Is Difficulty Overrated?

Lomas, Derek; Koedinger, Kenneth R.; Patel, Nirmal; Shodhan, Sharan; Poonwala, Nikhil; Forlizzi, Jodi

doi:10.1145/3025453.3025638

Cited by 56 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…In the sphere of video games, for example, Rigby and Ryan ( 2011 ) detail how the intuitive design of controls, and the density and clarity of feedback all impact engagement via increased competence. In fact, controversies over the importance of difficulty and novelty in games (Lomas et al, 2017 ) can be better understood as competence issues. Both “difficulty” and “novelty” are only important to engagement to the extent to which they provide competence satisfactions.…”

Section: Critical Concepts For a Model Of Wellbeing-supportive Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Designing for Motivation, Engagement and Wellbeing in Digital Experience

2018

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Research in psychology has shown that both motivation and wellbeing are contingent on the satisfaction of certain psychological needs. Yet, despite a long-standing pursuit in human-computer interaction (HCI) for design strategies that foster sustained engagement, behavior change and wellbeing, the basic psychological needs shown to mediate these outcomes are rarely taken into account. This is possibly due to the lack of a clear model to explain these needs in the context of HCI. Herein we introduce such a model: Motivation, Engagement and Thriving in User Experience (METUX). The model provides a framework grounded in psychological research that can allow HCI researchers and practitioners to form actionable insights with respect to how technology designs support or undermine basic psychological needs, thereby increasing motivation and engagement, and ultimately, improving user wellbeing. We propose that in order to address wellbeing, psychological needs must be considered within five different spheres of analysis including: at the point of technology adoption, during interaction with the interface, as a result of engagement with technology-specific tasks, as part of the technology-supported behavior, and as part of an individual's life overall. These five spheres of experience sit within a sixth, society, which encompasses both direct and collateral effects of technology use as well as non-user experiences. We build this model based on existing evidence for basic psychological need satisfaction, including evidence within the context of the workplace, computer games, and health. We extend and hone these ideas to provide practical advice for designers along with real world examples of how to apply the model to design practice.

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Section: Critical Concepts For a Model Of Wellbeing-supportive Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Designing for Motivation, Engagement and Wellbeing in Digital Experience

2018

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“…While the PENS and IMI were clearly the most popular SDTbased measures used, a total of 15 papers assessed SDT concepts by alternative means. Specifically, we observed the measurement of basic need satisfaction via the Ubisoft Perceived Experience Questionnaire (UPEQ) [108], Player Experience Inventory (PXI) [83], and Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction scale (BPNS) [54]; intrinsic motivation via measures of free-choice behaviour [17,29,112,113], and scale items adapted from other measures [15,133]; intrinsic and extrinsic motivations via the Situational Motivation Scale (SIMS) [2,20,87], Gaming Motivation Scale (GAMS) [170], and Exercise Self-Regulation Scale (SRQ-E) [86]; and autonomy support via the Sport Climate Questionnaire (SCQ) [6].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Need satisfaction concepts were by far the most frequently mentioned -competence was discussed in 84.55% of the sample, with somewhat less interest in autonomy (65.45%) and relatedness (57.27%). This comparatively wide margin may reflect the conceptual relevance of competence in research on flow (e.g., [112,113]), dynamic difficulty adjustment (e.g., [9,40]) or self-efficacy theory (e.g., [82,86]). Few papers examined need satisfaction as a means to develop knowledge of motivational and wellbeing-related outcomes via SDT (e.g., [192]).…”

Section: Engagement With Mini-theories and Key Conceptsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Theories and concepts from motivational psychology have proven particularly popular with HCI scholars to describe and analyse games [30,99]. The notion of flow [128], for instance, has been influential in studying the player experience [79,124,177] and modelling optimally challenging games [40,113]. Another theory that has proven influential is Self-Determination Theory (SDT), a major psychological theory of human motivation [48,163] that has been successfully applied to study motivational processes in a variety of domains and contexts (e.g., academic, work, relationships).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Self-Determination Theory in HCI Games Research: Current Uses and Open Questions

Tyack

Mekler

2020

Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

126

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Self-Determination Theory (SDT), a major psychological theory of human motivation, has become increasingly popular in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research on games and play. However, it remains unclear how SDT has advanced HCI games research, or how HCI games scholars engage with the theory. We reviewed 110 CHI and CHI PLAY papers that cited SDT to gain a better understanding of the ways the theory has contributed to HCI games research. We find that SDT, and in particular, the concepts of need satisfaction and intrinsic motivation, have been widely applied to analyse the player experience and inform game design. Despite the popularity of SDT-based measures, however, prominent core concepts and mini-theories are rarely considered explicitly, and few papers engage with SDT beyond descriptive accounts. We highlight conceptual gaps at the intersection of SDT and HCI games research, and identify opportunities for SDT propositions, concepts, and measures to more productively inform future work.

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“…Power et al similarly are more interested in reconstructing uncertainty as a definitional "foundational experience" characteristic for play than in understanding how it may motivate play [59]. Starting with Thomas Malone [51], researchers have suggested and empirically tested links between uncertainty and curiosity and suspense in games [82,48,1,29], but such work has remained sparse and disconnected.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Uncertainty in Moment-to-Moment Player Motivation

Kumari

Deterding

Freeman

2019

Proceedings of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play

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Uncertainty is widely acknowledged as an engaging characteristic of games. Practice and research have proposed various types and factors of game uncertainty, yet there is little work explaining when and why different kinds of uncertainty motivate, especially with respect to 'micro-level', momentto-moment gameplay. We therefore conducted a qualitative interview study of players tracing links between uncertainty experiences, specific game features, and player motives. Data supports that uncertainty is indeed a key element in keeping players motivated moment-to-moment. We present a grounded theory of seven types of engaging gameplay uncertainty emerging from three sources-game, player, and outcome-and document links to likely underlying motives, chief among them curiosity and competence. Comparing our empirically grounded taxonomy with existing ones shows partial fits as well as identifies novel uncertainty types insufficiently captured in previous models.

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Is Difficulty Overrated?

Cited by 56 publications

References 40 publications

Designing for Motivation, Engagement and Wellbeing in Digital Experience

Designing for Motivation, Engagement and Wellbeing in Digital Experience

Self-Determination Theory in HCI Games Research: Current Uses and Open Questions

The Role of Uncertainty in Moment-to-Moment Player Motivation

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