Communicating with others is a key motivation for playing digital games, but associated gratifications often require the presence of and interaction with other agents that may be inherently demanding. This demand has been characterized as emerging from intersections of implicit or explicit awareness of and implicit or explicit response to the social other. To explore phenomenological dimensions of this concept—nascent in relation to immersive digital environments—this study explored online gamers’ assessments of the demands of encountering an unknown avatar in a massively multiplayer online game (MMO). After experiencing a survey-based, simulated encounter, players were asked to describe the ease or effortfulness of such an interpersonal encounter. In these descriptions, emergent thematic analysis identified six key factors in degrees of experienced demand: individual differences in personality and skill, environmental and social contexts of encounters, awareness of identity and agency boundaries in the online environment, game culture norms for interaction, perceived interaction value, and anticipations for how a communicative episode would unfold. Findings suggest that although social demand has, to date, been characterized as emerging from the game itself, it may be best understood as a function of the intersection of micro-level (intrapersonal), meso-level (interpersonal), and macro-level (cultural/situational) communicative factors.

中文翻译：

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在模拟游戏环境中的社交需求体验

与他人进行交流是玩数字游戏的主要动机，但相关的满足感常常需要存在可能与生俱来的其他代理并与之互动。这种需求的特征是从对社会他人的隐性或显性意识与隐性或显性响应的交汇处出现。为了探究这一概念的现象学维度（与沉浸式数字环境有关），本研究探讨了在线游戏者对大型多人在线游戏（MMO）中遇到未知化身的需求的评估。在经历了基于调查的模拟遭遇后，要求玩家描述这种人际交往的难易程度。在这些描述中，新兴的主题分析确定了体验需求程度的六个关键因素：个性和技能的个体差异，相遇的环境和社会背景，在线环境中对身份和代理边界的认识，互动的游戏文化规范，感知的互动价值以及预期交流情节将如何发展。研究结果表明，尽管迄今为止，社交需求的特征已经从游戏本身中浮现出来，但最好还是将其理解为微观层面（人际），中观层面（人际）和宏观层面的交集的函数。 （文化/情境）交际因素。互动的游戏文化规范，感知的互动价值以及对交流情节发展的预期。研究结果表明，尽管迄今为止，社交需求的特征已经从游戏本身中浮现出来，但最好还是将其理解为微观层面（人际），中观层面（人际）和宏观层面的交集的函数。 （文化/情境）交际因素。互动的游戏文化规范，感知的互动价值以及对交流情节发展的预期。研究结果表明，尽管迄今为止，社交需求的特征已经从游戏本身中浮现出来，但最好还是将其理解为微观层面（人际），中观层面（人际）和宏观层面的交集的函数。 （文化/情境）交际因素。