Center for Human Modeling and Simulation
Document Type
Conference Paper
Date of this Version
2014
Publication Source
Proceedings of the ACM Symposium on Applied Perception (SAP 2014)
Start Page
117
Last Page
124
DOI
10.1145/2628257.2628263
Abstract
Response lag in digital games is known to negatively affect a player’s game experience. Particularly with networked multiplayer games, where lag is typically unavoidable, the impact of delays needs to be well understood so that its effects can be mitigated. In this paper, we investigate two aspects of lag independently: latency (constant delay) and jitter (varying delay). We evaluate how latency and jitter each affect a player’s enjoyment, frustration, performance, and experience as well as the extent to which players can adjust to such delays after a few minutes of gameplay. We focus on a platform game where the player controls a virtual character through a world. We find that delays up to 300ms do not impact the players’ experience as long as they are constant. When jitter was added to a delay of 200ms, however, the lag was noticed by participants more often, hindered players’ ability to improve with practice, increased how often they failed to reach the goal of the game, and reduced the perceived motion quality of the character.
Copyright/Permission Statement
© ACM 2014. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here for your personal use. Not for redistribution. The definitive Version of Record was published in Symposium of Applied Perception, http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2628257.2628263
Keywords
virtual characters, digital games, responsiveness, controller latency, control lag, jitter
Recommended Citation
Normoyle, A., Guerrero, G., & Jörg, S. (2014). Player Perception of Delays and Jitter in Character Responsiveness. Proceedings of the ACM Symposium on Applied Perception (SAP 2014), 117-124. http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2628257.2628263
Date Posted: 13 January 2016
Comments
SAP 2014, August 8-9, 2014, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.