Trying to understand a player's characteristics with regards to a computer game is a major line of research known as player modeling. The purpose of player modeling is typically the adaptation of the game itself.We present two studies that extend player modeling into player profiling by trying to identify abstract personality traits, such as the need for cognition and self-esteem, through a player's in-game behavior.We present evidence that game mechanics that can be broadly adopted by several game genres, such as hints and a player's self-evaluation at the end of a level, correlate with the aforementioned personality traits. We conclude by presenting future directions for research regarding this topic, discuss the direct applications for the games industry, and explore how games can be developed as profiling tools with applications to other contexts.
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Player behavioural modelling has grown from a means to improve the playing strength of computer programs that play classic games (e.g., chess), to a means for impacting the player experience and satisfaction in video games, as well as in cross-domain applications such as interactive storytelling. In this context, player behavioural modelling is concerned with two goals, namely (1) providing an interesting or effective game AI on the basis of player models and (2) creating a basis for game developers to personalise gameplay as a whole, and creating new user-driven game mechanics. In this article, we provide an overview of player behavioural modelling for video games by detailing four distinct approaches, namely (1) modelling player actions, (2) modelling player tactics, (3) modelling player strategies, and (4) player profiling. We conclude the article with an analysis on the applicability of the approaches for the domain of video games.
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Player behavior during game play can be used to construct player models that help adapt the game and make it more fun for the player involved. Similarly in-game behavior could help model personality traits that describe people's attitudes in a fashion that can be stable over time and over different domains, e.g., to support health coaching, or other behavior change approaches. This paper demonstrates the feasibility of this approach by relating Need for Cognition (NfC) a personality trait that can predict the effectiveness of different persuasion strategies upon users to a commonly used game mechanic - hints. An experiment with N=188 participants confirmed our hypothesis that NfC has a negative correlation with the number of hints players follow during the game. Future work should confirm if adherence to hints can be used as a predictor of behavior in different games, and to find other game mechanics than hints, that help predict user traits.
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Player behavior during game play can be used to construct player models that help adapt the game and make it more fun for the player involved. Similarly in-game behavior could help model personality traits that describe people's attitudes in a fashion that can be stable over time and over different domains, e.g., to support health coaching, or other behavior change approaches. This paper demonstrates the feasibility of this approach by relating Need for Cognition (NfC) a personality trait that can predict the effectiveness of different persuasion strategies upon users to a commonly used game mechanic - hints. An experiment with N=188 participants confirmed our hypothesis that NfC has a negative correlation with the number of hints players follow during the game. Future work should confirm if adherence to hints can be used as a predictor of behavior in different games, and to find other game mechanics than hints, that help predict user traits.
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Research studies and recruitment processes often rely on psychometric instruments to profile respondents with regards to their ethical orientation. Completing such questionnaires can be tedious and is prone to self-presentation bias. Noting how video games often expose players to complex plots, filled with dilemmas and morally dubious options, the opportunity emerges to evaluate player’s moral orientation by analysing their in-game behaviour. In order to explore the feasibility of such an approach, we examine how users’ moral judgment correlates with choices they make in non-linear narratives, frequently present in video games. An interactive narrative presenting several moral dilemmas was created. An initial user study (N = 80) revealed only weak correlations between the users’ choices and their ethical inclinations in all ethical scales. However, by training a genetic algorithm on this data set to quantify the influence of each branch on recognising moral inclination we found a strong positive correlation between choice behaviour and self-reported ethical inclinations on a second independent group of participants (N = 20). The contribution of this work is to demonstrate how genetic algorithms can be applied in interactive stories to profile users’ ethical stance.
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Self-esteem is a personality trait utilized to support the diagnosis of several psychological conditions. With this study we investigate the potential that computer games can have in assessing self-esteem. To that end, we designed and developed a platformer game and analyzed how in-game behavior relates to Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale. We examined: i) how a player's self-esteem influences game performance, ii) how a player's self-esteem generally influences in-game behavior iii) the possible game mechanics that assist in inferring a player's self-esteem. The study was conducted in two phases (N=98 and N=85). Results indicate that self-esteem does not have any impact on the player's performance, on the other hand, we found that players' self-evaluation of game performance correlates with their self-esteem.
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The purpose of this study was to provide more insight into how the physical education (PE) context can be better tailored to the diverse motivational demands of secondary school students. Therefore, we examined how different constructs of student motivation in the context of PE combine into distinct motivational profiles, aiming to unveil motivational similarities and differences between students’ PE experiences. Participants were 2,562 Dutch secondary school students, aged 12–18, from 24 different schools. Students responded to questionnaires assessing their perception of psychological need satisfaction and frustration, and perceived mastery and performance climate in PE. In order to interpret the emerging profiles additional variables were assessed (i.e. demographic, motivational and PE-related variables). Two-step cluster analysis identified three meaningful profiles labelled as negative perceivers, moderate perceivers and positive perceivers. These three profiles differed significantly with regard to perceived psychological need satisfaction and frustration and their perception of the motivational climate. This study demonstrates that students can be grouped in distinct profiles based on their perceptions of the motivational PE environment. Consequently, the insights obtained could assist PE teachers in designing instructional strategies that target students’ differential motivational needs.
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Quantifying measures of physical loading has been an essential part of performance monitoring within elite able-bodied sport, facilitated through advancing innovative technology. In wheelchair court sports (WCS) the inter-individual variability of physical impairments in the athletes increases the necessity for accurate load and performance measurements, while at the same time standard load monitoring methods (e.g. heart-rate) often fail in this group and dedicated WCS performance measurement methods are scarce. The objective of this review was to provide practitioners and researchers with an overview and recommendations to underpin the selection of suitable technologies for a variety of load and performance monitoring purposes specific to WCS. This review explored the different technologies that have been used for load and performance monitoring in WCS. During structured field testing, magnetic switch based devices, optical encoders and laser systems have all been used to monitor linear aspects of performance. However, movement in WCS is multidirectional, hence accelerations, decelerations and rotational performance and their impact on physiological responses and determination of skill level, is also of interest. Subsequently both for structured field testing as well as match-play and training, inertial measurement units mounted on wheels and frame have emerged as an accurate and practical option for quantifying linear and non-linear movements. In conclusion, each method has its place in load and performance measurement, yet inertial sensors seem most versatile and accurate. However, to add context to load and performance metrics, position-based acquisition devices such as automated image-based processing or local positioning systems are required.
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