Differentiating in-Game Frustration from at-Game Frustration using Touch Pressure

Games are engaging in part because players experience competence from overcoming challenges. Although this process can feel frustrating, it is often experienced as a positive frustration that results in further engagement. Motivating frustration can be difficult to differentiate from the disheartening frustration that occurs when games are poorly designed or are much too difficult, yet understanding this difference is important for designers to make informed decisions on how to address player experience problems. We conducted an experiment to determine whether touch pressure from game interaction can differentiate between motivating in-game frustration and disheartening at-game frustration. Our results showed that although in-game and at-game frustration were of similar magnitude, enjoyment was higher and attribution was more internal for in-game frustration. Both peak pressure and mean pressure were also higher for in-game frustration, showing the potential of touch pressure as a game experience evaluation metric.