Maintaining long distance togetherness Synchronous communication with Minecraft and Skype

This paper examines the simultaneous use of Skype and Minecraft to improve long distance communications and feelings of togetherness in situations where friends and/or family maintain social communications with one another but are separated by geographical distance. Participants played Minecraft, an all-ages friendly game which relies on player creativity and curiosity, and Skype, an audio/video conferencing tool. Participants played with at least one friend or family member. The results of the study suggest that the combination of Skype and Minecraft compared to using Skype alone provides significant benefits for maintaining togetherness through casual play in both friend and family demographics for a variety of age groups.