The Draining Nature of Pinball: How different multiplayer playstyles affect demand.

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of various multiplayer modes on the demand experienced by a player while playing pinball. The multiplayer modes explored in this research are: playing alone, playing with one spectator, cooperative play where both players use one flipper, parallel play and turn taking. It also takes other potential influential factors into consideration like competitiveness, anxiety, familiarity with the other player and experience. A within-subjects experiment was conducted in which a participant played pinball alone and in one of the four multiplayer modes. Participants (N=41) were divided over the four multiplayer modes and rated their experienced demand on the Video Game Demand Scale. The analysis of the results showed that there was no significant difference in demand between any of the multiplayer modes and playing alone. The other potential factors were also shown to not significantly influence demand. The article concludes that a larger participant pool is needed for a more generalizable conclusion, but as for this preliminary research it concludes that demand does not seem to be impacted by multiplayer modes or the other mentioned factors.