Humans procrastinate and avoid performing activities that they deem dull, repetitive, and out of their comfort zone. Gamification was conceived to reverse the situation by turning those activities into fun and entertaining actions exploiting game-like elements. In practice, however, many challenges arise. Gameful environments cannot satisfy every player's preference and motivational need with a one-fits-all strategy. However, meeting players' motivational affordances can provide intrinsic rewards rather than extrinsic (e.g., points and badges). Producing intrinsic rewards is desirable as they are more likely to foster long-term retention than the extrinsic counterpart. Therefore, gamified systems should be designed to learn and understand players' preferences and motivational drivers to generate specific adaptation strategies for each player. Those adaptation strategies govern the procedural generation of personalized game elements - examples are task difficulty, social-play versus solo-play, or aesthetic tools. However, an appropriate personalization requires intelligent and effective player profiling mechanisms. Player profiles can be retrieved through the analysis of telemetry data, and thus in-game behaviors. In this project, we studied players' individual and social behaviors to understand their personalities and identities within the game. Specifically, we analyzed data from an open-world, persuasive, gamified system: Play&Go. Play&Go implements game-like mechanics to instill more ecological transportation habits among its users. The gamified app offers various ways for players to interact with the game and among one another. Despite Play&Go being one of the few examples of gamification implementing more diverse game mechanics than solely points and leaderboards, it still does not reach the complexity of AAA entertainment games. Thus, it limits the applicability of an in-depth analysis of players' behaviors, constrained by the type of available features. Yet, we argue that gameful systems still provide enough information to allow content adaptation. In this work, we study players' in-game activity from different perspectives to explore gamification's potential. Towards this, we analyzed telemetry data to (1) learn from players' activity, (2) extract their profiles, and (3) understand social dynamics in force within the game. Our results show how players' experience in gamified systems is closer to games than expected, especially in social environments. Hence, telemetry data is a precious source of knowledge also in gamification and can help retain information on players' churn, preferences, and social influence. Finally, we propose a modular theoretical framework for adaptive gamification to generate personalized content designed to learn players' preferences iteratively.

What makes horror games different from other games is that they bring a special kind of emotion to the player and cause fear in the player. In horror games, players experience great emotional experiences and may experience different emotions such as anxiety, tension, and satisfaction. This paper aims to study and analyze how different players react to and emotionally experience fear, how players derive satisfaction and discomfort from horror games and the reasons that produce these factors. The study uses interviews and biometric data to examine the differences between players familiar with horror games and those who have less experience with this particular type of game. It was concluded that the number of experienced players with horror games also influences the comfort and discomfort, and mood changes players get from the games.

This research investigates how players can be encouraged to alternate between offensive and defensive play within the game Martyr of Carnage (MoC), through the use of nudges. Nudges are subtle design elements that influence behavior without restricting choices, and they are commonly used in marketing, business, and government sectors. This study aims to extend the application of nudge theory to game design and find out if the theory is effective in altering playtester behavior in our game. The research was conducted using iterative game design methods, where various nudges were integrated and tested within the game environment. The main findings indicate that incorporating nudges in games serves as a useful analytical tool, effectively guiding player behavior and enhancing the overall gaming experience of Martyr of Carnage.

Digital games incorporate systems that allow players to customise and develop their controllable in-game representative (avatar) over the course of a game. Avatar customisation systems represent a point at which the goals and values of players interface with the intentions of the game developer forming a dynamic and complex relationship between system and user. With the proliferation of customisable avatars through digital games and the ongoing monetisation of customisation options through digital content delivery platforms it is important to understand the relationship between player and avatar in order to provide a better user experience and to develop an understanding of the cultural impact of the avatar. Previous research on avatar customisation has focused on the users of virtual worlds and massively multiplayer games, leaving single-player avatar experiences. These past studies have also typically focused on one particular aspect of avatar customisation and those that have looked at all factors involved in avatar customisation have done so with a very small sample. This research has aimed to address this gap in the literature by focusing primarily on avatar customisation features in single-player games, aiming to investigate the relationship between player and customisation systems from the perspective of the players of digital games. To fulfill the research aims and objectives, the qualitative approach of interpretative phenomenological analysis was adopted. Thirty participants were recruited using snowball and purposive sampling (the criteria being that participants had played games featuring customisable avatars) and accounts of their experiences were gathered through semi-structured interviews. Through this research, strategies of avatar customisation were explored in order to demonstrate how people use such systems. The shortcomings in game mechanics and user interfaces were highlighted so that future games can improve the avatar customisation experience.

