EyeCo: Effects of Shared Gaze on Social Presence in an Online Cooperative Game
This paper investigates the effects of a shared gaze approach on social presence in an online cooperative game. We explored how a shared gaze visualization changes how players work together and form collaborative strategies based on different combinations
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Center for Human-Computer Interaction, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria {bernhard.maurer,manfred.tscheligi}@sbg.ac.at 2 Department of Digital Media, University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, Hagenberg, Austria [email protected] 3 Department of Education and Psychology, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Linz, Austria [email protected]
Abstract. This paper investigates the effects of a shared gaze approach on social presence in an online cooperative game. We explored how a shared gaze visualization changes how players work together and form collaborative strategies based on different combinations of gaze interaction and verbal communication. Our study findings highlight the positive influence of a shared gaze visualization on team cohesion and involvement towards increased perceived social presence among cooperating team members. With our findings we want to inform game designers with insights on the inclusion of gaze-based interaction in remote gaming settings and whether this can strengthen the social bond between players. Our approach aims at fostering social couplings in remote collaborative gaming and investigates their potential to increase the connectedness between players. Keywords: Cooperative games Shared gaze
Gaze-based interaction
Social presence
1 Introduction Playing games is an activity that is embedded in social and situated practices [18]. Game experiences are often driven by a certain social context where the presence of other players is an integral part of enjoyment. This results in social interactions between players (e.g., coordination of actions or encouraging another player) that are deeply rooted in natural human communication. In human-human collaboration gaze and eye contact are crucial factors building the foundation for social interaction [10, p. 86] and information flow [9, p. 67]. However, in remote settings, like online coop games, typical interpersonal means of face-to-face communication (e.g., gaze, mimic, etc.) that are prevalent in co-located gaming, are not or only limitedly present. These non-verbal signals have an impact on social presence and manifest themselves in various ways like © IFIP International Federation for Information Processing 2016 Published by Springer International Publishing AG 2016. All Rights Reserved G. Wallner et al. (Eds.): ICEC 2016, LNCS 9926, pp. 102–114, 2016. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-46100-7_9
EyeCo: Effects of Shared Gaze on Social Presence in an Online Cooperative Game
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facial expression, gesture, head movement, body posture, etc., which are factors that can also influence how players perceive each other in cooperative gameplay. This is especially relevant in games that require players to act cooperatively in order to be successful. In cooperative gameplay social interactions are often targeted at creating a shared understanding of the current scene and to coordinate each other’s actions. We argue that gaze interaction can play an important part in how such cooperative actions are coordinated and thus,
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