Proximity-Based Chat in a First Person Shooter: Using a Novel Voice Communication System for Online Play Martin Gibbs Department of Information Systems The University of Melbourne Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia martinrg@unimelb.edu.au Greg Wadley Department of Information Systems The University of Melbourne Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia greg.wadley@unimelb.edu.au Peter Benda Department of Information Systems The University of Melbourne Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia pbenda@unimelb.edu.au ABSTRACT Voice communication between players can have many benefits relative to text-based communication for game play and social experience in fast-paced multiplayer online games. However, previous research has highlighted some problems with existing implementations of voice-over-IP in online games and suggested the need to carefully design voice communication systems if they are to positively contribute to the game play and social experience of online multiplayer games. In this paper we present the results of a field trial of the “Immersive Communication Environment”, a novel voice-over-IP system designed to support player communication in online games by simulating in the game world the way utterances travel through air in the physical world. We found that the proximity-based constraints imposed by this voice communication system created some advantage for players in terms of their game play and their experience of the game as a social event. The findings suggest that players benefit from voice communications systems that make socially salient information available to them according to interactional affordances and constraints that are sensibly designed and well understood. Categories and Subject Descriptors D.3.3 [Programming Languages]: User interfaces – User- centered design, Voice I/O. General Terms Design, Human Factors. Keywords Video games, computer games, multiplayer, first person shooters, voice communication, VoIP, game play, social experience, sociability, social translucence. 1. INTRODUCTION To date, most online multiplayer videogames have predominantly relied upon some form of typed text messages for communication between players, and text is still an important medium for communication in these distributed computer games. However, many players of these games have appropriated a variety of third- party Voice-over-IP (VoIP) applications so that they can talk with other players. In addition, several online multiplayer games now have integrated voice communications features that enable geographically-distributed players to converse with one another. While the use of voice communication in online multiplayer games is growing, there is still much to learn about how best to design and implement these facilities. It remains unclear what kind of voice communication features will best serve different genres of games and how to configure these features for different game situations [7, 12]. Some have argued that the addition of voice communication to online games enhances the social experience of game play [6]. However, others have suggested that voice will detract from immersion in online role playing games, and that text should remain the preferred communication medium in this genre of games [1]. Further, while some research has shown that voice can improve communication and team coordination in a fast-paced action game [7], not all users readily adopt voice communication in online games [11]. Research suggests that this may be due to suboptimal configuration of the voice channel in some games [5] and has highlighted the need to carefully consider how voice channels are configured if they are to enhance both competitive game performance and the social experience of game playing [7, 12]. Most voice communication systems used in multiplayer games to date have been configured in a way that may be thought to be explicitly or implicitly drawing on a “two-way radio” metaphor [12]. Utterances are broadcast to all other players (or all team members) and can be heard equally well by all recipients, irrespective of their in-game situation. In effect, each player who has voice equipment (a headset and VoIP client) provides a “virtual walkie-talkie” to their game avatar. By contrast, some researchers have recently experimented with VoIP systems in which transmission quality varies with the in-game location of player avatars [2, 9]. The Immersive Communication Environment (ICE) system [2] simulates the passage of sound through air. Player utterances are rendered so as to sound as though they are coming from the location of the speaker’s avatar, and players hear each other’s utterances with a volume and clarity related to the distance between their avatars in the game-world. In this paper, we present preliminary results from a study that has examined players’ experience of, and response to, ICE. The starting point for our analysis of this study is to consider multiplayer games as technologies that provide a competitive environment and a social experience [11]. We draw on the concept of social translucence [4] in our analysis of players’ use of ICE. Thus, we have been interested in whether limiting player communication according to avatar location affects game play and the social experience of multiplayer first person shooter games. In future research we plan to trial ICE in other genres of games.