Immersyve to keynote at the 40th North American Simulation and Gaming Association Conference - Oct ‘08

the Immersyve team — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 13:31:21 +0000

The NASAGA (North American Simulation and Gaming Association - trying saying that five times fast!) has invited Scott Rigby, founder of Immersyve, to keynote at their 40th anniversary conference in October, 2008. The talk will focus on the application of PENS (”Player Experience of Need Satisfaction”) to simulations and other “serious games” applications that are designed to educate and train. Information on the talk can be found at the NASAGA site.

Upcoming Talk at GDC - Austin: Sustaining Player Engagement by Designing for Intrinsic Need Satisfaction

the Immersyve team — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 23:07:20 +0000

Scott Rigby, founder/president here at Immersyve, will be giving a talk again this year at the GDC conference in Austin on how developers can design for the satisfaction of key psychological needs that have great predictive value for sustained engagement. Hope those of you heading over to the conference will be able to attend! If not, we’ll be making the support materials available to anyone who is interested. Here’s the scoop directly on the GDC website, and a summary of the talk is just below…
Session Description
This session presents specific motivational needs that, when satisfied in the MMO player, are proven predictors of enjoyment, value, and sustained subscriptions. Going deeper, these intrinsic needs form a paradigm for understanding the fundamental appeal of the RPG structure, suggesting ways to innovate new designs while still supporting player needs. New data from thousands of players worldwide highlights not only how core game features and content support these needs, but how a game’s design influences critical dynamics in groups & guilds that can enhance or cut short a player’s satisfaction and engagement. Numerous game examples will be reviewed (including aspects of solo/group play and story/NPC interaction), and practical (and scalable) measurement strategies will be given.

Idea Takeaway
Attendees will learn three specific motivational needs that are highly predictive of value, enjoyment, and sustained subscriptions, along with concrete examples from existing MMO’s that enhance or thwart the satisfaction of these needs. In addition, attendees will take away specific strategies for measurement of need satisfaction in their player population that can be implemented immediately. Data from multiple research studies with international player samples will be presented in support of the global value of the model.

Violence in Games: Exploring the value proposition

the Immersyve team — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 01:34:50 +0000

Violence in video games is a huge topic that is sparking global controversy and new legislation that promises to have a significant impact on the industry. But how objectively have we looked at the role that the violent content itself plays in motivating gameplay and satisfying player’s needs? We’re finishing up several studies that have been looking closely at this issue, specifically from the standpoint of player satisfaction and the commercial value in violent content (i.e. how much the violence itself drives interest, purchase decisions, and sustained play). The early word from the lab is that violence adds appeal for some players, but may be buying developers much less than many assume. If you’d like to be on our mailing list for more info on this work, contact us today at info@immersyve.com

Longitudinal study proves the value of the Immersyve model in retaining customers and decreasing churn in MMO’s

the Immersyve team — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 20:38:42 +0000

As part of its ongoing research, Immersyve has just completed an eight month logitudinal study examining the ability of its model to predict sustained subscriptions and continued play of MMO’s. Our findings show that our P.E.N.S. (”Player Experience of Need Satisfaction”) measures, based on a next-generation playtesting model, significantly predicted sustained subscriptions over an eight month period, despite the fact that player’s self-report of enjoying a game did not predict sustained play. The implications for this result are that application of the Immersyve model can significantly decrease MMO churn and increase the ROI on investment in customer acquisition.

Several hundred MMO players were initially surveyed in March as part of Immersyve’s ongoing research and development, and all players were invited to participate in a November follow-up. Of particular interest was how our P.E.N.S. measures compared to more simplistic playtesting and “focus group” protocols in predicting long-term satisfaction with a project, and continued subscription. Traditional measurement of player experience, including assessing the player’s experience of fun, enjoyment, and attention, have little or no relationship with continued subscriptions in November. By comparison, because the Immersyve PENS assesses deeper motivational elements of the player experience, it significantly predicted in March continued play eight months later.

