Publications
85 results found
Ballou N, Sewall CJR, Ratcliffe J, et al., 2024, Registered Report Evidence Suggests No Relationship Between Objectively Tracked Video Game Playtime and Wellbeing Over 3 Months, Technology, Mind, and Behavior, ISSN: 2689-0208
Recent years have seen intense research, media, and policy debate on whether amount of time spent playing video games (“playtime”) affects players’ well-being. Existing research has used cross-sectional designs with easy-to-obtain but unreliable self- report measures of playtime or, in rare instances, obtained industry data on objectively tracked playtime but only for individual games, not a player’s total playtime across games. Further, researchers have raised concerns that publication bias and a lack of differentiation between exploratory and con rmatory research have undermined the credibility of the evidence base. As a result, we still do not know whether well-being affects playtime, playtime affects well-being, both, or neither. To track people’s playtime across multiple games, we developed a method to log playtime on the Xbox platform. In a 12-week, six-wave panel study of adult U.S./U.K. Xbox-predominant players (414 players, 2036 completed surveys), we investigated within-person temporal relations between objectively measured playtime and well-being. Across multiple preregistered model speci cations, we found that the within-person prospective relationships between playtime and well-being, or vice versa, were not practically signi cant—even the largest associations were unlikely to register a perceptible impact on a player’s well-being. These results support the growing body of evidence that playtime is not the primary factor in the relationship between gaming and mental health for the majority of players and that research focus should be on the context and quality of gameplay instead.
Ballou N, Sewall CJR, Ratcliffe J, et al., 2024, Supplemental Material for Registered report evidence suggests no relationship between objectively tracked video game playtime and well-being over 3 months., Technology, Mind, and Behavior, Vol: 5
Ballou N, Sewall CJR, Ratcliffe J, et al., 2024, Registered report evidence suggests no relationship between objectively-tracked video game playtime and wellbeing over 3 months, Technology, Mind, and Behavior, Vol: 5, ISSN: 2689-0208
Recent years have seen intense research, media and policy debate on whether amount of time spent playing video games (“playtime”) affects players’ wellbeing. Existing research has used cross-sectional designs with easy-to-obtain but unreliable self-report measures of playtime, or, in rare instances, obtained industry data on objectively-tracked playtime but only for individual games, not a player’s total playtime across games. Further, researchers have raised concerns that publication bias and a lack of differentiation between exploratory and confirmatory research have undermined the credibility of the evidence base. As a result, we still do not know whether wellbeing affects playtime, playtime affects wellbeing, both, or neither. To track people’s playtime across multiple games, we developed a method to log playtime on the Xbox platform. In a 12-week, 6-wave panel study of adult US/UK Xbox-predominant players (414 players, 2036 completed surveys), we investigated within-person temporal relations between objectively-measured playtime and wellbeing. Across multiple preregistered model specifications, we found that the within-person prospective relationships between playtime and wellbeing, or vice versa, were not practically significant—even the largest associations were unlikely to register a perceptible impact on a player’s wellbeing. These results support the growing body of evidence that playtime is not the primary factor in the relationship between gaming and mental health for the majority of players, and that research focus should be on the context and quality of gameplay instead.
Kao D, Ballou N, Gerling K, et al., 2024, How does juicy game feedback motivate? Testing curiosity, competence, and effectance, New York, CHI 2024, Publisher: ACM
‘Juicy’ or immediate abundant action feedback is widely held to make video games enjoyable and intrinsically motivating. Yet we do not know why it works: Which motives are mediating it? Which features afford it? In a pre-registered (n=1,699) online experiment, we tested three motives mapping prior practitioner discourse— effectance, competence, and curiosity—and connected design fea- tures. Using a dedicated action RPG and a 2x2+control design, we varied feedback amplification, success-dependence, and variabil- ity and recorded self-reported effectance, competence, curiosity, and enjoyment as well as free-choice playtime. Structural equa- tion models show curiosity as the strongest enjoyment and only playtime predictor and support theorised competence pathways. Success dependence enhanced all motives, while amplification un- expectedly reduced them, possibly because the tested condition unintentionally impeded players’ sense of agency. Our study ev- idences uncertain success affording curiosity as an underappre- ciated moment-to-moment engagement driver, directly supports competence-related theory, and suggests that prior juicy game feel guidance ties to legible action-outcome bindings and graded success as preconditions of positive ‘low-level’ user experience.
