Playing with social and emotional game companions

Chowanda, Andry; Flintham, Martin; Blanchfield, Peter; Valstar, Michel

Abstract

This paper presents the findings of an empirical study that explores player game experience by implementing the ERiSA Framework in games. A study with Action Role-Playing Game (RPG) was designed to evaluate player interactions with game companions, who were imbued with social and emotional skill by the ERiSA Framework. Players had to complete a quest in the Skyrim game, in which players had to use social and emotional skills to obtain a sword. The results clearly show that game companions who are capable of perceiving and exhibit emotions, are perceived to have personality and can forge relationships with the players, enhancing the player experience during the game.

Citation

Chowanda, A., Flintham, M., Blanchfield, P., & Valstar, M. (2016). Playing with social and emotional game companions. In Intelligent Virtual Agents

• Conference Name: 16th International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents (IVA 2016)
• End Date: Sep 23, 2016
• Acceptance Date: Jul 5, 2016
• Publication Date: Sep 20, 2016
• Deposit Date: Aug 1, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 20, 2016
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Book Title: Intelligent Virtual Agents
• Keywords: Game Experience, Game Companions, Social Relationship,; Social Interaction
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/816739
• Related Public URLs: http://iva2016.ict.usc.edu/
• Contract Date: Aug 1, 2016