A Mixed Method Approach for Evaluating and Improving the Design of Learning in Puzzle Games

Despite the acknowledgment that learning is a necessary part of all gameplay, the area of Games User Research lacks an established evidence based method through which designers and researchers can understand, assess, and improve how commercial games teach players game-specific skills and information. In this paper, we propose a mixed method procedure that draws together both quantitative and experiential approaches to examine the extent to which players are supported in learning about the game world and mechanics. We demonstrate the method through presenting a case study of the game Portal involving 14 participants, who differed in terms of their gaming expertise. By comparing optimum solutions to puzzles against observed player performance, we illustrate how the method can indicate particular problems with how learning is structured within a game. We argue that the method can highlight where major breakdowns occur and yield design insights that can improve the player experience with puzzle games

Affect and believability in game characters:a review of the use of affective computing in games

Virtual agents are important in many digital environments. Designing a character that highly engages users in terms of interaction is an intricate task constrained by many requirements. One aspect that has gained more attention recently is the effective dimension of the agent. Several studies have addressed the possibility of developing an affect-aware system for a better user experience. Particularly in games, including emotional and social features in NPCs adds depth to the characters, enriches interaction possibilities, and combined with the basic level of competence, creates a more appealing game. Design requirements for emotionally intelligent NPCs differ from general autonomous agents with the main goal being a stronger player-agent relationship as opposed to problem solving and goal assessment. Nevertheless, deploying an affective module into NPCs adds to the complexity of the architecture and constraints. In addition, using such composite NPC in games seems beyond current technology, despite some brave attempts. However, a MARPO-type modular architecture would seem a useful starting point for adding emotions

Using machine learning techniques to create AI controlled players for video games

This study aims to achieve higher replay and entertainment value in a game through human-like AI behaviour in computer controlled characters called bats. In order to achieve that, an artificial intelligence system capable of learning from observation of human player play was developed. The artificial intelligence system makes use of machine learning capabilities to control the state change mechanism of the bot. The implemented system was tested by an audience of gamers and compared against bats controlled by static scripts. The data collected was focused on qualitative aspects of replay and entertainment value of the game and subjected to quantitative analysi

Video game achievements

This thesis focuses on video game achievements in gaming platforms. The aim of this thesis is to research and analyse achievements and then conduct a study about them. The research area covers firstly video games, and how people are motivated to play them and what kind of playstyles there are. After that, video game achievements are examined by their type and design. Lastly, we will examine what effects video game achievements have on video game players, video games, and the development of video games. The achievement environments and user interfaces of the gaming platform Steam will be showcased as well to better understand how achievements can be viewed in the gaming platform. The study about video game achievements is conducted with a survey to gather data about video game players’ opinions on achievements and also how would they like to view and sort their achievements in gaming platforms. The results of the study are then used in the purpose of designing and implementing a functional front-end achievement environment application which can be used to sort and view achievements. According to the results of the survey, some players like video game achievements, while some do not. The achievement environment application was designed and built to sort achievements among other things by game, unlocked / locked, and how many players have unlocked the achievement, which is also known as global unlock percentage. As a suggestion by the survey participants, the application has sorting by unlock time and alphabetically by the name of achievements and games as well.Tämä pro gradu -tutkielma keskittyy eri pelialustojen videopelisaavutuksiin. Tutkielman tavoitteena on tutkia ja analysoida videopelisaavutuksia, ja sitten suorittaa tutkimus niihin liittyen. Tutkielmassa käsitellään ensin videopelejä ja sitä, miten ne motivoivat ihmisiä pelaamaan niitä ja millaisia pelityylejä pelaajilla on. Tämän jälkeen tarkastelemme erityyppisiä videopelisaavutuksia sekä miten saavutukset on suunniteltu. Viimeiseksi tutkimme videopelisaavutusten vaikutusta pelaajiin, videopeleihin ja videopelien kehitykseen. Käymme myös läpi Steam-pelialustan saavutusympäristöjä ja käyttöliittymiä, jotta ymmärrämme miten saavutukset näkyvät kyseisellä pelialustalla. Tutkimus videopelisaavutuksista suoritetaan kyselyllä, jolla saadaan kerättyä tietoa videopelipelaajien mielipiteistä videopelisaavutuksista sekä siitä, miten he haluaisivat seurata ja lajitella videopelisaavutuksia pelialustojen saavutusympäristöissä. Tutkimuksen tuloksia käytetään toimivan saavutusympäristön suunnitteluun ja toteutukseen, missä voi seurata ja lajitella omia videopelisaavutuksia. Osa kyselyyn osallistuneista pitää videopelisaavutuksista, kun taas osa ei. Kyselyn tulosten pohjalta toteutettu saavutusympäristö lajittelee saavutuksia muun muassa pelien ja saavutettu / ei saavutettu mukaan, sekä kuinka monta pelaajaa on saanut saavutuksen (global unlock percentage). Lisäehdotuksena toteutettiin myös saavutusajan mukaan lajittelu sekä saavutusten ja pelien lajittelu niiden nimien mukaan aakkosjärjestyksessä

