The importance of communication in esports:an ethnographic interview with a Finnish Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team

Abstract. This thesis aimed to understand the views about communication from the perspective of esports players in the game Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. The study reveals why communication is essential for esports athletes, how the players practically use it inside and outside of the game, and how team cohesion affects their performance. Literature of esports was discussed to provide a framework for the study. The views of esports players have seldom been studied. Therefore, this research provides valuable insights into the players’ and teams’ points of view about the importance of communication and team cohesion in an esports team. An ethnographic interview was chosen as the method of data collection. Topics of interest were thought of beforehand, and research questions were formed. The discussion was recorded, coded, and formed into distinct themes discussed. The main findings of the recording were formed into themes. The themes concerned the holistic nature of coaching in the team, the importance of communication within and outside of the game, the significance of group dynamics, and the meaning of professionalism. The team uses a holistic coaching approach in the team to address all aspects of the life of esports athletes. Communication inside the game was important because efficient communication helps the team be more precise and concise in-game. With the help of, e.g., abbreviations, the team can save time by calling out opponents’ positions. Communication outside of the game was important because giving feedback to each other is an essential and challenging skill to learn. However, its benefits are players’ development, which is vital for growth in the esports scene. Team cohesion and player bonds were valued, and the main reason the team has stayed together for a long time is because of these factors. The players’ thoughts of thorough preparations, the coach’s knowledge, and the team’s structured work ethic gave rise to a sense of professionalism.Kommunikoinnin tärkeys e-urheilussa : etnografinen haastattelu suomalaisen Counter-Strike: Global Offensive -joukkueen kanssa. Tiivistelmä. Tämän pro gradu -tutkielman tavoitteena oli ymmärtää kommunikaation merkitys e-urheilijoiden näkökulmasta pelissä Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Tutkimus pyrki selvittämään, miksi juuri kommunikaatio on tärkeä pelaamisen osa-alue e-urheilijoille, miten pelaajat kommunikoivat pelatessaan ja pelin ulkopuolella, sekä miten joukkueen yhtenäisyys vaikuttaa suoriutumiseen pelissä. Tutkimuksessa hyödynnettiin e-urheilun kirjallisuutta, jotta saavutettaisiin kokonaisvaltaisempi ymmärrys aiheesta. E-urheilijoiden näkökulmia on harvoin tutkittu tieteellisessä kirjallisuudessa, jonka vuoksi tämä tutkimus tuo lisää tärkeää tietoa kommunikaation ja joukkueen yhtenäisyyden tärkeydestä pelaajien sekä joukkueen näkökulmasta. Metodina aineiston keruussa käytettiin etnografista haastattelua. Keskustelun aiheet mietittiin ennen keskustelua yhdessä pelaajien ja joukkueen valmentajan kanssa. Pelaajien, valmentajan ja minun väliseni keskustelu äänitettiin. Äänityksen jälkeen dataa kuunneltiin ja siitä valikoitiin tutkimuksessa käytettävät osiot, jotka lopulta teemoiteltiin. Päälöydökset datasta jaettiin viiteen eri teemaan. Teemat käsittelivät aiheittain seuraavia asioita: joukkueen kokonaisvaltainen valmennus, kommunikaation merkitys pelissä, kommunikaation merkitys pelin ulkopuolella, joukkueen yhtenäisyys sekä joukkueen ammattimaisuus. Joukkue korosti valmennuksen kokonaisvaltaisuutta; e-urheilijoiden elämien eri osa-alueet ja niiden tasapaino otettiin huomioon kokonaisuutena valmennuksessa. Pelaajat korostivat myös joukkueen kommunikaation merkitystä pelatessaan. Kommunikaation tuli pelaajien mielestä olla yksiselitteistä ja täsmällistä, jotta virheiltä vältyttäisiin pelissä. Kommunikaation tärkeyttä myös pelin ulkopuolella painotettiin esimerkiksi palautteen annon osalta. Joukkueen toimivuuden edellytyksenä koettiin olevan yhtenäisyys pelaajien ja valmentajan kesken. Joukkueen ammattimaisuus ilmeni pelaajien huolellisella valmistautumisella harjoituksiin ja kilpailuihin, valmentajan ammattitaidolla ja pätevyydellä sekä joukkueen korkealla työmoraalilla pelaamisessa vaadittavien taitojen kehittymisen kannalta

