The Fun of Gaming: Measuring the Human Experience of Media Enjoyment

Lennart Nacke Blekinge Institute of Technology, Sweden

Some basic facts
Research group and EU FUGA project
The EU FUGA Project
Procedures, objectives and benefits
Inside stimulus development
Research work and CISGS
Conclusion
Lennart Nacke, Quo Vadis 2007

Studied computational visualistics
Diplom-Ingenieur from University of Magdeburg
Junior Game Designer at impara GmbH
Recently moved to Sweden
PhD student in Digital Game Development
BTH CISGS research group
Working in the EU FUGA Project
Modding, Programming
Examining game enjoyment

Cognition, Interaction, Simulation and Game Science
Head of Research
Professor Craig Lindley, PhD
Focus
Empirical research on cognition
Eye-Tracking
Psychophysiology of game play

European Commission funding
Sixth framework program
New and Emerging Science and Technology (NEST)
PATHFINDER initiative
“ Measuring the impossible”
EU financial contribution to FUGA:
~ 2,000,000 €
Duration of FUGA
36 months (3 years)

Helsinki School of Economics
Center for Knowledge and Innovation Research (CKIR)
Helsinki University of Technology
Helsinki Institute for Information Technology (HIIT)
Gotland University (HGO/BTH)
BTH CISGS research group
Hannover University of Music and Drama (HMTH)
Department of Journalism and Communication Research
University of Aachen (UKA)
Eindhoven University of Technology (TUE)

Jussi Holopainen, NOKIA
Thomas Howalt, IO Interactive
Martin Lorber, EA Germany
Stephan Reichart, GAME & Aruba
Sten Selander, Spelplan
Stacey Spiegel, I-mmersion

The main objective of FUGA is to
create novel methods and
improve existing measures
in order to examine how the different dimensions of
computer game experience
can be assessed comprehensively with high temporal resolution.

Psychophysiological recordings
facial electromyography [EMG]
electroencephalography [EEG]
electrocardiography [ECG]
electrodermal activity [EDA]
Respiration
Functional magnetic resonance imagining (fMRI)
Eye movement, gaze, and interaction logging
The so-called (online) implicit association test
Tracking of behavioral indicators of emotion and motivation

Game experience measures
Establishing
Construct validity
Reliability
Predictive validity
Develop a prototype
An emotionally adaptive game

Scientific impact
Contribute to rise of European games industry
Innovative measurement approaches
Apply methods for game design
Useful for multiple purposes
Entertainment
Education
Therapy
Space Simulation
Aviation and Military

Developing game stimuli
Stimulus?
Design experiences for players
Modding approach
Decided to use Source SDK (Half-Life 2)
Great editor
Access to source code
Combine with Eye-Tracker SDK
Event logging

Develop iteratively
Dual development approach:
Priorities
Architecture (brushes, props)
Npcs, AI
Code integration

Geared towards combat gameplay
Important for measuring challenges
No multiple choice, textual dialog system
Choreography scenes and on-screen text
No inventory
Items collected are health and ammunition

HMTH direct combat challenges
Easy-to-kill npcs (boredom conditions)
Hard-to-kill npcs (frustration conditions)
CKIR facial expression congruency
Smiling npc
Player shall cooperate with him
Player shall kill him
Angry looking npc
Player shall cooperate with him
Player shall kill him

Once levels are ready
Experiments start
Psychophysiological data
Questionnaires
Investigate hypotheses
Results will be distributed

I am looking for…
Support from publishers
Games we can use for our studies
Contribution of other game research studies
Open-minded developers
We always like to look at new middleware
Maybe this will prove to be useful for your game
Possible place to investigate game design for 6 months
Keep in mind
Research results are free!!

EU wants research in games
Our study starts this fall
Stay open-minded to game research
It is your free benefit
Changing requirements increases dev time
Requirements always change (!!)
Think internationally

Email address: Lennart.Nacke@bth.se
Download these slides here
http://gamescience.bth.se
Thanks to
Marko Hein for his superb mouse 
CISGS (Craig, Charlotte, Sophie)
Niklas (CKIR) for sending some slides
Nuvola icons
You for coming this early ;)

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The Fun of Gaming: Measuring the Human Experience of Media Enjoyment

by Lennart Nacke on Feb 28, 2008

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