Whitby MA, Iacovides I, Deterding S, 2023, “Conversations with pigeons”: capturing players’ lived experience of perspective challenging games, CHI PLAY 2023, Publisher: Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), Pages: 833-855, ISSN: 2573-0142
Video games are increasingly designed to provoke reflection and challenge players’ perspectives. Yet we know little about how such perspective-challenging experiences come about in gameplay. In response, we used systematic self-observation diaries and micro-phenomenological interviews to capture players’ (n=15) lived experience of perspective challenges in purposely sampled games including Hatoful Boyfriend, The Stanley Parable, or Papers, Please. We found a sequence of trigger, reflection, and transformation constituting perspective-challenging experiences, matching Mezirow’s model of transformative learning. Most of these were game-related or ‘endo-game’, suggesting that medium self-reflection could be an overlooked part of everyday game reflection and appreciation. Reflections were accompanied by a wide range of emotions, including frequent epistemic emotions, and emotions could change drastically even during short gameplay experiences. Actual perspective change or transformation was rare. We construct a model of granular types of triggers, reflections, and transformations that can aid reflective game design.
Deterding S, Cutting J, 2023, Objective difficulty-skill balance impacts perceived balance but not behaviour: a test of flow and self-determination theory predictions, CHI PLAY 2023, Publisher: Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), Pages: 1179-1205, ISSN: 2573-0142
Flow and self-determination theory predict that game difficulty in balance with player skill maximises enjoy- ment and engagement, mediated by attentive absorption or competence. Yet recent evidence and methodologi- cal concerns are challenging this view, and key theoretical predictions have remained untested, importantly which objective difficulty-skill ratio is perceived as most balanced. To test these, we ran a preregistered study (n=309) using a Go-like 2-player game with an AI opponent, randomly assigning players to one of three objective difficulty-skill ratios (AI plays to win, draw, or lose) over five matches. The AI successfully ma- nipulated objective balance, with the draw condition perceived as most balanced. However, balance did not impact play behaviour, nor did we find the predicted uniform ‘inverted-U’ between balance and positive play experiences. Importantly, we found both theories too underspecified to severely test. We conclude that balance and competence likely matter less for behavioural engagement than commonly held. We propose alternative factors such as player appraisals, novelty, and progress, and debate the value and challenges of theory-testing work in games HCI.
Ballou N, Deterding S, 2023, ‘I Just Wanted to Get it Over and Done With’: a grounded theory of psychological need frustration in video games, CHI PLAY 2023, Publisher: Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), Pages: 217-236, ISSN: 2573-0142
Psychological need frustration—experiences like failure, loneliness, or coercion—is emerging as a promising explanation for why people disengage with games and other entertainment media, and how media may induce dysregulated use and ill-being. However, existing research on game-related need frustration relies on general instruments with unclear content validity for games. We also do not know how need frustration arises in video games, nor how it leads to disengagement. We therefore conducted a semi-structured interview study with 12 video game players, following grounded theory methods to develop a model of need-frustrating play. We find that need frustration is a common and impactful experience in games, with distinct antecedents not fully captured in existing measures. Felt need frustration arises when observed need-frustrating events negatively violate expected need frustration or satisfaction; repeated violations update players’ expectations, which lead them to modulate or quit play to reduce expected frustration exposure.
Bermudez J, Nyrup R, Deterding S, et al., 2023, What is a subliminal technique? An ethical perspective on AI-driven influence, 2023 IEEE International Symposium on Ethics in Science, Technology and Engineering, Publisher: IEEE, Pages: 1-10
Concerns about threats to human autonomy feature prominently in the field of AI ethics. One aspect of this concern relates to the use of AI systems for problematically manipulative influence. In response to this, the European Union's draft AI Act (AIA) includes a prohibition on AI systems deploying subliminal techniques that alter people's behavior in ways that are reasonably likely to cause harm (Article 5(1)(a)). Critics have argued that the term ‘subliminal techniques’ is too narrow to capture the target cases of AI-based manipulation. We propose a definition of ‘subliminal techniques’ that (a) is grounded on a plausible interpretation of the legal text; (b) addresses all or most of the underlying ethical concerns motivating the prohibition; (c) is defensible from a scientific and philosophical perspective; and (d) does not over-reach in ways that impose excessive administrative and regulatory burdens. The definition provides guidance for design teams seeking to pursue responsible and ethically aligned AI innovation.
