Abstract
Video game onboarding faces the challenge of teaching game mechanics in a fun and engaging way. Artificial intelligence (AI) solutions have become a quick fix to help users understand technology. However, little is known about how AI supports player onboarding in video games. To address this knowledge gap, this research explores player perspectives on AI-supported onboarding. We conducted a qualitative user study (n=20) to investigate player expectations, attitudes, and concerns about AI-supported learning experiences. Players learn primarily through the lived experience of a game and value personalized guidance during onboarding. Participants emphasized the importance of maintaining control over how AI is used during onboarding and the freedom to choose their support level. Our results suggest that players want future AI-supported onboarding systems to prioritize their agency, encourage active learning, and maintain transparency throughout the learning process. We contribute to game design research by proposing balanced, player-centric AI-supported onboarding experiences in video games.
| Original language | English |
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| Title of host publication | CHI '25 |
| Subtitle of host publication | Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems |
| Editors | Naomi Yamashita, Vanessa Evers, Koji Yatani, Xianghua (Sharon) Ding, Bongshin Lee, Marshini Chetty, Phoebe Toups-Dugas |
| Place of Publication | New York |
| Publisher | Association for Computing Machinery, Inc. |
| Number of pages | 17 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 979-8-4007-1394-1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 25 Apr 2025 |
| Event | ACM CHI 2025 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Yokohama, Japan Duration: 26 Apr 2025 → 1 May 2025 https://chi2025.acm.org/ |
Conference
| Conference | ACM CHI 2025 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems |
|---|---|
| Abbreviated title | CHI2025 |
| Country/Territory | Japan |
| City | Yokohama |
| Period | 26/04/25 → 1/05/25 |
| Internet address |
Funding
This study was supported by the SSHRC Insight Grant (435-2022-0476), the NSERC Discovery Grant (RGPIN-2023-03705), the CFI John R. Evans Leaders Fund (41844), the Lupina Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, and the Provost's Program for Interdisciplinary Postdoctoral Scholars at the University of Waterloo. We thank the Games Institute for their generous support in providing the space necessary for this work.
Keywords
- artificial intelligence
- onboarding
- player experience
- video games