The effects of observation in video games: how remote observation influences player experience, motivation, and behaviour

Abstract

Surveillance is ubiquitous. It is well known that the presence of other people (in-person or remote, actual or perceived) increases performance on simple tasks and decreases performance in complex tasks (Zajonc 1965). But little is known about these phenomena in the context of video games, with recent advances finding that they do not necessarily extend to games (Emmerich and Masuch 2018). In Experiment 1 (N=1489; No Observation vs. Researcher Observing), we find that participants observed by a researcher played significantly longer, and performed significantly better, across three video games. Moreover, we find some support that participants observed by a researcher score higher on player experience and intrinsic motivation. In Experiment 2 (N=843; Researcher Observing vs. Professor Observing), we seek to understand whether different roles differing in their perceived evaluativeness would influence the effects of observation. We find that participants observed by a professor had, at times, significantly lower performance, player experience, intrinsic motivation, playing time, and higher anxiety. In Experiment 3 (N=1358; No Observation vs. Researcher Observing), we further validate Experiment 1 by extending our results to three additional game genres. Here, we provide the largest study on observation in video games to date. The study is also the first to show that observer type can significantly influence player outcomes.