Miller JA, Veprek LH, Deterding S, et al., 2023, Practical recommendations from a multi-perspective needs and challenges assessment of citizen science games, PLOS ONE, Vol: 18, ISSN: 1932-6203
Laschke M, Bucher A, Coulton P, et al., 2023, Moral Agents for Sustainable Transitions: Ethics, Politics, Design
Artificial moral agents - systems that engage in explicit moral reasoning on their own and with users - present a potential new paradigm for behavior and system change for social and environmental sustainability. Moral agents could replace current individualist, prescriptive, inflexible, and opaque interventions with systems that transparently state their values and then openly deliberate and contest these with users, or agents that represent human and non-human stakeholders such as future generations, species, or ecosystems. Indeed, moral agents could mark a genuine new form of more-than-human interactions and human-technology relation, where we relate to artificial systems as a counterpart. To jointly articulate key questions and possible futures around moral agents, this workshop convenes HCI, AI, behaviour change, and critical and speculative design researchers and practitioners.
Deterding S, Mitchell K, Kowert R, et al., 2023, Inaugural Editorial: A Lighthouse for Games and Playable Media, Games: Research and Practice, Vol: 1, Pages: 1-9
<jats:p> In games and playable media, almost nothing is as it was at the turn of the millennium. Digital and analog games have exploded in reach, diversity, and relevance. Digital platforms and globalisation have shifted and fragmented their centres of gravity and how they are made and played. Games are converging with other media, technologies, and arts into a wide field of playable media. Games research has similarly exploded in volume and fragmented into disciplinary specialisms. All this can be deeply disorienting. The journal <jats:italic>Games: Research and Practice</jats:italic> wants to offer a lighthouse that helps readers orient themselves in this new, ever-shifting reality of games industry and games research. </jats:p>
Deterding S, Mitchell K, Kowert R, et al., 2023, Games Futures I, Games: Research and Practice, Vol: 1, Pages: 1-4
<jats:p>Games Futures collect short opinion pieces by industry and research veterans and new voices envisioning possible and desirable futures and needs for games and playable media. This inaugural series features eight of over thirty pieces.</jats:p>
Zendle D, Flick C, Deterding S, et al., 2023, The Many Faces of Monetisation: Understanding the Diversity and Extremity of Player Spending in Mobile Games via Massive-scale Transactional Analysis, Games: Research and Practice, Vol: 1, Pages: 1-28
<jats:p>With the rise of microtransactions, particularly in the mobile games industry, there has been ongoing concern that games reliant on these obtain substantial revenue from a small proportion of heavily involved individuals, to an extent that may be financially burdensome to these individuals. Yet despite substantive grey literature and speculation on this topic, there is little robust data available. We explore the revenue distribution in microtransaction-based mobile games using a transactional dataset of $4.7B in in-game spending drawn from 69,144,363 players of 2,873 mobile games over the course of 624 days. We find diverse revenue distributions in mobile games, ranging from a “uniform” cluster, in which all spenders invest approximately similar amounts, to “hyper-Pareto” games, in which a large proportion of revenue (approximately 38%) stems from 1% of spenders alone. Specific kinds of games are typified by higher spending: The more a game relies on its top 1% for revenue generation, the more these individuals tend to spend, with simulated gambling products (“social casinos”) at the top. We find a small subset of games across all genres, clusters, and age ratings in which the top 1% of gamers are highly financially involved—spending an average of $66,285 each in the 624 days under evaluation in the most extreme case. We discuss implications for future studies on links between gaming and wellbeing.</jats:p>
Cutting J, Deterding S, Demediuk S, et al., 2023, Difficulty-skill balance does not affect engagement and enjoyment: a pre-registered study using artificial intelligence-controlled difficulty, Royal Society Open Science, Vol: 10, Pages: 1-15, ISSN: 2054-5703
How does the difficulty of a task affect people's enjoyment and engagement? Intrinsic motivation and flow theories posit a 'goldilocks' optimum where task difficulty matches performer skill, yet current work is confounded by questionable measurement practices and lacks scalable methods to manipulate objective difficulty-skill ratios. We developed a two-player tactical game test suite with an artificial intelligence (AI)-controlled opponent that uses a variant of the Monte Carlo Tree Search algorithm to precisely manipulate difficulty-skill ratios. A pre-registered study (n = 311) showed that our AI produced targeted difficulty-skill ratios without participants noticing the manipulation, yet different ratios had no significant impact on enjoyment or engagement. This indicates that difficulty-skill balance does not always affect engagement and enjoyment, but that games with AI-controlled difficulty provide a useful paradigm for rigorous future work on this issue.
