Cooperative Gameplay Research Articles

Effect of Physical Activity on Students’ Social Skills :Research Factor Analysis at South Tangerang Elementary Schools

This study investigates the impact of physical activity on the social skills of elementary school students in South Tangerang. Utilizing a factor analysis approach, the research examines various dimensions of physical activity—including frequency, duration, and type—and their correlations with key social competencies such as communication, teamwork, empathy, and conflict resolution. A sample of 164 students from ten elementary schools in South Tangerang was selected through stratified random sampling to ensure representativeness. Data were collected using validated questionnaires and observational assessments conducted over six months. Statistical analysis revealed that regular participation in structured physical activities significantly enhances students' social skills, with team-based sports showing the most substantial positive effects. Additionally, the study identified specific factors within physical activity programs that contribute to developing social competencies, including cooperative gameplay, leadership opportunities, and inclusive participation strategies. These findings suggest that integrating comprehensive physical activity programs into the elementary school curriculum can foster essential social skills, thereby contributing to students' overall personal and academic development. The study recommends that educators and policymakers prioritize implementing and supporting diverse physical activity initiatives to promote a holistic educational environment. Future research should explore the long-term effects of sustained physical activity on social skills and investigate the potential moderating variables such as socioeconomic status and cultural background.

Video Gaming and Narratives of Love as a potential stance of cultural-political meaning in current societies: A study of It Takes Two, 2021

In 2021, arriving shortly after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the social distancing it required, a creative co-op video game, It Takes Two, created by Swedish developer Hazelight Studios and published by American gaming giant Electronic Arts, gained huge popularity on a global scale, including unexpected success in the Chinese market. Although the game is not officially available in China, has no publishing license, and no official promotions, still half of its sales come from China. The game is based on a divorce-themed story, and by integrating cooperative gameplay mechanisms, it enables players to engage in constructing their own “narrative of love” that reflects and coincides with specific cultural indicators. Bringing the dynamics of marriage and divorce to the forefront, the game has generated enormous discussion in mainstream Chinese online platforms, and drew attention to political-cultural notions of what it means to be married and then to struggle and go through the (emotional, practical, and legal) divorce process. The aim of this article is to approach video games such as It Takes Two as a cultural form that should be understood as part of our politics as citizens and individuals in a broad sense, and as part of a wider and more complex connection we have with each other and with society (Street, 2007). Drawing on an analysis of the function of gameplay mechanics in relation to video game setting and structure, this study provides a discussion of the visual and narrative representations of an ostensibly “typical” universal love and divorce issue within the sociocultural context of a Western family, and examines how Chinese audiences make sense of such “lessons” and ideology, and how they work (or might not work) for them. It Takes Two raises awareness of and questions about how games can elicit emotional responses and deep reflection in real life for its players about the vicissitudes of marriage (and love relationships in general) and the culturally specific, at times legal, and broadly visual political implications of their successful or disastrous unfolding.

Individual differences in cooperative and competitive play strategies.

Cooperation and competition are common in social interactions. It is not clear how individual differences in personality may predict performance strategies under these two contexts. We evaluated whether instructions to play cooperatively and competitively would differentially affect dyads playing a Pong video game. We hypothesized that instructions to play cooperatively would result in lower overall points scored and differences in paddle control kinematics relative to when participants were instructed to play competitively. We also predicted that higher scores in prosociality and Sportspersonship would be related to better performance during cooperative than competitive conditions. Pairs of participants played a Pong video game under cooperative and competitive instructions. During competitive trials, participants were instructed to score more points against one another to win the game. During the cooperative trials, participants were instructed to work together to score as few points against one another as possible. After game play, each participant completed surveys so we could measure their trait prosociality and Sportspersonship. Condition was a significant predictor of where along the paddle participants hit the ball, which controlled ball exit angles. Specifically, during cooperation participants concentrated ball contacts on the paddle towards the center to produce more consistent rebound angles. We found a significant correlation of Sex and the average points scored by participants during cooperative games, competitive games, and across all trials. Sex was also significantly correlated with paddle kinematics during cooperative games. The overall scores on the prosociality and Sportspersonship surveys were not significantly correlated with the performance outcomes in cooperative and competitive games. The dimension of prosociality assessing empathic concern was significantly correlated with performance outcomes during cooperative video game play. No Sportspersonship survey score was able to predict cooperative or competitive game performance, suggesting that Sportspersonship personality assessments are not reliable predictors of cooperative or competitive behaviors translated to a virtual game setting. Survey items and dimensions probing broader empathic concern may be more effective predictors of cooperative and competitive performance during interactive video game play. Further testing is encouraged to assess the efficacy of prosocial personality traits as predictors of cooperative and competitive video game behavior.

