Games Research

Currently I am involved in an exciting gaming research program in the Arch Lab. Since the Winter of 2006, I have recruited 5 graduate students, 7 undergraduates and 1 faculty member to collaborate on a series of 6 projects. While all of the researchers working on these projects have a background in cognitive psychology, many specialize in vastly different domains; covering everything from visual attention to psychometrics.

The range of projects I am currently working on reflect this variety, as the topics span from measuring a game’s subjective value to leveraging visual attention as an index of usability issues. Some projects use games to address current applied experimental issues (see gestural control for UAV’s), while other studies focus on examining how games may affect basic aspects of perception and cognition (see Game Experience and Visual Attention). Each of the research projects is listed below, with a link to relevant information about the project.

Research Projects

  • The Effect of Cinematics - Does presenting cinematics prior to gameplay increase users’ perceptions of a company-of-heroes.jpggame’s value? One method of altering perception of value is through increasing arousal. Arousal has been shown to positively bias perceptions of subjective qualities (such as value, attractiveness, etc.), and has been argued to have an additive effect. But does this assumption hold when the target the cinematic is intended to affect is so highly arousing itself? This research evaluates the connection between game cinematics, user arousal level, and perception of game value.
  • Defining Fun - One of the great challenges to evaluating games is defining many of the abstract words in a useful, psychologically plausible manner. This study uses a semantic, data driven approach to examine the question of “What makes a game fun?”
  • Gestural Controls with UAV’s - Small UAV’s often require operators to control the aircraft by hand as they perform various tasks. WhileBlazing Angels several displays have been evaluated for their ability to control an unmanned device, there is still a question of the effectiveness of various control styles. This study evaluated three different types of control (including gestural control) in a flight simulation to evaluate the effect of control style on flight performance and situational awareness.

  • Evaluating Games using Eyetracking - Games can be evaluated using standard usability measures, such as time onAOEIII task, percent completion and errors. While this information clearly tells an evaluator what happened, why a particular error occured may not be as clear. In cases where “why” is unknown, eye tracking may be a viable methodology. This line of research shows how eye tracking methodology could be applied to the evaluation of video games.

  • Evaluating Subjective Utility - Generally, games are rated using a 10-point scale across 4-5 dimensions, indicated the reviewer or the user’s perceived value of the game. These types of ratings, however, are often tied to a reviewers subjective perception or preference. Research has indicated a gap between users’ subjective preference and actual behavior. For game companies, then, an evaluation may benefit from shifting the focus to the subjective value of a game. This research evaluates the efficacy of using ratings of subjective value for game evaluation.

  • Games and Visual Attention -Quake 4 Several studies have shown differences in visual attention among experienced game players versus novices. While these studies illustrate that differences do exist, it opens the question of (a) how are attentional processes changed in experienced gamers and (b) what do in-game tasks demand of visual attention to affect this change over time? Our lab is currently using eye tracking to understand how some of the common tasks performed in action video games may affect visual attention.