Is Game Immersion Just Another Form of Selective Attention? An Empirical Investigation of Real World Dissociation in Computer Game Immersion by Charlene Ianthe Jennett A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy UCL UCL Interaction Centre, Department of Psychology Revised thesis submitted July 2010 DECLARATION I, Charlene Ianthe Jennett, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. Although some of this research has been published with my supervisors Anna L. Cox and Paul Cairns as co-authors, the work reported is my own. 2 ABSTRACT When your daughter is playing video-games and you call her to dinner but she fails to respond, do you assume she heard you and ignored you? Everyday descriptions of game immersion suggest that the real world dissociation experienced by gamers could be an extreme form of selective attention. If this were the case, this would mean that your daughter really did not hear you call, due to the complexity of the game environment and a lack of available cognitive resources. This thesis describes a grounded theory that suggests that immersion is a result of self-motivated attention which is enhanced through feedback from the game. Five experimental studies are then described. The experimental studies show that the extent to which a player thinks they are doing well in the game significantly affects their level of immersion, as measured via the Immersive Experience Questionnaire; and has objective effects on their awareness of other things in the environment, namely recall of auditory distracters and reaction time to a visual distracter. Together the evidence suggests that immersion cannot be accounted for solely by selective attention: much of the real world is attenuated during game-play due primarily to the gamer’s motivation to continue the immersive experience. Interestingly, the auditory items that do get through the attenuation filter and are heard by the gamer are those that are personal in some way; so if you used your daughter’s name when you called her, and she did not respond, then based on our findings one might suggest that she chose to ignore you in order to keep her sense of immersion. Additionally, the final experiment shows a dissociation between immersion and cognitive load. This suggests that the differences in immersion were not a result of increased sensory features or task demands, but purely due to motivation. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Title Page.............................................................................................................................. 1 Declaration........................................................................................................................... 2 Abstract............................................................................................................3 Table of Contents ............................................................................................................... 4 List of Figures...................................................................................................................... 7 List of Tables ....................................................................................................................... 9 Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................13 Chapter 1: Introduction.................................................................................14 1.1. Play and Games.................................................................................................14 1.2. Defining Computer Games.............................................................................15 1.3. The Concepts of Immersion, Selective Attention and Real World Dissociation .......................................................................................................18 1.4. Possible Applications of Immersion Research............................................20 1.5. Research Questions and Methodology .........................................................24 1.6. Outline of Thesis Structure.............................................................................25 Chapter 2: Literature Review of Game Immersion and Selective Attention..................................................................................................27 2.1. Introduction .......................................................................................................27 2.2. The Concept of Game Immersion ................................................................28 2.3. Real World Dissociation and Selective Attention.......................................50 2.4. Discussion ..........................................................................................................62 Chapter 3: Study One: Interviewing Gamers...............................................66 3.1. Introduction .......................................................................................................66 3.2. Methodology......................................................................................................67 3.3. Grounded Theory .............................................................................................70 3.4. Discussion ..........................................................................................................93 Chapter 4: Studies Two and Three: Awareness of Auditory Distracters Altered as a Result of Playing Games Differing in Feedback and Other Game Features............................................................................ 100 4.1. Introduction .....................................................................................................100 4.2. Designing Two Versions of Space Trek, Differing in Feedback and Other Game Features....................................................................................103 4.3. Piloting the Space Trek Games ....................................................................108 4.4. Piloting the Auditory Distracters .................................................................112 4 4.5. Study Two: Comparing Recall of Auditory Distracters Present During Game-Play of the “Feedback” and “No Feedback” Versions Of Space Trek .................................................................................................119 4.6. Piloting Star Fly 3............................................................................................125 4.7. Study Three: Comparing Recall of Auditory Distracters Present During Game-Play of Star Fly and the “No Feedback” Version of Space Trek .......................................................................................................131 4.8. General Discussion.........................................................................................140 Chapter 5: Studies Four and Five: Awareness of Distraction Altered as a Result of Player’s Game Performance............................................... 142 5.1. Introduction .....................................................................................................142 5.2. Study Four: Comparing Recall of Auditory Distracters Present During Game-Play of Star Fly 3 for “High Performers” and “Low Performers” .....................................................................................................144 5.3. Piloting Rescue the Band...............................................................................154 5.4. Study Five: Comparing Reaction Times to a Visual Distracter Present During Game-Play of Rescue the Band for “High Performers” and “Low Performers” ..........................................................163 5.5. General Discussion.........................................................................................173 Chapter 6: Study Six: A Dissociation Between Real World Dissociation in Gaming and Cognitive Load Theory ....................................... 176 6.1. Introduction .....................................................................................................176 6.2. Study Six: Comparing Recall of Auditory Distracters Present During Game-Play of Two Rigged Versions of Space Trek, “High Performance” and “Low Performance” ....................................................178 Chapter 7: Discussion..................................................................................191 7.1. Introduction .....................................................................................................191 7.2. The Research Findings...................................................................................191 7.3. Contribution to HCI ......................................................................................195 7.4. Future Research...............................................................................................200 References ...................................................................................................203 Appendix 1: Interview Schedule used in Study One................................................214 Appendix 2: Rocket States of the Space Trek Game...............................................216 Appendix 3: Asteroid States of the Space Trek Game ............................................217 Appendix 4: Immersive Experience Questionnaire (IEQ) used in Study One...218 Appendix 5: Scoring the Immersive Experience Questionnaire (IEQ)