GDC and LOGIN 2009 Decks are now online

the Immersyve team — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:25:25 +0000

Just a quick note to announce that Scott Rigby’s powerpoint decks from his talks at the 2009 SF GDC, Austin GDC and LOGIN conferences are now online and available for download from - perhaps not surprisingly - our “Downloads” page. They are available in both .ppt and .pptx formats.

Immersyve’s GDC 2009 presentation deck now available

the Immersyve team — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 20:52:12 +0000

We’ve made the final ppt deck used at Scott’s GDC 2009 talk last week available for download (”From First Date to Committed Relationship: Designing for Engagement and Sustained Satisfaction”), along with our general PENS white paper and some other references. Check them out from our new downloads page.

It’s not the violence players value…

the Immersyve team — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 13:54:25 +0000

The next time a loved one brandishes a virtual shotgun in their favorite video game, take heart. That look of glee, says a new study fresh from the joint research lab of Immersyve and the University of Rochester, likely stems from the healthy pleasure of mastering a challenge rather than from a disturbing craving for carnage.
            Research published online today in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin shows that, contrary to popular belief, violence does not make video games more enjoyable. The study by our research team found that for many people, gore actually detracts from a game’s “fun factor,” decreasing players’ interest and desire to purchase a game. When designing the next generation of video games, added the authors, developers should remember: blood does not help the bottom line.
             “For the vast majority of players, even those who regularly play and enjoy violent games, violence was not a plus,” explained Andrew Przybylski, a lead author of the study. “Violent content was only preferred by a small subgroup of people that generally report being more aggressive,” added Przybylski, however, even these hostile players did not report increased pleasure when playing more gruesome games.
            Through two online surveys and four experimental studies, we found that people stayed glued to games mainly for the feelings of challenge and autonomy they experience while playing. Both seasoned video gamers and novices preferred games where they could conquer obstacles, feel effective, and have lots of choices about their strategies and actions.
            These elements, said coauthor Richard Ryan, represent “the core reasons that people find games so entertaining and compelling. Conflict and war are a common and powerful context for providing these experiences, but it is the need satisfaction in the gameplay that matters more than the violent content itself.”
            Scott Rigby, president of Immersyve and a co-investigator in the study, said the findings should be of practical help to the game development industry. “Much of the debate about game violence has pitted the assumed commercial value of violence against social concern about the harm it may cause,” explained Rigby. “Our study shows that the violence may not be the real value component, freeing developers to design away from violence while at the same time broadening their market.”
            To assess players’ experiences on a wide variety of games, the authors conducted two survey studies involving 2,670 frequent video game players. Participants rated their current favorite games based on statements like “When moving through the game world, I feel as if I am actually there” and “I would buy a sequel to this game.” The surveys focused on players’ needs satisfaction, immersion, and enjoyment, based on a psychometric model developed by Immersyve called the Player Experience of Need Satisfaction (PENS). Respondents were 89 percent male and between 18 and 39 years of old.
            Four additional experimental studies involving more than 300 undergraduates allowed the investigators to study the effects of violence under controlled conditions. In three of the tests, researchers modified the video programs to create violent or non-violent formats of the same game. One study used the commercially available game Half-Life 2 and assigned subjects to play either a bloody battle against computer-controlled adversaries or a low violence alternative, in which the robots were tagged and teleported serenely back to base. Another study using House of the Dead III varied the gore level from no blood to realistic wounds and graphic violence. A fourth experimental study took a closer look at subjects’ aggressive tendencies. Using a 29-item scale, including such statement as “Given enough provocation, I may hit another person” and “I sometimes feel like a powder keg ready to explode,” the study measured participants’ hostility before having them play the bloodier version of House of the Dead III.
            Across all of the studies and both surveys, added violent content added little and in some cases detracted from the enjoyment reported by players. Violent content was preferred, though not enjoyed more, by a small subgroup of people who scored high in aggression traits.
            “Video games,” concluded the authors, “are enjoyable, immersive, and motivating insofar as they offer opportunities for psychological need satisfaction, specifically experiences of competence and autonomy, to which violent content per se is largely unrelated.”
                This same research team has been studying the factors that motivate people to play games of all types, both as casual players or intense long-term fans. “Initially, many games are perceived as being fun,” Rigby says. “Much of our work is focused on understanding when games reach to deeper levels of satisfaction that often sustain engagement over time, and to identify both the healthy and unhealthy aspects of that play.”

GDC 2009 - Immersyve will be presenting research on sustaining player engagement

the Immersyve team — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 17:42:38 +0000

Scott Rigby, Founder and President at Immersyve, will be giving a talk at the upcoming Game Developer’s Conference (GDC) in San Francisco, March 23^rd-27^th entitled “From First Date to a Committed Relationship: Designing for Engagement and Sustained Satisfaction.”

The talk will present details and data from years of research at Immersyve looking at what matters most to sustaining player interest in games, and maximizing their enthusiasm and perceived value. Hope those attending the conference can make it! Here’s the scoop….

Session Description
Based upon multiple studies with over 10,000 gamers, this session defines and reviews three specific motivational needs that are directly related to sustained engagement and value. The Player Experience of Need Satisfaction model (PENS) focuses specifically on experiences of competence, autonomy and relatedness satisfactions:

* Autonomy experiences are shown to be directly related to opportunities for self-direction, and adjusted through various mechanisms (e.g. feature set, level geography).
* Competence experiences relate to control mastery, density of feedback, and balancing challenge and dominance.
* Relatedness satisfactions involve the quality of multiplayer interaction, but also to the manner in which NPCs are designed and communicate.

Each of these intrinsic needs will be reviewed, alongside specific game examples, recommendations, and strategies for measurement.

Takeaway
Attendees will learn a deeper model of player satisfaction, as well as how to put it to use in their projects. They will take away a practical conceptual model of player motivation that is proven to relate directly to both commercial success and sustained engagement, and consequently can assist in the design, development, and assessment of successful projects.

Moreover, they will leave with specific guidance on how to implement this model on their own projects, along with measurement strategies to collect data during development and to use that data to drive more successful decisions.

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.