Enhancing Intrinsic Motivation Through Difficulty Adaptation Based on Personality in a VR Exergame

Yusuke Goutsu, Tetsunari Inamura

Abstract: It is known that a user's personality influences the genres of games they prefer, but the relationship between personality and game mechanics has been less investigated. However, discovering such relationships is important for understanding how adjusting game difficulty based on users' personalities can enhance their intrinsic motivation. This paper investigates the relationship between the Big Five personality traits and difficulty adaptation methods constructed using static difficulty curves in a VR Kendama game (a cup-and-ball game). The results reveal trend-level correlations between specific personality traits within the Big Five factors and indicators of intrinsic motivation—namely, enjoyment and self-efficacy—across three different difficulty adaptation methods. This paper also suggests that when users with specific personality traits play the game, appropriately selecting difficulty adaptation methods may enhance both their enjoyment and self-efficacy through the findings of these correlations.