Case Study: Social Connections in a Digital Game

The game GRiD at the Tanween conference in Saudi Arabia.

Click here for the full published article: Multimodal Technologies and Interaction

As gaming is being criticized as isolating people, game designers are finding new ways to bring people together in the digital game world. For my master’s thesis research project, my team and I explored the factors that influence spectator engagement. My research topic comes from my keen interest in digital games that promote physical and social connections. I am convinced that digital technologies can connect rather than divide, which is what pushed me to explore this particular subject.

For my research, I used a human-size version of the video game Pong, developed by Moment Factory. GRiD Crowd uses a projected playground and through movement detection technology, allows players to use their bodies as controllers. In an initiative to involve more people in the game and promote social connections, a web app that allows spectators to influence the game in real-time was developed.

My first thought was: what a great idea! And then I asked myself, does having access to a web app really induce more engagement in the spectators? That is why I decided to research whether the web app had any impact on spectator engagement.

GRiD in the studio used for the data collection. Spectators can be seen on the sidelines with a numbered jersey.

Based on previous research, we hypothesized that if spectators can influence the game, we should be able to record an increase in their arousal (excitement), which in turn, should lead to an increase in their engagement. To assess arousal, we used physiological (lived) and self-reported (perceived) measures, which is a common approach that has previously been validated [1]. A widely used method of measuring physiological arousal in games is electrodermal activity (EDA) [2]. EDA is measured through skin conductivity, which varies according to differences in sweat gland activity (the device used for the recording is in the picture below) [3]. This gives access to real-time emotional variations and also correlates with perceived measures of arousal that can be further validated with a self-reported questionnaire [4].

EDA measurement tool developed by Tech3lab.

We found that our hypothesis was right, when the spectators had an active impact on the game, higher levels of emotional arousal were recorded, which generated an increase in engagement. We also found that the composition of the group didn’t have an effect on engagement, in other words, being with friends or strangers didn’t change the recorded spectator engagement levels.

The conclusion of this study is very promising as it means that giving access to interactivity can engage groups of people, even if they aren’t the active players and even if they are within a group of people they don’t know. What an exciting thought, digital games that are criticized for their isolating effect could also be leveraged to engage large groups of people! Expanding on that idea, I’m thinking of stadiums…where spectators could be involved in the game they are watching, which could create a deeper sense of engagement.

This research however does not answer the wide array of questions that this broader topic brings up, but it does suggest a way to design experiences that take into account the engagement of spectators. It also opens up a world of opportunities in the types of impact that spectators could have on games.

Me and some participants before they completed the self-reported questionnaire.

For more information, this video is a step-by-step guide of the methodology.

References:

1. Christiane Moser and Florian ‘Floyd’ Mueller Josef Wiemeyer, Lennart Nacke. 2016. Player Experience. Significance In Serious Games: Foundations, Concepts and Practice, Dörner, R. Göbel, S. Effelsberg, W. Wiemeyer, J. (eds). Springer International Publishing Switzerland, 243-271.

2. Rosa Mikeal Martey, Kate Kenski, James Folkestad, Laurie Feldman, Elana Gordis, Adrienne Shaw, Jennifer Stromer-Galley, Ben Clegg, Hui Zhang, Nissim Kaufman, Ari N. Rabkin, Samira Shaikh, and Tomek Strzalkowski. 2014. Measuring Game Engagement: Multiple Methods and Construct Complexity. Simulation and Gaming 45: 528–547.

3. Lennart E. Nacke. 2015. Games User Research and Physiological Game Evaluation. In Games User Experience Evaluation R. Bernhaupt (ed.). Springer International Publishing Switzerland, 63-86.

4. P J Lang, M M Bradley, and A O Hamm. 1993. Looking at Pictures: Evaluative, Facial, Visceral, and Behavioral Responses. Psychophysiological Research 30: 261–273.

This research was made possible through MITACS Accelerate Fellowship and Moment Factory that graciously lent us their space as well as their game GRiD Crowd.