Assessing Teamwork in Co-Op Games
Research analyzing teamwork in multiplayer games
I joined this Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program sponsored by the NSF. I I activley contributed to this PhD project at that Iowa State University VRAC lab for a summer internship. The end of my REU resulted in a completed codebook of teamworking behaviors and video game elements to succinctly define team scenarios. I analyzed multiplayer, cooperative video game gameplay and correlated specific behaviors with recurring game elements.
Cooperative Games and how do they relate to Teamwork
Cooperative games are computer-based video games with 2-4 players. Players are tasked with shared goals and are affeced by the same rules and mechanics; this is called Positive Interdependancy. Fighting amongst each other is unproductive. A simple example of this looks like adding a coin to group inventory instead of keeping it to yourself.
Thesis
Different game mechanics ("Constructs") can induce different teamworking behaviors ("Behavior Markers").
Share goals, rules and mechanics lead to players exhibiting teamworking behaviors like communicating, coordination, and developing plans.
Initial Problems How can we possibly define human behavior with these few codes?
Low Interrater Reliability.
Must redefine the codebook!
Project scope morphed from user testing to analyzing user motivation and behavior in video games.
Video Annotations
Games I observed include : It Takes Two, Don’t Starve Together, Snipper Clips, Portal 2, Overcooked, and Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
Annotation Format:
Cooperative feature/Second Cooperative Feature (optional) : Behavior/Second Behavior(optional) Timestamp
To establish inter-rater reliability, the group of interns and the advisors annotated videos together, then in small groups and compared notes after until we achived 85% similarity. The each team member was assigned video gameplay to watch and annotate. We used a Chrome extension compatible wth Youtube to save each annotation at a specific timestamp in the videos. All gameplay was publicly available and annotated by two seprate people to ensure consistency. The annotations were analyzed for the frequency of cooperative behaviors as well as for correlations between game mechanics and behaviors.
Quantitative Insights
