Methodological Considerations in the Study of Tandem Play

Abstract

This paper presents a detailed discussion of the research methods used in the first part of our ongoing study into “tandem play,” which we have defined as “two or more players engag[ing] with a single-player game together, moving through the game with a variety of potential motives.” Tandem play can take many forms, but the emphasis is on a collaborative, shared experience. Although tandem play has always been a part of video games, our research into it is the first, and so we had to design our study from the ground-up. In this paper we discuss four aspects of the study—the choice of game that subjects would play, recruitment strategy, our roles as researchers, and the effects of limited play time on the study—and how these decisions impacted our results.