Adaptive game elements and their effects on players’ attitudes
| Thesis title in Czech: | Adaptivní herní prvky a jejich efekt na hráčské postoje |
|---|---|
| Thesis title in English: | Adaptive game elements and their effects on players’ attitudes |
| Key words: | HCI|adaptivní modely|učení založené na hře|herní mechanika|postoje|implicitní postoje|videohry |
| English key words: | HCI|adaptive models|game-based learning|game mechanics|attitudes|implicit attitudes|video games |
| Academic year of topic announcement: | 2022/2023 |
| Thesis type: | dissertation |
| Thesis language: | angličtina |
| Department: | Department of Software and Computer Science Education (32-KSVI) |
| Supervisor: | doc. RNDr. Tomáš Dvořák, CSc. |
| Author: | hidden - assigned and confirmed by the Study Dept. |
| Date of registration: | 19.09.2023 |
| Date of assignment: | 19.09.2023 |
| Confirmed by Study dept. on: | 02.10.2023 |
| Advisors: | Mgr. Lukáš Kolek, Ph.D. |
| Guidelines |
| Attitudes were proved to play a significant role in how we select and process complex information, and in the way we interpret such obtained information. Therefore, when designing educational games, it is interesting to consider the initial attitudes of our players, because if our content matches players’ attitudes, they will be more willing to spend time playing the game, and if they disagree with the content, they might not play the game for a long time. In a similar way, players will view our game as a more credible source of information, if its content matches their attitudes. All of this influences the potential attitude change and we could benefit from it especially by using adaptive methods of automatically customizing games’ content to best suit our players.
Based on this, we have two hypotheses. First, that games, which somewhat comply with our attitudes, although they gradually promote more positive attitudes towards a given topic, have a potential to lead to greater attitude changes and to more enjoyable games, than games which strongly promote the positive attitudes right away. Second, that games, which convey messages that are closer to our attitudes, are more enjoyable for us than games with topics in conflict with our attitudes. We propose using adaptive methods to provide players with content which still promotes positive attitudes, but is modified to be closer to their initial beliefs. For the purpose of testing our hypotheses, we will create a modified game, which will feature a background attitude model based on attitude analysis done before and/or while playing the game. This will allow us to frame the game’s content to gradually promote positive attitudes. Attitudes will also be analyzed after our players finish the game to allow for comparison. This work will verify whether a game with adaptive content is more effective at promoting positive attitudes than a game with static content. Our studies shall result in the submission of several scientific papers, which will then be presented in appropriate conferences and journals. The final thesis will be a summary of these results with the aim to thoroughly describe how adaptively changing the content of a game based on player’s attitudes improves the game’s effect on attitude changes and increases the game’s enjoyment. |
| References |
| [1] Zohaib, M. Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment (DDA) in Computer Games: A Review. Advances in Human-Computer Interaction (2018), art. no. 5681652. https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/5681652
[2] Kolek, L., Ropovik, I., Šisler, V., Oostendorp, H., Brom, C. Video Games and Attitude Change: A Meta-analysis. PsyArXiv (2022). https://dx.doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/8y7jn [3] Pretty, E., Fayek, H., Zambetta, F. A Case for Personalized Non-Player Character Companion Design. International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction (2023). https://doi.org/10.1080/10447318.2023.2181125 [4] Togelius, J., Nardi, R.D., Lucas, S.M. Making Racing Fun Through Player Modeling and Track Evolution. Proceedings of the SAB'06 Workshop on Adaptive Approaches for Optimizing Player Satisfaction in Computer and Physical Games (October 2006, Rome). https://web-archive.southampton.ac.uk/cogprints.org/5221/1/Togelius2006Making.pdf [5] Hsieh, H.-M., Ling, A., Wang, L. A Fuzzy Approach to Generating Adaptive Opponents in the Dead End Game. Asian Journal of Health and Information Sciences 3 (2008), 19-37. https://doi.org/10.6412/AJHIS.200812.0019 [6] Schaffer, O. Development and Preliminary Validation of the Enjoyment Questionnaire and the Sources of Enjoyment Questionnaire. CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA'22), April 2022, New Orleans, art. no. 422, pp. 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1145/3491101.3519819 [7] Howe, L. C., Krosnick, J. A. Attitude strength. Annual Review of Psychology 68 (2017), 327–351. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-122414-033600 [8] Gawronski, B., Bodenhausen, G. V. Implicit and Explicit Evaluation: A Brief Review of the Associative–Propositional Evaluation Model. Social and Personality Psychology Compass 8:8 (2014), 448-462. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12124 [9] Kolek, L., Šisler, V., Martinková, P., Brom, C. Can video games change attitudes towards history? Results from a laboratory experiment measuring short- and long-term effects. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning 37:5 (2021), 1348-1369. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcal.12575 |
| Preliminary scope of work |
| Adaptivní herní prvky a jejich efekt na hráčské postoje |
| Preliminary scope of work in English |
| Adaptive game elements and their effects on players’ attitudes |