University of Bath DOCTOR OF ENGINEERING (ENGD) Generating Engagement With Video Games Through Frustration And Hindrance Boulton, Adam Award date: 2021 Awarding institution: University of Bath Link to publication Alternative formats If you require this document in an alternative format, please contact: [email protected] General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 05. Oct. 2021 GENERATING ENGAGEMENT WITH VIDEO GAMES THROUGH FRUSTRATION AND HINDRANCE Adam Rhys Boulton A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Engineering University of Bath Department of Computer Science September 2019 1 Copyright Notice Attention is drawn to the fact that copyright of this thesis/portfolio rests with the author and copyright of any previously published materials included may rest with third parties. A copy of this thesis/portfolio has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it understands that they must not copy it or use material from it except as licenced, permitted by law or with the consent of the author or other copyright owners, as applicable. Declaration of any previous submission of the work The material presented here for examination for the award of a higher degree by research has / has not been incorporated into a submission for another degree. Candidate’s Signature Declaration of authorship I am the author of this thesis, and the work described therein was carried out by myself personally. Candidate’s Signature 2 Contents 1 Introduction 7 1.1 Frustration and Engagement of Video Gamers . .7 1.2 Research Questions and Approach . .8 1.3 Definitions . 10 1.4 Scope . 12 1.5 Application to Games Design: Paperseven and Beyond . 13 1.6 Thesis Plan . 13 2 Literature Review 19 2.1 Engagement . 19 2.1.1 Definition and Description of Engagement . 19 2.1.2 Operationalisation of Engagement . 21 2.2 Frustration and Engagement Beyond Video Games . 24 2.3 Frustration and Engagement In Video Games: Part 1 (Un- desirable Effects) . 26 2.3.1 Annoyance at Forestallment as a Cause of Disengage- ment........................... 26 2.3.2 Feeling of Hindrance as a Cause of Annoyance at Fore- stallment . 28 2.3.3 Detecting and Removing Feeling of Hindrance and An- noyance at Forestallment . 31 2.4 Hindrance and Frustration in Video Games Part 2: Desirable Effects . 34 2.4.1 Introduction . 34 2.4.2 Challenge . 36 2.4.3 Variety . 37 3 2.4.4 Pacing . 40 2.4.5 Conclusion . 42 3 A New Approach 44 3.1 Methodology . 47 3.2 Ethical Considerations . 55 4 Study 1: Investigating the link between Feeling of Hindrance, Annoyance at Forestallment and Engagement 63 4.1 Study Design . 64 4.1.1 Game Selection . 64 4.1.2 Aim . 65 4.1.3 Hypotheses . 65 4.1.4 Method . 66 4.2 Results . 72 4.3 Discussion . 76 4.4 Conclusion and Next steps . 78 5 Study 2: Investigating Information, Feeling of Hindrance and Annoyance at Forestallment 80 5.1 Study Design . 81 5.1.1 Game Design . 81 5.1.2 Aim . 85 5.1.3 Hypotheses . 86 5.1.4 Method . 86 5.2 Results . 91 5.3 Discussion and Conclusion . 97 6 Study 3: Investigating Pacing and Frustration 101 4 6.1 Game Design . 102 6.1.1 Overview . 102 6.1.2 Adding Feeling of Hindrance and Annoyance at Fore- stallment . 105 6.1.3 Reducing Feeling of Hindrance and Annoyance at Fore- stallment . 106 6.1.4 Game Variations . 108 6.2 Study Design . 108 6.2.1 Aim . 108 6.2.2 Hypotheses . 108 6.2.3 Method . 109 6.3 Results . 113 6.4 Discussion and Conclusion . 122 7 Study 4: Investigating Variety and Frustration 127 7.1 Game Design . 129 7.1.1 Overview . 129 7.1.2 Puzzle Design . 130 7.1.3 Environment and Progression Design . 132 7.1.4 Game Variations . 133 7.2 Study Design . 135 7.2.1 Aim . 135 7.2.2 Hypotheses . 136 7.2.3 Method . 136 7.3 Results . 141 7.4 Discussion and Conclusion . 147 8 Application to Games Design 152 5 8.1 Blackwood Crossing . 153 8.1.1 Passenger Matching . 154 8.1.2 Hot and Cold . 156 8.2 Blackwood Crossing Successor . 158 8.2.1 Rune & Fracture Puzzles . 159 8.2.2 Bearing Puzzles . 162 8.3 Summary . 165 9 Conclusion 167 9.1 Research Questions Revisited . 167 9.2 Review . 167 9.3 Scope . 171 9.4 Contributions . 173 9.4.1 Methodological Reflection . 175 9.5 Questions For the Research Communities from whose work we have drawn . 182 9.6 Relevance for Game Designers . 183 9.7 Relevance to a Wider Community of Human Computer Inter- action Researchers . 185 9.8 Conclusion . 