MultiStyle: Characterizing Multiplayer Cooperative Gameplay by Incorporating Distinct Player Playstyles in a Multi-Agent Planner

This paper presents MultiStyle, a multi-agent centralized heuristic search planner that incorporates distinct agent playstyles to generate solution plans where characters express individual preferences while cooperating to reach a goal. We include algorithmic details, an example domain, and multiple different solution plans generated with unique agent playstyle sets. We discuss our intent to incorporate this planner in a tool for game level designers to help them anticipate and understand how teams of players with distinct playstyles may play through their levels. Ultimately, MultiStyle generates solution plans with a novel and increased expressive range by attempting to satisfy sets of action and proposition preferences for each agent.

Cognitive Shifts in Bilingual Speakers Affect Speech Interactions with Artificial Agents

A major research question in psycholinguistics relates to the phenomenon of linguistic relativity, which contends that the language one speaks influences how one thinks. Of particular interest is whether bilingual speakers shift cognitive paradigms when speaking different languages. Here, we conducted a human-agent interaction (HAI) study using a bilingual virtual avatar capable of autonomous speech during cooperative gameplay in two languages (Korean and English). We ran 40 participants, including 20 monolingual speakers (10 Korean, 10 English) and 20 Korean/English bilingual speakers, engaging the avatar during 30-minute game sessions. Comparison of speech patterns showed that bilingual speakers exhibited notable “cognitive shifts” in both languages while interacting with the avatar, which were markedly different from their monolingual counterparts. Interestingly, the virtual avatar’s own speech behavior also significantly changed during interaction with bilingual speakers, despite identical programming. As evidenced here, such cognitive shifts appear to impact the way humans interact with artificial agents.

Effects of cross-cultural language differences on social cognition during human-agent interaction in cooperative game environments

A major challenge in human-robot interaction (HRI) is creating the “social fluidity” necessary for humans to perceive the interaction as life-like. During verbal interactions, for instance, the speech content itself is not the only thing that matters. Rather, things like timing, cadence, and manner of speaking are necessary to speak “like a native”, yet those attributes vary significantly by language and cultural setting. To that end, we developed a bilingual virtual avatar (Korean and English speaking) capable of autonomous speech during cooperative gameplay with a human participant in a social survival video game. We then ran a series of experiments with 60 participants (30 English speakers and 30 Korean speakers) interacting with the avatar during 30-minute game sessions. The experiments included several conditions, in which we modified the avatar's speech behavior in different ways while collecting multiple types of data (audiovisua recordings, speech data, gameplay data, human perceptions). Results showed significant differences between English and Korean speakers during the experiment. Korean speakers spoke less on average and had more negative speech sentiment, while the English speakers spoke more frequently and had more positive speech sentiment. The avatar was also more likely to interrupt the human's speech in English than Korean, despite having the same design. Furthermore, Korean speakers perceived more social presence when the avatar engaged in more repetitive speech behavior, while English speakers perceived more when the avatar was more “chatty”. We suggest that these results likely relate to cultural differences between East Asian cultures and Western cultures in terms of the social norms that govern appropriate social interaction behavior, and discuss the implications for future work on interactive speech agents.

A Custom-Made Board Game to Familiarise Primary School Children With Atoms

To discover the link between the abstract concept of atoms and the macroscopic material world is often seen as one of the key challenges for new students in chemistry. Failing to make this connection results in low student grades, little interest, and eventually small numbers of graduates in chemistry or related disciplines. Science education research approaches this challenge by designing and creating new learning experiences and curricula for children without any prior knowledge about atoms. One promising approach is to introduce atoms and/or sub-microscopic particles in late primary school, such that children can start making connections between the macroscopic and the microscopic world. In this paper, an educational, custom-made board game that combines science content and fun for primary school children is presented to accomplish this difficult task. The board game features cooperative gameplay for 2 to 4 players, simple strategic elements, and play time between 20 and 30 minutes. Intrinsic integration of the learning content was the leading design idea and, as a result, concrete associations between sub-microscopic particles and macroscopic events related to material hardness lie at the core of the game. Another pivotal criterion was that the game is fully playable for children at home, like other board games, or in school lessons. This contribution, therefore, discusses: (i) how the game works, (ii) the essential design elements of the current game from a designer’s and educator’s perspective; and (iii) the basic atomic concepts which could be facilitated by playing the game. Preliminary play tests suggest that players, or learners, believe the game to be fun, and appreciate the balance between elements of strategy and luck. In summary, a compact, playful activity could trigger children to think of hardness of solid materials as a property that emerges from the strength of interactions between atoms. Such a change in conceptual thinking could in turn ease students’ pathway for future chemistry education.

