The aim of the first question was to get an insight into players’ un- derstanding of what the timer did. There was no significant differ- ence between the numbers of players who noticed the timer between
any of the groups. As seen in studies II and III (Chapter 6), players
are rather susceptible to the information they are being told, which explains why players in the conditions with the standard timer were equally as likely to notice the time change as the players with an actual adaptation. Out of 60 participants playing the game with the standard timer, 10 (equally spread across partial and full info groups) claimed that they noticed the change, while only 6 out of the other 60 play- ers in the ‘adaptive timer’ condition (only 2 in the ‘full info’ group) were personally convinced they noticed the timer changing the rate of counting.
Despite the fact that players in this group were only told about the
Partial Standard
adaptive timer’s presence,without any details abut the precise me- chanics behind it, a few of them tried explaining what the change might be based on their own observations. Interpretations included an assumption that time was taken off players when they were be- ing hit by the toys, while some players also thought that killing more enemies and scoring higher points would give them additional time. Although players had a clear reasoning behind these assumptions, the adaptation was in fact doing the opposite. Players also described the adaptation based on their personal sense of time, rather than the ‘ac- tual’ changes in the game. For them it seemed that the time was pass- ing faster when they were engaged in a combat than when they were wandering around looking for some action.
Alternatively, some players’ evaluations of the adaptation were more accurate, while in some cases such interpretation was perceived as
somewhat unfair. Considering that the timer did not change at all for these players, this interpretation of being disadvantaged clearly came from their own perception of the time. One of the players felt that being given less time to complete the goal was not fair, and attributed this to their poor performance. Though, there were also a few players who did not notice any changes in the timer, either because they assumed there were none or because they did not pay attention and were unable to make assumptions about the adaptation.
Players in this group were given a full description of the adapta- Full Standard
tion, so unlike in the partial condition, players were interpreting the ‘changes’ more accurately. Though still many of the players did not notice the changes in time because they paid more attention to the game events.
Similarly to one of the interpretations in the Partial Standard group, some players felt that the time was passing at a faster rate for them, because they were making good progress or were performing well in general, despite the fact that the timer was counting down at a constant rate. In some cases, players felt that the time they ran out of time too quickly.
Players also confessed that they did not pay much attention to the timer throughout the game, and only looked at it towards the end of the game to make sure they re on target. Though some players did not pay much attention to the timer at all, despite being told about the changes, as they were so engrossed in the game play.
Just like the players in the Partial Standard timer group, participants Partial Adaptive
in the adaptive condition made similar assumptions about what the changes in the timer were: better performance in the game lead to additional time, and the other way round if the character got hit by the enemies.
Again, some players assumed that the time was going down faster for them, even though many of them did not pay much attention to the timer itself, because they were concentrated more on the game. These players, who noticed the changes, were not incorrect when identify- ing that the faster rate of countdown. In fact, all of them played for less than 90 seconds. While players who had their time reduced did not notice much change in the time at all, even though they admitted checking the timer.
Participants provided with the full explanation of the adaptation,
Full Adaptive
who played with the adaptive timer, perhaps unsurprisingly, were bet- ter at identifying changes than the other groups. However, even in this group some participants did not notice the change, as they did not pay attention to the timer.
Some players used their personal evaluation of their performance in the game to identify how the timer could be changing. For example, players believed they were doing particularly well in the game, so the timer counted down at a faster rate for them. Out of the 7 participants who commented that their time was reduced, one had their time ex- tended, one played for exactly 90 seconds, and the other five indeed identified the reduction in the time correctly.
One of the participants noticed that the timer slowed down for them – this player spent 106 seconds defending their character from zombie toys. While there was also one player, who said that the game session was too long, despite having their time reduced by 4 seconds.
Just like in the other groups, players who did not notice the timer changes, as they concentrated more on the game play and did not feel the need to pay attention to the timer.