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abstract

A Good Scare: Leveraging Game Theming and Narrative to Impact Player Experience

Published: 02 May 2019 Publication History

Abstract

Game narrative and theming are ways in which game designers can affect player experience. In this work, we incorporate theories of emotion into game design, to explore the relationship between aesthetic elements and player experience. We designed and playtested two differently themed variants of the game Outbreak, a 'Horror' and a 'Sanitized' version. We present preliminary findings about playing differently themed versions of the same game which suggest that scary content can sustain interest throughout play and transform players' emotional response to uncertainty.

References

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Safinah Ali, Alexandra To, Zhen Bai, Jarrek Holmes, Elaine Fath, Jessica Hammer, and Geoff Kaufman. 2018. From Game Design to Goal Delineation in the Tandem Transformational Game Design Framework. In Proceedings of the International Academic Conference on Meaningful Play.
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Richard A Griggs and James R Cox. 1982. The elusive thematic-materials effect in Wason's selection task. British Journal of Psychology 73, 3 (1982), 407--420.
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Glena H Iten, Sharon T Steinemann, and Klaus Opwis. 2018. Choosing to Help Monsters: A Mixed-Method Examination of Meaningful Choices in Narrative-Rich Games and Interactive Narratives. In Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM, 341.
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Cited By

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  • (2024)"I Found it Cathartic": Exploring Empathy and Mental Health Awareness in Psychological Horror Video GamesProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36770838:CHI PLAY(1-21)Online publication date: 15-Oct-2024
  • (2019)Exploring the Effect of Game Premise in Cooperative Digital Board GamesEntertainment Computing and Serious Games10.1007/978-3-030-34644-7_17(214-227)Online publication date: 4-Nov-2019

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  1. A Good Scare: Leveraging Game Theming and Narrative to Impact Player Experience

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    cover image ACM Conferences
    CHI EA '19: Extended Abstracts of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
    May 2019
    3673 pages
    ISBN:9781450359719
    DOI:10.1145/3290607
    Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for third-party components of this work must be honored. For all other uses, contact the Owner/Author.

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    Publication History

    Published: 02 May 2019

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    Author Tags

    1. emotion
    2. game aesthetics
    3. game design
    4. game narrative

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    • The Heinz Family Foundation

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    Overall Acceptance Rate 6,164 of 23,696 submissions, 26%

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    View all
    • (2024)"I Found it Cathartic": Exploring Empathy and Mental Health Awareness in Psychological Horror Video GamesProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36770838:CHI PLAY(1-21)Online publication date: 15-Oct-2024
    • (2019)Exploring the Effect of Game Premise in Cooperative Digital Board GamesEntertainment Computing and Serious Games10.1007/978-3-030-34644-7_17(214-227)Online publication date: 4-Nov-2019

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