Player Perception of Responsiveness and Naturalness for Virtual Characters in Digital Games GRAND Seminar Wednesday, February 18th, 3 pm, Room 4201

Speaker

Sophie Joerg Assistant Professor Computer Science, Clemson University

Host

Jan Allbeck

Title

Player Perception of Responsiveness and Naturalness for Virtual Characters in Digital Games

Abstract

Real-time animation controllers are fundamental for animating characters in response to player input. However, the design of such controllers requires making trade-offs between the naturalness of the character's motions and the promptness of the character's response. Furthermore, lag is typically unavoidable, particularly in networked multiplayer games. In this talk, I will present the results of multiple experiments, in which we investigate the effects of response lag and trade-offs between responsiveness and naturalness on players' enjoyment, control, satisfaction, and opinion of the character in a simple platform game.

Short bio

Sophie Joerg is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Clemson University. Her research is in computer graphics, centering around character animation, motion perception, and digital games. She holds a Ph.D. from Trinity College Dublin and was a visiting researcher at Carnegie Mellon University and Disney Research, Pittsburgh. Her recent work, which is supported by agencies including the National Science Foundation, focuses on creating new algorithms in data-driven character animation, investigating how we perceive virtual characters, and using digital games in education.