups (Book, 2004). Social virtual worlds serve as a place for community development, in which people come together for a variety of self and groupdetermined purposes. Social virtual worlds are being adopted for explicitly educational purposes. For example, the U.S. Army contracted with corporate owners of a high-profile virtual world to create a military training environment; Texas AM women account for about 27% of the total registered population, and the average age is around 32 , with a range from 18 – 72. SL was selected for this study because of its popularity, relative longevity, free access (making it open to a wide audience), and potential for use in adult education.
TL;DR: In this article, social dynamics in restorative justice conferences employing two distinct meanings of accountability: one embodied in performing gendered social relations, and the other embodied in other social relations.
Abstract: This article analyses social dynamics in restorative justice conferences employing two distinct meanings of accountability: one embodied in performing gendered (and other) social relations, and the...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a theoretical framework with regard to engineering and society and argue that this competence requires a good understanding of the social dynamics of technology as well as the ability to communicate on the level of facts, values and emotions.
Abstract: It is a long and winding road from invention to innovation. Starting from this observation, this paper presents a historical perspective on the capabilities engineers should possess to do their work. The importance of the ‘communicative competence’ involved in creating a social base for innovation is underpinned. We will present a theoretical framework with regard to engineering and society and argue that this competence requires a good understanding of the social dynamics of technology as well as the ability to communicate on the level of facts, values and emotions. Three particular skills are extensively discussed: orientation on the future and the abilities involved in dialogue and cultural differences. We will argue that engineers can develop this new competence through project learning.
01 Jan 2006
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a Markov chain model for land-use dynamics in a forested landscape, which emphasizes the importance of coupling socioeconomic and ecological processes underlying landscape change.
Abstract: We present a Markov chain model for land-use dynamics in a forested landscape. This model emphasizes the importance of coupling socioeconomic and ecological processes underlying landscape change. We assume that a forest is composed of many land parcels, each of which is in one of a finite list of land-use states. The land-use state of each land parcel changes stochastically. The transition probability is determined by two processes: the forest succession and the decision of landowners. The landowner tends to choose the land-use state which has a high expected discounted utility, i.e., the sum of the current and the future utilities of the land parcel. Landowners take the likelihood of future landscape changes into account when making decisions. We focus on a three-state model in which forested, agricultural, and abandoned states are considered. The land-use composition at equilibrium was analyzed and compared with the social optimum that maximizes the net benefit of all landowners in a society. We show that when landowners make a myopic choice focused on short-term benefits, their individual decisions tend to push the entire landscape toward an agricultural state even if the forested state represents the highest utility. This land-use composition at equilibrium is very different from the social optimum. A long-term management perspective and an enhanced rate of forest recovery can eliminate the discrepancy.