Cover not available
Article published In:
Internet Pragmatics
Vol. 2:2 (2019) ► pp.290–318

How much reading between the lines is there in online game playing?

The functions of ‘Good job’ as a communication tool in Monster Strike

| Tamagawa Univeristy
This paper discusses to what extent people can convey and understand intentions and messages in Monster Strike, which has only one tool for intentional messaging – called ‘good job’ (GJ) – to send messages to other players, and it is, therefore, interesting to analyze how players exchange ideas and infer each other’s communicative intentions using a limited means of communication towards a common goal. This paper describes the significance of GJ first through an analysis of actual game playing, with supplemental information from players’ discussion spaces on line. The communications encompass (1) the original meaning (i.e., ‘good job’); (2) extended interpretations; and (3) an attention signal, with shared temporary and cumulative knowledge of the game and the players’ own dispositions.
Keywords: CMC, non-verbal communication, Monster Strike, game application, Japanese
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
  • 3.Background
    • 3.1Monster Strike
    • 3.2Elements of GJ that play a part in communication with other players
      • 3.2.1Nickname
      • 3.2.2The arrow signal
      • 3.2.3Strike shot
      • 3.2.4The ‘good job’
        • 3.2.4.1Greeting messages
          • 3.2.4.1.1Hello
          • 3.2.4.1.2Good bye
          • 3.2.4.1.3Thank you for the others’ GJ
        • 3.2.4.2A request in the current play
          • 3.2.4.2.1Timing of the SS
          • 3.2.4.2.2Request to take/keep items
          • 3.2.4.2.3Attention gaining
          • 3.2.4.2.4Request to stay
          • 3.2.4.2.5Encouragement to shoot a particular way
          • 3.2.4.2.6Wrongness of predicted actions
        • 3.2.4.3Opinions on the play, mainly praising and encouraging
          • 3.2.4.3.1Praising a super play
          • 3.2.4.3.2Apologizing for a mistake
          • 3.2.4.3.3Complimenting or showing you do not mind
          • 3.2.4.3.4Surprise at unexpected phenomena
        • 3.2.4.4Others
          • 3.2.4.4.1Scoffing
          • 3.2.4.4.2GJ by players’ mistakes in smart phone manipulation
  • 4.Research method
    • Analysis of multi-playing
  • 5.Case studies
    • 5.1Case study 1: Hōrai (Challenge 3, 20 May 2017)
    • 5.2Case study 2: El Dorado (Challenge 4, 10 June 2017)
    • 5.3Case study 3: El Dorado (Challenge 4, 8 July 2017)
  • 6.Discussion
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 15 October 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ip.00039.sak
References (19)
References
Argyle, Michael. 1972. “Non-verbal communication in human social interaction.” In Non-verbal Communication, ed. by Robert A. Hinde, 243–269. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Brosig, Jeannette, Joachim Weimann, and Axel Ockenfels. 2003. “The effect of communication media on cooperation.” German Economic Review 4(2): 217–241. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Crystal, David. 2001. Language and the Internet. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2008. Txtng: The Gr8 Db8. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Graham, Sage Lambert. 2018. “Impoliteness and the moral order in online gaming.” Internet Pragmatics 1(2): 303–328. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Keskinen, Tuuli, Tomi Heimonen, Markku Turunen, Juha-Pekka Rajaniemi, and Sami Kauppinen. 2012. “SymbolChat: A flexible picture-based communication platform for users with intellectual disabilities.” Interacting with Computers 24(5): 374–386. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Langer, Jessica. 2008. “The familiar and the foreign: Playing (post) colonialism in world of warcraft.” In Digital Culture, Play, and Identity: A World of Warcraft Reader, ed. by Hilde G. Corneliussen, and Jill Walker Rettberg, 87–108. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
MacCallum-Stewart, Esther, and Justin Parsler. 2008. “‘Never such innocence again’: War and histories in World of Warcraft.” In Digital Culture, Play, and Identity: A World of Warcraft Reader, ed. by Hilde G. Corneliussen, and Jill Walker Rettberg, 39–62. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Manninen, Tony, and Kujanpää Tomi. 2002. “Non-verbal communication forms in multi-player game session.” In People and Computers XVI – Memorable Yet Invisible: Proceedings of HCI 2002, ed. by Xristine Faulkner, Janet Finlay, and Françoise Détienne, 383–401. London: Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Miyake, Kazuko. 2004. “「規範からの逸脱」志向の系譜―携帯メールの表記をめぐって [Beyond the standard use of language: About the language of mobile phone e-mail].” Bungaku Ronsō 781: 1–15.Google Scholar
Peterson, Mark. 2012. “Learner interaction in a massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG): A sociocultural discourse analysis.” ReCALL 24(3): 361–380. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sakai, Noboru. 2011. “The language of Keitai-mail: The sociolinguistics of Japanese mobile e-mail.” PhD dissertation, University of Queensland. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2015a. “A study of translating extra-textual expressions from non- English language into English: The case of contemporary Japanese computer-mediated communication.” In Translation and Cross-cultural Communication Studies in the Asia Pacific, ed. by Ko Leong, and Ping Chen, 227–238. Leiden: Brill. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2015b. “Power games in a virtual world: The case of Dragon Quest X.” Electronic Journal of Contemporary Japanese Studies 15(1). [URL]
. 2018. “Social differences in CMC: a case study of Japanese mobile phone e-mail.” Journal of Technology in Behavioral Science 3(3): 190–205. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Surkamp, Carola. 2014. “Non-verbal communication: Why we need it in foreign language teaching and how we can foster it with drama activities.” Scenario 8(2): 12–27.Google Scholar
Swoboda, Birgit. 2015. “GTFO!! – Positioning as interaction strategy in MMORPG communication.” Comunicação e Sociedade 271: 151–166. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zhao, Shanyang. 2006. “Do Internet users have more social ties? A call for differentiated analyses of Internet use.” Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 11 (3): 844–862. DOI logoGoogle Scholar