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Player Attitudes to Avatar Development in Digital Games: an Exploratory Study of Single-Player Role-Playing Games and Other Genres

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Player Attitudes to Avatar Development in Digital Games: an Exploratory Study of Single-Player Role-Playing Games and Other Genres This item was submitted to Loughborough University as a PhD thesis by the author and is made available in the Institutional Repository (https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/) under the following Creative Commons Licence conditions. For the full text of this licence, please go to: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ Player Attitudes to Avatar Development in Digital Games: An Exploratory Study of Single-Player Role-Playing Games and other Genres By Richard D. Gough Supervisors: James Dearnley Adrienne Muir A Doctoral Thesis Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy of Loughborough University April 2013 ©Richard D. Gough 2013 Certificate of Originality Thesis Access Conditions and Deposit Agreement Students should consult the guidance notes on the electronic thesis deposit and the access conditions in the University’s Code of Practice on Research Degree Programmes Author………...………………………………………………………………………………………………..… …. Title………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ….. I [Richard D. Gough, 66 Britannia Drive, Stretton, Burton-on-Trent, DE13 0FB], “the Depositor”, would like to deposit [Player Attitudes to Avatar Development in Digital Games: An Exploratory Study of Single-Player Role- Playing Games and other Genres], hereafter referred to as the “Work”, once it has successfully been examined in Loughborough University Institutional Repository Status of access OPEN / RESTRICTED / CONFIDENTIAL Moratorium Period…………………………………years, ending…………../…………20………………………. Status of access approved by (CAPITALS):…………………………………………………………………… Supervisor (Signature)………………………………………………...…………………………………... School of……………………………………………………………………...………………………………… Author's Declaration I confirm the following : CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY This is to certify that I am responsible for the work submitted in this thesis, that the original work is my own except as specified in acknowledgements or in footnotes, and that neither the thesis nor the original work therein has been submitted to this or any other institution for a degree NON-EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS The licence rights granted to Loughborough University Institutional Repository through this agreement are entirely non-exclusive and royalty free. I am free to publish the Work in its present version or future versions elsewhere. I agree that Loughborough University Institutional Repository administrators or any third party with whom Loughborough University Institutional Repository has an agreement to do so may, without changing content, convert the Work to any medium or format for the purpose of future preservation and accessibility. DEPOSIT IN LOUGHBOROUGH UNIVERSITY INSTITUTIONAL REPOSITORY I understand that open access work deposited in Loughborough University Institutional Repository will be accessible to a wide variety of people and institutions - including automated agents - via the World Wide Web. An electronic copy of my thesis may also be included in the British Library Electronic Theses On-line System (EThOS). I understand that once the Work is deposited, a citation to the Work will always remain visible. Removal of the Work can be made after discussion with Loughborough University Institutional Repository, who shall make best efforts to ensure removal of the Work from any third party with whom Loughborough University Institutional Repository has an agreement. Restricted or Confidential access material will not be available on the World Wide Web until the moratorium period has expired. i - That I am the author of the Work and have the authority to make this agreement and to hereby give Loughborough University Institutional Repository administrators the right to make available the Work in the way described above. - That I have exercised reasonable care to ensure that the Work is original, and does not to the best of my knowledge break any UK law or infringe any third party’s copyright or other Intellectual Property Right. I have read the University’s guidance on third party copyright material in theses. - The administrators of Loughborough University Institutional Repository do not hold any obligation to take legal action on behalf of the Depositor, or other rights holders, in the event of breach of Intellectual Property Rights, or any other right, in the material deposited. The statement below shall apply to ALL copies: This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. Restricted/confidential work: All access and any copying shall be strictly subject to written permission from the University Dean of School and any external sponsor, if any. Author's signature……………………………………..Date…………………………………...…………...…… user’s declaration: for signature during any Moratorium period (Not Open work): I undertake to uphold the above conditions: Date Name (CAPITALS) Signature Address ii Abstract Digital games incorporate systems that allow players to customise and develop their controllable in-game representative (avatar) over the course of a game. Avatar customisation systems represent a point at which the goals and values of players interface with the intentions of the game developer forming a dynamic and complex relationship between system and user. With the proliferation of customisable avatars through digital games and the ongoing monetisation of customisation options through digital content delivery platforms it is important to understand the relationship between player and avatar in order to provide a better user experience and to develop an understanding of the cultural impact of the avatar. Previous research on avatar customisation has focused on the users of virtual worlds and massively multiplayer games, leaving single-player avatar experiences. These past studies have also typically focused on one particular aspect of avatar customisation and those that have looked at all factors involved in avatar customisation have done so with a very small sample. This research has aimed to address this gap in the literature by focusing primarily on avatar customisation features in single-player games, aiming to investigate the relationship between player and customisation systems from the perspective of the players of digital games. To fulfill the research aims and objectives, the qualitative approach of interpretative phenomenological analysis was adopted. Thirty participants were recruited using snowball and purposive sampling (the criteria being that participants had played games featuring customisable avatars) and accounts of their experiences were gathered through semi- structured interviews. Through this research, strategies of avatar customisation were explored in order to demonstrate how people use such systems. The shortcomings in game mechanics and user interfaces were highlighted so that future games can improve the avatar customisation experience. Keywords: avatar customisation / player character / computer game / video game/ digital game/ single-player games / role-playing games / interpretative phenomenological analysis / player experience iii Acknowledgements I am most grateful to my supervisors, Dr. James Dearnley and Dr. Adrienne Muir, for introducing me to the field and spurring me through the PhD process with their constant advice and encouragement. This research would not have been possible without the studentship provided by the Department of Information Science, nor would it have been possible without the participants who were so willing to volunteer their time and share their interesting views. I want to thank all of the department staff and academics that have kindly assisted me throughout my years at Loughborough University. Many thanks to my parents for their steadfast support throughout my education and to my friends and the Department of Information Science PhD students for their fellowship. Special thanks go to my partner, Dace, who has been an endless source of encouragement and patience. iv Abbreviations and Acronyms CAQDAS Computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software CoH City of Heroes CPU Central processing unit DA: O Dragon Age: Origins DLC Downloadable Content DM Dungeon Master D&D Dungeons and Dragons IPA Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis ME Mass Effect ME2 Mass Effect 2 MMO Massively Multiplayer Online MMORPG Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game NPC Non-player character PC Personal Computer PS PlayStation PVP Player versus Player RPG Role-Playing Game RTS Real-Time Strategy SL Second Life V.A.T.S Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System WoW World of Warcraft v Contents Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................... iv Abbreviations and Acronyms ...................................................................................................... v Chapter 1: Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Background .................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 A brief history of open avatars in computer games .................................................... 2 1.3 The industry and the avatar ......................................................................................... 3 1.4 Research problem .......................................................................................................
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