Impact of algorithmic composition on player immersion in computer games: a case study using Markov Chains

Raul Paiva de Oliveira; Tiago Fernandes Tavares

doi:10.5216/mh.v18i1.53571

Authors

Raul Paiva de Oliveira Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brazil http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9593-3270
Tiago Fernandes Tavares Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brazil http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9104-613X

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5216/mh.v18i1.53571

Keywords:

Computer music, Immersion, Digital games

Abstract

The feeling of immersion is an important aspect of gaming experiences. It can be greatly impacted by back- ground music. In this work, we investigate the use of algorithmically-generated background music as a mean to ge- nerate immersion in gaming experiences. For such, we developed two versions of the same game. One of them uses music written by a composer. The other uses real-time generated melodies based on a Markov chain. We evaluated the immersion level related to each of these versions using user questionnaires and performance measures. The re- sults did show only a small immersion difference between the versions. This indicates that algorithmic music can be a suitable option for game content generation.

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Author Biographies

Raul Paiva de Oliveira, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brazil

Raul Paiva de Oliveira (Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brazil) raulpo@dca.fee.unicamp.br

Tiago Fernandes Tavares, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brazil

Tiago Fernandes Tavares (Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brazil) tavares@dca.fee.unicamp.br

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