One of the main problems that most developers have is how to address the right difficulty of a game in a dynamic way to satisfy all the players that have different skills and different attitudes toward the game. The most used method to achieve this goal is the performance-based dynamic difficulty adjustment (DDA), i.e. modifying the difficulty of the game according to the score of the player. Often, it is not enough to rely only on the score to adjust the game’s difficulty. It is important to consider the emotional state of the person because each player is different and can enjoy playing the game in different ways. This is why affective-based DDA methods should be considered to adjust the difficulty of a game. Moreover, thanks to Virtual Reality, people can do physical exercises while playing the game and motivating them by implementing the best DDA method is even more important. In this thesis I first discuss the performance-based and affective-based methods implemented in other games and researches, and the background theory related to flow, arousal,and skin conductance. Then, a Virtual Reality game called ETNA (Entertaining Training Neuro Affective) has been developed in 3 variants, one implementing a performance-based only DDA, one implementing an affective-based DDA only, and one implementing a mixed perfo-affective DDA, with both of them active at the same time. Two version of the game were developed (ETNA v1 and ETNA v2)and two user studies were conducted. The results showed that affective gaming canbe implemented in Virtual Reality to improve the overall gaming experience if the player is highly immersed inside the game and that the perfo-affective method was the best method (in ETNA v1). If the player was not immersed inside the game and got easily distracted, the affective based DDA variants did not obtain good results and the best was the performance based DDA (ETNA v2).
Uno dei maggiori problemi che hanno quasi tutti gli sviluppatori di video games è il trovare un modo per modificare la difficoltà del gioco in maniera dinamica con il fine di soddisfare tutti i giocatori che hanno differenti abilità e differenti attitudini nei confronti del gioco. Il metodo più usato per raggiungere questo obiettivo è attraverso l’adattamento dinamico della difficoltà (DDA) basato sulle performance del giocatore. Spesso non basta affidarsi solo sulle performance per aggiustare la difficoltà del gioco. È importante considerare anche lo stato emotivo del giocatore perché ogni persona è diversa e può divertirsi giocando in modi diversi. Ecco perché bisognerebbe considerare l’uso di metodi basati sullo stato emotivo dell’individuo per modificare la difficoltà di un gioco. Inoltre, grazie alla realtà virtuale, i giocatori possono fare esercizio fisico mentre giocano e diventa ancora più importante il motivarli a giocare implementando il migliore algoritmo possibile.In questa tesi inizialmente sono discussi i metodi basati sulle performance e sullo stato emotivo implementati in altri giochi e ricerche e la teoria relativa al concetto di "flow", "arousal" e conduttanza della pelle. Successivamente, è stato sviluppatoun gioco in realtà virutale chiamato ETNA (Entertaining Training Neuro Affective)in 3 varianti: una che implementa un DDA solo basato sulle performance, unosolo basato sullo stato emotivo e uno basato su un mix dei primi due attivi incontemporanea. Sono state sviluppate due versioni del gioco (ETNA v1 e ETNAv2) e sono stati condotti due studi su persone. I risultati dimostrano che possonoessere sviluppati "giochi affettivi" in realtà virtuale per migliorare l’esperienzadi gioco generale del giocatore se egli è altamente immerso all’interno del videogioco. In questo caso il metodo migliore è risultato essere quello basato sul mix traperformance e stato emotivo (ETNA v1). Se il giocatore non è totalmente immersoall’interno del gioco e si distrae più facilmente, le varianti basate sullo stato emotivonon hanno ottenuto buoni risultati e il metodo migliore è risultato essere quellobasato sulle performance (ETNA v2).
Dynamic difficulty adjustment in a virtual reality affective video game
AMICO, SIMONE
2017/2018
Abstract
One of the main problems that most developers have is how to address the right difficulty of a game in a dynamic way to satisfy all the players that have different skills and different attitudes toward the game. The most used method to achieve this goal is the performance-based dynamic difficulty adjustment (DDA), i.e. modifying the difficulty of the game according to the score of the player. Often, it is not enough to rely only on the score to adjust the game’s difficulty. It is important to consider the emotional state of the person because each player is different and can enjoy playing the game in different ways. This is why affective-based DDA methods should be considered to adjust the difficulty of a game. Moreover, thanks to Virtual Reality, people can do physical exercises while playing the game and motivating them by implementing the best DDA method is even more important. In this thesis I first discuss the performance-based and affective-based methods implemented in other games and researches, and the background theory related to flow, arousal,and skin conductance. Then, a Virtual Reality game called ETNA (Entertaining Training Neuro Affective) has been developed in 3 variants, one implementing a performance-based only DDA, one implementing an affective-based DDA only, and one implementing a mixed perfo-affective DDA, with both of them active at the same time. Two version of the game were developed (ETNA v1 and ETNA v2)and two user studies were conducted. The results showed that affective gaming canbe implemented in Virtual Reality to improve the overall gaming experience if the player is highly immersed inside the game and that the perfo-affective method was the best method (in ETNA v1). If the player was not immersed inside the game and got easily distracted, the affective based DDA variants did not obtain good results and the best was the performance based DDA (ETNA v2).File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/143405