Group-level analysis on multiplayer game collaboration: how do the individuals shape the group interaction?

In this study, the aim was to examine how small-group collaboration is shaped by individuals interacting in a virtual multiplayer game. The data were collected from a design experiment in which six randomly divided groups of four university students played a voice-enhanced game lasting about 1h. The 'eScape' game was a social action adventure developed as a part of the study. In the analysis of the video data, students' discourse functions during the game were analysed with content analytic methods for studying the nature of their interaction. An effort was made to analyse the data on both group and individual levels, and therefore the participants' prior social ties and experience in gaming were studied as well. The results showed that the students' main discourse functions in their conversation were Question, Content Statement, Instruction or Order and Response. It was found that individual students, especially those with prior knowledge of gaming or prior social ties, can have a major impact on the social interaction and the outcome of collaboration. It can be concluded that the eScape game allowed the students to engage in true and constructive collaborative activity, and in the future multiplayer games could be used, for example, to promote group cohesion and development, when employed in a pedagogically meaningful manner.