The Arena of Teamwork: The Impact of Stellate Polygonal Seating on Multiplayer Game Performance

A 2025 study published in Eludamos examines whether stellate polygonal seating, a non-linear arrangement in which players sit around a central point, can improve multiplayer team performance in esports compared with the conventional linear layout that dominates gaming spaces and streamed tournaments. The research centers on PUBG and PUBG Mobile matches played by three eight-player teams in acoustically isolated rooms, with two teams tested under both seating conditions and one fixed opponent team. The work tests three hypotheses: that seating configuration correlates with in-game performance, that stellate seating yields higher kill counts, and that participants will rate it more favorably across collaborative categories drawn from Manninen's (2003) framework.

The central quantitative finding is that linear seating produced substantially more kills, averaging roughly 80 per team across matches compared with about 51 to 53 under stellate polygonal seating, a difference that was statistically significant (ANOVA F = 43.56, p < 0.05). The results therefore confirm a correlation between seating and performance while contradicting the expectation that stellate seating would improve outcomes. Survey responses told a different story: participants rated stellate seating more favorably overall (mean 6.34 versus 4.16) and reported stronger team cognition, motivation, and discussion, although they also noted greater distraction.

The study's scope is deliberately narrow, covering a sample of only 16 surveyed participants, a South Korean LAN-café setting, and an eight-player team format, which limits generalization. Within those boundaries, the findings suggest a divergence between measurable competitive output and perceived team experience. The author proposes that stellate seating may foster a more cohesive and less toxic social environment, with possible applications in therapeutic contexts, while cautioning that linear seating's prevalence in gaming may reflect spatial convenience and broadcast conventions rather than demonstrated superiority in performance.