Investigating Communication Patterns for Improving Teamwork in Digital Games

Competitive team-based digital games like League of Legends, Overwatch and Dota 2 are increasingly popular. These games require intense teamwork but achieving good teamwork is challenging because teams typically comprise of strangers who need to learn to work together in an extremely short amount of time. The match outcome depends on how quickly teams develop effective teamwork. Therefore, the aim of this project is to understand how effective teamwork can be facilitated. This project will focus on the role of team communication, which has been linked to several positive team outcomes. Communication is important because it is the mechanism that underlies collaboration and coordination. This project will investigate the exact mechanisms through which communication facilitates teamwork in this domain. Based on the literature, we expect to find differences in performance based on the communication patterns of the team. These findings would provide deeper insight into the underpinnings of effective teamwork.

Faculty Supervisor:

Lennart Nacke

Student:

Partner:

University of York

Discipline:

Computer science

Sector:

Technology; New and Digital Media

University:

University of Waterloo

Program: