Less is More:: Analysing Communication in Teams of Strangers

Evelyn Tan; Alex Wade; Athanasios Kokkinakis; Georgia Heyes; Simon Peter Demediuk; Anders Drachen

Less is More: Analysing Communication in Teams of Strangers

Evelyn Tan, Alex Wade, Athanasios Kokkinakis, Georgia Heyes, Simon Peter Demediuk, Anders Drachen

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

Abstract

Teamwork is challenging in cooperative digital
games, especially between strangers. In many online
cooperative games, teams have a short-lived existence
and ever-changing membership. Our study explores
how short-lived, ad hoc teams of strangers communicate
and investigate its effect on team performance. We
use the commercial cooperative digital game, Portal
2 and analyse 2256 text message instances produced
by teams during a 45-minute interaction. Our
findings show that team communication is negatively
related to performance, and affects performance over
and beyond prior experience. A content analysis
shows that teams generally have higher task-related
communication than socio-emotional communication.
This pattern is consistent throughout the duration of
the interaction period. The results are discussed in the
context of previous research on team communication
and performance, and we draw parallels with
communication patterns in real-world groups such as
aviation crews.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings of HICSS 54
Place of Publication	Proceedings of HICSS 54
Publication status	Published - 5 Jan 2021

Access to Document

Hawaii_International_Conference_on_System_Sciences__HICSS_

Cite this

@inproceedings{0a69b61d3eed40489150160a229f7886,

title = "Less is More:: Analysing Communication in Teams of Strangers",

abstract = "Teamwork is challenging in cooperative digitalgames, especially between strangers. In many onlinecooperative games, teams have a short-lived existenceand ever-changing membership. Our study exploreshow short-lived, ad hoc teams of strangers communicateand investigate its effect on team performance. Weuse the commercial cooperative digital game, Portal2 and analyse 2256 text message instances producedby teams during a 45-minute interaction. Ourfindings show that team communication is negativelyrelated to performance, and affects performance overand beyond prior experience. A content analysisshows that teams generally have higher task-relatedcommunication than socio-emotional communication.This pattern is consistent throughout the duration ofthe interaction period. The results are discussed in thecontext of previous research on team communicationand performance, and we draw parallels withcommunication patterns in real-world groups such asaviation crews.",

author = "Evelyn Tan and Alex Wade and Athanasios Kokkinakis and Georgia Heyes and Demediuk, {Simon Peter} and Anders Drachen",

year = "2021",

month = jan,

day = "5",

language = "English",

booktitle = "Proceedings of HICSS 54",

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TY - GEN

T1 - Less is More:

T2 - Analysing Communication in Teams of Strangers

AU - Tan, Evelyn

AU - Wade, Alex

AU - Kokkinakis, Athanasios

AU - Heyes, Georgia

AU - Demediuk, Simon Peter

AU - Drachen, Anders

PY - 2021/1/5

Y1 - 2021/1/5

N2 - Teamwork is challenging in cooperative digitalgames, especially between strangers. In many onlinecooperative games, teams have a short-lived existenceand ever-changing membership. Our study exploreshow short-lived, ad hoc teams of strangers communicateand investigate its effect on team performance. Weuse the commercial cooperative digital game, Portal2 and analyse 2256 text message instances producedby teams during a 45-minute interaction. Ourfindings show that team communication is negativelyrelated to performance, and affects performance overand beyond prior experience. A content analysisshows that teams generally have higher task-relatedcommunication than socio-emotional communication.This pattern is consistent throughout the duration ofthe interaction period. The results are discussed in thecontext of previous research on team communicationand performance, and we draw parallels withcommunication patterns in real-world groups such asaviation crews.

AB - Teamwork is challenging in cooperative digitalgames, especially between strangers. In many onlinecooperative games, teams have a short-lived existenceand ever-changing membership. Our study exploreshow short-lived, ad hoc teams of strangers communicateand investigate its effect on team performance. Weuse the commercial cooperative digital game, Portal2 and analyse 2256 text message instances producedby teams during a 45-minute interaction. Ourfindings show that team communication is negativelyrelated to performance, and affects performance overand beyond prior experience. A content analysisshows that teams generally have higher task-relatedcommunication than socio-emotional communication.This pattern is consistent throughout the duration ofthe interaction period. The results are discussed in thecontext of previous research on team communicationand performance, and we draw parallels withcommunication patterns in real-world groups such asaviation crews.

M3 - Conference contribution

BT - Proceedings of HICSS 54

CY - Proceedings of HICSS 54

ER -