Impacts of sensory visual effects on gamers' spatial exploration behavior

Abstract

Visual effects are the basic visual elements that build virtual universes and computer games. How a scene will be perceived by the player, which emotions will be triggered, and the general theme of the game can be determined by visual effects. Visual effects have different meanings in computer games than the film and the photography industries. In the film and the photography industry, the manipulations on the camera lens or the visual adjustments made through a computer on the images form visual effects. On the other hand, in the game industry, the entire game environment is created virtually by a computer. Therefore, visual effects in computer games are visual elements with additional features. Visual effects in computer games are classified under 3 classes. Lighting effects are used to illuminate scenes and create shadows. Environmental effects allow real-world natural events to be simulated in the game environment. Finally, sensory effects define how the game environment will be perceived. These effects originate from the structure of the human visual system or camera lenses in the real world. Sensory effects have a great role in the formation of the perception of reality in games. There are two types of reality in games. One is perceptual reality and the other is photo-realistic reality. Perceptual reality is based on the characteristics of the human eye, and the scene is designed so that it can be seen with the human eye in real life. When photo-realistic reality is adopted, the created virtual environment is designed as if it is being watched by a camera. Effects such as blur, vignetting, dirty lens, and flare are sensory effects. Transferring the emotions such as pain and stress experienced by the character in the games to the player and making the player understand the depth in virtual reality games are some of the examples that are implemented thanks to sensory visual effects. As mentioned above, sensory visual effects are important game elements that determine the mode and convey emotions in games. Although the structures of these visual effects have been studied in detail, the impacts of the effects on the players have not been systematically studied enough. In this thesis, the effects of sensory visual effects on the players are examined. In particular, the unconscious effects of sensory visual effects on the players were investigated. Whether the players are aware of the effects, the recognition of the effects and their effects on decision-making mechanisms are taken as research points. While investigating the effects of sensory visual effects on the conscious and unconscious decisions of the players, the spatial exploration mechanics in the games were used. When people enter a new environment in real life, they first begin to explore and learn about the environment in its entirety. This exploratory behavior occurs instinctively and reflexively. Exploration mechanics are also used in most computer games. In the examination of unconscious decisions made by the players depending on the visual effects, the help of spatial exploration behavior was taken due to its reflexive nature. In the developed game, the relationship between sensory visual effects and exploration behavior was investigated. Two games were developed within the scope of this thesis. Both games are developed using the Unreal Engine game engine. First of all, it was necessary to determine a data collection technique that can be considered as a game, and quantitative data can be collected from the players without interfering with the gameplay.