Effects of Sensory Immersion on Behavioural Indicators of Player Experience: Movement Synchrony and Controller Pressure

In this paper we investigate the relation between immersion in a game and the player’s intensity of physical behaviours, in order to explore whether these behaviours can be reliably used as indicators of player experience. Immersion in the game was manipulated by means of screen size (20" vs 42" screen), and sound pressure level (60dBA vs 80 dBA), according to a 2 x 2 design. The effects of these manipulations on self-reported experience (including arousal and presence) and behavioural intensity (controller tilt and button pressure) were measured. Results showed that sound pressure level in particular strongly influenced both the self-reported measures of people's affective reactions and feelings of presence and the force people applied to the interface device. Results from controller tilt demonstrated that participants did move along with the dynamics of the game. The measure was, however not sensitive to either of the two manipulations of sensory immersion. In the paper the implications for the use of behavioural indicators of player experience in general and the feeling of presence are discussed. Author