Virtual cinematography in games: Investigating the impact on player experience

Cinematography is a key aspect in the development of modern computer games. The quality of the visuals depends, not only on the accuracy of the rendering, but on the way that the scene is presented to the player. Which element should be included in the frame, from which point of view and in which positions are all aspects that have been widely studied in classical cinematography. However, it is still unclear how the principles developed for the film medium are applicable to an interactive medium such as computer games. This article presents a study, which explores the interplay between cinematography and player experience. The results of the experiment demonstrate the existence of an impact of the cinematographic behaviour of camera on both player’s affect and her in-game behaviour. Furthermore, this impact is dependent on the game mechanics highlighting once more the difference between classic cinematography and game cinematography.