It's all a skinner box? Typical core loop and Operant Conditioning

Abstract

This is an exploratory study on the hypothesis that a typical core loop for a videogame closely resembles an operant conditioning loop and, when that is not the case, the player's experience will decline because of it. To assess this similarity, a double-blind experimental study was conducted in which participants were randomly assigned into two different groups and each group played a different version of the same decision- based game with 24 main choices. The experimental group (n = 55) received a version in which a classic core loop rewarded "correct" choices with mechanic and narrative rewards, while the control group (n = 54) experienced both mechanic and narrative punishments for the same "correct" choices. After the play session participants answered a questionnaire about their experience. The results showed a significant difference between groups' experiences in certain dimensions, with an overall better experience being reported by the typical core loop group.