You have got a (different) friend in me: Asymmetrical roles in gaming as potential ambassadors of computational and cooperative thinking

Abstract

This article aims to enlighten how individuals apply and develop cooperative and computational thinking in online collaborative challenges, and what ludic features support or discourage such approaches. Over n = 1400 subjects have been involved with a quantitative survey about three collaboration-based video games – i.e. Overwatch, For Honor, and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege. Results point to malleable factors in strengthening teamwork – i.e. asymmetrical roles, sharing information mechanics, broad game community – and provide empirical evidence of the correlation between cooperative and computational thinking. Implications for educational activities and cooperative learning interventions are outlined in terms of design strategies and concrete applications.