Exploring the use of online video games to detect personality dichotomies
| Date | 11 September 2017 |
| Published date | 11 September 2017 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-11-2015-0361 |
| Pages | 598-610 |
| Author | Juan Feldman,Ariel Monteserin,Analía Amandi |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Information behaviour & retrieval,Collection building & management,Bibliometrics,Databases,Information & knowledge management,Information & communications technology,Internet,Records management & preservation,Document management |
Exploring the use of online video
games to detect personality
dichotomies
Juan Feldman, Ariel Monteserin and Analía Amandi
Higher Institute of Software Engineering Tandil (ISISTAN),
National University of Central Buenos Aires, Tandil, Argentina
Abstract
Purpose –Personality trait detection is a problem that has been gaining much attention in the computer
science field recently. By leveraging users’personality knowledge software applications are able to adapt
their behaviour accordingly. To detect personality traits automatically users must substantially interact with
software applications to gather enough information that describe their behaviour. For addressing this
limitation, the authors explore the use of online video games as an alternative approach to detect personality
dichotomies. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach –The authors analyse the use of several online video games that exhibit
features related with Myers-Briggs sensitive-intuitive personality dichotomy. Then, the authors build a user
profile that describes users’behaviour when interacting with online video games. Finally, the authors identify
users’personality by analysing their profile with different classification algorithms.
Findings –The results show thatgames that obtained better results inthe personality dichotomy detection
exhibit featuresthat had better match with thesensitive-intuitive dichotomypreferences. Moreover, theresults
show that the classification algorithmsshould satisfactorily deal withunbalanced data sets, since it is natural
that the frequencies of the dichotomies types are unbalanced. In addition, in the context of personality trait
detection, online video games possess several advantages overother type of software applications. By using
games, users do not need to have previous experience, since they learn how to play during gameplay.
Furthermore,the information and time neededto predict the sensitive-intuitive dichotomyusing games is little.
Originality/value –This study shows that online video games are a promising environment in which the
users’personality dichotomies can be detected.
Keywords Classification, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Online video games, User profiles
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a well-known psychological theory of human
personality (Tieger and Barron-Tieger, 1993; Briggs Myers and McCaulley, 1992;
Gulliver and Ghinea, 2010). In the MBTI model, four axes are defined to explain how
humans perceive their environment, how they interact with others and how they make
decisions based on these traits. Particularly, we focus on detecting the sensing/intuition
(S/N) dichotomy. The S/N dichotomy reflects our preference for taking in knowledge
through our five senses or through the filter of intuition (Briggs Myers and
McCaulley, 1992). In this paper, w e propose to detect certain personality traits
(dichotomies) of the MBTI model building a user profile by using information extracted
from the interaction between the user and online video games.
User profiles are vital in many areas in which it is essential to obtain knowledge about
users of software applications automatically (Schiaffino and Amandi, 2009). A profile is a
description of a user containing the most important or interesting facts about him or her.
These facts can represent interests, goals, skills, behaviour, interaction preference,
or individual characteristics. To build a profile, the user is observed while using a software
application. Then, the observed information is stored in the profile. In this context, to gather
the information needed for the profile, users must substantially interact with the software
application. However, sometimes it is not possible to guide the users to interact thoroughly
with the software application in order to gather enough information to build their profiles.
Online Information Review
Vol. 41 No. 5, 2017
pp. 598-610
© Emerald PublishingLimited
1468-4527
DOI 10.1108/OIR-11-2015-0361
Received 11 November 2015
Revised 17 May 2016
13 October 2016
22 November 2016
7 February 2017
Accepted 10 February 2017
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/1468-4527.htm
598
OIR
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