Game mediated communication: Multiplayer games as the medium for computer based communication

Publication Type  Proceedings Article
Year of Publication  2005
Authors  Wiklund,Mats
Conference Name  DiGRA 2005 Conference: Changing Views--Worlds in Play
Key Words  Multiplayer games; chat; game mediated communication; in-game communication
Abstract  

As multiplayer games evolve in functionality and with respect to the number of participants, in-game communication between players is increasing. As in-game communication increases, games may be considered the natural medium for computer based communication in general. Special issues may arise due to the real-time nature of many games, as intraplayer communication must not interfere with other parts of the gameplay. To obtain information on the extent to which computer based chat is spontaneously associated with multiplayer games, an empirical study was conducted. Children from age 10 to age 15 were interviewed about their computer based communications. To ensure unbiased results, game related issues were never brought up by the interviewer. Results show that multiplayer games were spontaneously pinpointed by 16.83% of the interview subjects being asked about their computer chat habits. Positive remarks dominated, but some negative aspects were also mentioned, such as difficulty chatting and playing simultaneously.

URL  http://www.digra.org/dl/db/06278.39122.pdf

0

Free Registration

Registered users have the added benefit of being able to:

  • Search/filter the bibliography to find just the article you are looking for. You can search the computer games research bibliography by author, year, keyword, title or publication type.
  • Export references from the video games bibliography to a format suitable for your own work. Options currently include tagged and XML for Endnote users and BibTex for the rest of the world.
  • Post comments to discuss the paper or alert fellow researchers to other resources.
  • Add their own references using the 'create content' -> 'biblio' option in the block on the left.
  • NEW: Use the Biblio Search box located on the right hand of the page.
  • NEW: Browse by journal title, book title, author or keyword using the new Faceted Search tool.