Gaming for Post-Work Recovery: The Role of Immersion

Playing digital games can be an effective means of recovering from daily work strain. However, limited research has examined which player experiences contribute to this process, limiting the ability of players to select games and play them in a manner which helps them recover effectively. Hence, this paper reports a mixed-methods survey study investigating how a recent post-work recovery episode was impacted by immersion: a player experience which has been implicated in theoretical accounts relating games and recovery. We found that particular dimensions of immersion, such as cognitive involvement, support specific post-work recovery needs. Moreover, participants report not only experiencing benefits in a passive manner, but actively optimising their levels of immersion to achieve recovery. This study extends previous research by improving our understanding of how digital games support post-work recovery and by demonstrating that immersion is key in determining the restorative potential of digital games

Determinants of hostility in multiplayer online battle games called MOBAs

Cilj ovog istraživanja bio je utvrditi neke odrednice hostilnosti u timskim borbenim online video igrama zvanim MOBA (Massive online battle arena). Ispitivanje je provedeno na 215 igrača, metodom snježne grude. Upitniku se pristupalo online, putem poveznice koja je podijeljena u grupe na društvenim mrežama, specifično namijenjene igračima tih igara iz Hrvatske. U istraživanju su se koristile Skale uznemiravajućeg ponašanja u video igrama, Upitnik problematičnog online igranja, te Upitnik atribucija specifičan za igre. Svi mjerni instrumenti prevedeni su na hrvatski jezik. Rezultati su pokazali kako postoje dvije vrste hostilnosti – općenita i seksualna, te su obje povezane s ovisnošću o online igrama i hostilnošću drugih igrača. Ljudi ovisniji o online igrama su hostilniji prema drugim igračima, kao i oni koji su izjavljivali veću doživljenu hostilnost od strane drugih igrača, dok se povezanost između atribucijske dimenzije kontrole i hostilnosti nije pokazala značajnom. Provedena je i regresijska analiza u kojoj je jedini značajan prediktor za općenitu hostilnost bila doživljena općenita hostilnost, a za seksualnu doživljena seksualna hostilnost i ovisnost o igranju online igara. Ovakvi rezultati upućuju na važnost okruženja i ponašanja drugih tijekom igranja MOBA igara, jer kad jedan igrač postane hostilan, velika je šansa da će i drugi postati, te na taj način promijeniti iskustvo igranja. Također, treba pripaziti na količinu vremena koje se provodi igrajući online igre, jer nalazi pokazuju da su ovisniji ljudi i hostilniji.The goal of this research was to study hostility in MOBA games and some of its determinants. The research was conducted on 215 Massive online battle arena (MOBA) players, by snowball data gathering method. Questionnaire could be accessed online, via link shared to groups on social media, which were created by MOBA players from Croatia. In this study, we used Video Game Harassment Behavior Scale, Problematic Online Game Questionnaire and Game-Specific Attribution Questionnaire, all translated to croatian language. The results had shown that hostility can be divided into general and sexual, which are both correlated with online games addiction and hostility of other players. People addicted to online games are more hostile towards others, as well as people who experienced hostile behavior from other players, while correlation between attribution dimension of controllability and hostility was not significant. Regression analysis has shown that the only significant predictor of general hostility was experienced general hostility, while experienced sexual hostility and addiction to online games were predictors of sexual hostility. Results imply the importance of in-game environment and other players’ behavior; because if only one player becomes hostile towards someone, there is a big chance other players will become hostile and change the game experience. Also, time spent playing online games should be monitored, because, as researches show, more addicted individuals are also more hostile

The challenge of evaluating player experience in Tabletop Role-Playing Games

Tabletop Role-Playing Games (TTRPGs) offer players the opportunity to form imaginary gameworlds and stories within them, create community, solve problems, and explore identity. Designers and researchers have tried to identify how aspects of TTRPGs facilitate collaboration, immersion, creativity, and more. However, there has been no attempt to develop a formal assessment methodology for player experience during TTRPG play. This paper argues that evaluating TTRPG players’ experience can provide vital data for Game Masters to improve on their future games, for players to reflect on their experience, and for TTRPG designers or event organizers to collect and compare data. As a first step towards developing such an evaluation method, we identify important dimensions of TTRPG play that can be meaningful to track and actionable to improve upon. Moreover, we review player experience dimensions and evaluation methods in digital games, and explore similarities and differences with TTRPGs.peer-reviewe

