Encouraging Player Cooperation through Level Layout : A study of how to use the placement of challenges and incentives forencouraging player cooperation in digital games

Sammanfattning

This paper features a study about cooperation and how it can be encouraged via level layout.The research team developed a game with a research intent focused on cooperation driven bythe question: How can player cooperation be encouraged through the placement of incentivesand challenges in the level layout of a local cooperative game? To be able to answer thequestion, the research team looked into papers about cooperation, level design, nudge theory,Cooperative Performance Metrics, and design patterns. The research was conducted by usingiterative design, where three iterations were tested with two groups of four players and thedesign was iterated upon after each test. After all playtests were conducted and all data hadbeen analyzed, evidence was found that the placement of the challenges and incentives in alevel can have an effect on cooperation. This paper makes a contribution to the subject of thecorrelation between cooperation and level design.