Group flow: What is it and what does it tell us about social-based gaming? Dr Linda K. Kaye Department of Psychology, Edge Hill University

Why psychology?

Flow Conditions  Skill-challenge balance  Clear goals and instant feedback Characteristics  Focused attention  Loss of self-consciousness  Sense of control  Distortion of time  Autotelic/rewarding experience

Group flow Sato, I. (1988). Bosozoku: Flow in Japanese motorcycle gangs. In M. Csikszentmihalyi & I. Csikszentmihalyi (Eds.) Optimal Experience: Psychological Studies of flow in consciousness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Group flow Sawyer, R. K. (2003). Group creativity: Music, theater, collaboration. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc Sawyer, R. K. (2006). Group creativity: Musical performance and collaboration. Psychology of Music, 34, doi: /

Kaye, L. K. & Bryce, J. (2012). Putting the “fun factor” into gaming: The influence of social contexts on experiences of playing videogames. International Journal of Internet Science, 7 (1), Collective competence Awareness of task-relevant skills Flow Group flow Parallel/ organised tasks Shared social belonging

Awareness of task-relevant skills “The thrill of competing with others especially when you know they are above your skill level, every successful hit feels like a victory” “Playing CoD4 is great, once you get into the flow of things, the buzz you get from doing well is an amazing feeling, knowing you’re beating other people to the extent they simply can’t keep up with you, really gets me pumped” Collective competence “When playing FIFA cooperative play online with my friend, I have had some of the most memorable and exhilarating gaming experiences of my life. As when we play well, we play some amazing flowing football” Sense of belonging ”While playing WoW, I play with a group of friends……I have an important role in the group and feel useful and enjoy working with a team to overcome obstacles”

EXPERIENCE Solo gaming experience Social gaming experience Flow Mood CONTEXT Online Offline TYPE OF PLAY Cooperative Competitive Kaye, L. K. & Bryce, J. (2014). Go with the flow: The experience and affective outcomes of solo versus social gameplay. Journal of Gaming and Virtual Worlds, 6 (1), 49-60

CONTEXT Solo Online Offline IN EXPERIENCE VS RETROSPECTIVE Flow Mood Outcome expectations Dr Linda K Kaye, Dr Rebecca Monk and Dr Helen Wall: The impact of social contexts on the emotional experiences of playing digital games.

Implications?  Collective competence  collaborative game design focused on building collective skill development/ mutual competence  Shared sense of belonging  identification of individual’s role/achievement in relation to group goals  Awareness of task-relevant skills-  leader-boards, explicit indicators of skill level/ expertise/successes in gameplay

Social presence vs group flow  Similar, but conceptually distinct  But, both useful to understand social dimensions of player immersion  How does this work in practice?

The CCPIG*: A measure of social presence  Social presence in competitive gameplay  Awareness – “I acted with my opponents in mind”  Engagement – "My opponents created a sense of urgency”  Social presence in cooperative gameplay  Perceived team cohesion- “I felt like I was part of a team”  Team involvement- “I acted with my team-mates in mind” *Based on: Hudson, M. & Cairns, P. (2014). Measuring social presence in team-based digital games. In G. Riva, J. Waterworth & D. Murray (Eds.), Interacting with Presence: HCI and the sense of presence in computer-mediated environments (pp ). De Gruyter

Social presence vs group flow Group flow COMPETITIVE  Awareness of task-relevant skills  Focused attention COOPERATIVE  Shared sense of belonging  Collective competence Social presence (CCPIG 1.2)* COMPETITIVE  Awareness  Engagement COOPERATIVE  Team involvement  Perceived team cohesion *Version 1.2 is based on CCPIG 1.1 in: Hudson, M. & Cairns, P. (2014). Measuring social presence in team-based digital games. In G. Riva, J. Waterworth & D. Murray (Eds.), Interacting with Presence: HCI and the sense of presence in computer-mediated environments (pp ). De Gruyter

Identity as a core requirement?  Is “identification” in group play the basis to fostering social presence/group flow?  Identification of role (team involvement)  Identifying competencies of others relative to oneself (awareness, engagement)  Identifying one’s value within group goals (perceived team cohesion)  Player identification of these appears to be key  Therefore, must we first understand player identity in social contexts more fully?

Social identity theory (Tajfel et al., 1978, 1979)  Understanding oneself in relation to the social group  Self-conception based on strength of group affiliation  Personal and collective self-esteem  In-groups and out-groups

Social identity  In relation to social presence/group flow, we might expect that a stronger social identity to a particular gaming group will be related to:  Enhanced team identification  Enhanced awareness of the group’s collective competence  Enhanced awareness and implementation of group roles  Enhanced awareness and utilisation of team cohesiveness

Kaye, L. K. (2014). Football Manager as a persuasive game for social identity formation. In D. Ruggiero (Ed.), Cases on the Societal Effects of Persuasive Games (pp. 1-17). IGI Global

Quality of Relationships Kaye, L. K. (in prep). Social identity as a predictor of self-esteem and psychological well-being in a sample of digital gamers. Personal self-esteem Collective self-esteem Support Depth Conflict Psychological Well-being β =.16, p <.05 β =.01, p =.912 β = -.18, p =.807 β =.02, p =.852 β =.83, p <.001 β =.06, p =.425 Social identity (FM)

Moving forward?  In practice, is group flow the same thing as social presence?  How does strength of identity to gaming groups/teams impact on player immersion in group-based gameplay?  Is there anything else which is important to consider for social presence in gaming?

Acknowledgements  Sports Interactive  HSI Group (Department of Psychology, Edge Hill University)  Matthew Hudson and Paul Cairns

If you’re interested….  Research Gate for publication details:  Twitter for  for anything else!