Shaping Interactions and Experiences: Investigating the Effects of a Game-Specific Custom Controller on Player Experience in a Digital Game Environment

Rockett and Healy, researchers at Technological University Dublin, investigate whether a game-specific custom controller changes player experience relative to a conventional mouse in a digital game environment. Their work is grounded in a four-category framework for custom controllers (game-specific, passive props, subsidiary, and specific-function devices) and in the premise that tangible, physically engaging input devices can enhance immersion and tend to be well received by players. The study is a pilot, with 32 game design students randomly assigned to either a 3D-printed custom controller condition or a mouse condition.

The findings reveal a split between subjective and objective measures. Overall workload, as measured by NASA-TLX, was similar across groups (mouse mean 50.58 versus custom controller mean 54.90), but the custom controller group reported substantially higher temporal demand, with an approximately 61% increase, along with greater effort and physical demand. Objectively, those players completed the game faster, took less damage, and destroyed fewer submarines, which the authors interpret as evidence of a more movement-focused playstyle. The custom controller group also produced tighter, more consistent performance distributions, which the authors partly attribute to varying mouse proficiency among participants. Notably, these players rated their own performance lower despite their stronger objective results.

The authors are careful to frame these results as preliminary. The small, homogeneous sample of game design students, the recognized limitations of NASA-TLX as a self-report instrument, and the confounding influence of prior mouse skill all constrain generalizability. The study's scope is limited to one game, one custom device, and a single short evaluation. Recommended next steps include larger and more diverse participant pools, testing commercially available products, and qualitative research to explain why players perceive higher effort and reduced performance even when their in-game results improve.