Anders Tychsen
ABSTRACT
Communication is a vital component of multi-player game play, constituting a large part of the player interaction in most game formats. In this article, the structure and intensity of the verbal communication between players in three different types of multiplayer role-playing games are analyzed. Data is drawn from a series of empirical experiments covering: A) Console gaming; B) Multiple players in a conventional LAN-setup, and: C) non-digital tabletop gaming. The results indicate that there are distinct differences in the overall communication pattern between the three game setups. When players share a single screen they communicate more than when each person has their own monitor, indicating a direct effect of the representation of the game medium on player communication. Additionally, in the digital games, speech intensity varies as a function of the game content: Players communicate the most during non-stressful game segments, and the least during intensive combat scenes, although the latter does require extensive coordination. The implication of this result is that analysis of player communication has the potential to be used as symptoms of boredom or excitement.
- Austin, J. L. 1975. How to do things with words. Clarendon press.Google Scholar
- Bartle R. 2003. Designing Virtual Worlds. New Riders. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Björk, S. Falk, J. 2001. Pirates! Using the physical world as a game board. Proceedings of INTERACT 2001.Google Scholar
- Bøckman, P. and Hutchison, R. (eds.) 2005. Collected papers for Knutepunkt 2005 -- the 9th Annual Nordic Conference on Larp. Knutepunkt.Google Scholar
- Chen, L., Harper, M. P., Franklin, A., Rose, R. T., Kimbara, I., Huang, Z., Quek, F. K. H. 2006. A multimodal analysis of floor control in meetings. In Proceedings of Machine Learning for Multimodal Interaction Workshop 2006, 36--49. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Edwards, R. 2001. GNS and other matters of roleplaying theory. The Forge. DOI= http://www.indierpgs.com/articles/1/.Google Scholar
- Eladhari, M. and Lindley, C. 2004. Story construction and expressive agents in virtual game worlds. In Proceedings of Other Players Conference (Copenhagen, Denmark).Google Scholar
- Fine, G. A. 2002. Shared Fantasy: Role Playing Games as Social Worlds. University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
- Gabriel, G. C. and Maher, M. L. 2002. Coding and modeling communication in architectural collaborative design. Automation in construction 11, 199--211.Google Scholar
- Hallford, N. and Hallford, J. 2001. Swords & Circuitry: A designer's guide to computer role playing games. Prima Tech. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Henry, L. 2003. Group narration: Power, information, and play in role playing games. DOI= http://www.darkshire.net/jhkim/rpg/theory/liz-paper- 2003/.Google Scholar
- Holmes, R. M. and Pellegrini, A. D. 2005. Children's social behavior during video game play. In Raessens, J. and Goldstein, J. (eds.) Handbook of computer game studies. MIT press.Google Scholar
- hutchison, A. 2003. Analyzing the performance of interactive narrative. In Proceedings of DAC 2003 (Melbourne, Australia).Google Scholar
- Kim, J. 2003. Story and narrative paradigms in roleplaying games. DOI= http://www.darkshire.net/jhkim/rpg/theory/narrative/paradigms.html.Google Scholar
- King, B. and Borland, J. 2003. Dungeons and Dreamers: The rise of computer game culture from geek to chic. Mcgraw-hill. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Lazzaro, N. 2004. Why we play games: Four keys to more emotion in player experiences. In Proceedings of GDC 2004 (San Jose, California).Google Scholar
- Lindley, C. 2004. trans-reality gaming. In Proceedings of Second Annual International Workshop in Computer Game Design and Technology (Liverpool, United Kingdom).Google Scholar
- Lindley, C. and Eladhari, M. 2005. Narrative structure in trans-reality role-playing games: Integrating story construction from live action, table top and computer-based role-playing games. In Proceedings of DIGRA 2005 (Vancouver, Canada).Google Scholar
- Mackay, D. 2001. The fantasy role-playing game: a new performing art. Mcfarland & co.Google Scholar
- Maher, M. L. and Simoff, S. 2000. Collaboratively designing within the design. In Proceedings of Codesigning 2000 (Coventry, United Kingdom).Google Scholar
- Manninen, T. 2004. Rich interaction model for game and virtual environment design. Internal publication. Department of information processing science. Oulu, University of Oulu.Google Scholar