Player–video game interaction: A systematic review of current concepts

International audienceVideo game design requires a user-centered approach to ensure that the experience enjoyed by players is as good as possible. However, the nature of player-video game interactions has not as yet been clearly defined in the scientific literature. The purpose of the present study was to provide a systematic review of empirical evidences of the current concepts of player-video game interactions in entertainment situations. A total of 72 articles published in scientific journals that deal with human-computer interaction met the criteria for inclusion in the present review. Major findings of these articles were presented in a narrative synthesis. Results showed that player-video game interactions could be defined with multiple concepts that are closely linked and intertwined. These concepts concern player aspects of player-video game interactions, namely engagement and enjoyment, and video game aspects, namely information input/output techniques, game contents and multiplayer games. Global approaches, such as playability, also exist to qualify player-video game interactions. Limitations of these findings are discussed to help researchers to plan future advances of the field and provide supplementary effort to better know the role of less-studied aspects. Practical implications are also discussed to help game designers to optimize the design of player-video game interactions

Level up learning: a national survey on teaching with digital games

Digital games have the potential to transform K-12 education as we know it. But what has been the real experience among teachers who use games in the classroom? In 2013, the Games and Learning Publishing Council conducted a national survey among nearly 700 K-8 teachers. The report reveals key findings from the survey, and looks at how often and why teachers use games in the classroom, as well as issues they encounter in their efforts to implement digital games into their practice

Effects of 3D Audio and Video in Video Games

Our study was carried out in order to improve our understanding of the relationship between 3D audio and video, and user experience in video games. In order to determine the best way to attempt to measure these effects, we researched several methods of 3D video and 3D audio delivery. We decided to use two different games to gauge the effectiveness of 3D video, Mario Kart 7 and Crysis 2. Due to a small sample size, we were unable to conclude strongly in either way about many of the factors we believed that 3D video and audio would effect, but were able to see an increase in enjoyment and perceived ability from our surveys

Feedback-Based Gameplay Metrics and Gameplay Performance Segmentation: An audio-visual approach for assessing player experience.

Gameplay metrics is a method and approach that is growing in popularity amongst the game studies research community for its capacity to assess players’ engagement with game systems. Yet, little has been done, to date, to quantify players’ responses to feedback employed by games that conveys information to players, i.e., their audio-visual streams. The present thesis introduces a novel approach to player experience assessment - termed feedback-based gameplay metrics - which seeks to gather gameplay metrics from the audio-visual feedback streams presented to the player during play. So far, gameplay metrics - quantitative data about a game state and the player's interaction with the game system - are directly logged via the game's source code. The need to utilise source code restricts the range of games that researchers can analyse. By using computer science algorithms for audio-visual processing, yet to be employed for processing gameplay footage, the present thesis seeks to extract similar metrics through the audio-visual streams, thus circumventing the need for access to, whilst also proposing a method that focuses on describing the way gameplay information is broadcast to the player during play. In order to operationalise feedback-based gameplay metrics, the present thesis introduces the concept of gameplay performance segmentation which describes how coherent segments of play can be identified and extracted from lengthy game play sessions. Moreover, in order to both contextualise the method for processing metrics and provide a conceptual framework for analysing the results of a feedback-based gameplay metric segmentation, a multi-layered architecture based on five gameplay concepts (system, game world instance, spatial-temporal, degree of freedom and interaction) is also introduced. Finally, based on data gathered from game play sessions with participants, the present thesis discusses the validity of feedback-based gameplay metrics, gameplay performance segmentation and the multi-layered architecture. A software system has also been specifically developed to produce gameplay summaries based on feedback-based gameplay metrics, and examples of summaries (based on several games) are presented and analysed. The present thesis also demonstrates that feedback-based gameplay metrics can be conjointly analysed with other forms of data (such as biometry) in order to build a more complete picture of game play experience. Feedback based game-play metrics constitutes a post-processing approach that allows the researcher or analyst to explore the data however they wish and as many times as they wish. The method is also able to process any audio-visual file, and can therefore process material from a range of audio-visual sources. This novel methodology brings together game studies and computer sciences by extending the range of games that can now be researched but also to provide a viable solution accounting for the exact way players experience games