Master of Science / Department of Computing and Information Sciences / David A. Gustafson William Hsu / In this study, we identify a new method of tracking motion over a sequence of images using feature point clusters. We identify and implement a system that takes as input a sequence of images and generates clusters of SIFT features using the K-Means clustering algorithm. Every time the system processes an image it compares each new cluster to the clusters of previous images, which it stores in a local cache. When at least 25% of the SIFT features that compose a cluster match a cluster in the local cache, the system uses the centroid of both clusters in order to determine the direction of travel. To establish a direction of travel, we calculate the slope of the line connecting the centroid of two clusters relative to their Cartesian coordinates in the secondary image. In an experiment using a P3-AT mobile robotic agent equipped with a digital camera, the system receives and processes a sequence of eight images. Experimental results show that the system is able to identify and track the motion of objects using SIFT feature clusters more efficiently when applying spatial outlier detection prior to generating clusters.

This study investigates how a player’s personality type might affect a player’s choice of playable character class and, by extension, their playstyle in a MOBA game. 6014 participants completed a survey consisting of questions regarding most played character and their preferred character to play. Following this their personality types were set using the Big-Five personality type model. Results show several interesting correlations between a player’s choice of character class, player motivation, and personality traits. For instance, players most often playing the Support or Warrior hero class tend to score higher on agreeableness. Certain differences between male and female players are also noted. / Denna studie undersöker hur en spelares personlighetstyp kan påverka ens val av spelbar karaktär och spelstil i ett MOBA-spel. 6014 respondenter genomförde en enkät som bestod av frågor angående vilken karaktär de spelade mest samt vilken karaktär de också föredrar att spela. Detta följt av att deras personlighetstyp bestämdes genom “the Big-Five”-modellen för personlighetstyper. Resultaten i denna studie visar flera intressanta samband mellan spelares val av karaktär, spelarmotivation och personlighetsdrag. Till exempel, spelare som oftast spelar klassen Support eller Warrior tenderar att visa tecken på mer uppskattning av samarbete. Det noteras även vissa skillnader mellan manliga och kvinnliga spelare.

Today in 2015 the game industry grows and games become more advanced. This leads to that the ways interactive media such as games portray their narrative are also improving. Therefore we chose to examine what factors affected how five experienced gamers viewed the narrative in the game Dear Esther (The Chinese Room, 2012) the first time they played it. The investigation used stimulated recall in order to collect data and the data were analysed with the help of the EPP methodology. Our study showed there was a diversity in how the game’s narrative was perceived and that a number of factors affected the interpretations of the narrative. These factors were organised in four categories: exploration, feeling and atmosphere, player experience, and identification with the player character and theories around the narrative. A fifth category evaluation of the storytelling, described the player’s thoughts about the way the narrative was told. Our main conclusion was that the factors affecting the way players perceived the narrative of the game varied much depending on who played the game and what their regular experience of games were. For example some were more affected by environment and monologue while others was more affected by earlier experiences of how games used to work. The respondent’s perception of the game narrative were also affected by their own thoughts and theories around the narrative and what might have happened. We could also see there were several different thoughts and opinions on how the narrative style of the game worked and three participants thought it worked well. / Idag 2015 publiceras fler och mer avancerade spel än någonsin tidigare. Hand i hand med denna utveckling borde också utvecklingen av de narrativ som spel kan berätta gå. Därför undersöker vi i denna uppsats vilka faktorer som påverkade uppfattningen av narrativet i Dear Esther hos fem spelvana personer som tidigare inte spelat spelet. Undersökningen gjordes med hjälp av stimulated recall och data analyserades med hjälp av EPP-metoden. Vår studie visade på en stor spridning av upplevelserna och en mängd faktorer som påverkade upplevelsen av narrativet. Dessa faktorer delade vi in i olika kategorier. Dessa var Utforskning, Känslor och stämning, Spelarvana samt Identifikation med berättarkaraktären och teorier kring narrativ. En femte kategori kallad Värdering av berättartekniken beskrev hur spelarna uppfattat spelets berättarteknik. Den främsta slutsatsen vi kan dra är att de faktorer som påverkade hur respondenterna uppfattade Dear Esther och dess narrativ varierade mycket beroende på vem som spelade. Vissa av respondenterna påverkades mer av omgivningar och monologer, medan andra påverkades mer av sin egen vana och insikt i hur spel bör fungera. Alla påverkads dock mycket av sina egna tankar känslor och teorier kring vad som en gång hänt. Vi kunde också se att det fanns olika tankar och åsikter angående hur berättartekniken i spelet ansågs fungera och tre av respondenterna ansåg att det fungerade bra.

