Preliminary Study of the Performance of the miniPXI when Measuring Player Experience throughout Game Development

Short questionnaires, using only a few items for measuring user experience related constructs, have been used in a variety of domains. In the field of games, the miniPXI is such a validated short version of the player experience inventory (PXI), containing 11 single items to measure 11 different PX-related constructs. Previous validations of the miniPXI were carried out in an experimental setting with existing, fully finished games. In this study, we conduct a preliminary investigation of the potential of miniPXI to evaluate prototypes during game development. We explore differences in PX across two iterations of nine games prototypes, based on input from 16 participants. Findings suggest that the miniPXI is capable of detecting differences between the two prototype versions. In addition, at the level of individual games, the miniPXI is effective at identifying differences in nearly all PX dimensions. However, we also find limited use for the single enjoyment item, and suggest that including alternative measures such as the Net Promotor Score may be more useful. Overall, this work suggests that the miniPXI has the potential to evaluate different iterations of game prototypes, starting from the earliest stages of game development.