The Door: Timing Effects of Fourth Wall Breaks on Immersion and Game Experience in an Adventure Game

Martin Kocur, Pascal Lindemann, Tim Pfeil, Michael Lankes

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingsConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

Fourth wall breaks in video games can affect the players’ game experience. Although breaking the fourth wall is a well-known stylistic element, it is still unclear how to utilize it to enhance the game experience. Researchers assume that the effects of fourth wall breaks on players depend on the situation they occur. Therefore, we investigated whether the timing of fourth wall breaks affects players’ immersion and game experience. In our game called ”The Door”, 24 participants either experienced a fourth wall break in the beginning, the middle or at the end of the game. We found that the timing of a fourth wall break had a significant effect on players’ immersion and perceived competence. We discuss potential explanations for the effects referring to games known for their fourth wall breaks.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationCHI PLAY 2021 - Extended Abstracts of the 2021 Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play
Place of PublicationNew York, NY, USA
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery
Pages43–48
Number of pages6
ISBN (Electronic)9781450383561
ISBN (Print)9781450383561
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Oct 2021

Publication series

NameCHI PLAY 2021 - Extended Abstracts of the 2021 Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play

Keywords

  • fourth wall break
  • game experience
  • video games
  • immersion
  • Video games
  • Game experience
  • Fourth wall break
  • Immersion

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