The Art of Tug of War: Investigating the Influence of Remote Touch on Social Presence in a Distributed Rope Pulling Game

Abstract

Abstract. In this paper we investigate whether remote touch in the form of force feedback from another player's actions can enhance feelings of social presence and enjoyment of a collaborative, spatially distributed rope pulling game. Dyads of players situated in different rooms were either given an 'elastic band' type force feedback, or were given force feedback of the other player's actions (i.e. remote touch). Results showed that feedback from another player's actions enhanced feelings of social presence but not enjoyment of the game.

(Steering) Interactive Play Behavior

“…Such systems include technological ways to provide augmented sports, such as joint jogging [3,170], kicking/throwing a ball against a wall [163], (kick) boxing [172], and table tennis [175]. Some systems also provide ways for haptic feedback, such as a game of tug-of-war [19] or arm wrestling 1 . This is primarily a different goal than the previously mentioned stimulation of actual sports movement, as it uses sports to get people to interact socially over a distance, instead of being focused on training certain abilities.…”

“…Small (LED) low resolution displays (that can sometimes even bend) can be implemented in clothing or a hat and can therefore also be incorporated into interactive play systems [55,179]. Some toys apply force feedback or actual movement instead of simple vibrations [19,74,130,173]. Sounds can come in many different ways, including recorded sounds (e.g.…”

“…Furthermore, there are team-based tabletop games with tracked objects [4] or even objects providing haptic feedback [19].…”

“…Questionnaires are also applied to look separately, and in more detail, into dimensions that are also part of the GEQ, such as (social) presence of other players [19,159,256], for example, with the Networked Minds Measure [85] or more regarding closeness [255,256], for example, with the Inclusion of Other in the Self scale (IOS) [13], aspects of Flow [159], and (sensory and imaginative) immersion [200], for example, with the Immersion Questionnaire by Jenett et al [106]. 1 There are also other 'GEQs' such as the Game Engagement Questionnaire-revised focusing on wholebody movement by Berthouze et al [27,28] based on the model behind an unpublished (and seemingly no longer retrievable) ' [53]' Game Engagement Questionnaire of Chen et al [54].…”

“…Beelen et al showed that adding haptic feedback of the other player instead of a constant force added to the social presence of the other players [19].…”