Influence of head-up displays’ characteristics on user experience in video games

Head-up displays (HUD) are important parts of visual interfaces of virtual environments such as video games. However, few studies have investigated their role in player–video game interactions. Two experiments were designed to investigate the influence of HUDs on player experience according to player expertise and game genre. Experiment 1 used eye-tracking and interviews to understand how and to what extent players use and experience HUDs in two types of commercial games: first-person shooter and real-time strategy games. Results showed that displaying a permanent HUD within the visual interface may improve the understanding of this environment by players. They also revealed that two HUD characteristics, namely composition and spatial organization, have particular influence on player experience. These critical characteristics were manipulated in experiment 2 to study more precisely the influence of HUD design choices on player experience. Results showed that manipulation of design of these HUD characteristics influences player experience in different ways according to player expertise and game genre. For games with HUDs that are perceived as very useful, the higher player expertise is, the more player experience is influenced. Recommendations for video game design based on these results are proposed.     

The impact of social network embeddedness on mobile massively multiplayer online games play

Social factors play a critical role in motivating player participation and commitment to online multiplayer games. Many popular mobile massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) adopt social network embeddedness (SNE) functions to optimise players' social play experience. SNE changes the traditional pattern of MMOG social play by porting acquaintance relationships (e.g., Facebook friends) from social networking sites to the virtual game world. However, little understanding exists on how SNE impacts mobile MMOG players' game participation results such as play performance and play frequency. Drawing on the affordance framework and social capital literature, this research proposes a theoretical model that integrates the factors of SNE technology affordance (identity transparency and information transparency), players' social experience (social interaction, social support, shared vision, and social pressure), plus affordance effects (play performance and play frequency). The model was validated through a longitudinal field study, in which both subjective and objective data were collected from Game for Peace players. Our findings indicate that identity transparency and information transparency positively correlate with social interaction, social support, shared vision, and social pressure, which, taken together, significantly affect play frequency. The results also show that social interaction and shared vision positively impact players' play performance. The study enhances the theoretical understanding of social relationships in players' game participation results from the SNE aspect. Finally, we lend insights on how game operators can improve player game experience and stickiness.     

面向游戏体验的玩家匹配综述

玩家匹配是一种让等待游戏的玩家以开始一局在线多人游戏为目的自动地匹配到一起的技术。这些玩家希望得到有趣和平衡的游戏体验,不论是相互合作还是竞争,并且常常以团队的形式。而在线竞技游戏中玩家的满意度,因涉及到玩家间的交互而难以确保。因此,为了满足玩家的需求．研究人员将玩家匹配系统作为增强玩家游戏体验的手段。形成了一个新兴的研究领域：面向游戏体验的玩家匹配。该研究重点介绍两种玩家匹配方法：基于玩家水平的方法和基于玩家角色的方法．并对近年来出版的有关增强玩家游戏体验的玩家匹配文献进行调查和分析。     

Enhancing the flow experience of consumers in China through interpersonal interaction in social commerce

Although research on flow experience has recently received much attention, few studies have been published on the perceived interpersonal interaction factors of consumers and their influence in social commerce. In addition, few studies have focused on the impact of interpersonal interaction factors on flow experience. Drawing on the stimulus-organism-response framework, this study examines the impact of interpersonal interaction factors (perceived expertise, similarity, and familiarity) on the formation of flow experience and its subsequent effects on purchase intention in the context of social commerce. We investigate whether the impact of the three interpersonal interaction factors on flow experience differs between young and old users. We conduct a survey and collect 349 responses from users of a social shopping site in China. Our results indicate that interpersonal interaction factors positively relate to flow experience and subsequently influence purchase intention. We also find differences between young and old users in this area.     

Self-regulation influence on game play flow state

The authors use the Music Flow digital game with 266 Taiwanese junior high school students to investigate the influence of digital game player self-regulation (SR) on game flow state. Game data were used to probe various aspects of Bandura's (1986) SR learning model and related effects on game flow state as described in Csikszentmihalyi's (1990) flow theory to determine if game information can be used to measure SR during different flow states. A tool for recording stage selection, hit rate, and other real time data was created to monitor and measure flow state among players immersed in interactive play. Self-reaction capabilities were measured in terms of skill- and game-level difficulty during different states. Results indicate that SR exerted a significant and positive effect on flow state. Our main conclusions are (a) flow state was continuously influenced by self-reaction over time; (b) hit rate served as an indicator of self-judgment in terms of challenge, skill and flow state; and (c) flow states in players with distinct self-reaction capabilities were influenced by play stage selection. It is our hope that the method used in this study will help researchers in their efforts to measure and/or analyze player sense of fun in game-based learning environments.     

