Virtual Team Interactions in Networked Multimedia Games Case: "Counter-Strike" - Multi-player 3D Action Game
Tony Manninen · 2001
This paper describes the findings of the ethnographical research concentrating on multiplayer games. The overall goal is to study the interaction in these networked multimedia environments. The focus is in finding out how the player teams interact and whether the current games provide enough possibilities for team interaction, either inside the game world or supported by real world communication. The research methods used are qualitative. The end-users were interviewed using open-ended and semi-structured interviews and the game playing sessions were observed. The main objective is to acquire general understanding of team interactions in the context of the research. The preliminary analysis indicate that, according to the players, the support for team interaction in action games is adequate. However, the players tend to communicate outside the game system. Furthermore, the players tend overcome the limitations of the systems by inventing various imaginative ways to communicate, co-ordinate and co-operate. This indicates that there is a need for additional interaction support. Especially the more serious team-oriented tasks seem to require seamless multi-modal interactions to guarantee the success of the team.