This study investigated the impact of new motion-based video game control systems on spatial presence, perceived reality, and enjoyment of video games. In two experiments, university students played video games on either new motion-based (Sony's Move, Microsoft's Kinect, and Nintendo's Wii), or standard video game systems (PS3 and XBOX 360 with gamepads). The results indicate that, in the context of golf, racing, and boxing games, the higher technological interactivity of motion-based systems (particularly Kinect) increases feelings of spatial presence, perceived reality, and enjoyment. Perceived reality predicted spatial presence; and spatial presence, in turn, was a significant predictor of enjoyment. Moving toward a more natural user interface (NUI) between the player and the game world can create a more immersive, realistic, and fun experience for the player. A new model for enjoyment of motion-based video games is proposed.
Better technology does not affect the frequency or severity of cybersickness for players; but sensory conflict has a significant impact on how sick users become. Additionally, we present a model that indicates how enjoyment is produced in VR gaming experiences. These findings bear further investigation as new methods of interacting with VR games are developed.
In three experiments with U.S. undergraduates, effects of three levels of naturally mapped control interfaces were compared on a player's sense of presence, interactivity, realism, and enjoyment in video games. The three levels of naturally mapped control interfaces were: kinesic natural mapping (using the player's body as a game controller), incomplete tangible mapping (using a controller in a way similar to a real object), and realistic tangible mapping (using a controller or an object that directly relates to the real-life activity the game simulates). The results show that levels of interactivity, realism, spatial presence, and enjoyment were consistent across all conditions. However, when performing activities such as table tennis or lightsaber dueling with objects in-hand (incomplete tangible or realistic tangible conditions), perceived reality was a more important predictor of spatial presence. When performing the same activities with empty hands, interactivity emerged as the more important direct predictor of spatial presence. Control interface, therefore, matters greatly to the route by which cognitive processing of games takes place and how enjoyment is produced.
The psychological theory of play and the mental models perspective offer firm theoretical grounds for understanding how enjoyment is wrought in the process of playing casual games. The relationships among interactivity, spatial presence, perceived reality, and enjoyment hold for games played on handheld or console devices. Furthermore, this study is one of the first to demonstrate these relationships and test them simultaneously, breaking new ground in research on game enjoyment.
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