Most of the play session went well. There was little friction amongst the group, and I don’t think that anyone’s secret roles caused any more friction than there would been regularly. We all would try to help each other and make sure that we were all on the same task equally. Only a few times did some of us get behind in completing the quests, but at those times the other members either patiently waited for the group to be convened again or would passively kill nearby monsters.
We completed the following 12 quests:
1. What’s Left Behind
2. Job for Multi-Bot
3. Dealing with The Fallout
4. What’s Keeping Jessup
5. Keg powder Collection
6. Free Townspeople
7. Finishing the Job
8. One More Thing
9. Cushcog’s Minions
10. Beer Basted Boar Ribs
11. A Tisket a Tasket
12. Frostmane Aggression
Using discord, we were able to communicate throughout the play session. In the beginning there was little feedback, but when a few of us started to take more damage and fall behind on the tougher quests feedback began.
One of the purposes of this game session was to fulfill real time examples of a role during our question completion. The twist is that nobody knew which role each of us were fulfilling. At the end of the play session we all revealed “Who we were”, here is how that played out:
Amity’s role was to give appreciation feedback. I did not detect her feedback during the play session, but upon the reveal of our roles I did see where it was done. Perhaps this is because Amity communicated this way often previously. Amity fulfilled this role well; in that she did more than simply say ‘thanks’ when one of us assisted her in fulfilling the quests. At the same time her appreciation was genuine.
Erika’s role was mimicry. During disagreements she repeated the others reasoning before offering her own perspective. Once, she had gotten a different quest than everyone else, so our group had to wait on her. This case was an example of when Erika used mimicry because when someone recommended that we all start the quests where the rest of the group was, Erika suggested that she finish her quest to see if it would take her to our location. As a result, one of the group member’s requests would be solved while also allowing Erika to complete her current task. Erika’s role was the one type of feedback that I did pick up on during the play session.
Logan’s role was to give coaching feedback. Since Logan was normally one of the ones to finish quests it made sense that he could provide feedback that helps everyone understand how to go about finishing the quests efficiently and correctly. I presumed that he was playing this role, but I wasn’t too confident, so I would say that he wasn’t detected. Likely because I believe he was the most experienced with World of Warcraft out of our group.
My secret role was evaluative feedback. I believe that I phrased my feedback in a way that was non-confrontational and casual tips to improve the group’s performance. One of the times that I made use of my role was when Erika fell behind in progress from the group. I didn’t simply state that she was doing something wrong and leave it at that. Instead explained that she needed to get the bot from the engineer before heading down to the green puddles. Another time was when Erika and I were in the caves fighting monsters, she died twice. When she came again to make another attempt at completing this quest, I suggested that we go slowly through together. This way we can pick off the enemies one by one as to not get overwhelmed and I could make use of my healing ability. This allowed for a chance at efficient game play where there was little risk of dying for either of us while also guaranteeing the fulfillment of the quest requirements. This role did not make me uncomfortable, but I think I would prefer the angle of coaching. It is like evaluative, but you offer a solution rather than pointing out issues. This is something I believe that I inherently do when playing video games in my free time, especially if it is a game that I am familiar with.
