Research - Immersion Testing Methods

Testing The Level of Immersion in Games

Testing the level of immersion in games is not a well researched area and only a handful of papers have been sourced thus far. The following is a compilation of testing methods that have been used by researchers in this area.

Ermi & Mäyrä (2005)  Fundamantal Components of the Gameplay Experience: Analysing Immersion

In this study Ermi & Mäyrä (2005) examine immersion from a sensory perspective. They devised the SCI-Model which defines three aspects of sensory immersion .These are ‘audio-visual quality & style’, ‘level of challenge’ and ‘imaginary world and fantasy’ which are linked to the core values of the SCI-model, Sensory immersion, Challenge based immersion and Imaginative immersion respectively.
Their analysis is based on a questionnaire completed by gamers which involves  thirty statements addressing all three aspects of the model, with each statement answered on a 5-point Likert scale.  From this they draw conclusions about each of the games studied, which shows the levels of immersion (in relation to the three aspects of the SCI-Model) found in each game.

The test results for the SCI-model (Ermi & Mäyrä 2005, pp. 9-11) show that from the games that were used, the ‘challenge-based immersion’ aspect played a significant role in the overall immersion of the player. With this factor identified, an objective of this honours project is to attempt enrol the audio content as part of the game challenge. A situation of objective listening should be key to the game design where the player must be fully engaged with audio content in order to complete tasks and progress. Also worth noting is that the highest scoring game in their study from an immersive point of view was a FPS.

Jennett et al (2008) Measuring and defining the experience of immersion in games

The study by Jannett et al (2008) also includes a similar questionnaire to identify each players subjective experience of immersion. The study also includes three testing methods (each accompanied by a questionnaire to identify each players subjective experience of immersion) in order to objectively assess player immersion. These took shape as firstly testing player ability to switch between tasks (from playing a game to a task outside of the game). They showed in this test that the longer the player took to switch from the game to completing the external task, the more immersed in the game they were. The results do not point to any specific aspect of immersion however so this method may not be very suited to the needs of the honours project.

The second test used eye tracking software/hardware to measure players eye movement during game play. these results showed, along with the  supporting questionnaire, that the more the subjects eyes moved during game play the less immersed they were. They highlighted that a player who was immersed would be more fixated on the screen and with the game actions.

The last test measured whether game speed or pace influenced game immersion. In this test four versions of a simple clicking game (each with a different pace) were given to participants to play. These were rated as 'Slow', 'Self Paced', 'Fast' and 'Increasing'. Interestingly the results showed that the game with the 'Increasing' pace was rated as the most immersive, second was the 'Fast' game, third was 'Slow' and lastly 'Self Paced'. This is a good find in terms of creating an immersive level, it would appear that forcing a game pace upon the player has an impact on immersion.


Conclusions

Developing a questionnaire in relation to the effect of audio on immersion should make up part of the testing methods for the honours project. A closer look at the questions presented by both Jannett et al (2008) and Ermi & Mäyrä (2005) will follow next to identify if the formatting can be applied to the honours project.

References:

Ermi, L. and Mäyrä, F. (2005) Fundamantal Components of the Gameplay Experience: Analysing Immersion [online]. In Proceedings of DiGRA 2005 Conference: Changing Views ‐ Worlds in Play. Available from: http://www.digra.org/wp-content/uploads/digital-library/06276.41516.pdf [Accessed October 26 2014]

Jennett et al. (2008). Measuring and defining the experience of immersion in games. Int. J. Human-Computer Studies. 66(May): pp. 641-661.