Cutting J, Deterding S, Demediuk S, et al., 2023, Difficulty-skill balance does not affect engagement and enjoyment: A pre-registered study using AI-controlled difficulty, Royal Society Open Science, ISSN: 2054-5703
How does the difficulty of a task affect people’s enjoyment and engagement? Intrinsic motivation and flow theories posit a ‘goldilocks’ optimum where task difficulty matches performer skill, yet current work is confounded by questionable measurement practices and lacks scalable methods to manipulate objective difficulty-skill ratios. We developed a 2-player tactical game test suite with an AI-controlled opponent that uses a variant of the Monte Carlo Tree Search algorithm to precisely manipulate difficulty-skill ratios. A pre-registered study (n=311) showed that our AI produced targeted difficulty-skill ratios without participants noticing the manipulation, yet different ratios had no significant impact on enjoyment or engagement. This indicates that difficulty-skill balance does not always affect engagement and enjoyment, but that games with AI-controlled difficulty provide a useful paradigm for rigorous future work on this issue.
Sevastjanova R, Hauptmann H, Deterding S, et al., 2023, Personalized language model selection through gamified elicitation of contrastive concept preferences, IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, Pages: 1-17, ISSN: 1077-2626
Language models are widely used for different Natural Language Processing tasks while suffering from a lack of personalization. Personalization can be achieved by, e.g., fine-tuning the model on training data that is created by the user (e.g., social media posts). Previous work shows that the acquisition of such data can be challenging. Instead of adapting the model's parameters, we thus suggest selecting a model that matches the user's mental model of different thematic concepts in language. In this paper, we attempt to capture such individual language understanding of users. In this process, two challenges have to be considered. First, we need to counteract disengagement since the task of communicating one's language understanding typically encompasses repetitive and time-consuming actions. Second, we need to enable users to externalize their mental models in different contexts, considering that language use changes depending on the environment. In this paper, we integrate methods of gamification into a visual analytics (VA) workflow to engage users in sharing their knowledge within various contexts. In particular, we contribute the design of a gameful VA playground called Concept Universe. During the four-phased game, the users build personalized concept descriptions by explaining given concept names through representative keywords. Based on their performance, the system reacts with constant visual, verbal, and auditory feedback. We evaluate the system in a user study with six participants, showing that users are engaged and provide more specific input when facing a virtual opponent. We use the generated concepts to make personalized language model suggestions.
Saiger MJ, Deterding S, Gega L, 2023, Children and Young People's Involvement in Designing Applied Games: Scoping Review, JMIR SERIOUS GAMES, Vol: 11, ISSN: 2291-9279
Linderoth J, Chapman A, Deterding S, 2022, The limits of 'serious' play, Representing Conflicts in Games, Editors: Sjöblom, Linderoth, Frank, Publisher: Routledge, Pages: 58-72
Games for change that represent ‘serious’ topics like historical violence have often become subject to public controversies. Why is that? This chapter answers this question by analysing two controversial games, 1378(km) (2010) and Playing History 2: Slave Trade (2013) through the lens of Goffman’s frame analysis. We argue that representing any historical act of violence in a documentary form easily runs into people’s normative frame limits for appropriate representation. While the games’ creators believed in the artistic and educational potential of games, making games an apt medium for representing topics like state violence or slavery, their wider audiences viewed games as inherently carefree, trivial, and thus, trivializing whatever they represent. Similarly, enacting a perpetrator from a first-person perspective (as afforded by the games in question) was seen as inherently endorsing the perpetrator’s actions. This frame dispute over the moral legitimacy of presenting historical violence in game form was exacerbated by the fact that social and mass media circulated representations of the games far beyond intended contexts and audiences. We conclude that games for change design entails ensuring that audiences co-intentionally frame the game in question.
