Player Experience of Hybridity in a Narrative Boardgame

This study examines how hybrid digital tools supporting Storytelling and Informing functions shape player experience (PX) in a narrative boardgame. The authors, researchers at the University of Melbourne, were motivated by a gap in existing work: while digitised functions have been studied in other tabletop contexts, little attention has gone to how they affect play in story-driven hybrid digital boardgames, a category that a 2023 review of BoardGameGeek titles found to be heavily reliant on Storytelling mechanisms. The central question asks how these hybrid functions influence the experience of playing a narrative boardgame.

The empirical basis is a qualitative case study of Adventure Games: The Volcanic Island, a cooperative, card-based game played through a companion app and storybook. Eight self-formed groups totaling 29 players played the first of four chapters, using the app for the first fifteen minutes before choosing freely between app, book, or both. Post-game interviews were analysed through reflexive thematic analysis, supported by session recordings and researcher notes. Because the sample is small and confined to a single title and one chapter, the findings are exploratory rather than generalisable.

Two themes emerged. First, the app balanced sociality and efficiency: players found it faster than searching the booklet, which gave everyone equal information access and freed time for discussion, and they developed etiquette around shared scrolling pace and avoiding one player monopolising the device. Second, the app functioned as an imperfect game master, taking on the Fabulator role of narration and tone-setting, though players wished it could also fill the Rule-bearer role. The authors conclude that players expect social experiences from narrative boardgames, and that hybrid Storytelling and Informing can enhance PX when they absorb non-social labour that would otherwise fall to a player.