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

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.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Advertising

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2018

Author dc:creator

• Guo, Danyang

Contributors dc:contributor

• Yao, Mike Z

• Game
• Identification
• Personality
• Game character
• Player

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2017 Danyang Guo

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

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

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/99276