The Labor of Fun: Understanding the Social Relationships between Gamers and Paid Gaming Teammates in China
CHI 2021Online video games support the development of social relationships through gameplay, however, gamers often cannot cultivate and maintain relationships based on social factors such as personality when using in-game matchmaking services. To address this, teammate matching sites external to games have emerged and enable gamers to offer to play games with others in exchange for payment. The affordances of these services are different from other existing gamer social sites. Interviews were conducted with 16 dedicated users on Bixin, a paid teammate matching sites, to examine user motivations, practices, and perceptions. We found that gamers selected paid teammates using different criteria compared to in-game matchmaking services and emphasized the importance of real-life characteristics such as voice. To maintain connections, paid teammates often extended communication to external services such as WeChat. Although most gamers expected to communicate with paid teammates like friends, very few reported building real friendships with their matched counterparts.
Chenxinran Elise Shen
HCI Researcher
I am an HCI researcher interested in Virtual Reality (VR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). My enthusiasm lies in exploring how VR and AI-mediated technologies can influence an individual’s perception and behavior, and the potential of this influence to enhance communication among people. I recently completed my Master’s degree in Computer Science at the University of British Columbia, under the co-supervision of Prof. Joanna McGrenere in eDapt and Prof. Dongwook Yoon in D-lab. My thesis involved developing a VR system named LegacySphere. This system offers a perspective-taking approach aimed at enhancing younger adults’ understanding and empathy towards their elder family members by allowing them to experience their family members’ viewpoints. The paper is currently under review for CHI 2024. Prior to this, I completed my undergraduate degree in Computer Science at the University of Toronto, under the guidance of Prof. Daniel Wigdor in the Dynamic Graphics Project and Prof. Zhicong Lu. During this time, three of our Social Computing papers were accepted by CSCW and CHI conferences. Notably, my first-authored paper, which investigates the gig economy in gaming, was awarded an honorable mention at CHI. In addition to my academic pursuits, I am a cat lover and a fanfiction writer. Send me your cat pictures to elise.shen007@gmail.com , and I’ll reply with heartfelt words of praise and delight!