research-article

Don't Sweat the Small Stuff: The Effect of Challenge-Skill Manipulation on Electrodermal Activity

Authors:

Madison Klarkowski,

Daniel Johnson,

Simon SmithAuthors Info & Claims

CHI PLAY '18: Proceedings of the 2018 Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play

Pages 231 - 242

https://doi.org/10.1145/3242671.3242714

Published: 23 October 2018 Publication History

Abstract

Challenge plays a critical role in enabling an enjoyable and successful player experience, but not all dimensions of challenge are well understood. A more nuanced understanding of challenge and its role in the player experience is possible through assessing player psychophysiology. The psychophysiology of challenge (i.e. what occurs physiologically during experiences of video game challenge) has been the focus of some player experience research, but consensus as to the physiological markers of challenge has not been reached. To further explore the psychophysiological impact of challenge, three video game conditions -- varying by degree of challenge -- were developed and deployed within a large-scale psychophysiological study (n = 90). Results show decreased electrodermal activity (EDA) in the low-challenge (Boredom) video game condition compared to the medium- (Balance) and high-challenge (Overload) conditions, with a statistically non-significant but consistent pattern found between the medium- and high-challenge conditions. Overall, these results suggest electrodermal response increases with challenge. Despite the intuitiveness of some of these conclusions, the results do not align with extant literature. Possible explanations for the incongruence with the literature are discussed. Ultimately, with this work we hope to both enable a more complete understanding of challenge in the player experience, and contribute to a more granular understanding of the psychophysiological experience of play.

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Cited By

Schmitz MSchön DKlagemann HKosch T(2024)3DA: Assessing 3D-Printed Electrodes for Measuring Electrodermal ActivityExtended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613905.3650938(1-7)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613905.3650938
da Silveira ALima de Souza MGhinea GSaibel Santos C(2024)Physiological Data for User Experience and Quality of Experience: A Systematic Review (2018–2022)International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction10.1080/10447318.2024.231197241:1(664-693)Online publication date: 13-Feb-2024
https://doi.org/10.1080/10447318.2024.2311972
Chiossi FTurgut YWelsch RMayer S(2023)Adapting Visual Complexity Based on Electrodermal Activity Improves Working Memory Performance in Virtual RealityProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36042437:MHCI(1-26)Online publication date: 13-Sep-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3604243
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Don't Sweat the Small Stuff: The Effect of Challenge-Skill Manipulation on Electrodermal Activity
1. Applied computing
  1. Computers in other domains
    1. Personal computers and PC applications
      1. Computer games

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cover image ACM Conferences

CHI PLAY '18: Proceedings of the 2018 Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play

October 2018

563 pages

ISBN:9781450356244

DOI:10.1145/3242671

General Chairs:
Florian 'Floyd' Mueller
Exertion Games Lab, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
,
Daniel Johnson
Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia
,
Ben Schouten
Eindhoven University of Technology and Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, the Netherlands
,
Program Chairs:
Phoebe O. Toups Dugas
Play & Interactive Experiences for Learning Lab, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico, USA
,
Peta Wyeth
Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia

Copyright © 2018 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Published: 23 October 2018

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CHI PLAY '18: The annual symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play

October 28 - 31, 2018

VIC, Melbourne, Australia

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CHI PLAY '18 Paper Acceptance Rate 43 of 123 submissions, 35%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 421 of 1,386 submissions, 30%

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Cited By

Schmitz MSchön DKlagemann HKosch T(2024)3DA: Assessing 3D-Printed Electrodes for Measuring Electrodermal ActivityExtended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613905.3650938(1-7)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613905.3650938
da Silveira ALima de Souza MGhinea GSaibel Santos C(2024)Physiological Data for User Experience and Quality of Experience: A Systematic Review (2018–2022)International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction10.1080/10447318.2024.231197241:1(664-693)Online publication date: 13-Feb-2024
https://doi.org/10.1080/10447318.2024.2311972
Chiossi FTurgut YWelsch RMayer S(2023)Adapting Visual Complexity Based on Electrodermal Activity Improves Working Memory Performance in Virtual RealityProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36042437:MHCI(1-26)Online publication date: 13-Sep-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3604243
Navarro DGarro VSundstedt V(2023)The Electrodermal Activity of Player Experience in Virtual Reality Games: An Extended Evaluation of the Phasic ComponentComputer Vision, Imaging and Computer Graphics Theory and Applications10.1007/978-3-031-45725-8_10(203-221)Online publication date: 18-Oct-2023
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-45725-8_10
Alexandrovsky DFriehs MGrittner JPutze SBirk MMalaka RMandryk RKitamura YQuigley AIsbister KIgarashi TBjørn PDrucker S(2021)Serious Snacking: A Survival Analysis of how Snacking Mechanics Affect Attrition in a Mobile Serious GameProceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3411764.3445689(1-18)Online publication date: 6-May-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3411764.3445689
Tyack AMekler EKitamura YQuigley AIsbister KIgarashi TBjørn PDrucker S(2021)Off-Peak: An Examination of Ordinary Player ExperienceProceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3411764.3445230(1-12)Online publication date: 6-May-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3411764.3445230

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