Unveiling the Structure: Effects of Social Feedback on Communication Activity in Online Multiplayer Videogames

Feedback intervention in computer-mediated situations can be interpreted as a way to augment communication. According to this idea, this study investigates the effect of providing a group with a Social Network Analysis-based feedback on communication in an on-line game where players talk to each other via textual chat. Three different situations across two different sessions were compared: an Informed Group with a correct feedback, a not-Informed Group with no feedback and a mis-Informed group with an incorrect feedback. Results show that giving correct information increases the related dimensions of communication, while the absence of feedback and the incorrect feedback were not accompanied by any significant modification.

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