Perceived Possibility Space or Visible Options : What Shapes Players’ Choice-Process Experience in Deckbuilding Decisions?

Sammanfattning

This study examines how different forms of choice quantity shape players’ experience of making decisions in deckbuilding games. Deckbuilding games are games in which players build and modify their decks during gameplay rather than constructing them before play. In many digital deckbuilding games, players repeatedly choose new cards from a limited set of visible reward options drawn from a larger card pool. This creates a distinction between the options players can directly compare and the wider possibility space they may imagine beyond the current screen. The study used a small-scale mixed-methods design with 14 participants. Participants completed four fictional deckbuilding choice scenarios in a 2 × 2 within-subject design, varying perceived card-pool size (40 vs. 80 cards) and visible option quantity (3 vs. 6 cards). Perceived card-pool size was used as a simplified proxy for perceived possibility space. Short questionnaire ratings were combined with think-aloud data and follow-up interview responses. The descriptive results suggest that visible option quantity had the clearest influence on the immediate decision process. Compared with scenarios that presented three visible reward cards, scenarios with six visible reward cards were associated with higher decision difficulty and a stronger sense that several good options were available. In contrast, perceived card-pool size showed a weaker and more conditional relationship with the decision experience. The qualitative data suggest that the wider card pool became meaningful mainly when participants could connect it to concrete future possibilities, such as unseen cards, future draws, or possible deck-building strategies. The study therefore argues that, in short deckbuilding decisions, visible options shape immediate comparison more directly. Perceived possibility space becomes relevant when players can make unseen future possibilities concrete and interpretable.