Game Input with Delay—Moving Target Selection with a Game Controller Thumbstick

Abstract

Hosting interactive video-based services, such as computer games, in the Cloud poses particular challenges given user sensitivity to delay. A better understanding of the impact of delay on player-game interactions can help design cloud systems and games that accommodate delays inherent in cloud systems. Previous top-down studies of delay using full-featured games have helped understand the impact of delay, but often do not generalize or lend themselves to analytic modeling. Bottom-up studies isolating user input and delay can better generalize and be used in models, but have yet to be applied to cloud-hosted computer games. In order to better understand delay impact in cloud-hosted computer games, we conduct a large bottom-up user study centered on a fundamental game interaction—selecting a moving target with user input impeded by delay. Our work builds a custom game that controls both the target speed and input delay and has players select the target using a game controller analog thumbstick. Analysis of data from over 50 users shows target selection time exponentially increases with delay and target speed and is well-fit by an exponential model that includes a delay and target speed interaction term. A comparison with two previous studies, both using a mouse instead of a thumbstick, suggests the model’s relationship between selection time, delay, and target speed holds more broadly, providing a foundation for a potential law explaining moving target selection with delay encountered in cloud-hosted games.