TY - JOUR
T1 - A Review of Player Engagement Estimation in Video Games
T2 - Challenges and Opportunities
AU - Rashed, Ammar
AU - Shirmohammadi, Shervin
AU - Amer, Ihab
AU - Hefeeda, Mohamed
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 Copyright held by the owner/author(s). Publication rights licensed to ACM.
PY - 2025/7/19
Y1 - 2025/7/19
N2 - This article presents a review on the process of estimating player engagement in video gaming. To stay ahead of their competitors in entertainment, game developers need to understand, estimate, and maximize player engagement. We address the multidimensional nature of engagement, encompassing cognitive, emotional, and behavioral aspects across various gaming domains. We present a taxonomy of the diverse modalities for quantifying engagement, including physiological signals, observable behaviors, and gameplay data. We identify the challenges of conducting representative subjective studies in this domain and summarize various methods for establishing ground truth measurements. By synthesizing existing research, we provide insights into modeling techniques, highlight research gaps, and offer practical guidelines for implementing engagement measurement strategies. This review aims to aid researchers and industry professionals in navigating the complexities of player engagement estimation, ultimately contributing to enhanced game design, marketing, and user retention in the competitive gaming landscape.
AB - This article presents a review on the process of estimating player engagement in video gaming. To stay ahead of their competitors in entertainment, game developers need to understand, estimate, and maximize player engagement. We address the multidimensional nature of engagement, encompassing cognitive, emotional, and behavioral aspects across various gaming domains. We present a taxonomy of the diverse modalities for quantifying engagement, including physiological signals, observable behaviors, and gameplay data. We identify the challenges of conducting representative subjective studies in this domain and summarize various methods for establishing ground truth measurements. By synthesizing existing research, we provide insights into modeling techniques, highlight research gaps, and offer practical guidelines for implementing engagement measurement strategies. This review aims to aid researchers and industry professionals in navigating the complexities of player engagement estimation, ultimately contributing to enhanced game design, marketing, and user retention in the competitive gaming landscape.
KW - Engagement Estimation
KW - Multimodal Data
KW - Player Engagement
KW - Video Game Analytics
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105011863180
U2 - 10.1145/3722116
DO - 10.1145/3722116
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:105011863180
SN - 1551-6857
VL - 21
JO - ACM Transactions on Multimedia Computing, Communications and Applications
JF - ACM Transactions on Multimedia Computing, Communications and Applications
IS - 7
M1 - 192
ER -