When player skill levels differ widely in a competitive First-Person Shooter (FPS) game, enjoyment suffers: weaker players become frustrated and stronger players become less engaged. Player balancing techniques attempt to assist the weaker player and make games more competitive, but these techniques have limitations for deployment when skill levels vary substantially. In this thesis, we developed new player balancing schemes to deal with a range of FPS skill difference, and tested these techniques in a series of five studies using a commercial-quality FPS game developed with the UDK engine. Our results showed that our balancing techniques (Combo and Delay) are extremely effective at balancing, even for players with large skill differences. These techniques also led to higher enjoyment of the game by players of all skill levels. Our studies are the first to show that player balancing can work well in realistic FPS games, providing developers with a way to increase the audience for this popular genre. In addition, our results demonstrate the idea that successful balancing is as much about the way the technique is applied as it is about the specific manipulation.

This thesis contributes to the field of academic game studies by reworking and updating the established theories of Espen Aarseth, Janet Murray and Marie-Laure Ryan in understanding the path in videogames. It also draws upon the more recent theoretical discussions of figures such as Jesper Juul, Lev Manovich, Frans Mäyrä and James Newman in order to explore the player’s experience along these paths in the gameworld. By defining a vocabulary of routes through space, the thesis uses the maze in particular as a way of understanding the paths of videogames. The research starts by examining our cultural understanding of the maze within videogames. Various mazes around the UK were walked in order to understand their design and how this may translate into the virtual world of the videogame. The thesis examines the uses of real world mazes through the work of Penelope Doob, and Herman Kern to discuss how the videogame may rework our cultural understanding of the maze due to its increasingly ubiquitous nature. This enables a discussion of maze-paths found within many videogames that are not necessarily categorised by what is often discussed as the maze genre of games. A morphology of maze-paths is devised through comparing the mazes of the real world and the virtual mazes of the videogame. This is achieved by breaking down the maze into separate path types and shows how these paths may link to one another. The thesis argues that the paths of the videogame are generated by the player’s actions. Therefore the focus of this thesis is on the player’s experience along these paths and the objects found at points on them. In acknowledging how to overcome obstacles along the path it is also possible to understand the role of the path in the player’s learning and mastery of the gameworld. This leads to discussions of different types of play experienced by the player in the videogame. Play is separated into what I term purposeful play, being the activities intended by the designer, and appropriated play which is the play formed out of the player’s exploration of the game system. These two terms help to understand player’s incentives for playing along the ruled paths of the gameworld as well as exploring the game’s system further to find new types of play outside of the pre-determined rules. As this thesis is concerned with videogames involving the player’s avatar having a direct relationship with the path, the research also investigates what happens when certain devices break these paths. It was discovered that warp devices reconstruct both temporal and narrative elements within the gamespace, and cause the player’s avatar to temporarily move on tracks through the gameworld. In defining a vocabulary of movement through space on a fixed track, as opposed to a player-determined path, there is a further understanding of the player experience related to each type of route taken in the game. Through an understanding of the maze and defining a vocabulary of maze-paths, tracks and objects found along them, this thesis adds a new contribution to knowledge. It also acknowledges the importance of different types of play within videogames and how these can shape the player experience along the paths of the game.

As the record industry’s fortunes decline, consumers experience increasing access to the world’s recorded music, legally and otherwise, through digital technologies. At the same time, recordings not only take up less physical space (on hard drives and MP3 players), they are compressed — not just as data, but in terms of dynamic range. While it allows for constant audibility in noisy environments like cars and offices, dynamic range compression has frustrated many listeners for limiting the impact of the music and causing “ear fatigue.” These listeners long for access to the purity of the original recording before it was “squashed,” but the problem is that the original recording does not, in a sense, exist. Producers and mastering engineers assemble the tracks recorded and create a particular sonic product that can later be revisited and “remastered.” Ostensibly this process is meant to get closer to the original sound, but in reality it simply comprises a different manner of interpreting the existing recording. Theodor Adorno had written of surprisingly similar phenomena more than half a century ago in essays like “The Radio Symphony” and the notes collected in Towards a Theory of Musical Reproduction. Though infamous for his hostility toward popular music and its “infantile” listeners, Adorno’s writings on music contain much that is valuable for an understanding of how pop works in the digital age. Combined with a consideration of works on music and postmodernity by Fredric Jameson, Jacques Attali, François Lyotard and others, Adorno’s work helps one to consider how reification continues to work in an era where music is seemingly no longer a “thing.”