The effect of different difficulty adaptation strategies on enjoyment and performance in a serious game for memory training

Abstract

Objective: The goal of this study was to evaluate two kinds of difficulty adaptation techniques in terms of enjoyment and performance in a simple memory training game: one based on difficultyperformance matching ("task-guided") and the other based on providing a high degree of control/choice ("user-guided"). Methods: Performance and enjoyment are both critical in making serious games effective. Therefore the adaptations were based on two different approaches that are used to sustain performance and enjoyment in serious games: 1) adapting task difficulty to match user performance by leveraging the theories of zone of proximal development and flow, thus maximizing performance that can then lead to increased enjoyment and 2) providing a high degree of control and choice by using constructs from self-determination theory, which maximizes enjoyment, that can potentially increase performance. 24 participants played a simple memory training serious game in a fully randomized, repeated measures design. The primary outcome measures were enjoyment and performance. Results: Enjoyment was significantly greater in user-guided (p < 0.05), whereas performance was significantly greater in taskguided (p < 0.05). Conclusion: The results suggest that a trade-off between maximizing performance and maximizing enjoyment could be achieved by combining the two approaches into a "hybrid" adaptation mode that gives users a high degree of control in setting difficulty, but also advises them about optimizing performance.Other titles: O efeito de diferentes adaptações de dificuldade em estratégias de diversão e performance em serious games para trieno de memória El efecto de diferentes adaptaciones de dificultades en estrategias de diversion y performance en serious games para entrenamiento de memoria ABSTRACTObjective: The goal of this study was to evaluate two kinds of difficulty adaptation techniques in terms of enjoyment and performance in a simple memory training game: one based on difficulty-performance matching ("task-guided") and the other based on providing a high degree of control/choice ("user-guided"). Methods: Performance and enjoyment are both critical in making serious games effective. Therefore the adaptations were based on two different approaches that are used to sustain performance and enjoyment in serious games: 1) adapting task difficulty to match user performance by leveraging the theories of zone of proximal development and flow, thus maximizing performance that can then lead to increased enjoyment and 2) providing a high degree of control and choice by using constructs from self-determination theory, which maximizes enjoyment, that can potentially increase performance. 24 participants played a simple memory training serious game in a fully randomized, repeated measures design. The primary outcome measures were enjoyment and performance. Results: Enjoyment was significantly greater in user-guided (p < 0.05), whereas performance was significantly greater in task-guided (p < 0.05). Conclusion: The results sug...

Comparison of two difficulty adaptation strategies for competitive arm rehabilitation exercises

“…In our opinion, this will both reduce the cognitive workload of the participants (who will not necessarily need to think about difficulty adaptation) while ensuring that participants can still employ their own adaptation strategies if the automatic ones are inappropriate for them. A similar approach was previously suggested (though not tested) by Nagle et al [15] for cognitive rehabilitation involving a single patient, and we believe that it would also be useful for competitive motor rehabilitation exercises.…”

“…However, patients with brain injuries may not be able to appropriately adapt game difficulty. Furthermore, participants may prioritize a fun experience over intensive, useful exercise, as shown by Nagle et al [15] for cognitive rehabilitation.…”

High User Control in Game Design Elements Increases Compliance and In-game Performance in a Memory Training Game

“…Giving users the control of difficulty can be tricky because they cannot always be trusted to train themselves at a high difficulty level (Morrison et al, 1992 ; Nagle et al, 2014a ). In spite of this, participants in USER-CONTROL set values of n comparable to AUTO, averaging to nearly a value of three in the latter sessions (Figure 3 ).…”

“…An alternative to DDA is to give users the control of difficulty adaptation (Desurvire and Wiberg, 2009 ; Bedwell et al, 2012 ), which can lead to an enhanced sense of autonomy and consequently higher enjoyment (Ryan and Deci, 2000 ). While giving users the control of difficulty has been tried in games before (von Bastian and Eschen, 2015 ), it has been suggested that complete user control of difficulty would lead to sub-optimal training, since users tend to set a low difficulty level for themselves, and that a better strategy might be to combine user control with a recommendation from the game about an appropriate difficulty change (Nagle et al, 2014a ). Such a technique of combining user control of difficulty adaptation with game advice has not been systematically tested before, and was therefore compared against DDA.…”

Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment through a Learning Analytics Model in a Casual Serious Game for Computer Programming Learning

“…Considering the data collected, the game changes the behaviour of game elements (enemies, items, bonus, environment, sound, …) [9,10]. Also it is possible to define difficulty levels associating each of them to a game configuration set [11,12]. For instance, in the easiest…”