Rethinking dynamic difficulty adjustment for video game design

Rethinking dynamic difficulty adjustment for video game design

Rethinking dynamic difficulty adjustment for video game design

Zhixing Guo, Ruck Thawonmas, Xiangshi Ren

Abstract

"Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment (DDA) has garnered significant interest in game research fields for many years. Despite high expectations, the effectiveness of DDA in enhancing player experiences has yielded mixed results. This paper aims to rethink the theoretical foundations of DDA by addressing four crucial questions about the issues, definition, scope, value, and design of DDA. A comprehensive literature review was conducted to provide novel insights into DDA and DDA design. We revealed DDA’s unhealthy reliance on Flow theory, redefined DDA based on the concept of game difficulty, and discussed DDA’s scope and value. Additionally, we presented a goal-based DDA design framework and proposed a 6-step DDA design process as a practical approach. This work offers theoretical support for understanding and designing DDA in future game research."

Reference

Guo, Z., Thawonmas, R., & Ren, X. (2024). Rethinking dynamic difficulty adjustment for video game design. Entertainment Computing, 50, Article 100663. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1875952124000314

Keywords

Dynamic difficulty adjustment, Game difficulty, Video games