From board games to video games: Implications for the adaptation from physical to digital

Svendsen, Emma

4. term

Information Studies (Human Centered Informatics), Master

2024

2024-05-29

80 pages

Board games have been around for millenniums and are seen as a stable in almost every household. However, recently these beloved board games have been adapted from their physical form to the digital medium of video games. Two of the games that have followed this trend are Codenames and Mysterium, which are two great examples of modern board games, which use a mix of hidden information and cooperation to facilitate an interactive experience. This study looks into these two games, by setting up playthroughs of both the physical and the digitally adapted versions. This is done through eights gaming session, with two different gaming groups of four people, which is video recorded and transcribed. After the recording sessions, all transcriptions were analyzed through a thematic analysis. Three overall themes were found and examined in this study: player-to-game, player-to-environment, and player-to-player. These all relate to the main focus of this study, which is to understand the user ex-perience of both board game mediums. To do this, the study looked into how the communica-tion and interaction dynamics changed whether the games were played physically or digitally. The findings of the study showed that there are very specific aspects of the game encounters that are of importance to the overall experience, as well as how the user experience differs from medium to medium. The study looks into how both verbal and nonverbal communica-tion works in relation to the game encounter, as well as how the digital environment can im-plement both of these and change the experience. This also means, that the study gives a bet-ter understanding of how sociability is created within each medium, and how both players, environment, and the game itself is part of creating this social aspect of board gaming. Additionally, it looks into how video game elements are incorporated into the adapted versions of the games, by using automation, animation, and changing the general overview and flow of the game. The study differs from existing literature by working closely with the empirical data to show-case how the themes found could happen in praxis. Therefore, it does not make assumptions about either medium, but instead seeks to find implications with both mediums. Through ex-amples from the data, conclusions are drawn that highlight these specific implications, and showcases how they impact the overall user experience for players.

Board games ; video games ; adaptation ; video recording ; interaction design ; user experience ; digitized games ; design ; communication ; game encounter

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