Player-character identification by personality matching, perceived personalization and positive/negative in-game experience

Guo, Danyang

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/99276 Copy

Description

Title

Player-character identification by personality matching, perceived personalization and positive/negative in-game experience

Author(s)

Guo, Danyang

Issue Date

2017-08-24

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Yao, Mike Z

Department of Study

Advertising

Discipline

Advertising

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

M.S.

Degree Level

Thesis

Keyword(s)

• Game
• Identification
• Personality
• Game character
• Player

Abstract

Player-character identification is that video-game players adopt the perspective of a game character during gameplay as a part of their own identity. Player-character identification can be established through several psychological mechanisms, including perspective taking, presence, idealization, and perceived similarities. Although game studies have examined many factors leading to player-character identification, most have focused on physical, behavioral, and social attributes. The role and impact of deeper level connections, such as perceived personality similarities, on player-character identification have not been fully explored. This study examines three factors that might trigger player-character identification:1) personality description, 2) perceived personalization, and 3) positive and negative in-game experiences. In Experiment 1, 91 students participated in a 2 (personality descriptions: matching/non-matching) × 2 (perceived personalization: personalized/non-personalized) factorial experiment. In Experiment 2, 136 students participated in a 2 (personality descriptions: matching/non-matching) × 3 (game experience: positive/negative/control) factorial experiment. Results indicated that personality description was effective on inducing player-character identification; however, explicitly informing players the character’s personality was generated based on their own, and exposing players to positive/negative game experiences were not effective.

Graduation Semester

2017-12

Type of Resource

text

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/99276

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2017 Danyang Guo

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