Relatedness in gaming: How in-game touch influences player connection

Abstract

As the number of individuals becoming gamers continues to increase, using video games as a medium to understand the social interactions and underlying motivations of players becomes ever so important. Interpersonal relationships, which develop from the social interactions that occur during gameplay have been found to contribute to player motivation and relatedness within the game (Rigby & Ryan, 2011). In the current study we examined how interpersonal touch, more specifically positive or negative touch conditions within a gameplay experience, impacted player motivation and inter-player impressions in 74 undergraduate students. In addition, observational data was collected measuring the quality of interaction between the participant in the study and a research confederate with whom they were playing an online game. Quantitative results indicate significant differences between the positive touch conditions perceived competence, effort/importance, and relatedness when compared to the control touch and negative touch conditions. Qualitative results also reveal that participants who were in the positive touch and negative touch conditions had more reactions not only cognitively (i.e. in game response) but emotionally (i.e. out of game response like laughing) than the control condition. Touch is only one aspect of behaviors that can help to foster a sense of connection between players. These results begin to highlight the effect of virtual touch on relatedness and motivation. More research is needed to help determine the exact levels of virtual touch, as well as the different types of virtual touch needed to elicit a change in the participant’s motivation and relatedness, with hopes that game developers may take virtual touch into account when creating a game.