Toward a quizmaster robot for speech-based multiparty interaction

This paper presents an interactive quizmaster robot that can manage a multiparty speech-based quiz game. The basic flow of the quiz game is that (1) the robot reads a question, (2) one or more players answer it, and (3) the robot judges the correctness of the answers. We categorize such speech-based quiz games into school-type interaction and auction-type interaction. The former asks players to say ‘Yes’ to get the right to answer before answering a question and the latter allows players to directly answer a question without any advance notice. To realize such interaction, the robot needs the capability of recognizing utterances from multiple people using its own microphones (i.e. ears), even if those utterances are made simultaneously. To cope with such situations, the robot estimates which player made the fastest utterance and recognizes it by localizing and separating a mixture of audio signals. Experiments were conducted to evaluate the success rates of the fastest player identification and speech recognition. The results showed that the robot could identify the fastest speakers with a success rate of 90.0% more accurately than humans when only one speaker slightly preceded the other speakers. We found that although the success rate of speech recognition for the fastest speakers did not reach that of humans, the robot attains amusing quiz game interaction.     

DRAMA MANAGEMENT AND PLAYER MODELING FOR INTERACTIVE FICTION GAMES

A growing research community is working toward employing drama management components in story‐based games. These components gently guide the story toward a narrative arc that improves the player's gaming experience. In this article we evaluate a novel drama management approach deployed in an interactive fiction game called Anchorhead. This approach uses player's feedback as the basis for guiding the personalization of the interaction. The results indicate that adding our Case‐based Drama manaGer (C‐DraGer) to the game guides the players through the interaction and provides a better overall player experience. Unlike previous approaches to drama management, this article focuses on exhibiting the success of our approach by evaluating results using human players in a real game implementation. Based on this work, we report several insights on drama management which were possible only due to an evaluation with real players.     

Opportunistic mobile games using public transportation systems: a deployability study

With the growing availability of personal communication devices, we are witnessing a tremendous increase in the demand for mobile services based on location and context. Mobile gaming as a service is, of course, no exception. Unfortunately, differently from other services, location- and context-based gaming strictly requires near-field communication to interact with nearby players to create teams and arenas. Since currently adopted technologies suffer from scalability (Bluetooth) or energy (WiFi) constraints, opportunistic networks (ONs) have already been addressed as a viable solution to involve a considerable number of players on a wider area. Nevertheless, it is not yet clear how player experience will be affected by the increased delay and probabilistic message forwarding introduced by an ON. In this paper, we address the aforementioned problems by studying, by means of simulations, the feasibility to deploy a contact-based game on top of the ON provided by the public transportation systems (PTSs) of three cities: Milan (Italy), Edmonton (AB, Canada), and Chicago (IL, USA). Furthermore, to provide playability and scalability considerations, we also study an opportunistic collaborative version of a famous standalone game. The focus on this specific game is functional to foster the use of the PTS itself. The contribution of this paper is twofold. Firstly, we provide simulation results hinting that deployment on a PTS is feasible when targeting users commuting inside the city. Secondly, we provide a number of considerations and guidelines for game designers to actually deliver a compelling and intriguing experience.     

MMORPG Player actions: Network performance, session patterns and latency requirements analysis

Providing Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) is a big challenge for future mobile, IP-based networks. Understanding how the players’ actions affect the network parameters, the game platform, and the overall perceived quality is highly relevant for the purposes of game design, as well as for the networking infrastructure and network support for games. We break player actions down into discrete categories, and show that each category is distinct in terms of several key metrics. We discuss which categories of actions could be supported on current mobile devices, and present evidence in form of a user survey demonstrating the demand for such services. The starting points into the discussion include the networking, session and latency requirements for particular player actions on one side, and the players’ interest on the other. The Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft (WoW) is used as a case study.     

