Leveraging Video Games to Improve IT-Solutions for Remote Work

The world is experiencing remote interaction in unprecedented frequency, as people stay in touch and work together remotely in pandemic times. IT solutions for remote work such as videoconferencing systems have received a lot of critical attention as they seem to induce fatigue. By contrast, in online video games, people collaborate passionately and energetically for hours at a time. In this paper, we introduce methodological frameworks for studying the impact of online video games on individual thinking capacities and team collaboration, with the goal of inspiring IT solutions for remote work. The research is grounded in neurodesign, an approach that uses neuroscientific research to underpin the analysis of how digital technology impacts humans. A major focus of this paper is body motion and virtual environments, tracing how they impact processes of team formation and creative thinking capacities, both during play and shortly thereafter. The paper reports on three pilot studies and methodological developments. The findings indicate that remote interaction leads to increased team cohesion and creative team performance, in particular when the interaction involves synchronous motion with a team partner, such as driving next to each other in Mario Kart on Nintendo Switch.