How much reading between the lines is there in online game playing?

This paper discusses to what extent people can convey and understand intentions and messages in Monster Strike, which has only one tool for intentional messaging – called ‘good job’ (GJ) – to send messages to other players, and it is, therefore, interesting to analyze how players exchange ideas and infer each other’s communicative intentions using a limited means of communication towards a common goal. This paper describes the significance of GJ first through an analysis of actual game playing, with supplemental information from players’ discussion spaces on line. The communications encompass (1) the original meaning (i.e., ‘good job’); (2) extended interpretations; and (3) an attention signal, with shared temporary and cumulative knowledge of the game and the players’ own dispositions.