Game feature and expertise effects on experienced richness, control and engagement in game play

Abstract

The extent to which game play is experienced as engaging is an important criterion for the playability of video games. This study investigates how video games can be designed towards increased levels of experienced engagement over time. For this purpose, two experiments were conducted in which a total of 35 participants repeatedly played a video game. Results indicate that experienced engagement is based on the extent to which the game provides rich experiences as well as by the extent to which the game provides a sense of control. In view of the influence of both game features and players' expertise on the levels of experienced richness and control, it is concluded that game features should be modified over time to maintain optimal levels of engagement.

Exploring sociality and engagement in play through game-control distribution

“…Game-control distribution did not appear to affect the levels of experienced richness. Earlier studies showed that experienced richness is affected by the number of game functions (Rozendaal et al 2007a(Rozendaal et al , 2009a, and-based on the current results-not by the extent to which they are distributed among the players.…”

“…An engagement framework has been developed to explicate the experience of engagement and the factors influencing it in order to support interactive system design (Rozendaal et al 2009a(Rozendaal et al , 2009b.…”

“…To assess engagement, items were chosen related to (1) enjoyment, (2) development, (3) challenge, (4) autonomy, (5) richness and (6) control. In Table 3, these items are grouped a priori according to previously obtained factor analytical results (Rozendaal et al 2009a(Rozendaal et al , 2009b. Further, two additional items are included in the engagement questionnaire.…”

Narrative Structure and Player Experience in Role-Playing Games

“…Ryan (as cited by Brown, 2008) considered complex branching narrative structures in RPGs to be approaching the "ultimate goal of art" in virtual reality: a seamless merging of narrative and simulation that preserves both a coherent narrative structure and the ability for the user to influence the progression of the story. Richness experienced during game play relates to perceived complexities and is associated with an increase of the degrees of freedom to which a game can be manipulated (Rozendaal, Keyson, de Ridder, & Craig, 2009). Rozendaal et al (2009) found that experienced richness promotes engagement due to the excitement experienced when perceiving a game's potential for developing human faculties.…”

“…Richness experienced during game play relates to perceived complexities and is associated with an increase of the degrees of freedom to which a game can be manipulated (Rozendaal, Keyson, de Ridder, & Craig, 2009). Rozendaal et al (2009) found that experienced richness promotes engagement due to the excitement experienced when perceiving a game's potential for developing human faculties.…”