Helping friends or fighting foes: The influence of collaboration and competition on player experience

Playing digital games comprises a diverse, but holistic experience. Yet it is still unclear how and to what extend certain design elements of a game contribute to specific aspects of player experience. We developed a game as test bed to investigate this question. The casual game Loadstone allows for different social interaction modes while retaining all other game elements. By isolating one single gameplay element we were able to analyze the influence of competition and collaboration on the game experience. The game served as the basis for a study conducted with 58 participants in order to empirically investigate potential differences in player experience induced by collaborative and competitive game design elements. Data regarding player experience, aggression, social presence and performance was assessed in form of questionnaires and observations. Results indicate significant differences between player experiences in both modes: While positive affect and aggression were higher in the competitive mode, empathy was higher in the collaborative mode. However, social presence turns out to be not a sufficient predictor of positive affect. No gender differences were found.