Investigating the Impact of Annotation Interfaces on Player Performance in Distributed Multiplayer Games
Sultan Alharthi, Ruth Castillo, Ahmed Khalaf, Phoebe Toups, Igor Dolgov, and Lennart Nacke. 2018. Investigating the Impact of Annotation Interfaces on Player Performance in Distributed Multiplayer Games. In Proceeding of the 2018 ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - CHI 2018. Montreal, QC, Canada. ACM, 314. doi:10.1145/3173574.3173888
Abstract
In distributed multiplayer games, it can be difficult to communicate strategic information for planning game moves and player interactions. Often, players spend extra time communicating, reducing their engagement in the game. Visual annotations in game maps and in the gameworld can address this problem and result in more efficient player communication. We studied the impact of real-time feedback on planning annotations, specifically two different annotation types, in a custom-built, third-person, multiplayer game and analyzed their effects on player performance, experience, workload, and annotation use. We found that annotations helped engage players in collaborative planning, which reduced frustration, and shortened goal completion times. Based on these findings, we discuss how annotating in virtual game spaces enables collaborative planning and improves team performance.