The Challenge of Evaluating Player Experience in Tabletop Role-Playing Games

Antonios Liapis; Alena Denisova

doi:10.1145/3582437.3582457

The Challenge of Evaluating Player Experience in Tabletop Role-Playing Games

Antonios Liapis, Alena Denisova

Computer Science

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

Abstract

Tabletop Role-Playing Games (TTRPGs) offer players the opportunity to form imaginary gameworlds and stories within them, create community, solve problems, and explore identity. Designers and researchers have tried to identify how aspects of TTRPGs facilitate collaboration, immersion, creativity, and more. However, there has been no attempt to develop a formal assessment methodology for player experience during TTRPG play. This paper argues that evaluating TTRPG players' experience can provide vital data for Game Masters to improve on their future games, for players to reflect on their experience, and for TTRPG designers or event organizers to collect and compare data. As a first step towards developing such an evaluation method, we identify important dimensions of TTRPG play that can be meaningful to track and actionable to improve upon. Moreover, we review player experience dimensions and evaluation methods in digital games, and explore similarities and differences with TTRPGs.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2023
Editors	Phil Lopes, Filipe Luz, Antonios Liapis, Henrik Engstrom
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery, Inc
Number of pages	10
ISBN (Electronic)	9781450398565
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3582437.3582457
Publication status	Published - 12 Apr 2023
Event	18th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2023 - Lisbon, Portugal Duration: 11 Apr 2023 → 14 Apr 2023

Publication series

Name	ACM International Conference Proceeding Series

Conference

Conference	18th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2023
Country/Territory	Portugal
City	Lisbon
Period	11/04/23 → 14/04/23

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 ACM.

Keywords

analog games
evaluation protocols
player experience
questionnaire
role-playing games

Access to Document

10.1145/3582437.3582457

Cite this

Liapis, A., & Denisova, A. (2023). The Challenge of Evaluating Player Experience in Tabletop Role-Playing Games. In P. Lopes, F. Luz, A. Liapis, & H. Engstrom (Eds.), Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2023 Article 8 (ACM International Conference Proceeding Series). Association for Computing Machinery, Inc. https://doi.org/10.1145/3582437.3582457

Liapis, Antonios ; Denisova, Alena. / The Challenge of Evaluating Player Experience in Tabletop Role-Playing Games. Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2023. editor / Phil Lopes ; Filipe Luz ; Antonios Liapis ; Henrik Engstrom. Association for Computing Machinery, Inc, 2023. (ACM International Conference Proceeding Series).

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title = "The Challenge of Evaluating Player Experience in Tabletop Role-Playing Games",

abstract = "Tabletop Role-Playing Games (TTRPGs) offer players the opportunity to form imaginary gameworlds and stories within them, create community, solve problems, and explore identity. Designers and researchers have tried to identify how aspects of TTRPGs facilitate collaboration, immersion, creativity, and more. However, there has been no attempt to develop a formal assessment methodology for player experience during TTRPG play. This paper argues that evaluating TTRPG players' experience can provide vital data for Game Masters to improve on their future games, for players to reflect on their experience, and for TTRPG designers or event organizers to collect and compare data. As a first step towards developing such an evaluation method, we identify important dimensions of TTRPG play that can be meaningful to track and actionable to improve upon. Moreover, we review player experience dimensions and evaluation methods in digital games, and explore similarities and differences with TTRPGs.",

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Liapis, A & Denisova, A 2023, The Challenge of Evaluating Player Experience in Tabletop Role-Playing Games. in P Lopes, F Luz, A Liapis & H Engstrom (eds), Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2023., 8, ACM International Conference Proceeding Series, Association for Computing Machinery, Inc, 18th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2023, Lisbon, Portugal, 11/04/23. https://doi.org/10.1145/3582437.3582457

The Challenge of Evaluating Player Experience in Tabletop Role-Playing Games. / Liapis, Antonios; Denisova, Alena.
Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2023. ed. / Phil Lopes; Filipe Luz; Antonios Liapis; Henrik Engstrom. Association for Computing Machinery, Inc, 2023. 8 (ACM International Conference Proceeding Series).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

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Liapis A, Denisova A. The Challenge of Evaluating Player Experience in Tabletop Role-Playing Games. In Lopes P, Luz F, Liapis A, Engstrom H, editors, Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2023. Association for Computing Machinery, Inc. 2023. 8. (ACM International Conference Proceeding Series). doi: 10.1145/3582437.3582457

The Challenge of Evaluating Player Experience in Tabletop Role-Playing Games

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Access to Document

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