Alexis Hiniker

We investigated romantic partners’ shared gaming through semi-structured interviews with a majority-heterosexual participant group of 13 co-located couples ( N = 26). We employed the Sound Relationship House, a Gottman Method Couple Therapy framework that describes seven characteristics of happy, stable romantic relationships, to analyze our participants’ perspectives on their joint gaming experiences. We conclude that shared gaming can support romantic couples in strengthening their relationships through contributing to the friendship and shared meaning systems of the Sound Relationship House. Gaming experiences that afforded these relationship-building aspects were characterized by congruence between couples’ joint needs, their play strategies, and game design. In contrast, when game designs failed to address couples’ joint needs or accommodate their play strategies, shared gaming could prompt frustration and relational challenges. Taken together, we suggest design provocations to enrich relationship-supportive opportunities in shared gaming through facilitating congruence between couples’ joint needs, their play strategies, and game design.

Many social media platforms are filled with problematic designs that range from annoying (e.g., excessive notifications) to devastating (e.g., bulk-add features that have connected children to pedophiles). Users express frustration with these designs and yet continue to use these platforms. Why? If an email client sent constant clickbait notifications and intermixed sponsored content with true emails, many users would not tolerate it; they would switch to a different email platform and continue emailing the same contacts. This flexibility is only possible because email obeys a standardized protocol allowing for data interoperability across platforms. If all social platforms were required to make user-posted content consumable by third parties, new and existing social media companies alike would be forced to compete for their users and could only succeed by offering users experiences they value. Users would no longer be held captive by the platforms they join and could continue connecting with the same network of people from any platform they choose. Mandated interoperability on social media platforms is not a new concept and is already under consideration in state legislatures across the United States. The purpose of this commentary is to distill its relevance to youth wellbeing online.