Computer games are often rendered with inconsistent frame timing (frame jitter), particularly in cloud-based game streaming where frames traverse network bottlenecks before being rendered. While previous studies have helped understand the Quality of Experience (QoE) with frame jitter, derived models have tended to be limited in their prediction ability for conditions not yet tested. This paper combines results from four different user studies that assess QoE based on frame jitter, the studies differing in games, game systems, and methods of induced frame time variation. Analysis of the results shows the degree to which frame jitter degrades QoE, and that playout interruption sizes matter while interrupt frequencies do not. The rich user study-based data set provides the basis for models for predicting game player QoE with frame jitter - models which should be predictive for both cloud-based game streaming and traditional games, and for a wide range of player actions and game genres.

Materials:

• Paper: pdf
• Slides: pptx

See also:

• Shengmei Liu, Atsuo Kuwahara, James Scovell, and Mark Claypool. The Effects of Frame Rate Variation on Game Player Quality of Experience, In Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), Hamburg, Germany, April 23-28, 2023. Online at: https://web.cs.wpi.edu/~claypool/papers/frame-variation-chi-23/

• Mark Claypool and Kajal Claypool. Perspectives, Frame Rates and Resolutions: It's all in the Game, In Proceedings of the 4th ACM International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (FDG), Florida, USA, April 2009. Online at: http://www.cs.wpi.edu/~claypool/papers/perspective/

• Kajal Claypool and Mark Claypool. On Frame Rate and Player Performance in First Person Shooter Games, Springer Multimedia Systems Journal (MMSJ), Volume 13, Number 1, 2007. Online at: http://www.cs.wpi.edu/~claypool/papers/fr/

• Mark Claypool, Kajal Claypool, and Feissal Damaa. The Effects of Frame Rate and Resolution on Users Playing First Person Shooter Games, In Proceedings ACM/SPIE Multimedia Computing and Networking (MMCN) Conference, San Jose, California, USA, January 2006. Winner! Best paper award. Online at: http://www.cs.wpi.edu/~claypool/papers/fr-rez/