Power-Ups in Digital Games: The Rewarding Effect of Phantom Game Elements on Player Experience

Power-ups are a type of game reward that allow the player to customise their experience by altering gameplay for a short period of time. Despite the wide use of power-ups in video games, little is known about their effect on gaming experiences. To explore this, we conducted an experimental study that compares the experiences of players depending on their exposure to power-ups in a recreational video game. The results show that players who collected power-ups felt significantly more immersed in the game, experienced more autonomy, but did not feel more competent or challenged than those who played the game without these collectables. Interestingly, a similar effect was observed for those players who picked up 'placebo' power-ups, despite the items having no effect on the gameplay. We provide a discussion of these results and their implications both for games user researchers and game designers.