Increasing user motivation of neurological occupational therapy in virtual reality using gamification

Abstract. Neurological rehabilitation is a long process which requires a lot of work and motivation from the patient to be effective. Though patients might be motivated to partake in rehabilitation just to improve their own ability to live a more fulfilling life, it is beneficial for all parties involved to enhance patient motivation by other means as well. Gamification aims to increase user motivation with the introduction of game-like elements in a non-game context. In this study, the effectiveness of gamification techniques, common in fields such as education and life-style applications, are investigated on a virtual reality-based neurological rehabilitation software. In this study a user study was conducted to evaluate the motivational aspect of gamification. Ten test subjects (six male and four female) aged 22–34 participated in two settings in a random predetermined order: a gamified environment and a simplified environment. After each play session, the participants filled a questionnaire and partook in a short semi-structured interview relating to the experience. Mixed methods analysis was conducted, meaning results were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. In quantitative analysis, the results showed that participants’ intrinsic motivation was greater during the gamified play session as opposed to the simplified one. Additionally, participant amotivation was somewhat higher in the simplified version. Qualitative analysis showed that the aesthetic elements combined with scoring system increased interest and motivation in the gamified environment. Though which independent elements contributed how much remained inconclusive. Follow-up studies with larger sample sizes could confirm the findings in this study and even go as far as to compare different gamification methods to further improve the usefulness of gamification in rehabilitation context.Pelillistämisen hyödyntäminen motivaation kasvattamisessa virtuaalitodellisuudessa järjestettävässä neurologisessa kuntoutuksessa. Tiivistelmä. Neurologinen kuntoutus on pitkä prosessi, joka vaatii paljon työtä ja motivaatiota potilaalta vaikuttaakseen tehokkaasti. Vaikka potilaat voivat olla motivoituneita kuntoututumaan parantaakseen elämänlaatuaan ja toimintakykyään, on hyödyllistä tukea motivaatiota myös toisin keinoin. Tässä tutkimuksessa tutkittiin pelillistämisen, jota on käytetty muun muassa koulutusja elämäntapasovelluksissa, hyötyjä virtuaalitodellisuudessa järjestettävässä neurologisessa kuntoutussovelluksessa. Kymmenen koehenkilöä (kuusi miestä ja neljä naista) iältään 22–34 ottivat osaa tutkimukseen, jossa he kokeilivat kahta satunnaisessa järjestyksessä valittua virtuaalitodellisuusympäristöä: pelillistettyä, sekä yksinkertaistettua. Molemman pelisession jälkeen osallistujat täyttivät kyselylomakkeen ja osallistuivat lyhyeen haastatteluun. Tulokset analysoitiin monimenetelmä analyysillä, tarkoittaen että tulokset analysoitiin kvantitatiivisesti ja kvalitatiivisesti. Kvantitatiivisessa analyysissä tulokset osoittivat osallistujien kokeneen enemmän sisäistä motivaatiota pelillistetyssä ympäristössä kuin yksinkertaistetussa. Lisäksi koehenkilöt kokivat jokseenkin enemmän motivaation puutetta yksinkertaisessa versiossa ympäristöstä. Kvalitatiivinen analyysi osoitti, että esteettiset elementit sekä pisteiden lasku lisäsivät kiinnostusta ja motivaatiota pelillistettyyn version. Kuitenkin epäselväksi jäi, kuinka paljon yksittäiset elementit vaikuttivat tähän tuntemukseen. Jatkotutkimukset suuremmalla osallistujamäärällä voisivat vahvistaa tämän tutkimuksen löytöjä. Lisäksi olisi mahdollista vertailla eri pelillistämismenetelmiä ja niiden hyötyjä neurologisessa kuntoutuksessa