Jumping Caveman: A Tool for Manipulating Player Experience and Answering Questions in Games Research

Standard tools exist for assessing player experience; however, there are few tools for inducing play experiences. Game researchers without the resources to operationalize an experimental factor of interest as an implemented mechanic in the design of a custom game are therefore limited in the types of controlled experiments they can conduct. Modifying an existing off-the-shelf game leverages the design and resources of game studio development, but researchers are limited in what type of questions they can ask due to the lack of access control on the source code. We present an open-source system that can be used by game researchers to manipulate player experience in a reliable way and at a finer time resolution than has previously been reported. We simulate the experience of success and failure by providing covert assistance or hindrance to a player, as this has been shown to reliably affect player experience measures. Through three studies, we show that the system manipulates experience in an intended and predictable way. With our system, researchers can also modify the experiment design through simple configuration interface - which allows them to quickly create experiment conditions even if they do not possess technical knowledge of game development. There are many research questions that revolve around the experience of in-game success or failure and our tool allows researchers to ask and answer interesting questions in games research through controlled experiments

Effects of Local Latency on Games

Video games are a major type of entertainment for millions of people, and feature a wide variety genres. Many genres of video games require quick reactions, and in these games it is critical for player performance and player experience that the game is responsive. One of the major contributing factors that can make games less responsive is local latency — the total delay between input and a resulting change to the screen. Local latency is produced by a combination of delays from input devices, software processing, and displays. Due to latency, game companies spend considerable time and money play-testing their games to ensure the game is both responsive and that the in-game difficulty is reasonable. Past studies have made it clear that local latency negatively affects both player performance and experience, but there is still little knowledge about local latency’s exact effects on games. In this thesis, we address this problem by providing game designers with more knowledge about local latency’s effects. First, we performed a study to examine latency’s effects on performance and experience for popular pointing input devices used with games. Our results show significant differences between devices based on the task and the amount of latency. We then provide design guidelines based on our findings. Second, we performed a study to understand latency’s effects on ‘atoms’ of interaction in games. The study varied both latency and game speed, and found game speed to affect a task’s sensitivity to latency. Third, we used our findings to build a model to help designers quickly identify latency-sensitive game atoms, thus saving time during play-testing. We built and validated a model that predicts errors rates in a game atom based on latency and game speed. Our work helps game designers by providing new insight into latency’s varied effects and by modelling and predicting those effect

Atmosphere & Challenge: An Exploration of Dissonant Player Experiences

Dissonance means an unusual combination of any two things. Two dissonant experiences in video games which could lead to undesirable player states are thematic dissonance and difficulty dissonance. Thematic dissonance potentially annoys players by breaking the atmosphere, and difficulty dissonance by preventing players with low skill from progressing past unbalanced challenges, resulting in rage-quits. This thesis seeks to deepen the understanding of dissonant experiences in video games through two experiments measuring the player experience as affected by different audio and practice conditions respectively. Results indicate that the experience colloquially referred to as a rage-quit is directly affected by avatar death events and game-specific skill and is related to lower levels of heart rate variability (HRV) and higher levels of electrodermal activity (EDA), which implicates feelings of stress. This project successfully advances the definition of video game atmosphere as the level of subjective thematic fit or association between the audio and visual components of a game’s setting, and indicates that musical thematic dissonance may lead to higher intensity negative valence facial events

Design Guidelines for Video Games to Achieve an Understanding of Care

The ability to care is a core aspect of being human. Despite its fundamental value, care has historically been systematically and culturally devalued and neglected as a field of practice. It is only in the past several decades, driven by a new generation of philosophers and studies in the domain of healthcare has care ethics been slowly recognized as an area of opportunity and its complexity worthy of academic discussion. In parallel to this development, the domain of video games has emerged. In particular, a type of video game that provides an immersive, simulated, and open-ended experience for players, where the primary design goals are to promote a believable world with freedom for players to express themselves while subject to the consequences of their actions. While care ethics and video game design may seem quite removed from each other, this research will explore the convergence of care ethics and game design and demonstrate the opportunity in connecting these two domains. Using the method of design patterns, guidelines are proposed that encourage the design of immersive, simulated, and open-ended video games that promote an understanding of care by players