Whatever the emotional experience, it's up to them: Insights from designers of emotionally impactful games

Alena Denisova; Julia Ayumi Bopp; Thuy Duong Nguyen; Elisa D. Mekler

doi:10.1145/3411764.3445286

Whatever the emotional experience, it's up to them: Insights from designers of emotionally impactful games

Alena Denisova, Julia Ayumi Bopp, Thuy Duong Nguyen, Elisa D. Mekler

Computer Science

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

Abstract

Emotionally impactful game experiences have garnered increasing interest within HCI games research. Yet the perspectives of designers have, to date, remained largely overlooked. We interviewed 14 indie game designers regarding their values and practices in designing emotionally impactful games. Counter to the focus of recent player experience (PX) studies, we fnd that while designers typically have a clear vision for the intended emotional impact, they aim for their games to provide a space for players to have their own personal experiences and interpretations. Despite this player-centric orientation, players were rarely involved before and during the production to evaluate the emotional experience. Based on these fndings, we identify gaps between design practice and PX research, raise open questions around the design and evaluation of emotionally impactful game experiences, and outline opportunities for HCI games research to more productively support game designers.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	CHI 2021 - Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Subtitle of host publication	Making Waves, Combining Strengths
Publisher	ACM
ISBN (Electronic)	9781450380966
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3411764.3445286
Publication status	Published - 6 May 2021
Event	10th International Conference on Materials Processing and Characterisation, ICMPC 2020 - Mathura, U.P., India Duration: 21 Feb 2020 → 23 Feb 2020

Publication series

Name	Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings

Conference

Conference	10th International Conference on Materials Processing and Characterisation, ICMPC 2020
Country/Territory	India
City	Mathura, U.P.
Period	21/02/20 → 23/02/20

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 ACM.

Keywords

Agency
Design practice
Emotion
Emotional challenge
Emotionally impactful games
Game designer
Player experience
Video games

Access to Document

10.1145/3411764.3445286

Cite this

Denisova, A., Bopp, J. A., Nguyen, T. D., & Mekler, E. D. (2021). Whatever the emotional experience, it's up to them: Insights from designers of emotionally impactful games. In CHI 2021 - Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems: Making Waves, Combining Strengths (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings). ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/3411764.3445286

Denisova, Alena ; Bopp, Julia Ayumi ; Nguyen, Thuy Duong et al. / Whatever the emotional experience, it's up to them : Insights from designers of emotionally impactful games. CHI 2021 - Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems: Making Waves, Combining Strengths. ACM, 2021. (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings).

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title = "Whatever the emotional experience, it's up to them: Insights from designers of emotionally impactful games",

abstract = "Emotionally impactful game experiences have garnered increasing interest within HCI games research. Yet the perspectives of designers have, to date, remained largely overlooked. We interviewed 14 indie game designers regarding their values and practices in designing emotionally impactful games. Counter to the focus of recent player experience (PX) studies, we fnd that while designers typically have a clear vision for the intended emotional impact, they aim for their games to provide a space for players to have their own personal experiences and interpretations. Despite this player-centric orientation, players were rarely involved before and during the production to evaluate the emotional experience. Based on these fndings, we identify gaps between design practice and PX research, raise open questions around the design and evaluation of emotionally impactful game experiences, and outline opportunities for HCI games research to more productively support game designers.",

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month = may,

day = "6",

doi = "10.1145/3411764.3445286",

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Denisova, A, Bopp, JA, Nguyen, TD & Mekler, ED 2021, Whatever the emotional experience, it's up to them: Insights from designers of emotionally impactful games. in CHI 2021 - Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems: Making Waves, Combining Strengths. Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings, ACM, 10th International Conference on Materials Processing and Characterisation, ICMPC 2020, Mathura, U.P., India, 21/02/20. https://doi.org/10.1145/3411764.3445286

Whatever the emotional experience, it's up to them: Insights from designers of emotionally impactful games. / Denisova, Alena; Bopp, Julia Ayumi; Nguyen, Thuy Duong et al.
CHI 2021 - Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems: Making Waves, Combining Strengths. ACM, 2021. (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings).

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

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Denisova A, Bopp JA, Nguyen TD, Mekler ED. Whatever the emotional experience, it's up to them: Insights from designers of emotionally impactful games. In CHI 2021 - Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems: Making Waves, Combining Strengths. ACM. 2021. (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings). doi: 10.1145/3411764.3445286

Whatever the emotional experience, it's up to them: Insights from designers of emotionally impactful games

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Access to Document

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Cite this