The Impact of Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment on Player Experience in Video Games

Abstract

Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment (DDA) is a process by which a video game adjusts its level of challenge to match a player’s skill level. Its popularity in the video game industry continues to grow as it has the ability to keep players continuously engaged in a game, a concept referred to as Flow. However, the influence of DDA on games has received mixed responses, specifically that it can enhance player experience as well as hinder it. This paper explores DDA through the Monte Carlo Tree Search algorithm and Reinforcement Learning, gathering feedback from players seeking to understand what about DDA is alluring and discouraging. How player experiences are affected by DDA in competitive multiplayer video games is also an area of interest, so a survey of player responses to DDA in multiplayer video games is examined.