Effects of advertisements and questionnaire interruptions on the player experience

Abstract

New online stores and digital distribution methods have led to the development of alternative monetization models for video-games, such as free-to-play games with advertisements. Although there are many games using such models, until now the effect on the player experience from such interruptions has not been studied. In this controlled experiment, we requested that participants (N=236) play one of three different versions of a platformer game with: 1) no interruptions, 2) 30-second video advertisements, and 3) a multiple-choice questionnaire. We then evaluated the effects on the player experience. The study shows differences in their experiences, namely in: competence, immersion, annoyance, affects, and the reliability of the questionnaire answers. The contribution of this work is to identify which player experience variables are affected by interruptions, which can be valuable for selecting the business model and guiding the game design process.