Game Atmosphere: Effects of Audiovisual Thematic Cohesion on Player Experience and Psychophysiology
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Game Atmosphere: Effects of Audiovisual Thematic Cohesion on Player Experience and Psychophysiology Giovanni Ribeiro Katja Rogers Maximilian Altmeyer [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] HCI Games Group, Games Institute 1HCI Games Group, Games Institute German Research Center for University of Waterloo, ON, Canada University of Waterloo, ON, Canada Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) 2Institute of Media Informatics Saarland Informatics Campus, Ulm University, Germany Germany Thomas Terkildsen Lennart E. Nacke [email protected] [email protected] Department of Clinical Medicine HCI Games Group, Games Institute Aalborg University, Denmark and Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business University of Waterloo, ON, Canada ABSTRACT ’20), November 2–4, 2020, Virtual Event, Canada. ACM, New York, NY, USA, Game atmosphere and game audio are critical factors linked to the 13 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3410404.3414245 commercial success of video games. However, game atmosphere has been neither operationalized nor clearly defined in games user 1 INTRODUCTION research literature, making it difficult to study. We define game at- The term ‘game atmosphere’ is used to describe a subtle but impor- mosphere as the emerging subjective experience of a player caused tant, intangible, generally aesthetic quality in games that leads to by the strong audiovisual thematic cohesion (i.e., the harmonic emotional immersion. A multitude of games are lauded as “atmo- fit of sounds and graphics to a shared theme) of video gameel- spheric” in their reviews [14, 38, 43, 44]. To the best of our knowl- ements. We studied players’ experience of thematic cohesion in edge, the concept of atmosphere in games—despite its prevalence two between-subjects, independent-measures experiments (N=109) and noted importance—has not been studied before empirically across four conditions differing in their level of audiovisual the- and does not have a fixed definition. Game developer Greg Kasavin matic fit. Participants’ experiences were assessed with physiological notes that atmosphere is made up of thematic cohesion, internal and psychometric measurements to understand the effect of game consistency, and specific detail [42]. Others describe it as a feeling atmosphere on player experience. Results indicate that a lack of of immersion emerging from among a variety of game thematic fit between audio and visuals lowers the degree ofper- coherence elements (visuals, audio, narrative, game mechanics, and interac- ceived atmosphere, but that while audiovisual thematic dissonance tivity) [6]. Ernest Adams also recommended that game designers may lead to higher-intensity negative-valence facial events, it does should create atmosphere by ensuring that a game is “aesthetically not impact self-reported player experience or immersion. coherent and creates the appropriate mood” [2]. The aesthetics of games are a subjective experience and a rarely studied component CCS CONCEPTS of player experience (PX). According to the Mechanics-Dynamics- • Human-centered computing ! Empirical studies in HCI. Aesthetics (MDA) framework, aesthetics “describes the desirable emotional responses evoked in the player, when she interacts with KEYWORDS the game system” [36]. This is a significant component of game games; atmosphere; audio; music; player experience; dissonance design given the importance of players’ emotional experience in games for their immediate perception thereof, as well as for sub- ACM Reference Format: Giovanni Ribeiro, Katja Rogers, Maximilian Altmeyer, Thomas Terkildsen, sequent likelihood of replaying and word-of-mouth advertising. and Lennart E. Nacke. 2020. Game Atmosphere: Effects of Audiovisual The- Niedenthal describes aesthetics as referring to “the sensory phe- matic Cohesion on Player Experience and Psychophysiology. In Proceedings nomena that the player encounters in the game” [59] (i.e., the visual of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play (CHI PLAY and auditory elements). When visual and auditory components of a video game have strong thematic cohesion, and therefore con- Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or tribute to the same aesthetic, players should experience or perceive classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed a stronger emergent feeling of atmosphere. for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for third-party components of this work must be honored. Given the importance of atmosphere for PX and consequently For all other uses, contact the owner/author(s). for the sales of games, we