The effect of time manipulation on immersion in digital games

Many empirical studies look into identifying factors that influence the quality of experience in video games. In this paper, we present research into the effect of playing time and players’ perception of the time on their immersion in the game. We invited 20 participants to play a puzzle game Bejeweled 2 for 7 min. They played the game in two conditions, namely, correct time (timer was programmed to be exactly 7 min) and wrong time (the countdown was set to be for 6 min, but was presented as a 7 min timer to the player). Players’ immersion scores were measured after the game using the IEQ. The results show no significant difference in immersion scores between the two conditions and participants’ comments also revealed that they perceived no difference in playing time between the conditions. This suggests that there is a dissociation between gaming time and subjective experience of gaming. Further research is required to investigate the relationship between playing time and positive gaming experiences

Too Many Questionnaires: Measuring Player Experience Whilst Playing Digital Games

Player experience is an important area of research in digital games. The findings are crucial for the developers, designers and reviewers of games, allowing for the better understanding of player experience whilst playing digital games. Questionnaires are a way to directly measure the reported experiences of players. This approach in games research, however, is challenging for new researchers because of the proliferation of questionnaires available. The problem is knowing which questionnaires are measuring what aspect of experience. This paper sets out the need for positioning the various questionnaires in relation to each other. We list all the current available questionnaires to measure engagement whilst playing digital games. We, therefore, argue that further investigation on these questionnaires is needed to produce better quality questionnaires and reduce confusion amongst player experience researchers

Chapter Is Three better than Two? A Study on EEG Activity and Imagination Abilities in 2D vs 3D Stimuli

Real and virtual are often considered terms in reciprocal opposition, but the boundaries between the two are blurred. The main goal of our study consists in answering the question whether the presence of a third dimension (3D) is a fundamental step of the virtual toward the real world, and if it causes some difference in the neural activity of the spectator [8]. Also, the possibility to consider real what is virtual will be discussed [6, 7]

Effectiveness of motor exercises (stroll)on time perception in patients with schizophrenia disorder

زمینه و هدف: اختلال اسکیزوفرنی از اختلالات شایع روان پزشکی است و تحریف در ادراک زمان یکی از علایم این اختلال محسوب می­شود. این مطالعه با درک این موضوع و با هدف تعیین اثربخشی تمرینات حرکتی بر بهبود ادراک زمان در بیماران مبتلا به اسکیزوفرنی انجام شد. روش بررسی: در این مطالعه آزمایشی60 بیمار مبتلا به اسکیزوفرنی از بین جامعه آماری بیماران روانی که در سال 1392 در بخش اعصاب و روان بیمارستان فاطمی و بیمارستان روانپزشکی ایثار شهرستان اردبیل بستری بودند، با استفاده از روش نمونه­گیری در دسترس انتخاب و به­طور تصادفی در 2 گروه آزمایش و کنترل گمارده شدند و پس از مصاحبه بالینی، مطالعه پرونده بیمار، اجرای مقیاس PANSS و بررسی ادراک زمان با استفاده از 2 محرک دیداری و شنیداری و دستگاه زمان سنج، گروه آزمایش تمرینات حرکتی را به صورت قدم زدن آهسته در 3 گام به همه جهات انجام دادند. داده­ها با آزمون آماری تحلیل واریانس چند متغیره تحلیل گردید. یافته ها: نتایج آزمون تحلیل واریانس چند متغیره نشان داد که بین گروه آزمایش و کنترل در نمره ی پس­آزمون تفاوت معنی­داری وجود دارد (05/0>P). به این معنی که تمرینات حرکتی بر بهبود ادراک زمان گروه آزمایش موثر بوده است. نتیجه گیری: نتایج این بررسی نیز نشان داد که با آموزش تمرینات حرکتی به بیماران مبتلا به اختلال اسکیزوفرنی، می توان در ادراک زمان آنان تغییر ایجاد کرد که این یافته در توان بخشی بیماران روانی قابلیت کاربرد دارد

