Partnership through Play: Investigating How Long-Distance Couples Use Digital Games to Facilitate Intimacy

TL;DR

This study explores how long-distance couples use multiplayer digital games to maintain intimacy, revealing diverse play styles and proposing design improvements to enhance emotional connection.

Contribution

It provides new insights into couples' game-based interactions in LDRs and offers prototypes addressing physical and memorabilia aspects for better relational support.

Findings

Significant differences in couple play styles.

Couples appropriate game mechanics to express affection.

Prototypes suggest design improvements for emotional connection.

Abstract

Long-distance relationships (LDRs) have become more common in the last few decades, primarily among young adults pursuing educational or employment opportunities. A common way for couples in LDRs to spend time together is by playing multiplayer video games, which are often a shared hobby and therefore a preferred joint activity. However, games are relatively understudied in the context of relational maintenance for LDRs. In this work, we used a mixed-methods approach to collect data on the experiences of 13 couples in LDRs who frequently play games together. We investigated different values around various game mechanics and modalities and found significant differences in couple play styles, and also detail how couples appropriate game mechanics to express affection to each other virtually. We also created prototypes and design implications based on couples' needs surrounding the lack of physical sensation and memorabilia storage in most popular games.