attempted to verify the ties between CHI Play ’20, November 2–4, 2020, Virtual Event, Canada atmosphere in games and audiovisual thematic cohesion. We did © 2020 Copyright held by the owner/author(s). ACM ISBN 978-1-4503-8074-4/20/11. so by empirically exploring effects of audiovisual thematic dis- https://doi.org/10.1145/3410404.3414245 sonance on PX in two studies. In an online experiment (N=59) CHI Play ’20, November 2–4, 2020, Virtual Event, Canada Ribeiro et al. and a lab study (N=50), we confronted viewers (online) and play- create immersion” and is made up of thematic cohesion, internal ers (lab) with audiovisual thematic dissonance in the game Blood- consistency of mechanics, and specific detail [42]. Other past work borne [24]—itself often discussed in connection with atmosphere in has described a game designer’s job in relation to atmosphere as games [16, 40, 50, 62]. Our results indicate that a lack of thematic ensuring the game is “aesthetically coherent and creates the appro- fit between audio and visuals lowers the degree of perceived at- priate mood” with the use of “lighting, colour palette, weather and mosphere, providing the first piece of empirical evidence for the atmospheric effects, special visual effects, music, ambient audio, connection between audiovisual thematic cohesion and game at- and special audio effects” [2]. mosphere. They also indicate that audiovisual thematic cohesion Previous academic work has addressed game aspects which may facilitates positive affective experiences. However, the results also affect atmosphere, but none have tried to define it or used theterm show that thematic cohesion did not affect players’ (or viewers’) with full intent, except Mueller et al., who studied the design of immersion and psychometrically assessed player experience. In visual patterns for the aesthetic experience of games [55]. Further, this regard, the only significant difference occurred in players’ earlier work in this area has reported no studies, or focused on brow-muscle electromyography (EMG) activation, which was of other aspects (e.g., inducing fear [29]) instead of the experience a significantly higher amplitude for the condition with dissonant of atmosphere. To our knowledge, there is no prior work that em- music than for the condition with dissonant voiceover. pirically explores the value of audio-visual thematic fit in creating The study of atmosphere is important to games user research atmosphere in games. (GUR) and experience (GRUX) practitioners, and game designers seeking to understand and improve atmospheric experiences and avoid thematically dissonant experiences which break atmosphere. 2.2 Music and Player Experience With this paper, we contribute a definition of video game atmo- Previous research suggests that audio has strong ties to induc- sphere to the CHI PLAY community, as the emergent subjective ing player emotions [21, 68, 70] and is capable of both enhancing experience occurring because of strong thematic cohesion between and disrupting immersion [35, 63, 68, 75]. Music listening, specifi- audiovisual game elements, which was validated by a total of 109 cally, is capable of inducing emotions through a variety of mecha- participants across two studies. We also provide evidence for the nisms including brain stem reflexes, evaluative conditioning, emo- beneficial effects of perceived atmosphere on players’ purchasing tional contagion, visual imagery, episodic memory, and musical decisions and quality perception. Contrary to expectations coming expectancy [8, 41, 65]. Existing research on effects of general music from reading the existing literature, atmosphere in the form of listening is difficult to apply to games, due to their interactivity strong audiovisual thematic cohesion did not impact players’ im- and the resulting crossmodal interplay between visuals, game me- mersion and psychometrically assessed player experience, leading chanics, and music perception [11, 21, 49, 84]. Effects of music on us to conclude that game atmosphere may consist of additional the video game experience have been discussed before, but never- aspects to audiovisual cohesion, likely including a relationship to theless remain one of the least studied game components in our interactivity and sound effects, in addition, which will have tobe field. In a 2009 study, Cassidy et al. gave participants theoppor- explored in future work. Finally, our results offer a starting point for tunity to play a driving game while listening to self-selected or this future research, implicating several components of narrative experimenter-selected high or low arousal music. Results indicated and game design as potential additional factors in eliciting video that those who self-selected their soundtracks enjoyed their expe- game