Investigating communication patterns for improving teamwork in digital games

EPSRC：Evelyn Tan：EP/L015846/1数字游戏正在成为我们文化不可替代的一部分。根据2019年全球游戏市场报告，全球有25亿游戏玩家，2019年全球游戏产业将产生1521亿美元的收入。一些最受欢迎的电子游戏是基于团队的，例如，《英雄联盟》(2009年)、《反恐：全球攻势》(Valve Corporation，2012年)、《守望者》(Blizzard Entertainment，2016年)和《DOTA 2》(Valve Corporation，2013年)。这些游戏都有竞争性联盟(被称为“体育赛事”)，奖金池超过3000万美元。数以百万计的人观看和播放他们的比赛。玩家享受团队游戏所提供的高水平的挑战和社交互动。然而，与他人一起工作并不总是一种愉快的经历。虽然团队合作是这项运动的核心组成部分，但这很难实现，因为球员通常被安排在与陌生人组成的团队中。这意味着团队之前没有合作的经验，但游戏需要密切的合作和有效的协调才能成功。团队的成功取决于球员学习合作的速度。它还取决于团队克服可能侵蚀团队士气的负面事件的能力。例如，当球队表现不佳时，球员相互指责是很常见的。由于信任和凝聚力这样的概念并不存在，这些概念是通过先前的经验发展起来的，并在逆境中支撑着团队，因此玩家很容易表现出功能失调的行为。这被称为“有毒行为”，这在游戏社区是一个巨大的问题。根据Riot Games的数据，新玩家在第一场比赛中遇到中毒行为后，复出的可能性降低320%。有毒行为不仅会降低球员的留存力，还会对球员的心理健康产生负面影响。鉴于数以百万计的人每天花费数小时在基于团队的竞争性数字游戏上，这是一个需要解决的重要问题。该项目提出，可以通过开发有效的沟通过程来促进团队合作。具体地说，这个项目的重点是“闭环通信”，这是一种协调机制，它清楚地表明已发送的消息已被接收和理解。在新的球队中，让球员的行为可预测是很重要的。例如，在协调进攻时使用闭环沟通，将使球员能够确保他们的队友拥有相同的情况意识，并致力于进行攻击。因此，球员会发展出更大的信任感和凝聚力，因为他们知道自己可以依靠自己的球队。我们建议，通过更好的团队合作，可以减少有毒行为。为了实现这一目标，该项目将进行一项实验室研究，以调查闭环沟通对团队表现、凝聚力和球员满意度的影响。参赛者将被分到两组中的一组：(1)试验组，教授闭环交流；或(2)控制组，不教授闭环交流。参赛者将进行一场比赛，并被要求完成一份关于他们主观体验的问卷。他们还将被要求通过比赛重播来识别有效团队合作的实例。通过这个项目，我们可以确定发展有效的沟通过程是否有助于新团队的团队合作，并导致更好的表现和更大的凝聚力和满足感。这个项目的发现可以用来提供设计功能，促进新团队中的团队合作，也可以用来改善数字游戏以外的团队中的团队合作。

EPSRC : Evelyn Tan : EP/L015846/1Digital games are becoming an irreplaceable part of our culture. According to the 2019 Global Games Market Report, there are 2.5 billion gamers across the world and the global games industry is set to generate $152.1 billion in 2019. Some of the most popular digital games are team-based, for example League of Legends (Riot Games, 2009), Counter Strike: Global Offensive (Valve Corporation, 2012), Overwatch (Blizzard Entertainment, 2016) and Dota 2 (Valve Corporation, 2013). These games have competitive leagues (termed 'esports') with prize pools exceeding $30 million. They are watched and played by millions. Players enjoy the high level of challenge and social interaction that team-based games afford. However, working together with others is not always an enjoyable experience. While teamwork is a core component of the game, it is difficult to achieve since players are typically placed in teams with strangers. This means that teams have no prior experience working together but the game requires close collaboration and effective coordination for success.Team success depends on the rate in which players learn to work together. It also depends on the ability of the team to overcome negative events that can erode team morale. For example, it is common for players to blame each other when the team underperforms. Since constructs like trust and cohesion, which develop through prior experience and sustain teams during adversity, do not exist, players are susceptible to exhibit dysfunctional behaviours. This is known as 'toxic behaviour' and is a huge problem in the game community. According to Riot Games, a new player who encounters toxic behaviour in their first game is 320% less likely to return. Toxic behaviour not only reduces player retention but negatively affects players' mental well-being. Given the millions of people who spend hours on competitive team-based digital games daily, this is an important problem to solve.This project proposes that teamwork can be facilitated through developing effective communication processes. Specifically, this project focuses on 'closed-loop communication', a type of coordination mechanism where it is made clear that a sent message has been received and understood. In new teams, it is important for players to make their behaviours predictable. Using closed-loop communication when coordinating an attack, for example, will enable players to ensure that their teammates share the same situation awareness and are committed to carrying out the attack. As a result, players would develop a greater sense of trust and cohesion, since they know that they can rely on their team. We suggest that by enabling better teamwork, toxic behaviour can be reduced.To achieve this, this project will carry out a laboratory study to investigate the effect of closed-loop communication on team performance, cohesion and player satisfaction. Players will be placed in a team belonging to one of two groups: (1) the experimental group, where closed-loop communication is taught or (2) the control group, where no closed-loop communication is taught. Players will play a match and asked to complete a questionnaire on their subjective experiences. They will also be asked to go through the match replay to identify instances of effective teamwork.Through this project, we can identify whether developing an effective communication process facilitates teamwork in new teams and leads to better performance and greater feelings of cohesion and satisfaction. Findings from this project can be used to inform design features that facilitate teamwork in new teams and can also be used to improve teamwork in teams outside of digital games.