Team Collaboration in Virtual Worlds: The Role of Task Complexity

Virtual worlds are three-dimensional, computer-generated worlds where team collaboration is facilitated through the use of shared virtual space. In this research, we are interested in studying the effect of task complexity on team collaboration. We use a puzzle as the collaboration task and manipulate task complexity using the number of puzzle pieces. We hypothesize that task complexity will influence team cohesion as well as satisfaction with team process and outcome, increase the time taken to complete the task, and increase the relative unevenness in team members’ contributions in terms of physical effort to accomplish the task due to the increased challenge of the task.