Removing the HUD

Abstract

Previous research has shown that player involvement can be influenced by a range of factors, from the controllers used to the perceived level of challenge provided by the game. However, little attention has been paid to the influence of the game interface. Game interfaces consist of both diegetic (that can be viewed by the player-character, e.g. the game world) and non-diegetic components (that are only viewed by the player, e.g. the heads-up display). In this paper we examine two versions of a first-person shooter game to investigate how immersion is influenced through interacting with a diegetic and non-diegetic interface. Our findings suggest that the removal of non-diegetic elements, such as the heads-up display, is able to influence immersion in expert players through increasing their cognitive involvement and sense of control. We argue that these results illustrate the importance of considering the role of expertise in relation to how particular design choices will influence the player experience.

Video Game Interfaces and Diegesis: The Impact on Experts and Novices’ Performance and Experience in Virtual Reality

“…This diegetic design was mainly chosen for aesthetic reasons, but, because it was not based on scientific decision criteria and models of human information processing, there is no evidence that these artistic choices have no adverse influence on the player. This is what authors like Iacovides, Cox, Kennedy, Cairns, and Jennett (2015) tested. In their study, removing non-diegetic elements increased immersion (their measure of immersion corresponds to the definition of presence we used in the present study in subsection 2.1.3) only from a certain level of expertise.…”

An exploratory study of the relationship between meaning-making and quality in games

“…Further research should be focused on exploring the meaning-making influence of diegetic game elements -i.e. elements properly belonging to the fictional game scenario in which the game is set [19]. Supplementary data from this study not directly related to our aims suggest that diegetic game elements could have functioned as key meaning-making affordances.…”

“…Supplementary data from this study not directly related to our aims suggest that diegetic game elements could have functioned as key meaning-making affordances. Staying focused on elements of the game world can enhance players' cognitive involvement, sense of control and overall immersion [19,37], and consequently their perceived quality of the gameplay experience [37]. This calls for further investigation of the importance of game scene elements to convey key meaning-making information to the player.…”

gEYEded: Subtle and Challenging Gaze-Based Player Guidance in Exploration Games

“…All parametric tests were performed after validating the data for assumptions of rANOVA use. Following the argumentation of Iacovides et al [65], normality is established as a theoretical assumption that derives from the employment of a questionnaire to measure a unidimensional latent concept. Condition of sphericity was satisfied by carrying out Mauchly's sphericity tests (emotional involvement: Mauchly-W(2) = 0.77, p = 0.17, control: Mauchly-W(2) = 0.71, p = 0.23, challenge: Mauchly-W(2) = 0.98, p = 0.79, total immersion: Mauchly-W(2) = 0.71, p = 0.18, collected coins: Mauchly-W(2) = 0.97, p = 0.69).…”