Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) games: Improving negative atmosphere with social robots and AI teammates

Yimin Wang; Yonglin Dai; Shaokang Chen; Lingxin Wang; Johan F. Hoorn

doi:10.3390/systems11080425

Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) games: Improving negative atmosphere with social robots and AI teammates

Yimin Wang, Yonglin Dai, Shaokang Chen, Lingxin Wang, Johan F. Hoorn^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Electronic sports show significant user churn caused by a toxic gaming atmosphere, and current GUI-based interventions are insufficient to address the issue. Based on the theoretical framework of Perceiving and Experiencing Fictional Characters, a new hybrid interaction interface and paradigm combined with tangibles is proposed to counter negative mood. To support the frustrated users of Massive Online Battle Arena (MOBA) games, we added AI teammates for better personal performance and social robots for the disclosure of negative mood. We hypothesized that AI teammates’ invisibility and anonymity would mitigate negative emotions; an effect amplified by the presence of social robots. A comparative experiment was conducted with 111 participants. Social robots for emotion-oriented coping improved user mood but AI teammates for problem-oriented coping did so better, although their higher levels of experienced anonymity may not have been preferred. Unexpectedly, conversing with a robot after playing with an AI teammate brought the mood back to that experienced when talking to a robot alone, while increasing the distancing tendencies. With this in mind, AI and social robots can counter the negative atmosphere in MOBA games, positively contributing to game design and empathic human–computer interaction.

Original language	English
Article number	425
Pages (from-to)	1-30
Number of pages	30
Journal	Systems
Volume	11
Issue number	8
Early online date	14 Aug 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3390/systems11080425
Publication status	Published - Aug 2023

Bibliographical note

This article belongs to the Special Issue: Digital Health for Better Health and Life.

Funding Information:
The contribution by J.F.H. was supported by the project Negative-mood Reduction Among HK Youth With Robot PAL (Personal Avatar for Life) of the Artificial Intelligence in Design Laboratory under the InnoHK Research Clusters, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government (grant number RP2-3).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 by the authors.

Keywords

AI teammates
game design and development
human-centered interface design
human–robot interaction
massive online battle arena games
negative emotion

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title = "Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) games: Improving negative atmosphere with social robots and AI teammates",

abstract = "Electronic sports show significant user churn caused by a toxic gaming atmosphere, and current GUI-based interventions are insufficient to address the issue. Based on the theoretical framework of Perceiving and Experiencing Fictional Characters, a new hybrid interaction interface and paradigm combined with tangibles is proposed to counter negative mood. To support the frustrated users of Massive Online Battle Arena (MOBA) games, we added AI teammates for better personal performance and social robots for the disclosure of negative mood. We hypothesized that AI teammates{\textquoteright} invisibility and anonymity would mitigate negative emotions; an effect amplified by the presence of social robots. A comparative experiment was conducted with 111 participants. Social robots for emotion-oriented coping improved user mood but AI teammates for problem-oriented coping did so better, although their higher levels of experienced anonymity may not have been preferred. Unexpectedly, conversing with a robot after playing with an AI teammate brought the mood back to that experienced when talking to a robot alone, while increasing the distancing tendencies. With this in mind, AI and social robots can counter the negative atmosphere in MOBA games, positively contributing to game design and empathic human–computer interaction.",

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note = "This article belongs to the Special Issue: Digital Health for Better Health and Life. Funding Information: The contribution by J.F.H. was supported by the project Negative-mood Reduction Among HK Youth With Robot PAL (Personal Avatar for Life) of the Artificial Intelligence in Design Laboratory under the InnoHK Research Clusters, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government (grant number RP2-3). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 by the authors.",

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Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) games: Improving negative atmosphere with social robots and AI teammates

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