Socially distanced games: exploring the future opportunities of remote play

Argenis Ramirez Gomez, Katarzyna Stawarz

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

    Abstract

    Playing games with friends and family provided a way to stay connected and deal with isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, restrictions introduced to co-located events affected how both regular and casual players scheduled, organised, participated and engaged with various games. Through an online survey, we aimed to gain preliminary insights into how the swift switch from physical to remote play – forced by the circumstances – impacted the gameplay experiences and how different players potentially changed their playing habits. Our preliminary results suggest that computer-mediated communication systems successfully allowed the translation of co-located game sessions, but also highlight the emergence of different points of player friction during remote game experiences, e.g., the tediousness of scheduling and setup, miscommunication or playmates’ wellbeing. We discuss future research and design opportunities that explore the potential to augment social game experiences at a distance and debate the future of remote or hybrid play.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationCHI PLAY '22: Extended Abstracts of the 2022 Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play
    PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery
    Pages93-102
    ISBN (Print)9781450392112
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 7 Nov 2022
    EventCHI Play 2022 - Bremen, Germany
    Duration: 2 Nov 20225 Nov 2022

    Conference

    ConferenceCHI Play 2022
    Country/TerritoryGermany
    CityBremen
    Period2/11/225/11/22

    Keywords

    • games
    • social play
    • remote play
    • COVID-19
    • HCI

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