Day 'n' Nite: Investigating the Effects of Day and Night Time in the Real World and Game Worlds on Cognitive Performance

Cognitive functioning fluctuates throughout the day. Previous work found that the time of day influences player performance in video games. Game designers also frequently leverage day and night cycles in game worlds to create realistic player experiences. It is, however, unclear whether and how the time of day in the game world affects player performance. Hence, we conducted a study with 24 participants who completed a maze game in the late morning or evening, while being immersed in a game world with a corresponding in-game day and night time. We showed that participants had a better memory performance during in-game day time than in-game night time. We also found that participants had a faster overall task completion time during the late morning than evening. Results suggest that not only the real day time but also the virtual day time can influence players’ performance. We discuss potential explanations such as lighting conditions and priming effects.