Tabletop gaming among strangers in public places: Forecasting who will play and why

Becky Scott, Shasha Zhang, Carrie Heeter and Chandan Sarkar

Extended Abstract

Superficially, it appears that people are becoming more connected. As of February 2010, 350 million people were active Facebook users, with 175 million logging in every day. This number is likely to rise to 500 million by summer 2010. As of September 2009, 74.2 percent of people in North American were online. Chat rooms abound - there is even a chat service that connects people randomly around the world (www.chatroulette.com ).

Yet studies show that people are becoming more isolated and lonelier. The 2000 U.S. census showed that 25 percent of the nation's households -- 27.2 million -- consisted of just one person, compared with 10 percent in 1950. A 2006 study in the American Sociological Review found that, on average, Americans have only two close friends to confide in, down from an average of three in 1985. The percentage of people having no such confidant rose from 10% to almost 25%; and an additional 19% said they had only a single confidant (often their spouse).

In addition, loneliness has recently been found to be contagious. A 10-year study completed in December 2009 showed that loneliness is transmitted through our behaviors. "When people get lonely, they're more likely to interact negatively with others they encounter," says John Cacioppo, a neuroscientist and psychologist at the University of Chicago and one of the authors of the study. "If you have two neighbors and they're friends and one becomes lonely, they'll start to treat the other less friendly. Ultimately, they're less likely to be friends."

Worst of all, loneliness is deadly. A 2006 study of men and women aged 50 to 68 years old showed that those who scored highest on measures of loneliness also had higher blood pressure, as much as 30 points higher than non-lonely people.

But what to do? Although loneliness is widespread, not only does it make people feel isolated, it can make them more anxious and shy. It can also cause them to believe they have poor social skills, which only exacerbates the problem.

To address this problem, our research seeks to identify and understand likely users for "Coffee House Classics." These hypothetical electronic, tabletop gaming systems would offer slower-paced old-time games, such as checkers, chess, Scrabble, and Uno. Players would be people who frequent a public location and have time to devote to gameplay. Patrons could play with friends sitting at the same table, or use local WIFI to find playing partners in the same location. Strangers playing together could do so from their own table, communicating only via the game, or they could locate each other and move to the same table.


Purpose of this study

We can surmise that many people long for meaningful social interaction but may not know how to initiate them. This study will measure reactions to an "ice-breaker" tabletop gaming tool in a coffee shop. The idea is somewhat akin to a checkerboard in an old general store -- the game is not important in itself, but as a mode of bringing people together it has value. Study participants are shown a 2 minute concept video showing two strangers connecting to play a game together. In the video, at the end of the game, they make contact in the real world and plan to meet and play again next week. After viewing the video, participants complete a survey about the anticipated gaming gratifications they would expect from using such a gaming system, their interest and expectionsexpectations about friends interest in using the system, and whether they would prefer to play with friends and family or people they have not yet met. Social connectedness and social satisfaction on Facebook and in real life (RL) are assessed.

Research Questions

The idea of encouraging face-to-face communication using public gaming is undeveloped. The intent of this study is to conduct research on this novel idea. We do know that people enjoy gaming together online. A 2010 study on social gaming research (Popcap Games, 2010) showed that the most common reasons for playing social games are fun and excitement (53%), stress relief (47%), and enjoying the competitive spirit (43%), and also that Facebook is the platform used by 79% of U.S. social gamers.

John Sherry et al. studied uses and gratifications in gaming and found that social interaction is one of six factors describing why people play games.
In another study, (Familiar Strangers) , it was postulated that in the future, to be well-connected we will need to feel safe, establish trust with "familiar strangers" and share and collaborate with people in the same location.

Therefore, the anticipated effect of public gaming on helping people establish new relationships will be examined. We investigate the following research questions:

RQ1: What is the overall response to the idea of public, tabletop gaming? What gratifications do people expect from play?
RQ2: Would most people prefer to play tabletop games alone, with friends or family, or with people they do not yet know?
RQ3: What differentiates those with strong social connectedness and social satisfaction from those with low social connectedness and social satisfaction in terms of social gaming expectations and intentions?
RQ4: Does social gaming with people they do not yet know appeal more to those who express a desire for more friends, or are those who already have lots of friends more likely to want to play with strangers?

Data is currently being collected, and will be completed by mid August.

References
1. http://news.softpedia.com/news/175-Million-People-Use-Facebook-Every-Day-133744.shtml
2. http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats14.htm
3. http://sunsite.utk.edu/FINS/loversofdemocracy/LonelyNation-2.htm
4. McPherson, Miller; Smith-Lovin, Lynn; Brashears, Matthew E (2006), "Social Isolation in America: Changes in Core Discussion Networks over Two Decades" (PDF), American Sociological Review 71 (3): 353-375, http://www.asanet.org/galleries/default-file/June06ASRFeature.pdfInentaconnect.com
5. http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/50200/title/Loneliness_is_contagious,_study_suggests
6. http://www.livescience.com/health/060331_loneliness.html
7. Popcap Games, 2010, retrieved from http://www.infosolutionsgroup.com/2010_PopCap_Social_Gaming_Research_Results.pdf
8. Sherry, J. and Lucas, K. , 2003-05-27 "Video Game Uses and Gratifications as Predictors of Use and Game Preference" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Marriott Hotel, San Diego, CA Online <.PDF>. 2009-05-26 from http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p111471_index.html
9. http://www.luna-park.com/blog/2009/05/12/familiar-strangers/