Exploring Data-Driven Components of Socially Intelligent AI through Cooperative Game Paradigms

The development of new approaches for creating more “life-like” artificial intelligence (AI) capable of natural social interaction is of interest to a number of scientific fields, from virtual reality to human–robot interaction to natural language speech systems. Yet how such “Social AI” agents might be manifested remains an open question. Previous research has shown that both behavioral factors related to the artificial agent itself as well as contextual factors beyond the agent (i.e., interaction context) play a critical role in how people perceive interactions with interactive technology. As such, there is a need for customizable agents and customizable environments that allow us to explore both sides in a simultaneous manner. To that end, we describe here the development of a cooperative game environment and Social AI using a data-driven approach, which allows us to simultaneously manipulate different components of the social interaction (both behavioral and contextual). We conducted multiple human–human and human–AI interaction experiments to better understand the components necessary for creation of a Social AI virtual avatar capable of autonomously speaking and interacting with humans in multiple languages during cooperative gameplay (in this case, a social survival video game) in context-relevant ways.

A Recipe for Success: The Effect of Dyadic Communication and Cooperative Gameplay on Subsequent Non-gaming Task Performance

Abstract Cooperative game play has been associated with a growing list of prosocial benefits. However, less research has examined its constituent parts to determine their contribution to subsequent positive outcomes. The current study examined partners’ communication as a common and even imperative aspect of cooperative play that may largely account for its positive effects on cooperative behaviors and effective teamwork. Partners played a cooperative game (Overcooked 2) alone or with a partner, and in the latter case with or without the ability to communicate, before engaging in two puzzle-solving tasks that required effective and efficient communication for successful performances. Results suggest communication is unnecessary, and may even be detrimental to, subsequent team performances on non-gaming tasks, and that it seems unlikely to account for the cooperative norms proposed to be the theoretical mechanism behind cooperative play’s positive effects. The conclusion discusses theoretical implications and potential future research.

What is it About our Story: Does Ergodicity help us Understand Equity from a Neurodiverse Perspective?

This article explores the dynamics of equity and ergodicity in a psychological lab context including navigating consent (commitments) and transparency (debriefs). The article explores how evolutionary determinants are translated into competitive gameplay in human social interactions and how cooperative gameplay based on cultural stories counteracts harms associated with competition. Other themes that are explored is a love of learning at the center of cooperative storytelling. An Indigenous form of perspective-taking called etuaptmumk or "two-eyed seeing," developed by First Nations Mi'kmaw Elder Albert Marshall, is used as an example of ergodic intervention as a balance to cognitive biases. How are concepts of dignity and respect, as support for equity in needs, and a recognition of community member competencies and contributions, work to nurture a neurodiverse writing community where individuals can openly navigate consent, transparency, consensus, and inclusion? What are both the theoretical and practical implications of using multimodal expression such as writing on a neurodiverse community?

The Hanabi challenge: A new frontier for AI research

From the early days of computing, games have been important testbeds for studying how well machines can do sophisticated decision making. In recent years, machine learning has made dramatic advances with artificial agents reaching superhuman performance in challenge domains like Go, Atari, and some variants of poker. As with their predecessors of chess, checkers, and backgammon, these game domains have driven research by providing sophisticated yet well-defined challenges for artificial intelligence practitioners. We continue this tradition by proposing the game of Hanabi as a new challenge domain with novel problems that arise from its combination of purely cooperative gameplay with two to five players and imperfect information. In particular, we argue that Hanabi elevates reasoning about the beliefs and intentions of other agents to the foreground. We believe developing novel techniques for such theory of mind reasoning will not only be crucial for success in Hanabi, but also in broader collaborative efforts, especially those with human partners. To facilitate future research, we introduce the open-source Hanabi Learning Environment, propose an experimental framework for the research community to evaluate algorithmic advances, and assess the performance of current state-of-the-art techniques.

Comparing Collaborative and Cooperative Gameplay for Academic and Gaming Achievements

This article reports an empirical study that explores gender differences in both cooperative and collaborative social gaming in relation to achievements and attitudes. Another aim was to compare students’ game attitudes, feelings toward group work, and achievements in cooperative versus collaborative digital game-based learning environments. One hundred sixty-four, sixth-grade students from five different classrooms at an elementary school in South Korea participated voluntarily in this study. A total of 2 boys and 2 girls were randomly assigned to each group, resulting in 20 groups for each of the grouping conditions. Based on interaction effects, results suggest that male students show more positive game attitudes in collaborative conditions, whereas female students show more positive game attitudes in cooperative conditions. Data also suggest that males show more positive feelings toward group work than females, irrespective of grouping conditions. Regarding academic and gaming achievements, female students showed higher academic achievement in collaborative conditions, while male students scored higher on academic achievement under cooperative conditions. Findings from this study indicate that gender-balanced groups show significantly higher gaming achievement in collaboration compared with cooperation. Results are interpreted with reference to future research and classroom practices.

