The effect of animation controller and avatar on player perceptions

Abstract

Real‐time animation controllers are fundamental for animating characters in response to player input in digital games. However, the design of such controllers requires making trade‐offs between the naturalness of the character's motions and the promptness of the character's response. In this paper, we investigate the effects of such trade‐offs on the players' enjoyment, control, satisfaction, and opinion of the character in a simple platform game. In our first experiment, we compare three controllers having the same responsiveness, but varying levels of naturalness. In the second experiment, we compare three controllers having increasing realism at the expense of responsiveness. In our third experiment, we keep motion naturalness and responsiveness constant but vary the avatar. Not surprisingly, our least responsive controller negatively affects players' performance and perceived ability to control the character. However, we also find that players are most satisfied with their own performance using our least natural controller, that differences in animation can significantly alter players' enjoyment with responsiveness being equal, that players do not report increased motion quality with our most natural controller, although viewers outside of the game context do, and that the avatar model affected the perception of the character but not players' enjoyment or perceived realism.

Player Enjoyment in Video Games: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of the Effects of Game Design Choices

“…Five articles investigated the effects of avatar appearance in the game (i.e., the representation of the player in the virtual game environment). They focused on the possibility for players to customize themselves the appearance of their avatar (Birk et al, 2016;Cuthbert et al, 2019;Schmierbach, Limperos, et al, 2012), on the physical nature of the avatar, in terms of aesthetics appearance and physical behavior (human-like or robot) (Normoyle & Jörg, 2018), or on the possibility of having an avatar that physically resembles the player or a friend (Wauck et al, 2018). Four articles investigated the effects of narrative in video games, which is concerned with how a story context is included in the game environment.…”

“…Most of these articles studied motion-based controllers, including tangible controllers (e.g., Wiimote, PS Move, or steering wheel controllers) or whole-body controllers (e.g., Kinect sensor) (Berglund et al, 2017;Bozgeyikli et al, 2013;Kniestedt et al, 2018;Limperos et al, 2011;McGloin et al, 2011;Peña & Chen, 2017;Schmierbach, Limperos, et al, 2012;Shafer, 2021;Shafer et al, 2011Shafer et al, , 2014Skalski et al, 2011;Smeddinck et al, 2016;Tamborini et al, 2010;Williams, 2014). The other articles studied the effects of the level of responsiveness of the controls (Jörg et al, 2012;Normoyle & Jörg, 2018), controller physical realism (Wechselberger, 2016), left-handed controllers (Maubert Crotte et al, 2019), and use of a paper-based sketching interface (Macret et al, 2012). Six articles studied the effects of visual display type.…”

“…In-game contents Difficulty Alexander et al, 2013;*Bateman et al, 2011;*Corcos, 2018;Cuthbert et al, 2019;*De Simone et al, 2012;*Demediuk et al, 2019;Hagelback & Johansson, 2009;*Klimmt, Blake, et al, 2009;Liu et al, 2009;Misra et al, 2019;Nagle et al, 2016;Negini et al, 2014;Obaid et al, 2008;Piselli et al, 2009; Kniestedt et al, 2018;*Limperos et al, 2011;Macret et al, 2012;Maubert Crotte et al, 2019;*McGloin et al, 2011;*Normoyle & Jörg, 2018;Peña & Chen, 2017;*Schmierbach, Limperos, et al, 2012;*Shafer et al, 2011*Shafer et al, , *2014*Shafer, 2021;Skalski et al, 2011;Smeddinck et al, 2016;Tamborini et al, 2010;Wechselberger, 2016 Co-playing mode Beznosyk et al, 2011;Gábana Arellano et al, 2017;Peng & Crouse, 2013;Schmierbach, Xu, et al, 2012 Online playing Heeter et al, 2012;Peng & Crouse, 2013;Reer & Krämer, 2020 Note. * denotes an article for which one or more studies are included in the meta-…”