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

Abstract

Enjoyment is a widely assessed dimension of the video game player’s experience. A systematic literature review and a meta-analysis were conducted to provide a more comprehensive view of the elements of game design that affect the feeling of enjoyment, as well as its assessment techniques. The review showed that the studies covered major aspects of game design, such as in-game contents, input/output information, and, to a lesser extent, multiplayer aspects. The meta-analysis showed that only the presence of music in the game had a significant effect on enjoyment. Other factors, including more studied factors such as game difficulty and control mode, did not show significant effects. Implications for future research are discussed, such as further investigation of the effects of both player and game characteristics diversity on enjoyment in isolation and in interaction with game design factors, systematic use of standardized scales to measure enjoyment, and use of multidimensional scales or physiological measures.

Keywords:

• Game user research
• player experience
• standardized scale
• music
• difficulty
• control mode

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Anastasia Passemar for her help in reviewing the articles in the search database.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Loïc Caroux

Loïc Caroux is an associate professor in cognitive ergonomics at the University of Toulouse Jean Jaurès, France. He received his PhD in cognitive ergonomics in 2012 from the University of Poitiers, France. His research interests deal with human factors/ergonomics in everyday computing systems.

Morgane Pujol

Morgane Pujol is a PhD student in cognitive ergonomics at the University of Toulouse Jean Jaurès, France, since 2022. Her thesis focuses on the state of flow in video games. More specifically, she is interested in how this state can be induced and maintained in players.