Towards affective camera control in games

Information about interactive virtual environments, such as games, is perceived by users through a virtual camera. While most interactive applications let users control the camera, in complex navigation tasks within 3D environments users often get frustrated with the interaction. In this paper, we propose inclusion of camera control as a vital component of affective adaptive interaction in games. We investigate the impact of camera viewpoints on psychophysiology of players through preference surveys collected from a test game. Data is collected from players of a 3D prey/predator game in which player experience is directly linked to camera settings. Computational models of discrete affective states of fun, challenge, boredom, frustration, excitement, anxiety and relaxation are built on biosignal (heart rate, blood volume pulse and skin conductance) features to predict the pairwise self-reported emotional preferences of the players. For this purpose, automatic feature selection and neuro-evolutionary preference learning are combined providing highly accurate affective models. The performance of the artificial neural network models on unseen data reveals accuracies of above 80% for the majority of discrete affective states examined. The generality of the obtained models is tested in different test-bed game environments and the use of the generated models for creating adaptive affect-driven camera control in games is discussed.     

The Impact of Payoff Function and Local Interaction on the N-Player Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma

The N-player iterated prisoner's dilemma (NIPD) game has been widely used to study the evolution of cooperation in social, economic and biological systems. This paper studies the impact of different payoff functions and local interactions on the NIPD game. The evolutionary approach is used to evolve game-playing strategies starting from a population of random strategies. The different payoff functions used in our study describe different behaviors of cooperation and defection among a group of players. Local interaction introduces neighborhoods into the NIPD game. A player does not play against every other player in a group any more. He only interacts with his neighbors. We investigate the impact of neighborhood size on the evolution of cooperation in the NIPD game and the generalization ability of evolved strategies. Received 18 August 1999 / Revised 27 February 2000 / Accepted 15 May 2000     

Personalise your massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) with Artemis

Better mobile computing, broadband and devices have contributed to the fast growth and popularity of massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs). Players are now expecting a more personalised gaming experience as personalisation has begun to filter into most games and not just MMOGs. In this paper, we explain how players of MMOGs can enjoy a ubiquitous and personalised gaming experience anywhere, on any device, and on any network with Artemis. MPEG-7 is not traditionally used for modelling games; however, Artemis adopts MPEG-7 for modelling the player, their device and the game, in conjunction with genetic algorithms for personalising the game, where possible.     

The effects of a player’s network centrality on resource accessibility,game enjoyment,and continuance intention: A study on online gaming communities

This study applies social capital theory to investigate how a player’s network centrality in an online gaming community (i.e., a guild) affects his/her attitude and continuance intention toward a Massive Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG). Analysis of 347 usable responses shows that players’ network centrality has a negative impact on their ties to players who belong to other guilds (i.e., non-guild interaction), but a positive effect on players’ access to resources. However, players’ network centrality fails to increase their perceived game enjoyment directly. Players’ resource accessibility and perceived game enjoyment play mediating roles in the relationship between network centrality and attitude toward playing an MMOG, which in turn influences game continuance intention. The results also show that although players’ non-guild interaction is negatively related to their resource accessibility from the networks, it is positively associated with perceived game enjoyment. The article concludes with implications and limitations of the study.     

Why do people play on-line games? An extended TAM with social influences and flow experience

On-line games have been a highly profitable e-commerce application in recent years. The market value of on-line games is increasing markedly and number of players is rapidly growing. The reasons that people play on-line games is an important area of research. This study views on-line games as entertainment technology. However, while most past studies have focused on task-oriented technology, predictors of entertainment-oriented technology adoption have seldom been addressed.This study applies the technology acceptance model (TAM) that incorporates social influences and flow experience as belief-related constructs to predict users’ acceptance of on-line games. The proposed model was empirically evaluated using survey data collected from 233 users about their perceptions of on-line games. Overall, the results reveal that social norms, attitude, and flow experience explain about 80% of game playing. The implications of this study are discussed.     

