News cues: Information scent and cognitive heuristics: Research Articles
Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology
Authority vs. peer: how interface cues influence users
CHI '09 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Characterizing and understanding game reviews
Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Foundations of Digital Games
Critic-proofing: how using critic reviews and game genres can refine heuristic evaluations
Futureplay '10 Proceedings of the International Academic Conference on the Future of Game Design and Technology
Influencing experience: the effects of reading game reviews on player experience
ICEC'11 Proceedings of the 10th international conference on Entertainment Computing
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Game reviews and player ratings have an effect on the commercial success of games. They are used extensively by game developers to gauge the success of their titles and by potential buyers to make more informed purchase decisions. However, their potential influence on player experience remains uncertain. We investigated how game reviews and user comments influence players' affective states and experiences during game play. We found that both professional reviews and user comments (especially the negative comments) affected experience measured through game ratings, and that this effect was not mediated by changes in players' moods. Our results are important to the game industry because of the meaningful negative effect that user and critic comments can have on individual player experience and the resulting commercial success of a game.