The Effect Of Goal Structure On Vo2 And Motivation In 6-10 Year Old Children During Exergame Play

Previous research has examined contexts which may promote playing physically interactive video games (exergames) in place of traditional, sedentary video games in children. In one such study the presence of a friend did not increase children’s motivation to play an exergame versus a sedentary alternative. This lack of an effect may have been due to the competitive goal structure of the exergame studied. Children may prefer a cooperative game structure when playing with a friend. PURPOSE: To examine physiologic response and relative reinforcing value (RRV, i.e., motivation) for playing an exergame with a friend under two different goal structures: competitive and cooperative. METHODS: Participants (N = 7, 7.9 ± 1.5 years old) and a same-sex friend each completed three, 10-minute conditions: supine rest, competitive, and cooperative game play. During competitive game play, participants played Nintendo Wii Tennis against their friend. During the cooperative condition, subjects and their friend played together against a computer avatar. During each 10 minute session oxygen consumption (VO ml[BULLET OPERATOR]kg-1[BULLET OPERATOR]min-1) was recorded and children reported their liking, via visual analog scale, for that condition. After completing all three conditions, children completed an RRV computer task to assess their motivation to play the competitive versus cooperative goal structures. During the task children performed work (button presses) to gain access to competitive play, cooperative play or a combination of the two. The output maximum (Omax) or maximum amount of work (presses) for each goal structure was used as the measure of RRV. RESULTS: VO2 was significantly (p ≤ 0.009) greater for cooperative (8.88 ± 3.29 ml[BULLET OPERATOR]kg-1[BULLET OPERATOR]min-1) and competitive (10.24 ± 3.24 ml[BULLET OPERATOR]kg-1[BULLET OPERATOR]min-1) game play than the resting condition (5.75 ± 1.59ml[BULLET OPERATOR]kg-1[BULLET OPERATOR]min-1). Liking was also significantly (p ≤ 0.004) greater for cooperative (8.92 ± 2.03 cm) and competitive (8.59 ± 2.39 cm) game play than rest (3.07 ± 2.59 cm). There were no differences (p > 0.05) between cooperative and competitive game play for: VO2, liking, or Omax. CONCLUSION: In children, VO2 and liking were both greater during exergame play versus the resting condition. However, motivation to play the competitive and cooperative game structures was not significantly different.

The influence of peer accountability on attention during gameplay

The comparative advantages of competitive and cooperative multiplayer gameplay designs have been studied with mixed results. In this study, we have attempted to minimize other cooperative design attributes in order to focus on evaluating the effects of strong peer accountability on players' overall and sustained attention levels during competition and cooperation. A novel multiplayer game based on a cognitive task that uses the Stroop effect was developed and deployed in trials where quantitative in-game data measuring players' error rates and reaction times were collected for comparative analysis. The results show that players demonstrate higher levels of attention when they were made accountable to their partners as they make significantly less errors when cooperating than when competing. In addition, the individual response time data gathered reveals that peer accountability has a more positive influence on the performance of the slower partner and this performance improvement was not sustainable under situation where large performance disparity existed within the team. Physical proximity however, was not observed to have any significant positive influence on players’ performance during cooperative gameplay.

Competitive Game Play Attenuates Self-Other Integration during Joint Task Performance.

Joint task performance is facilitated by sharing and integrating each other’s action representations. Research has shown that the amount of this so-called self-other integration depends on situational aspects related to the social context, including differences in the social relationship between co-acting individuals. There are indications that a cooperative relationship facilitates self-other integration while a competitive relationship results in more individualistic task performance. However, findings from previous studies in which the cooperative or competitive element was manipulated during task performance are inconsistent. Therefore, the present study aimed to manipulate the social relationship between two individuals prior to performing a social Simon task. This task is frequently used to measure self-other integration and distinction processes. A mixed-within-and-between-subjects design was used in which three groups of participants performed both a standard Simon task and a social Simon task after having played a Tetris game either individually, in cooperation with a co-actor, or in competition against another participant. Performance on the standard Simon task was not affected by the Tetris manipulation. However, a sustained effect of the induced cooperative versus competitive relationship was found on the social Simon Task. Less self-other integration was found in participants who had first played a competitive Tetris game compared to participants who had played a cooperative or solo version of the game. The current study thus demonstrates that an established cooperative or competitive relationship is sufficient to modulate the degree of self-other integration on subsequent joint task performance. Importantly, by using Tetris, attention to others’ actions was beneficial both during cooperative and competitive game play and can thus not explain the competition-induced reduction of self-other integration.

