Character customization in video games : affecting experience with visual customization
Mether, Petra (2019)
Mether, Petra
2019
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2019052812527
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2019052812527
Tiivistelmä
The topic of this thesis is various kinds of character customization options present in video games, mainly in role-playing video games.
The purpose of this thesis was to learn what forms of customization are available for video game characters in games and how they have evolved and changed over time. Possible risks and opportunities of character customization were also researched from both a developer and player perspective. The collected information was used as a base for creating a simple paper prototype of a visual character customization mechanic.
The prototype was used to test how visual parts of character customization could affect the gaming experience. The prototype was tested by three individual testers, all of whom were familiar with video game character customization. Testing provided good ideas and thoughts for further development of the prototype.
In conclusion, it seemed that the testers saw potential in the tested mechanic, but the number of testers was so small that the results cannot be considered significant. The prototype would need more work and more rounds of testing to give solid, reliable results.
The purpose of this thesis was to learn what forms of customization are available for video game characters in games and how they have evolved and changed over time. Possible risks and opportunities of character customization were also researched from both a developer and player perspective. The collected information was used as a base for creating a simple paper prototype of a visual character customization mechanic.
The prototype was used to test how visual parts of character customization could affect the gaming experience. The prototype was tested by three individual testers, all of whom were familiar with video game character customization. Testing provided good ideas and thoughts for further development of the prototype.
In conclusion, it seemed that the testers saw potential in the tested mechanic, but the number of testers was so small that the results cannot be considered significant. The prototype would need more work and more rounds of testing to give solid, reliable results.