An experimental protocol to access immersiveness in video games

In the video game industry, great importance is given to the experience that the user has while playing a game. In particular, this experience benefits from the players' perceived sense of being in the game or immersion. The level of user immersion depends not only on the game's content but also on how the game is displayed, thus on its User Interface (UI) and the Head's-Up Display (HUD). Another factor influencing immersiveness that has been found in the literature is the player's expertise: the more experience the user has with a specific game, the less they need information on the screen to be immersed in the game. Player's level of immersion can be accessed by using both questionnaires of their perceived experience and exploiting their behavioural and physiological responses while playing the target game. Therefore, in this paper, we propose an experimental protocol to access immersiveness of gamers while playing a third-person shooter (Fortnite) with UIs with a standard, a dietetic, and a proposed HUD. A subjective evaluation of the immersion will be provided by completing the Immersive Experience Questionnaire (IEQ), while objective indicators will be provided by face tracking, behaviour and physiological responses analyses. The ultimate goal of this study is to define guidelines for video game UI development that can enhance the players' immersion.Comment: Accepted at the Italian Workshop on Artificial Intelligence for Human Machine Interaction (AIxHMI 2023), November 06, 2023, Rome, Ital

Analysis of the impact of various gamification factors on the level of player satisfaction

Gamification has become a very popular term for a wide range of opportunities to increase customer interest and satisfaction. This has many uses, including science, commerce and everyday life. Despite the widespread use of gamification mechanisms, the scale of possible benefits is still unknown. The following work examines the influence of various gamification factors on a player's playing time and satisfaction in order to find the factor that brings the greatest benefit. The research was carried out using a game specially created for this purpose and on the basis of the results of the survey presented to the players. The results show that the five selected gamification factors are the challenges and the badges awarded for them have the greatest impact on both examined metrics

Haptic Sensory Perception and Customer Experience in a 360-Virtual Store: Does Time Spent Play a Role?

Building on stimulus(S)-organism(O)-response(R) theory, this research examines the effects of haptic sensory perception on user experience and satisfaction in a 360-virtual store. We postulate that time spent in a 360-virtual store reinforces the effects in the S-O-R model. The results support the theory that haptic sensory perception triggered by a 360-virtual store (stimulus) improves customer experience (organism) and that the experience further enhances virtual store satisfaction (response). We find that the time spent in a virtual store reinforces the former effect, but not the latter effect. The results of an experiment involving 587 respondents further suggest that this finding only holds true to users who are merely browsing, but not to users tasked with searching for a specific product in the 360-virtual store. We encourage management to create sensory cues in virtual stores to improve user experience and satisfaction, and virtual in-store stimuli to increase time spent in the store

Is three better than two? A study on EEG activity and imagination abilities in 2D vs 3D stimuli

Real and virtual are often considered terms in reciprocal opposition, but the boundaries between the two are blurred. The main goal of our study consists in answering the question whether the presence of a third dimension (3D) is a fundamental step of the virtual toward the real world, and if it causes some difference in the neural activity of the spectator [8]. Also, the possibility to consider real what is virtual will be discussed

Removing the HUD: The Impact of Non-Diegetic Game Elements and Expertise on Player Involvement

Previous research has shown that player involvement can be influenced by a range of factors, from the controllers used to the perceived level of challenge provided by the game. However, little attention has been paid to the influence of the game interface. Game interfaces consist of both diegetic (that can be viewed by the player-character, e.g. the game world) and non-diegetic components (that are only viewed by the player, e.g. the heads-up display). In this paper we examine two versions of a first-person shooter game to investigate how immersion is influenced through interacting with a diegetic and non-diegetic interface. Our findings suggest that the removal of non-diegetic elements, such as the heads-up display, is able to influence immersion in expert players through increasing their cognitive involvement and sense of control. We argue that these results illustrate the importance of considering the role of expertise in relation to how particular design choices will influence the player experience