Culture Clash in Video Games: How Playstyles Differ
Cultural differences can manifest themselves in the behavior of individuals. This fact likely stretches into the virtual world—video games. But what exactly are these cultural differences, and do they manifest in-game?
• Cultural differences may stretch into the world of video games.
• Analyzing 37 game replays from The International provided insights on how Chinese teams and American teams differ.
• Chinese teams are more risk-averse and take measures to reduce uncertainty during competition.
• American teams are argued to be more risk-seeking (picking more fights), and show less behavior to mitigate uncertainty.
In gaming, each player and team are unique, in the way that they on dimensions such as strategy, skill level, cohesion etc. The dimension of cultural differences and how they impact players hasn't been a subject of research in gaming yet.
"[Therefore,] this paper compares the cultural difference between Chinese teams and American teams... using the data from a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game called DOTA2..." [1]
💥 How Culture Clashes Manifest In-Game
The researchers analyzed 37 game replays from Chines and American teams from the fourth The International (TI4) tournament. Here's what they found:
- Team fights: Chinese teams and American teams differ significantly in the frequency of kills by multiple players (the number of kills where damage came from more than one champion), and the frequency of picking fights (which team launched the first attack).
- Warding: Chinese teams use significantly more sentry wards (a ward that can spot invisible enemy units).
- Runes: Chinese teams also activated more runes per game.
So what do we make out of these results? Well, the authors interpreted this behavior the following way: "...Chinese teams show stronger uncertainty avoidance than American teams..." [1]. This essentially means that Chinese teams try to avoid risks while also taking measures to avoid uncertainty (using sentry wards).
American teams are, in comparison to Chinese teams, more risk seeking (fight-first mentality) and take fewer measures to avoid uncertainty. Another interesting result was that American teams show stronger masculinity, measured my who picks fights.
"Picking fights is a challenge and offensive behavior which is an aspect to reflect masculinity of a team." [1]
🤔 What If...
Whenever we watch international tournaments, is often talked about how teams from different regions play differently (e.g., strategies or teams combs). Understanding cultural differences may provide a good angle to understand why that is.
Now, think about how this may interact within the environment a video game provides. On a certain patch, teams from one region may be better equipped to win, because their general behavior is favorable. For instance, in a patch where playing more defensive (tanks or tank items) increases the odds of winning, those who are avoid risk may have a better shot at winning against American teams.
Also, more aggressive players may have advantages or disadvantages against the opposing player, depending on its general, culturally driven, behavior. However, maybe top esports organizations already analyze the enemy team well enough and pitch their players to adapt—and mitigate—such differences. Would be interesting to hear some pro players' opinion on this.
Anyway, see you next week,
Christian 🙂
