This study aims to investigate how players make decisions in video games based on visual and audible cues. Research shows that a player’s choice is based mostly on instincts/intuition when reacting to environmental cues and their similarities to past experiences (Winters, & Zhu, 2014). The research will investigate how different environmental design elements such as lighting, colour, and spatial layout, affect player behaviour and decision-making in video games.
Ten participants will be randomly assigned to play the game level with envrionmental cues either turned on or off for a period of twenty minutes; the game level will consist of multiple paths and the study will asses players’ reactions to different stimuli and record their in-game choices. A questionnaire will be administered after the game to gather information about players’ decision-making processes and factors that influenced their choices such as a list of favourite genres and games. The results will be compared to assess the extent to which players’ in-game choices reflect the expected choices based on environmental stimuli.
It is expected that the majority of players will utilise environmental stimuli due to intuition to help sway their decisions on which paths to choose when playing (Freytag, & Wienrich, 2017) however players who tend to play games that do not require player awareness may be less likely to make their choices based on intuition.
This research could potentially aid game developers in nurturing the further adoption of implicit directions in games.