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Exploration of Player Emotions, Behaviours, and Individual Differences across Game Difficulty Levels in a Turn-Based Strategy Game

Published: 06 October 2023 Publication History
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  • Abstract

    Player emotion is a crucial aspect of the video game experience, as games employ interactive environments that elicit a diverse range of both negative and positive emotions. These emotions vary among players due to individual differences, ultimately shaping their unique emotional perceptions and influencing behaviours within the game environment. This study aims to investigate the dynamic emotional responses experienced by players during gameplay and exploring the correlation between player traits and behaviours. By utilising a turn-based strategy game, we employed a combination of self-report measures and behavioural observations to assess players’ emotional changes across varying game difficulty levels. Our results revealed that the hard game session elicited higher levels of arousal and negative emotion in players compared to the easy game session. Furthermore, we observed that players with a low extroversion tendency exhibited a higher inclination towards exploration behaviour in the game. This research provides initial insights into the complex interplay between player emotions, in-game behaviours and individual differences across game difficulties.

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    Cited By

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    • (2024)The Age-Reward Perspective: A Systematic Review of Reward Mechanisms in Serious Games for Older PeopleProceedings of the 2024 ACM International Conference on Interactive Media Experiences10.1145/3639701.3656327(168-181)Online publication date: 7-Jun-2024

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    cover image ACM Conferences
    CHI PLAY Companion '23: Companion Proceedings of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play
    October 2023
    370 pages
    ISBN:9798400700293
    DOI:10.1145/3573382
    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License.

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    New York, NY, United States

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    Published: 06 October 2023

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    Author Tags

    1. emotional changes
    2. mixed affect
    3. personality
    4. player behaviour

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    • (2024)The Age-Reward Perspective: A Systematic Review of Reward Mechanisms in Serious Games for Older PeopleProceedings of the 2024 ACM International Conference on Interactive Media Experiences10.1145/3639701.3656327(168-181)Online publication date: 7-Jun-2024

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