What we have here is a failure of companionship: Communication in goal-oriented team-mate games

Kevin McGee; Tim Merritt; Christopher Ong

doi:10.1145/2071536.2071568

What we have here is a failure of companionship: Communication in goal-oriented team-mate games

Kevin McGee^*, Tim Merritt, Christopher Ong

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to book/anthology/report/conference proceeding › Article in proceeding › Research › peer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

There is a fairly common assumption about real-time, goal oriented, multiplayer games: communication is primarily appreciated (and used) for more effectively attaining goals. But an interesting question that does not seem to have been explored in the literature is whether the desire for companionship is a significant factor in people's desire for and use of communication channels in real-time, goal-oriented, cooperative games. A qualitative study was conducted in which 40 participants played variations of a real-time, goal-oriented, cooperative game with either human or artificial (AI) team-mates, using different communication modalities. Participants consistently expressed a strong desire for the ability to communicate with a team-mate, arguing that it made gameplay more effective and more enjoyable. The significant finding of this study is that in some cases, the strong desire for (and use of) communication channels in realtime, goal-oriented, cooperative games seems to actually be more of a desire for (and experience of) social companionship.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings of the 23rd Australian Computer-Human Interaction Conference, OzCHI 2011
Number of pages	4
Publication date	1 Dec 2011
Pages	198-201
ISBN (Print)	9781450310901
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/2071536.2071568
Publication status	Published - 1 Dec 2011
Externally published	Yes
Event	23rd Australian Computer-Human Interaction Conference, OzCHI 2011 - Canberra, ACT, Australia Duration: 28 Nov 2011 → 2 Dec 2011

Conference

Conference	23rd Australian Computer-Human Interaction Conference, OzCHI 2011
Country/Territory	Australia
City	Canberra, ACT
Period	28/11/2011 → 02/12/2011
Sponsor	ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (SIGCHI), Human Factors and Ergonomics Soc

Keywords

co-presence
communication
companionship
multiplayer games
team-mate games
team-mates

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10.1145/2071536.2071568

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abstract = "There is a fairly common assumption about real-time, goal oriented, multiplayer games: communication is primarily appreciated (and used) for more effectively attaining goals. But an interesting question that does not seem to have been explored in the literature is whether the desire for companionship is a significant factor in people's desire for and use of communication channels in real-time, goal-oriented, cooperative games. A qualitative study was conducted in which 40 participants played variations of a real-time, goal-oriented, cooperative game with either human or artificial (AI) team-mates, using different communication modalities. Participants consistently expressed a strong desire for the ability to communicate with a team-mate, arguing that it made gameplay more effective and more enjoyable. The significant finding of this study is that in some cases, the strong desire for (and use of) communication channels in realtime, goal-oriented, cooperative games seems to actually be more of a desire for (and experience of) social companionship.",

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McGee, K, Merritt, T & Ong, C 2011, What we have here is a failure of companionship: Communication in goal-oriented team-mate games. in Proceedings of the 23rd Australian Computer-Human Interaction Conference, OzCHI 2011. pp. 198-201, 23rd Australian Computer-Human Interaction Conference, OzCHI 2011, Canberra, ACT, Australia, 28/11/2011. https://doi.org/10.1145/2071536.2071568

What we have here is a failure of companionship: Communication in goal-oriented team-mate games. / McGee, Kevin; Merritt, Tim; Ong, Christopher.
Proceedings of the 23rd Australian Computer-Human Interaction Conference, OzCHI 2011. 2011. p. 198-201.

Research output: Contribution to book/anthology/report/conference proceeding › Article in proceeding › Research › peer-review

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What we have here is a failure of companionship: Communication in goal-oriented team-mate games

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