Competitively versus cooperatively? An analysis of the effect of game play on levels of stress

Many gamers report that playing video games, including those with violent content, helps them to reduce stress. However, few studies have examined competitive and cooperative video game play as they relate to stress reduction. The current study employed a design to acutely stress 100 participants before assigning them randomly to play a mildly violent game either competitively or cooperatively with a female confederate. Results indicated stress levels declined over time at equal levels during both competitive and cooperative game play. Participants in the competitive condition held a slightly less positive impression of the confederate following game play, although players held a generally positive impression of the confederate overall.

Changes in Sympathetic Tone During Cooperative Game Play

We investigated the relationship between stress (specifically, sympathetic tone) and effective and efficient cooperation between partners using a cooperative version of a Tetris game as a model of limited resources in a shared environment. Participants were recruited from 2 distinct sociocultural orientations: individualism (Americans) and collectivism (Japanese). We compared the frequency domain of heart rate variability (HRV) and average scores on the short form of the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (I-PANAS-SF) for individuals and dyad partners. Japanese players cooperated more effectively and their scores on the positive subscale of the I-PANAS-SF for both self and partner were higher than those of American players. However, Japanese participants experienced more stress, as indicated by an increased low-to-high HRV frequency ratio. Our results suggest that sociocultural orientation affects the motivation to promote prosocial interactions that result in efficiency and effectiveness of cooperation.

Extending the theory of Bounded Generalized Reciprocity: An explanation of the social benefits of cooperative video game play

The theory of Bounded Generalized Reciprocity was examined to help explain why cooperative video game play can increase players’ subsequent pro-social behaviors. Participants played a basketball video game with a helpful or unhelpful teammate against an ostensible opposing team. Participants in the control condition did not play a video game with their teammate. Participants then engaged in a one-shot simultaneous or sequential prisoner’s dilemma game with their teammate and an opposing team member. In line with Bounded Generalized Reciprocity, donations to teammates were influenced by expectations of others to reciprocate pro-social behaviors. Specifically, playing with a helpful teammate confirmed expectations of in-group members to reciprocate pro-social behaviors and led to increases in pro-social behaviors between teammates. Playing with an unhelpful teammate disconfirmed expectations of in-group members to reciprocate pro-social behaviors and led to decreases in pro-social behaviors between teammates. Interestingly, playing with a helpful teammate increased participants’ donation to out-group members even though participants did not expect them to reciprocate. The current study emphasizes the importance of pro-social reciprocity expectations in predicting people’s pro-social behaviors and the impact cooperative video game play can have on such expectations.

Violent Video Games and Reciprocity

Numerous studies have shown that playing violent video games alone increases subsequent aggression. However, social game play is becoming more popular than solo game play, and research suggests cooperative game play is beneficial for players. The current studies explore the effects of cooperative game play on player’s subsequent aggressive behaviors toward video game partners (Experiment 1) and non-video game partners (Experiment 2), while providing a discussion of possible theories applicable to social video game play. Cooperative games resulted in less aggression between video game partners (Experiment 1) and between non-video game partners (Experiment 2) than did competitive or stand-alone games. Interestingly, cooperative game play and no-game play produced similar levels of aggression (Experiment 1), whereas competitive and solo game play produced similar levels of aggression (Experiment 2). These findings are consistent with the theory of bounded generalized reciprocity. Playing violent games cooperatively can offset the aggression-increasing effects of violent video games.

Does it matter with whom you slay? The effects of competition, cooperation and relationship type among video game players

Cooperation and competition have emerged as factors that may affect video game players. Competition consistently has been found to elicit increased aggression whilst cooperation has been found to mitigate aggression and increase cooperative behaviors after game play. Of interest is the effect of the relationship between players (friend vs. stranger) in cooperative and competitive multiplayer contexts. In this study, we considered how game goal structure – competition or cooperation – and relationships between players – friend or stranger – affect aggression and cooperative behaviors. Compared with competition, cooperative play resulted in significantly more cooperative behaviors in a modified Prisoner’s Dilemma task. However, neither competitive nor cooperative goal structures significantly increased state hostility, suggesting that altering players’ gaming goals (e.g. competition or cooperation) may not be enough to elicit strong affective aggression. Additionally, cooperative game play was found to predict increased cooperative behaviors and trust in their partner. Implications of the findings are discussed.