Player Experience (PX), user experience in the specific context of digital games, is currently a nebulous term with no commonly accepted definition or coherent backing theory. In this presentation, a brief overview of the current state-of-the-art of PX knowledge is presented, with a specific emphasis on comparing PX research with the massive amount of knowledge currently being generated about user experience in other areas of HCI, notably productivity applications. Furthermore, to outline the current gaps in the knowledge of PX and integrate current research into a unified theoretical framework, creating a shared point of reference for the decidedly multi-disciplinary PX research. For additional information and a report see: http://www.mendeley.com/download/personal/2898071/4344958682/85ddec65d73eeba8e2a36435df3c35dffaadf792/dl.pdf

1. Towards a PX frameworkAnders Drachen, Lennart Nacke

2. Content What is UX and PX? Games: not productivitytools Towardsa PX framework?

3. Background User experience in games is gaining momentum (or no EPEX11) Pastdecade a ton of new research and industry attention Research touches upon a number of fields(HCI, CS, Neuroscience, Media, Psychology, AI, Informatics, Data Mining,Physiologyetc.)

4. What is PX? Terminology? (non-existent) Player Experience – User Experience in Games – GameplayExperience – Game Experience– Play Experience…. Let´splease just agree on something – anything! Here weuseplayexperience

5. What is PX? PX is somethingthatoccursbefore, during and afterweplay games … Most interest in the ”during” - PX in runtime: Wowthis is cool! I´mbored … S¤&% run! Run! Run! Mhmmm … night elves … … deepconcentration …

6. What is PX? ISO 9241-210 defines user experience as: "a person's perceptions and responses that result from the use or anticipated use of a product, system or service". User experience is subjective and focused on the use of something.

7. What is PX? Additional ISO notes: User experience includes all the users' emotions, beliefs, preferences, perceptions, physical and psychological responses, behaviors and accomplishments that occur before, during and after use -> temporal factor. Three factors that influence user experience: system properties, user stateand the contextofuse.

8. What is PX? RIFT Example: John is playing RIFT in a net café - whataffects his PX? Context: The physical properties of the café Social: The influence of otherpeople present physically and those in the RIFT environment John

9. What is PX? Temporal: the durationfoplay and whenheplays, constraints on time (10 minutes to server maintenance…) Infrastructural: Server breakdowns, networkoutages Task: The specifictask of playing RIFT is an example of a two-waytask System: The RIFT GUI, game system and the cafés hosting system

10. What is PX? The sum of experiences: Using oneaspect of RIFT willimpact on the experience of otheraspects. The overall PX is not just a sum of small experiences – someenhanceeachother, someare more important to John, etc. PX is the end result of all of theseincluences = emotionalstateand attitudes of the user (towards RIFT) (often at a given point in time, e.g. after a playtest).

11. What is PX? But wait, there is more!: Aspectsoutside the specificinteractionperiodpotentiallyimportant: Brand recognition, pricing, peer opinions, etc. Oftenresearch focus on: PX duringinteraction (emotion evaluation) long-term/episoidicPX (attitudes) Methods to evaluatethese temporal levelsvary – as do design approaches

12. What is PX? That is a lot of things to considerwhenplaytesting or evaluating a game! And now it get´sworse … Games aredifferentbeaststhanproductivityapplications: PX is king. PX optimized, complex,time

13. How are games different? PX optimized Focus on entertainment, not productivity (usability) Everyaspect of a game must be made to optimize PX Usabilitylikelyassists PX

14. How are games different? Complexity Contemporarycommercial games canbemassivelycomplexpieces of software Thousandsof potential user actions Users canevenchange games! (modding)

15. How are games different? Time The temporal dimension is central, both for design and assessment – measures of PX areheavilyinfluenced by the temporal dimension

16. Towards a PX framework The challenge is clear – how to proceed?

17. Towards a PX framework Knowledge from UX, UX design and usability Theoreticalmodelsof PX– none areinclusive of all aspects Empirical research – hard data on PX - but situation-specific

18. Towards a PX framework Get the piecesorganized … Important dimensions: Time Abstraction Agents

19. Towards a PX framework Two important agents in play: Designer creates the game with the intent of creating an experience Player interacts with the game and experiences something, but framed in the context of use etc.

20. Towards a PX framework 3 levels of abstraction: System: Concretelygraspable and technical game system experience Player: Individualplayerexperiencethatinfluences and is influenced by the perceptive and operational actions of the player Context: Processedexperience. Abstract experiencelevel, shaped by the playerinteracting with others, technologies, brands, etc.

21. Towards a PX framework Timeoperates at all levels of abstraction Pastexperiences influence the present Currentexperiences influence the future

22. Towards a PX framework Assembling the dimensions

23. Towards a PX framework And westill have not talkedabout the actual Elements of PX (emotions,attitudes , flow, etc.) Engagement Fun Flow Challenge Emotion Attitudes …

24. Thank you