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Gaming Experience as a Nuisance or Confounding Variable in Serious Games for Research: Creating a Scale Measuring RTS Experience in a Serious Game Exploring the Sunk Cost Effect

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Serious Games (JCSG 2022)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 13476))

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Abstract

A scale measuring real-time strategy (RTS) game experience was created and used to determine whether RTS experience acted as a nuisance or confounding variable in a serious game examining sunk cost effects (SCE). A sample of 164 males, 324 females, 11 non-binary and 2 unclassified participants with a mean age of 43.53 completed the Real-Time Strategy Experience Scale (RTSES). A smaller sample of 63 males, 79 females, 2 non-binary and 1 unclassified participant with a mean age of 40.9 also played Magnate: an RTS-style serious game measuring SCE. Contrary to expectations, a single factor of general and strategy gaming experience was found, while two factors of RTS gaming experience were found: one comprised of experience playing popular titles, and another playing titles with more diverse game mechanics. However, a weak, positive relationship between RTS experience and game performance was found, as well as a weak, negative relationship between SCE and game performance. There was insufficient evidence of a relationship between RTS experience and SCE, which meant that the positive relationship between SCE and game performance remained largely unchanged after accounting for RTS experience. These results suggest that while RTS experience can act as a nuisance variable in studies using serious game performance as a dependent variable, there was no evidence of a confounding relationship with SCE as an independent variable in this instance. Validity of the RTSES could be improved with items focusing more on game mechanics rather than genre, which may make it easier to identify these relationships.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

    Andrew Reilly, Laura Kelly & Kira Lough

Authors
  1. Andrew Reilly
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  2. Laura Kelly
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  3. Kira Lough
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andrew Reilly .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Bauhaus University, Weimar, Weimar, Thüringen, Germany

    Heinrich Söbke

  2. Technical University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Pia Spangenberger

  3. TU Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany

    Philipp Müller

  4. TU Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany

    Stefan Göbel

Appendix

Appendix

Initial list of RTSES items.

  1. 1.

    I have played games.

  2. 2.

    I have played games on more than one type of device.

  3. 3.

    I have played a lot of different games.

  4. 4.

    I don’t know much about gaming.

  5. 5.

    I have a lot of experience in playing games.

  6. 6.

    I have played games that involve a lot of thinking.

  7. 7.

    I have played strategy games.

  8. 8.

    I have played games that require complex decision making.

  9. 9.

    I haven’t played many games that involve strategic thinking.

  10. 10.

    I have played games that involve managing resources.

  11. 11.

    I have played games that require planning.

  12. 12.

    Warcraft.

  13. 13.

    Command and Conquer/Red Alert.

  14. 14.

    Starcraft.

  15. 15.

    Age of Empires.

  16. 16.

    Anno.

  17. 17.

    Populous.

  18. 18.

    Empire Earth.

  19. 19.

    Europa Universalis.

  20. 20.

    Total War.

  21. 21.

    Hearts of Iron.

  22. 22.

    Company of Heroes.

  23. 23.

    Supreme Commander.

  24. 24.

    Warhammer 40,000.

  25. 25.

    Stronghold.

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Reilly, A., Kelly, L., Lough, K. (2022). Gaming Experience as a Nuisance or Confounding Variable in Serious Games for Research: Creating a Scale Measuring RTS Experience in a Serious Game Exploring the Sunk Cost Effect. In: Söbke, H., Spangenberger, P., Müller, P., Göbel, S. (eds) Serious Games. JCSG 2022. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 13476. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15325-9_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15325-9_2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-15324-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-15325-9

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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