COLAB: Social Context and User Experience in Collaborative Multiplayer Games

Recent studies have shown that the social context in which people play digital multiplayer games has an effect on their experience. Whether co-players are in the same location (―co-located‖) or in different locations (―mediated‖) changes how they interact with the game and with one another. We set out to explore how these complex psychological dynamics played out in a collaborative multiplayer game, since most of the research to date has been focused on competitive gameplay scenarios. To this end, we designed a two-player puzzle-based gaming apparatus called COLAB, implementing specific features that have been proven to foster collaboration and preclude competition between players. The independent variable was player location; the dependent variable was game experience, as measured by the Social Presence in Gaming Questionnaire and the Game Experience Questionnaire, two comprehensive self-report instruments. We found a significant difference in the game experiences of players collaborating in the same location versus players collaborating in different locations. Specifically, co-located players of the collaborative game experienced significantly higher scores for negative experience than mediated players did, while mediated players experienced significantly higher levels of three key game-experience measures: positive affect, immersion, and flow

Supporting Situation Awareness and Workspace Awareness in Co-located Collaborative Systems Involving Dynamic Data

Co-located technologies can provide digital functionality to support collaborative work for multiple users in the same physical space. For example, digital tabletop computers — large interactive tables that allow users to directly interact with the content — can provide the most up-to-date map information while users can work together face-to-face. Combinations of interactive devices, large and small, can also be used together in a multi-device environment to support collaborative work of large groups. This environment allows individuals to utilize different networked devices. In some co-located group work, integrating automation into the available technologies can provide benefits such as automatically switching between different data views or updating map information based on underlying changes in deployed field agents’ locations. However, dynamic changes in the system state can create confusion for users and lead to low situation awareness. Furthermore, with the large size of a tabletop system or with multiple devices being used in the workspace, users may not be able to observe collaborators’ actions due to physical separations between users. Consequently, workspace awareness — knowledge of collaborators’ up-to-the-moment actions — can be difficult to maintain. As a result, users may be frustrated, and the collaboration may become inefficient or ineffective. The current tabletop applications involving dynamic data focus on interaction and information sharing techniques for collaboration rather than providing situation awareness support. Moreover, the situation awareness literature focuses primarily on single-user applications, whereas, the literature in workspace awareness primarily focuses on remote collaborative work. The aim of this dissertation was in supporting situation awareness of system-automated dynamic changes and workspace awareness of collaborators’ actions. The first study (Timeline Study) presented in this dissertation used tabletop systems to investigate supporting situation awareness of automated changes and workspace awareness, and the second study (Callout Bubble Study) followed up to further investigate workspace awareness support in the context of multi-device classrooms. Digital tabletop computers are increasingly being used for complex domains involving dynamic data, such as coastal surveillance and emergency response. Maintaining situation awareness of these changes driven by the system is crucial for quick and appropriate response when problems arise. However, distractors in the environment can make users miss the changes and negatively impact their situation awareness, e.g., the large size of the table and conversations with team members. As interactive event timelines have been shown to improve response time and decision accuracy after interruptions, in this dissertation they were adapted to the context of collaborative tabletop applications to address the lack of situation awareness due to dynamic changes. A user study was conducted to understand design factors related to the adaption and their impacts on situation awareness and workspace awareness. The Callout Bubble Study investigated workspace awareness support for multi-device classrooms, where students were co-located with their personal devices and were connected through a large shared virtual canvas. This context was chosen due to the environment’s ability to support work in large groups and the increasing prevalence of individual devices in co-located collaborative workspaces. By studying another co-located context, this research also sought to combine the lessons learned and provide a set of more generalized design recommendations for co-located technologies. Existing work on workspace awareness focuses on remote collaboration; however, the co-located users may not need all the information beneficial for remote work. This study aimed to balance awareness and distraction to improve students’ workspace awareness maintenance while minimizing distraction to their learning. A Callout Bubble was designed to augment students’ interactions in the shared online workspace, and a field study was conducted to understand how it impacted the students’ collaboration behaviour. Overall, the research presented in this dissertation aimed to investigate information visualizations for supporting situation awareness and workspace awareness in co-located collaborative environments. The contributions included the design of an interactive event timeline and an investigation of how the control placement (how many timelines and where they should be located) and feedback location (whether to display feedback to the group or to individuals when users interact with timelines) factors affected situation awareness. The empirical results revealed that individual timelines were more effective in facilitating situation awareness maintenance and the timelines were used mainly for perceiving new changes. Furthermore, this dissertation contributed in the design of a workspace awareness cue, Callout Bubble. The field study revealed that Callout Bubbles were effective in improving students’ coordination and self-monitoring behaviours, which in turn reduced teachers’ workloads. The dissertation provided overall design lessons learned for supporting awareness in co-located collaborative environments