Visual detail and its effects on character attachment in video games

Carl Sommer, Purdue University

Abstract

The video game industry has been experiencing a trend toward independent game developers making their own games, as well as large companies opening smaller divisions to work on smaller games. This can be looked at from a purely financial perspective, given that smaller games will inevitably consume a smaller budget; however, there is also good reason to believe there can be substantial creative benefits to companies indulging in this trend. This research is concerned with the effect that visual detail can have on a players emotional attachment to characters in video games-otherwise known as character attachment. While intuition may often tell people that more is more, this paper considers the possibility that less may, in fact be more. However, upon developing a game with four different levels of visual detail and testing participants who were only exposed to one version of the game, no significant relationship was found between character attachment and the level of visual detail. Possible explanations for the lack of observed effects are detailed and discussed.

Degree

M.S.

Advisors

Whittinghill, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Creative writing|Technical Communication

COinS