Co-experience: Understanding user experiences in social interaction

ecipients until someone says “halt”. The phones are returned to the owners,
who hold them to their forehead for others to see the displayed recipient. Bets
of beverages are then placed, which the player can then win by pressing the
send button – the more inappropriate the recipient, the higher the bet.
The first reaction to this example is that no company would want their products
to be used for such questionable entertainment. However, the situation reveals
interesting facts: mobile phones are part of leisure. Phones contain games,
but they typically are for one player, and require full attention. The games also
do not utilise the functions of the phone: making calls and sending messages.
It is unlikely that a person invented this alone, but it is easy to see how a
group of friends might have come up with the idea on a Friday night. The game
provides experiences that many young men seek: taking a challenge [1] in front
of others, developing sense of taking decisions and being responsible for the
consequences – experiences that could be supported also in a more socially
responsible game.
ARTICLE 2 115
THE VIRTUAL THEATRE GROUP
Two young girls have the hobby of writing little plays during recess at school.
In the evenings, they go to a virtual chat environment [10] on the Internet where
they have set up a room with chairs and a stage. Each with their script, they act
out their plays with their avatars. Sometimes they invite their friends to appear
as avatars in the audience.
The virtual environment is designed as a chat room for teenagers: users log
in with an avatar and move in the axonometric space, typing what they want to
say. The same functions provide an outlet for the dramatic expression needs
of the girls: the avatars can change appearance and the private rooms have
virtual furniture. The environment supports the participation of many people
remotely. Virtual performances are easier to organise than a real drama group,
and provide more freedom for the characters – more imagination and less reality,
in fact, the perfect setup for young girls’ imaginative play.
WHAT DEFINES CO-EXPERIENCE?
CO-EXPERIENCE IS SOCIAL
Co-experience relies on communication. A study of how professional designers
construct things collectively [4] describes the collaborative design process
as being a dialog, in which proposals are created, and then evaluated, rejected
or accepted and new ones created in response. The designers of co-experience
respond similarly to the situation presented by others, and through their inter-