Zendle D, Flick C, Cutting J, et al., 2022, The Many Faces of Monetisation: Understanding the diversity and extremity of spending in mobile games via massive-scale transactional analysis
<p>With the rise of microtransactions, particularly in the mobile games industry, there has been ongoing concern that games reliant on these obtain substantial revenue from a small proportion of heavily involved individuals, to an extent that may be financially burdensome to these individuals. Yet despite substantive grey literature and speculation on this topic, there is little robust data available. We explore the revenue distribution in microtransaction-based mobile games using a transactional dataset of USD 4.7bn in in-game spending drawn from 69,144,363 players of 2,873 mobile games over the course of 624 days. We find diverse revenue distribution in mobile games, ranging from a ‘uniform’ cluster, in which all spenders invest approximately similar amounts, to ‘hyper-pareto’ games, in which a large proportion of revenue (~38%) stems from 1% of spenders alone. Specific kinds of games are typified by higher spending: the more a game relies on its top 1% for revenue generation, the more these individuals tend to spend, with simulated gambling products (‘social casinos’) at the top. We find a small subset of games across all genres, clusters, and age ratings in which the top 1% of gamers are highly financially involved– spending an average of USD 66,285 each in the 624 days under evaluation in the most extreme case. We discuss implications for future studies on links between gaming and wellbeing.</p>
Saiger MJ, Deterding S, Gega L, 2022, Children and Young People’s Involvement in Designing Applied Games: Scoping Review (Preprint)
<sec> <title>BACKGROUND</title> <p>User involvement is widely accepted as key for designing effective applied games for health. This especially holds true for children and young people as target audiences, whose abilities, needs, and preferences can diverge substantially from those of adult designers and players. Nevertheless, there is little shared knowledge about how concretely children and young people have been involved in the design of applied games, let alone consensus guidance on how to do so effectively.</p> </sec> <sec> <title>OBJECTIVE</title> <p>The aim of this scoping review was to describe which user involvement methods have been used in the design of applied games with children and young people, how these methods were implemented, and in what roles children and young people were involved as well as what factors affected their involvement.</p> </sec> <sec> <title>METHODS</title> <p>We conducted a systematic literature search and selection across the ACM Digital Library, IEEE Xplore, Scopus, and Web of Science databases using State of the Art through Systematic Review software for screening, selection, and data extraction. We then conducted a qualitative content analysis on the extracted data using NVivo.</p> </sec> <sec> <title>RESULTS</title> <p>We retrieved 1085 records, of which 47 (4.33%) met the eligibility criteria. The chief involvement methods were participatory design (20/47, 43%) and co-design (16/47, 37%), spanning a wide range of 45 concrete activities with paper prototyping, group discussions, and playtesting b
Ballou N, Deterding S, 2022, ‘I Just Wanted to Get it Over and Done With’: A Grounded Theory of Psychological Need Frustration in Video Games
<p>Psychological need frustration—experiences like failure, loneliness, or coercion—is emerging as a promising explanation for why people disengage with games and other entertainment media, and how media may induce dysregulated use and ill-being. However, existing research on game- related need frustration relies on general instruments with unclear content validity for games. We also do not know how need frustration arises in video games, nor how it leads to disengagement. We therefore conducted a semi-structured interview study with 12 video game players, following grounded theory methods to develop a model of need-frustrating play. We find that need frustration is a common and impactful experience in games, with distinct antecedents not fully captured in existing measures. Felt need frustration arises when observed need-frustrating events negatively violate expected need frustration or satisfaction; repeated violations update players’ expectations, which lead them to modulate or quit play to reduce expected frustration exposure.</p>
Deterding S, Malmdorf Andersen M, Kiverstein J, et al., 2022, Mastering uncertainty: a predictive processing account of enjoying uncertain success in video game play, Frontiers in Psychology, Vol: 13, Pages: 1-16, ISSN: 1664-1078
Why do we seek out and enjoy uncertain success in playing games? Game designers and researchers suggest that games whose challenges match player skills afford engaging experiences of achievement, competence, or effectance – of doing well. Yet, current models struggle to explain why such balanced challenges best afford these experiences and do not straightforwardly account for the appeal of high- and low-challenge game genres like Idle and Soulslike games. In this article, we show that Predictive Processing (PP) provides a coherent formal cognitive framework which can explain the fun in tackling game challenges with uncertain success as the dynamic process of reducing uncertainty surprisingly efficiently. In gameplay as elsewhere, people enjoy doing better than expected, which can track learning progress. In different forms, balanced, Idle, and Soulslike games alike afford regular accelerations of uncertainty reduction. We argue that this model also aligns with a popular practitioner model, Raph Koster’s Theory of Fun for Game Design, and can unify currently differentially modelled gameplay motives around competence and curiosity.
