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

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. © 2011 ACM.