The authors of this paper report on a study to determine how the fidelity of graphics in video games affects player experience. Intuitively, this motivation makes sense, as high end graphics are clearly more important in an immersive 3D massively multi-player role playing game than they are in small single-player games such as Tetris or FreeCell. The issue is also important for both video game designers and video game researchers. For designers, graphic quality matters because investments made in graphics take resources from other aspects of the game, such as quest design or the user interface. For researchers, graphics fidelity matters because it may or may not have to be controlled for.

Unfortunately, I found the internal logic of the paper very poor, which made it difficult to read. It is unclear whether the problem arises in the experimental design, the execution, or just in the inadequate writing. There are four authors, which suggests that collaboration might be a source of problems as well. By the end of the paper, I felt I had a general idea of what it was about and a general idea of the findings, but not much else. Reading through it was a struggle because I had to keep flipping back to see if my confusion was due to the fact that I missed something along the way.

For readers specifically interested in this research topic, the paper may be worth the effort required. It may also have value in a research methods class as a discussion piece on what should and should not be done when conducting research or writing about it afterward.