Interaction in Networked Virtual Environments as Communicative Action: Social Theory and Multi-Player Games

The ambiguous and highly subjective meanings assigned to the word “interaction” makes it difficult for the researchers and practitioners, who work in the area of virtual environments and applications, to communicate and join their research efforts. The aim of this work is to provide more understanding on the interaction occurring inside Networked Virtual Environments (Net-VE) by analysing the communicative and social aspects of computer-mediated interaction in multi-player games. The work is conducted using conceptual analysis by applying Communicative Action Theory as a scientific framework. The main contribution of this work is the proposed interaction taxonomy which is analysed in the light of social theory. The successful application of social theory framework as a tool to analyse interaction indicates the importance of joining the research effort of various disciplines in order to achieve better results in the area of Net-VE interactions.