A players clustering method to enhance the players' experience in multi-player games

Abstract

Online multi player games are a kind of video game where players have to interact together in a same game environment through an Internet connection. In these games, the players are grouped in different sessions where they can only interact with the member of the session. In order to maximize the player's experience, game designers have to solve different issues. The first one is to maximize the number of players in the different game sessions. As these game are designed to provide the better game experience when the maximum number of players are in the session. It is important to avoid session with few players. The second one is to create session where the players have the same skill level. A too large difference between the level skills of the players can create frustration.

More than skills: A novel matching proposal for multiplayer video games

“…Overall, these findings appear to offer support for hypothesis H 1 and suggest that skill is an important determinant of player retention. Thus, our study confirms former studies that all show the importance of homogenous skill levels for player retention [8,9,11].…”

“…This further supports the contention that players value combat-related scoring. Overall, these findings offer support for both H 1 and H 2a , as well as findings elsewhere in the literature on player retention in video games [9,8,6,27].…”

“…Buchanan-Oliver and Seo argue that player experience and behavior depend on the interaction with game objectives and rules, which are likely to be affected by variations in consumer skills and abilities [7]. To enhance a player's game experience, various studies have therefore suggested that "best fitted" game rounds should contain similarly skilled players [8,9]. For example, various studies argue that to balance the game and thus create a challenging, nonfrustrating experience, the probability of winning should be equal for all players [9,10].…”

“…Alternatively, Francillette et al have developed a multilevel matching system whereby players are grouped according to their playing style and they are clustered within a group according to their skill level [8].…”

“…It should however be noted that a number of the studies cited above show that player matching should not necessarily be undertaken on the basis of skill level alone [9,6,8]. Instead, it is important to recognize that player motivations are multifaceted and are affected by a combination of psychological needs, behavioral patterns and personality traits [20].…”