In addition, the Immersyve approach significantly predicted a wide range of commercially relevant variables, including a customer’s willingness to pay more for the game, recommend the game to others, and desire to buy more games from the developer. By implementing the Immersyve solution during the development process, developers can quickly and accurately assess whether their choices are likely to sustain their customer’s interest in their project, with tremendous implications for the bottom line of any subscription game or application.

Contact Immersyve today to learn how you can put the Immersyve model to work on your project

Immersyve’s “Player Experience of Need Satisfaction” (PENS) model featured on Gamasutra

the Immersyve team — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 23:52:13 +0000

Immersyve’s new motivational paradigm for understanding and measuring the player experience was featured this week on gamasutra.com, one of the leading online publications for game developers. The article, “Rethinking Carrots: A new method for measuring what players find most rewarding and motivating about your game” details both the theoretical approach of the model, and reviews the data showing its strong value to developers in predicting outcomes such as enjoyment, sustained play, and value.

Immersyve’s research on why games are compelling is noted by numerous science and gamer news sites

Scott — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 18:14:28 +0000

Immersyve, Inc., in collaboration with the University of Rochester, asked 1,000 gamers what motivates them to keep playing. The results published in the journal Motivation and Emotion this month suggest that people enjoy video games because they find them intrinsically satisfying. Dozens of news sites and blogs dedicated to gaming and to understanding the psychology and science behind games have been citing this work throughout the holiday week.

Read more details at the original post summarizing the recent publication of this work, or contact us for more information or to request a reprint.

Why do they play: Researchers find that video games can meaningfully satisfy some basic needs in players

the Immersyve team — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 20:56:14 +0000

Both in the media and in casual conversations, video games are frequently associated with ideas of violence, addiction, and unproductive “zoning out.” New research from Immersyve, Inc, in collaboration with the University of Rochester, suggests that there may be more to the strong attraction of games than that. “We find that people who are really drawn to video games stay there because it satisfies some very basic psychological needs. Certain games provide opportunities to feel a sense of achievement, freedom and even connection with other players” says Dr. Richard Ryan, one of the investigators. Four studies, published this month in the academic journal Motivation and Emotion, show that players are most attracted to games that give them positive experiences that are akin to “real world” challenges, rather than merely a shallow sense of fun. In fact, the research showed that a video game, insofar as it allows one to experience need fulfillment, can even promote short-term well being in some players. Ryan adds, however, that “not all video games are created equal” in this ability to satisfy more basic psychological needs.

Dr. Scott Rigby, President of Immersyve and co-investigator sees potential value for the model across many areas in the world of gaming. “There is still more work to do, but our data suggests that when games meet the underlying needs in our model, they not only predict better psychological outcomes for players, but better commercial success for games.”

“So what’s good for players,” Rigby added, “may well be good for the industry too.”

Immersyve maps player’s “developer loyalty” gene

the Immersyve team — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 01:44:34 +0000

In two different studies, Immersyve has identified several specific aspects of gameplay experience that are strongly related to players expressing a desire to buy more games from the developer. Interestingly, simply finding the game “enjoyable” or “fun” is not sufficient for players to express this desire — the gameplay itself must offer them something more. More than 2000 gamers participated in the studies, which were conducted over the course of 2006.

“What we think is so cool about this finding is that we are mapping what makes the gameplay more meaningful for players, which in turn is building loyalty and relationship with developers,” said Scott Rigby, President of Immersyve. “Because meaningful gameplay experiences and increased sales are both achieved, our methodology supports innovation and creativity in the development group, but also improves the bottom line. That’s exactly the kind of service we want to bring to the industry.”

The overall participation in the studies allowed Immersyve to look at players of all kinds of games, including MMO’s, FPS, Adventure, and many others. Virtually every genre showed the same positive relationship between Immersyve’s playtesting metrics and player desire to buy more from the developer.

“This is a tool both the suits and the developers can love,” added Rigby. “It informs developers very precisely about the player experience but does not try to control the creative process — and in the end it delivers to both the players and the company.”