Interpersonal influence on online game choices

Several theories stress the importance of interpersonal influence on an individual’s adoption of a product or service. However, there has been little research that empirically examined how online friends influence an individual’s online product choices. This study examines the effect of a game player’s online friends who adopted a game earlier than the player on the likelihood that the player adopts the game. Two main factors considered in this study are: (1) the number of online friends who adopted a game earlier and (2) the strength of ties between the player and the player’s online friends who adopted the game earlier. Using a hazard model with data on 1,668 game players’ gaming activities and relational connections, we find (1) the likelihood that a player adopts a particular game increases the more her online friends adopted the game earlier, and (2) the influence of the prior adopter friends on the likelihood that a player adopts the game varies with the strength of ties between the player and her prior adopter friends. But the p-values of the coefficients for the corresponding independent variables are larger than the conventional cutoff point, 0.05. Possible causes for this statistical insignificance are discussed in the text.     

An old game,new experience: exploring the effect of players’ personal gameplay history on game experience

This experimental study explores how game experience differs between players with different gameplay histories within the same game universe. We are interested in how prolonged engagement with a game series affects the gameplay experience in relation to the most recent game version in the series. A total of 54 participants were divided into four groups depending on their gaming experience, namely non-gamers, new-gamers, old-gamers and core-gamers. They played the mobile version of Super Mario Run, and questionnaire data was collected after the gameplay session. The results of the study showed that not only the players’ personal gameplay history but also the length of experience or degree of familiarity with the game universe affected the experience of playing a new game in the same game universe. Additionally, familiarity with the game universe had a positive impact on the feeling of competence, immersion, emotions and flow.

     

Are two better than one? Playing singly,playing in dyads in a computerized simulation of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict

The study examined a computerized simulation of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict as a peace education tool for Israeli female undergraduate students of Palestinian and Jewish origin. To win the game, players are required to arrive at a two-state solution of the conflict. 100 Israeli female students of Palestinian and Jewish origin either supporting or opposing this solution played the game singly or in dyads. The rules of the study required players in dyads to reach mutual agreement on every action in the game. Results indicated that 19 out of 25 dyads resolved the conflict in the game as opposed to 16 out of 50 single players. In addition, players in dyads took more political actions and less security actions than single players did. Finally, players in dyads preferred to focus more on political actions than on security actions in the game. The abovementioned results point out three key implications for peace education. First, PeaceMaker reduces the tension and the charged atmosphere between Jewish and Palestinian players. Second, the game should be played in dyads and not singly. Finally, dyads should be comprised of a Jewish player and a Palestinian player in order to challenge their interaction and game behavior.     

基于Shapley值的自组网合作机制分析

在无线移动自组网中,每个节点都独立进行决定,不可能完全自发合作。针对该问题,基于移动自组网的特殊性,将节点间的信息传递看作二人博弈,提出一个约束协议,使节点只有在合作时才能到达各自的收益最大,且使网络性能最优。同时分析网络传输失败原因是网络噪声干扰还是参与者的恶意行为。     

The social influence of online collaborative community: the moderating effect of achievement

Online collaborative communities become particularly influential in contemporary Internet economy. However, these communities are often characterised by limited liability. Following the perspective of social influence, this study examines the impacts of three social influence modes in online collaborative communities of a famous online game. The moderating role of a player’s game achievement is also explored. Our results show that community identification is the most influential on online game continuance intention, especially for high achievement players. Community value congruence is likely to affect online game continuance intention for low achievement players. The impact of community normative influence on online game continuance intention appears to be curvilinear. This is more obvious for low achievement players. Implications for research and practice are also discussed.     

VisuaLeague: Player performance analysis using spatial-temporal data

In recent years, the phenomenon of eSports has been a growing trend and consequently, in addition to players, other groups of users, including coaches and analysts, took an interest in online video games and the data extracted from them. Among many types of video games, one of the most widely played is the MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) League of Legend (LoL) game. Similary to traditional sports, players and coaches/analysts analyse all game events, such as, players’ movements, to understand how they play to define new strategies and improve their performance. Our main goal is to get a better understanding of which visualizations techniques are more adequate to handle this type of spatio-temporal information data, associated to player performance analysis in video games. To address this goal, we inquired players to identify the analytical questions they need to support for performance analysis and designed the VisuaLeague prototype for the visualization of in-game player trajectories, using animated maps, and events during a LoL match. This paper presents a user study to evaluate the adequacy of animated maps and the analytical strategies followed by players when using spatio-temporal data to analyse player performance. The results support the adequacy of using the animated maps technique to convey information to users in this context. Moreover, they also point out towards a high degree of importance given to the spatio-temporal components of the data for player performance analysis.