See no rival, hear no rival : the role of social cues in digital game settings

Digital games increasingly allow for social interaction between players. In addition to the multiplayer modes offered by many games, there is frequently the opportunity to employ live audio (headset) and/or video (webcam) to enable or enhance the communication between gamers. In the current paper, we aim to investigate the influence such additional social communication channels may have on player experience and social presence. Results show that social presence in gaming is strongly influenced by the availability of audio cues in digital game settings; the added value of visual cues was modest and did not reach significance. Additionally, player experience in terms of challenge, frustration, and flow was also significantly influenced by the availability of social cues.