The paper “Characterising Gaming Group Experiences”, authored by LASIGE’s PhD student Daniel Reis and integrated researcher André Rodrigues, and Kathrin Gerling (KIT), explores the social structures that form when people play digital games together and how they fundamentally impact play.

While playing video games is a highly popular social activity, prior research has largely focused on the individual player’s experience or specific one-on-one interactions. The authors hypothesize that a deeper understanding of group dynamics is required for designing digital games that effectively support complex social interactions. To address this, their study explores the lived experiences of gaming groups, providing an account of their varied characteristics and dynamics. The findings highlight a gap between how these groups naturally interact and what current games and communication platforms actually support.

This work serves as a stepping stone to guide future research into multiplayer social structures. It was presented at the CHI 2026 conference in Barcelona, Spain, that took place from April 13 to 17, 2026, and is available here.