186 6 1 Introduction 1.1 Frustration and Engagement of Video Gamers The problems that can arise from excessive player frustration with video games are well reported[31, 28, 54, 105, 116, 23, 164, 113]. As the emer- ging literature surrounding video game frustration makes clear[102, 69, 26], the causes of that frustration can be complex and difficult to identify. In many cases however [69, 28], that literature shows the causes of frustration to include a players’ inability to achieve in-game goals, and the results to include disengagement from the wider game rather than simply the specific obstacle to be overcome. In that context, it is perhaps unsurprising that the recognition and removal of frustration have been major focuses for the research community interested in the phenomenon. Importantly, however, a game that creates no sense of frustration in its players risks becoming boring[102, 18, 69, 5, 41]. For example, a puzzle game in which every puzzle were instantly solved or an obstacle-driven game in which every obstacle were immediately surmounted is unlikely to attract or engage the players needed to make it profitable. Comprehensive recognition and removal of all frustrating events or prop- erties from a game may, therefore, come at the cost of removing players’ engagement with that game – a substantial problem for developers trying to sell not only the game itself but, increasingly add-ons and upgrades to its player base e.g. the avatar costumes or ‘skins’ that underpin the commercial strategy[80, 133] of the popular game Fortnite: Battle Royale[67]. In that context, games developers (including, but not limited to those working at Paperseven, my host company for the Engineering Doctorate which underpins this thesis) need a wider understanding of the complex 7 relationship between frustration and engagement with the games that they produce. They cannot rely exclusively on an approach to frustration based upon its removal at all costs. They also need to be able to be able to understand when to include potentially frustrating elements in their games and how to design those elements such that they increase rather than harm player engagement. 1.2 Research Questions and Approach In that context, extensions are needed to the ‘identify and remove’ approach to frustration, described in the scientific literature reviewed in Chapter 2. We need to complement the frameworks that describe the circumstances in which frustration acts as a deterrent to engagement with video games with models that predict the circumstances (if any), in which temporarily adding to or changing the nature of the frustration experienced by video gamers increases their engagement with and enjoyment of the games that they play. The term ‘model’ as used by this thesis refers to a predictive description of one variable’s effect on another - i.e, introduction of a specific variable A will result in an increase or decline in a specific variable B. In that context, the high-level research questions that guide the work in this thesis are: • Can the generation of player frustration enhance a video game experi- ence i.e. increase rather than decrease a player’s engagement with that game? • If so, when and how can this ‘beneficial frustration’ be achieved? In the context of this work’s focus on providing guidance to games design- ers and the second of the two research questions, above, I have adopted an 8 approach based on and read the literature described, below, through a lens of design science[165, 72, 123, 157, 99]. The literature review, which begins in chapter 2, outlines the basis for these research questions. The review does present a causal relationship between frustration and engagement: one where the presence of frustration results in a reduction in the latter. How- ever discussions with games designers, including our colleagues at partner company Paperseven, suggested that this model could not account for the full range of impacts that they considered frustration to potentially have on player engagement. The literature review develops the view that under the right conditions, frustration may have the opposing effect on engagement, where engagement increases with frustration instead of decreases. In the review, we outline how in-game frustration could potentially be able to generate aspects of game- play that researchers agree are positive or that its absence may also harm engagement[69, 28].