Lost at the Edge of Uncertainty: Measuring Player Uncertainty in Digital Games

ABSTRACT

Uncertainty has previously been identified as an important ingredient of engaging games. Design in games can create different levels of uncertainty in players that they can recognize and describe as being either attributable to external forces, such as chance or hidden information, or internal to their own understanding of what to do in relation to their own goals. While it appears that uncertainty can contribute both positive and negative play experiences, there is little work in trying to operationalize and measure this concept as a component of player experience. Reported in this article is an analysis of data from over 700 players using modern bi-factor analysis techniques resulting in a five factor psychometric scale which captures the broad feelings of players about uncertainty in games. Three of these specific factors appear to point toward a single generic factor of uncertainty that is internal to the players, one captures experiences relating to external uncertainty, with the final factor relating to player’s experience of exploring the game to resolve uncertainty. In order to further validate the scale, we conducted an experiment with a commercial puzzle game manipulating the duration of play with predicted outcomes on the different specific factors of the scale. Overall the scale shows promise with good statistical reliability and construct validity of the separate factors and so will be a useful tool for further investigating player experiences in digital games.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the participants for their time and commitment in completing the studies discussed in this article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Christopher Power

Christopher Power is an Associate Professor at the University of York and an Adjunct Research Professor at Western University. He has an active research program in accessible player experiences for people with disabilities and serves as the Vice President of The AbleGamers Charity. His favorite MCU character is Captain America.

Paul Cairns

Paul Cairns is a Reader in Human–Computer interaction at the University of York. He has long-standing research expertise in the area of players’ experiences of digital games, in particular immersion and social presence, and an unusual passion for statistical methods for HCI. His favorite MCU character is Thor Odinson.

Alena Denisova

Alena Denisova is a Tutor (Associate Lecturer) in the Department of Computer Science at Swansea University, UK. She received her PhD in Computer Science (Human–Computer interaction) at the University of York, UK in 2017. Her current research is focused on the subjective experience of playing digital games.

Themis Papaioannou

Themis Papaioannou graduated from the University of York with an M.Sc. in Human Centred Interactive Technologies in 2016.

Ruth Gultom

Ruth Gultrom graduated from the University of York with an M.Sc. in Human Centred Interactive Technologies in 2017.