Shinobi Valley

Studying curiosity for virtual spatial exploration through a video game

Conference paper (2019)

Authors

Marcello A. Gómez-Maureira Universiteit Leiden
I. Kniestedt System Engineering - TPM
Max Van Duijn Universiteit Leiden
Carolien Rieffe Universiteit Leiden
Aske Plaat Universiteit Leiden
Research Group
System Engineering (TPM) (TU Delft)
Copyright: © 2019 Marcello A. Gómez Maureira, I. Kniestedt, Max J. Van Duijn, Carolien Rieffe, Aske Plaat
DOI
help_outline
https://doi.org/10.1145/3341215.3356276
Game design Affective game design Design for curiosity Game user research Player motivation
More Info
expand_more

Published Date

2019

Language

English

Reuse Rights

Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.

Faculty

Technology, Policy and Management

Department

Multi Actor Systems

Research Group

System Engineering

Abstract

Curiosity is a strong motivator for human action, but the circumstances under which one becomes curious are not clear. This paper builds on the assumption that video games can be used as a stimulus for the experimental study of curiosity, and forms a basis in examining the type of curiosity motivated by spatial exploration. A video game was created that incorporates five proposed ‘game design patterns’ that may induce curiosity in players. The game, Shinobi Valley, was tested in a pilot study with 24 participants. Participants responded positively to the game and exhibited exploratory behaviour while playing without specifically being prompted to do so. The presented results suggest which of the patterns are most promising in inducing curiosity, and show that the game is of sufficient quality to be used in larger studies.