- Murray, J. 1997. Hamlet on the holodeck -- the future of narrative on cyberspace. MIT Press. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Mäkelä, E., Koistinene, S. 2005. The process model of role playing. In Proceedings of Knutepunkt 2005 (Tampere, Finland).Google Scholar
- Padol, L. 1996. Playing stories, telling games: Collaborative storytelling in role-playing games.Google Scholar
- Peinado, F. and Gervás, P. 2004. Transferring game mastering laws to interactive digital storytelling. In Proceedings of 2nd International Conference on Technologies for Interactive Digital Storytelling and Entertainment (Darmstadt, Germany). Springer Verlag.Google Scholar
- Salen, K. and Zimmerman, E. 2004. Rules of Playgame design fundamentals. MIT Press. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Searle, J. R. 1969. Speech acts: An essay in the philosophy of language. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
- Smith, J. H. 2006. Plans and Purposes: How videogame goals shape player behavior. Center for computer games research. Copenhagen, IT University of Copenhagen.Google Scholar
- Sudweeks, F. and Simoff S. J. 2005. Leading conversations: Communication behaviors of emergent leaders in virtual teams. In Proceedings of 38th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (Big Island, Hawaii). Google ScholarDigital Library
- Tauroza, S., Allison, D. 1990. Speech rates in British English. Applied linguistics 11(1), 90.Google Scholar
- Tosca, S. P. 2003. The quest problem in computer games. In Proceedings of 2nd International Conference on Technologies for Interactive Digital Storytelling and Entertainment (Darmstadt, Germany). Fraunhofer IRB Verlag.Google Scholar
- Tychsen, A. 2006. Role-Playing Games: Comparative analysis across two media platforms. In proceedings of CGIE Conference 2006 (Fremantle, Western Australia). Google ScholarDigital Library
- Tychsen, A, Newman, K., Brolund, T., Hitchens, M. 2007. Cross-format analysis of the gaming experience in multi-player role playing games. In proceedings of DIGRA 2007 (Tokyo, Japan), 49--58.Google Scholar
- Tychsen, A., Heide Smith, J., Tosca, S. P., Hitchens, M. 2006. Communication in multi-player role playing games -- the effect of medium. In Proceedings of 2nd International Conference on Technologies for Interactive Digital Storytelling and Entertainment (Darmstadt, Germany). Springer Verlag. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Tychsen, A., Heide Smith, J. (in press.) Player Talk - the functions of communication in multi-player roleplaying games. In press for ACM Computers in Entertainment (October 2008 issue).Google Scholar
- Wright, T., Boria, E. 2002. Creative player actions in FPS online video games. Game studies 2(2).Google Scholar
- Young, M. J. 2005a. Theory 101: System and the shared imagined space. Places to go, people to be, 26. DOI= http://ptgptb.org/0026/theory101-01.html.Google Scholar
- Young, M. J. 2005b. Theory 101: The impossible thing before breakfast. Places to go, people to be, 27 DOI= http://ptgptb.org/0027/theory101-02.html.Google Scholar
Index Terms
- Game format effects on communication in multi-player games
Recommendations
Player talk—the functions of communication in multplayer role-playing games
SPECIAL ISSUE: Media Arts (Part II)Communication is a vital component of multiplayer gameplay, constituting a large part of the total player interaction. This article presents a comprehensive study of the role of interplayer communication during the gaming process in digital and tabletop ...
Character play: the use of game characters in multi-player role-playing games across platforms
Theoretical and Practical Computer Applications in EntertainmentAvatars are a commonly used mechanism for representing the player within the world of a game. The avatar forms the main point of interaction between the player and the game, and thus the avatar is an important game design feature. Character-based games ...
A game-based corpus for analysing the interplay between game context and player experience
ACII'11: Proceedings of the 4th international conference on Affective computing and intelligent interaction - Volume Part IIRecognizing players' affective state while playing video games has been the focus of many recent research studies. In this paper we describe the process that has been followed to build a corpus based on game events and recorded video sessions from human ...
Comments