ABSTRACT
Social interaction in video games has mainly been studied under the perspective of human-to-human interaction in massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), online first-person shooters (FPSs), or browser-based games (Fritz, 2009; Pena and Hancock, 2006; Wright, Boria, and Breidenbach, 2002). It is often forgotten that a special form of social interaction also occurs in single-player games as human-to-system interaction (McMillan, 2006): Players interact, on the one hand, with opponents, for example, in a battle, or also in “verbal combat,” and, on the other hand, with so-called NPCs (non-player characters), for example, by trading, talking, trying to convince the NPC to do something, or even engaging in a romantic relationship. Krotz calls this communication type “interactive communication” and describes it as a “simulation of a conversation” (Krotz, 2009, p. 33), in which both the human and the computer system participate in a communication process. Concerning Laird and van Lent, the design of challenging artificial intelligence (AI) characters, which show human-like behaviors and allow rich social interaction, has become one of the main points of competition for successful game design (Laird and van Lent, 2005). They argue that the “challenge of competing and cooperating with another intellect” (Laird and van Lent, 2005, p. 205) is one of the main factors that captivates the player and enhances the game experience.
