The User Experience of Disney Infinity: Do Smart Toys Matter?

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The User Experience of Disney Infinity: Do Smart Toys Matter? University of Central Florida STARS Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 2015 The User Experience of Disney Infinity: Do Smart Toys Matter? Shelly Welch University of Central Florida Part of the Dance Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Masters Thesis (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STARS Citation Welch, Shelly, "The User Experience of Disney Infinity: Do Smart Toys Matter?" (2015). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019. 732. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/732 THE USER EXPERIENCE OF DISNEY INFINITY: DO SMART TOYS MATTER? by SHELLY WELCH B.A. University of Northern Iowa, 2006 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts in the School of Visual Arts & Design in the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Summer Term 2015 © 2015 Shelly Welch ii ABSTRACT This study investigated what factors come into play when looking at the user experience involved with the commercial video game Disney Infinity (2.0 Edition), and sought to determine if the unique combination between sandbox and smart toy based gameplay present in gameplay offers an additional level of immersion. This study analyzed the effect of Disney Infinity (2.0 Edition) on immersion utilizing a Game Immersion Questionnaire modified to analyze play preference as well as video game experience. The study methodology analyzed 48 users while playing in “Toy Box” mode both with and without the associated smart toys, or Disney characters. Results show that while there was no significant difference in immersion for either group, nor were there any significant correlations between variables, there was a preference for playing the game with the associated smart toys in both groups. Recommendations were made for continued research building on modifications to this study as well as future research exploring the potential for smart toys in other areas. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank the many users who volunteered their time to participate in this research. I would like to thank the members of my committee, Dr. Peter Smith, Dr. Rudy McDaniel, and Dr. Stephanie Vie, for their insight and expertise. I would like to thank my fellow classmates, both in the School of Visual Arts and Design master’s programs and Texts & Technology PhD program, for their support, feedback, and friendship. I would like to thank the various faculty and staff members who saw my potential and challenged me academically, including Philip Peters and Dr. Si-Jung Kim. I would like to thank all the members of the Games Research Group, for their encouragement while questing for users, for providing tasty libations of epic proportions, and for Dr. Joseph Fanfarelli’s heroic contributions in defeating the final statistics beast. Thank you to everyone at IDEAS who shared my enthusiasm by smiling and nodding when I rambled on in excitement and for providing me with so many amazing opportunities to learn about the industry first hand. Thank you to my friends and family for their unwavering encouragement and support. And last, but certainly not least, to my “parental units”, Randy and Rebecca Welch, who have always taken the time to encourage me and support me every time I feared the “tangled playground” was just a little too much to bare. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................... viii LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................................... ix LIST OF ACRYNOMS/ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................. x CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................. 4 Defining gameplay in Disney Infinity (2.0 Edition) ................................................................... 4 Smart Toys .............................................................................................................................. 5 Pervasive Games ..................................................................................................................... 6 Virtual Worlds ........................................................................................................................ 8 Defining User Experience ........................................................................................................... 9 Immersion ............................................................................................................................. 10 Play Preference ..................................................................................................................... 12 Why Use Technology in Education? ........................................................................................ 13 Why Use Smart Toys? .......................................................................................................... 13 Why Use Pervasive Games? ................................................................................................. 15 Why Use Virtual Worlds? ..................................................................................................... 15 CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................... 18 Objective and Goals .................................................................................................................. 18 Research Questions ................................................................................................................... 18 Sample Population and Procedures ........................................................................................... 19 v Research Design ....................................................................................................................... 20 Equipment ............................................................................................................................. 28 Measures ............................................................................................................................... 29 Independent Variables .............................................................................................................. 30 Immersion ............................................................................................................................. 30 Play Preference ..................................................................................................................... 30 Dependent Variables ................................................................................................................. 31 Game Element Used ............................................................................................................. 31 Average Amount of Gameplay Experience .......................................................................... 32 Number of Smart Toys Used ................................................................................................ 32 Anticipated Results ................................................................................................................... 33 CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS .................................................................................................... 34 Data Analysis ............................................................................................................................ 34 Qualitative Analysis .................................................................................................................. 39 CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION ................................................................................................. 46 Limitations ................................................................................................................................ 57 Research Design .................................................................................................................... 57 Tutorial Session ................................................................................................................ 60 Game Immersion Questionnaire ....................................................................................... 61 Areas for Further Research ....................................................................................................... 61 APPENDIX A: GAME IMMERSION QUESTIONNAIRE ........................................................ 66 APPENDIX B: SELECTION SHEET .......................................................................................... 70 vi APPENDIX C: DISNEY CHARACTER GROUP PROCTOR SCRIPT .................................... 72 APPENDIX D: CONTROL GROUP PROCTOR SCRIPT ......................................................... 75 APPENDIX E: IRB APPROVAL LETTER ................................................................................ 78 APPENDIX F: IRB CONSENT FORM ......................................................................................
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