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Communication Dans Un Congrès Année : 2023

Flow in video games: A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of game design choices

Résumé

Flow is a state in which individuals fully concentrate on an enjoyable activity, the challenge of which matches their skills. Flow can be experienced in a wide range of activities, but video games are particularly suitable for experiencing flow because they provide clear goals, immediate feedback and easily manipulated difficulty. As a result, flow is a widely valued dimension of the player experience. Flow has been the subject of several literature reviews and their contribution is of great interest to the game user research community, but their results are mainly reported in a descriptive way. The body of experimental gaming research literature is now large enough to allow for more comprehensive and in-depth analyses of the data from this research, such as meta-analyses. To our knowledge, there is no meta-analysis regarding flow in video games. The goal of our study was to provide a more comprehensive view of the elements of game design that influence flow and the techniques used to assess it, by conducting a systematic review of the literature and a meta-analysis. Literature search and selection was made in major online databases (Web of Science Core Collection, PsycInfo, Medline). The search was carried out using keywords related to video games and player experience. To be included, articles had to involve controlled experiments examining how game design factors affect flow and for which entertainment was the primary goal of the game studied. A total of 43 articles published between 2008 and 2022 were included. The results of the systematic review showed that the included studies investigated most important aspects of video game design, including information input and output techniques, in-game content and, to a limited extent, multiplayer aspects. The findings also showed that the measurement of flow experience in video games can be considered adequate, as most of the included articles used standardised scales or subscales dedicated to the assessment of player experience or flow. Three out of the five performed analyses in the meta-analysis showed significant effects of game design factors, two related to difficulty and one to display mode. Playing a game with dynamic difficulty adjustment (effect size, ES = .78) or a personalized difficulty level (ES = 1.19), as opposed to a game with non-adaptive or non-personalized difficulty level, had moderate positive effects on flow. Finally, playing a game on a VR head-mounted display rather than a traditional screen had a moderate positive effect on flow (ES = .70). These results show how important it is to match the difficulty level to the player's ability in order to experience flow. Dynamic difficulty adjustment is a good way of doing this, but it can also be useful to personalize the difficulty level, for example with a skill test at the start of the game. Finally, three out of the five comparisons in the meta-analysis were on difficulty. Future studies should strengthen the investigation of other game characteristics, such as feedback and rewards, to extend our understanding of how game design factors induce and maintain flow in players.
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Dates et versions

hal-04169163 , version 1 (24-07-2023)

Identifiants

  • HAL Id : hal-04169163 , version 1

Citer

Morgane Pujol, Loïc Caroux, Céline Lemercier. Flow in video games: A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of game design choices. AHFE 2023 International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics, Jul 2023, San Francisco, Calif., United States. ⟨hal-04169163⟩
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