Socially distanced games: Exploring the future opportunities of remote play

Stawarz, Katarzyna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9021-0615 and Ramirez Gomez, Argenis 2022. Socially distanced games: Exploring the future opportunities of remote play. Presented at: Chi Play 2022, Bremen, Germany, 2-5 November 2022. Published in: Gerling, Kathrin, Iacovides, Jo, Malaka, Rainer, Bonsignore, Beth and Frommel, Julian eds. CHI PLAY '22: Extended Abstracts of the 2022 Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play. New York: ACM, pp. 93-102. 10.1145/3505270.3558338

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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.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	Published
Schools:	Computer Science & Informatics
Publisher:	ACM
ISBN:	9781450392112
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	30 November 2022
Date of Acceptance:	17 August 2022
Last Modified:	02 Dec 2022 08:30
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/154234

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