Petrovskaya E, Deterding S, Zendle D, 2022, Prevalence and salience of problematic microtransactions in top-grossing mobile and PC games: a content analysis of user reviews, New York, CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’22), Publisher: ACM, Pages: 1-12
Microtransactions have become a major monetisation model in digital games, shaping their design, impacting player experience, and raising ethical concerns. Research in this area has chiefly focused on loot boxes. This begs the question whether other microtransactions might actually be more relevant and problematic for players. We therefore conducted a content analysis of negative player reviews (n=801) of top-grossing mobile and desktop games to determine which problematic microtransactions are most prevalent and salient for players. We found that problematic microtransactions with mobile games featuring more frequent and different techniques compared to desktop games. Across both, players minded issues related to fairness, transparency, and degraded user experience, supporting prior theoretical work, and importantly take issue with monetisation-driven design as such. We identify future research needs on why microtransactions in particular spark this critique, and which player communities it may be more or less representative of.
Ballou N, Deterding S, Iacovides I, et al., 2022, Do people use games to compensate for psychological needs during crises? A mixed-methods study of gaming during COVID-19 lockdowns, New York, CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’22), Publisher: ACM
Do people use games to cope with adverse life events and crises? Research informed by self-determination theory proposes that people might compensate for thwarted basic psychological needs in daily life by seeking out games that satisfy those lacking needs. To test this, we conducted a preregistered mixed-method survey study (n = 285) on people’s gaming behaviours and need states during early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic (May 2020). We found qualitative evidence that gaming was an often actively sought out and successful means of replenishing particular needs, but one that could ‘backfire’ for some through an appraisal process discounting gaming as ‘unreal’. Meanwhile, contrary to our predictions, the quantitative data showed a “rich get richer, poor get poorer” pat- tern: need satisfaction in daily life positively correlated with need satisfaction in games. We derive methodological considerations and propose three potential explanations
Ballou N, Deterding S, Tyack A, et al., 2022, Self-determination theory in HCI: shaping a research agenda, New York, CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’22), Publisher: ACM, Pages: 1-6
Self-determination theory (SDT) has become one of the most frequently used and well-validated theories used in HCI research, modelling the relation of basic psychological needs, intrinsic motivation, positive experience and wellbeing. This makes it a prime candidate for a ‘motor theme’ driving more integrated, systematic, theory-guided research. However, its use in HCI has remained superficial and disjointed across various application domains like games, health and wellbeing, or learning. This workshop therefore convenes researchers across HCI to co-create a research agenda on how SDT-informed HCI research can maximise its progress in the coming years.
Gundry D, Deterding S, 2022, Trading accuracy for enjoyment? Data quality and player experience in data collection games, New York, CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’22), Publisher: ACM, Pages: 1-14
Games have become a popular way of collecting human subject data, based on the premise that they are more engaging than surveys or experiments, but generate equally valid data. However, this premise has not been empirically tested. In response, we designed a game for eliciting linguistic data following Intrinsic Elicitation – a design approach aiming to minimise validity threats in data collection games – and compared it to an equivalent linguistics experiment as control. In a preregistered study and replication (n=96 and n=136), using two different ways of operationalising accuracy, the game generated substantially more enjoyment (d=.70, .73) and substantially less accurate data (d=-.68, -.40) – though still more accurate than random responding. We conclude that for certain data types data collection games may present a serious trade-off between participant enjoyment and data quality, identify possible causes of lower data quality for future research, reflect on our design approach, and urge games HCI researchers to use careful controls where appropriate.
