A comparison of cognitive impacts of narrative and human-computer interaction as two sources of perceived realism in video games

Perceived realism in video games, indicating the degree game players perceive the game is realistic, influences game player’s cognitions. Previous research has explored the dimensional structure of perceived realism from two aspects. Adopted from traditional media, the first aspect narrative plays an important role in facilitating perceived game realism. Interactivity of video games enables the other source of perceived realism, which is human-computer interaction (HCI). This study examines the structure of perceived realism in video games, categorizing dimensions of perceived game realism into narrative or HCI, and comparing the influence of these two types on players’ cognitive outcomes, which are identification, immersion, and emotion. The results support the hypotheses that perceived HCI realism has stronger positive influence on people’s identification, immersion, and positive emotions compared to perceived narrative realism. Impact of each dimensions are also examined. Industry implications and future research directions are discussed