Partnership through Play: Investigating How Long-Distance Couples Use Digital Games to Facilitate Intimacy
Summary
Partnership through Play investigates how long-distance couples use multiplayer digital games to facilitate intimacy. The study uses a mixed-methods approach with 13 couples to reveal diverse play styles and how game mechanics can be appropriated to express affection, plus design implications to address the lack of physical sensation and memorabilia. The authors provide prototypes and discuss how to support relational maintenance in digital play.