Cutting J, Deterding S, 2022, The task-attention theory of game learning: a theory and research agenda, Human-Computer Interaction, ISSN: 0737-0024
Why do learning games fail or succeed? Recent evidence suggests that attention forms an important moderator of learning from games. While existing media effects and learning theories acknowledge the role of attentional limits, they fail to account for the specific ways that games as interactive media steer attention. In response, we here develop the Task-Attention Theory of Game Learning. Drawing on current psychological and games research, task-attention theory argues that games as interactive media demand and structure the pursuit of tasks, which ties into distinct attentional mechanisms, namely learned attentional sets which focus attentional selection onto task-relevant features, as well as active sampling: users navigate and manipulate the game to elicit task-relevant information. This active sampling and selection precedes and moderates what information can be learned. We identify task-related game features (mechanics, goals, rewards and uncertainty) and demands (cognitive and perceptual load, pressure) that affect active sampling and attentional selection. We articulate implications and future work for game-based learning research and design, as well as wider media effects, learning, and HCI research.
Gundry D, Deterding S, 2022, Trading Accuracy for Enjoyment? Data Quality and Player Experience in Data Collection Games
<p>Games have become a popular way of collecting human subject data, based on the premise that they are more engaging than surveys or experiments, but generate equally valid data. However, this premise has not been empirically tested. In response, we designed a game for eliciting linguistic data following Intrinsic Elicitation – a design approach aiming to minimise validity threats in data collection games – and compared it to an equivalent linguistics experiment as control. In a preregistered study and replication (n=96 and n=136), using two different ways of operationalising accuracy, the game generated substantially more enjoyment (d=.70, .73) and substantially less accurate data (d=-.68, -.40) – though still more accurate than random responding. We conclude that for certain data types data collection games may present a serious trade-of between participant enjoyment and data quality, identify possible causes of lower data quality for future research, reflect on our design approach, and urge games HCI researchers to use careful controls where appropriate.</p>
Ballou N, Deterding S, Iacovides I, et al., 2022, Do People Use Games to Compensate for Psychological Needs During Crises? A Mixed-Methods Study of Gaming During COVID-19 Lockdowns
<p>Do people use games to cope with adverse life events and crises? Research informed by self-determination theory proposes that people might compensate for thwarted basic psychological needs in daily life by seeking out games that satisfy those lacking needs. To test this, we conducted a preregistered mixed-method survey study (n = 285) on people’s gaming behaviours and need states during early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic (May 2020). We found qualitative evidence that gaming was an often actively sought out and successful means of replenishing particular needs, but one that could ‘backfire’ for some through an appraisal process discounting gaming as ‘unreal’. Meanwhile, contrary to our predictions, the quantitative data showed a “rich get richer, poor get poorer” pat- tern: need satisfaction in daily life positively correlated with need satisfaction in games. We derive methodological considerations and propose three potential explanations for this contradictory data pattern to pursue in future research.</p>
Petrovskaya E, Deterding S, Zendle D, 2022, Prevalence and Salience of Problematic Microtransactions in Top-Grossing Mobile and PC Games: A Content Analysis of User Reviews
<p>Microtransactions have become a major monetisation model in digital games, shaping their design, impacting their player experience, and raising ethical concerns. Research in this area has chiefly focused on loot boxes. This begs the question whether other microtransactions might actually be more relevant and problematic for players. We therefore conducted a content analysis of negative player reviews (n=801) of top-grossing mobile and desktop games to determine which problematic microtransactions are most prevalent and salient for players. We found that problematic microtransactions with mobile games featuring more frequent and different techniques compared to desktop games. Across both, players minded issues related to fairness, transparency, and degraded user experience, supporting prior theoretical work, and importantly take issue with monetisation-driven design as such. We identify future research needs on why microtransactions in particular spark this critique, and which player communities it may be more or less representative of.</p>
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