An Evaluation of Personality Type Pairings
to Improve Video Game Enjoyment
Gerry Chan, Anthony Whitehead, Avi Parush
Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada *
Abstract
We examined the effects of personality pairings on
enjoyment within two video game scenarios. It was
hypothesized that one would enjoy playing with another
person who possesses a personality type similar to their
own and in a game scenario that matched their personality
type. Results showed that cooperative pairings particularly
enjoyed playing together. Implications for game design
could include a personality survey to maximize enjoyment.
1
Introduction and Motivation
Videos games can make doing exercise seem more
enjoyable [Yim & Graham, 2007]. Social presence
increases video game enjoyment [Gajadhar, et al., 2008]. In
the context of an exergame, competition is enjoyable for
highly competitive individuals, but not for less competitive
individuals [Song, et al, 2013]. The purpose of this study
was to investigate the effects of personality pairings on
video game enjoyment. It was hypothesized that matched
personality pairings would increase enjoyment. It was also
hypothesized that matching game scenario to personality
type would also increase enjoyment.
2
Approach
A 2 (game scenarios: competitive and cooperative) by 3
(personality pairings: competitive vs. competitive,
cooperative vs. cooperative, and competitive vs.
cooperative) within-participant design was used. 62
participants played virtual Bocce in pairs (31 pairs) created
by Sony Sports Champions in a competitive (human player
against human player) and cooperative (2 human players
against 2 computer avatars) game scenario and completed a
questionnaire to evaluate their gaming experience and
personality type – competitiveness and cooperativeness.
3
Implications and Future work
Game enjoyment is dependent on one’s personality type.
Subjective results suggest that despite personality type,
competitive or cooperative, participants did not enjoy
playing a cooperative game scenario, cooperative
personality pairings enjoyed playing together, male pairings
enjoyed playing a competitive game scenario, and friends
enjoyed playing together more than strangers did.
_____________________________
*e-mail: {gerry.chan, anthony.whitehead, avi.parush}@carleton.ca
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other uses, contact the Owner/Author.
SIGGRAPH 2014, August 10 – 14, 2014, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
2014 Copyright held by the Owner/Author.
ACM 978-1-4503-2958-3/14/08
Implications for game design are summarized in Table 1.
Furthermore, a personality test can be embedded into a
massively multiplayer online role playing game. Future
work may examine the effects of culture or other
personality pairing possibilities.
Results
Effect of
Personality Type
Design Recommendations
 Introduce a second player for a
cooperative personality type.
 Offer a competitive scenario if
personality type is competitive.
Effect of
 Offer a cooperative scenario if
Personality Pairings
two players posses cooperative
personality traits.
 Offer individual or head-tohead competitive scenarios if
two players posses competitive
personality traits.
Effect of
 Offer a competitive scenario for
Gender Pairings
male vs. male and male vs.
female pairings.
 Offer a cooperative scenario for
female vs. female pairings.
Effect of Relationship  Offer any game scenario for
friends.
Qualitative Results
 Offer opportunities for social
interaction and emphasize the
importance of winning.
Table 1. Design recommendations.
References
GAJADHAR, B.J., DE KORT, Y.A.W., AND IJSSELSTEIJN, W.A.
2008. Shared Fun is Doubled Fun: Player enjoyment as
a function of social setting. In P. Markopoulos et al.
(Eds.), Fun and Games (p. 106-117). Springer-Verlag
Berlin Heidelberg.
SONG, H., KIM, J., TENZEK, K. E., AND LEE, K. M. 2013. The
Effects of Competition and Competitiveness upon
Intrinsic Motivation in Exergames. Computers in
Human Behaviour, 29, 1702-1708.
YIM, J., AND GRAHAM, T. C. N. 2007. Using Games to
Increase Exercise Motivation. Future Play 2007, 166173.