Decision Dimensions: The six factors to decision making in video games
Authors
Christiansen, Anders Schultz ; Lund, Carol Srisong
Term
4. term
Education
Publication year
2020
Submitted on
2020-05-28
Pages
78
Abstract
This master’s thesis examines how players’ in-game choices can be understood and modeled through latent factors in behavior. Building on the rise of user-centered methods in the games industry, the authors identify a gap between established player motivation models (e.g., Caillois, Bartle, Yee) and micro-level decision making that occurs choice by choice during play. The aim is to develop a framework that identifies and quantifies the most significant factors shaping such choices. The work proceeds in three iterations: (1) a quantitative exploration using a custom interactive narrative with discrete choices, including methods such as path similarity via edit distance, a player-type questionnaire, and statistical testing; (2) interviews and persona construction to refine and validate potential factors and improve the narrative design; and (3) framework development based on event-based engagement assessment and principal component analysis, resulting in six Decision Dimensions and an accompanying questionnaire for profiling. The thesis reports that these six dimensions can be used to categorize and assess players’ decisions in the interactive narrative; detailed empirical results and the specific dimension labels are not included in this excerpt.
Denne kandidatafhandling undersøger, hvordan spilleres valg i videospil kan forstås og modelleres ud fra latente faktorer i adfærd. Med udgangspunkt i den stigende brug af brugercentrerede metoder i spilindustrien peger forfatterne på et hul mellem eksisterende spiller- og motivationsmodeller (fx Caillois, Bartle, Yee) og den mikro-niveau beslutningstagning, der sker fra valg til valg i spil. Studiet sigter mod at udvikle en ramme, der identificerer og kvantificerer de mest betydningsfulde faktorer bag sådanne valg. Arbejdet forløber i tre iterationer: (1) en kvantitativ udforskning via en egenudviklet interaktiv fortælling med diskrete valg, herunder metoder som stianalyse med edit distance, spørgeskema om spiltype og statistiske tests; (2) interviews og persona-udvikling til at nuancere og validere mulige faktorer samt forbedre fortællingsdesignet; og (3) en rammeudvikling baseret på event-baseret engagementmåling og principal component analysis, der munder ud i seks Decision Dimensions samt et tilhørende spørgeskema til profilering. Afhandlingen rapporterer, at de seks dimensioner kan bruges til at kategorisere og vurdere spilleres beslutninger i den interaktive fortælling; detaljerede resultater og navngivning af dimensionerne fremgår ikke af dette uddrag.
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Keywords