Browsing by Subject "gratifications"

The rapid development in the computer game industry has led to a renewed interest in research on computer game (CG) players’ experience. This study examines the emotions CG playing arouses in players, the players’ motivations for playing, as well as the phenomenon of immersion. Game players’ positive and negative emotions – as well as emotions not directly classifiable as either positive or negative – are all explored, as is the relationship of different emotions to different game types. The study also examines the immersion state, that is, the psychological phenomenon of being so engaged in playing that one is distracted from reality. Finally, the study also applies the uses and gratification paradigm to investigate the motivations behind CG playing. The study is based on a survey of 167 Chinese computer game players. In the survey, these players self-report their emotions (with a Chinese version of PANAS-X), their immersion state during play (with an immersion questionnaire), and the reasons for CG playing (with a uses and gratification scale). Previous work has shown that CG players experience enjoyment in playing, and that enjoyment as well as positive emotions is closely linked to players experiencing an immersion state. The goal of the present study is to explore the less well researched area of negative emotions and their relationship to immersion and gratification. The study also examines how immersion and gratification are influenced by factors like game type or the gender of the player. The result is consistent with previous findings that immersion and gratifications are closely related to enjoyment, and that both negative and positive emotions are related to gratification factors like Diversion, Fantasy and Arousal. The present study, however, emphasizes that negative emotions (such as hostility, sadness and guilt) as well as emotions that are neither positive nor negative (such as surprise) also contribute to game players’ immersion state. Also, of the six dominant factors of uses and gratification in the present study, fantasy is particularly interesting for further exploration, as it is positively related not only to negative and positive emotions, but also to emotions like surprise and shyness that cannot be classified as either positive or negative. Additionally, the emotion of surprise is strongly related to both immersion and gratification. In all, the results show that computer game playing is multi-dimensional behavior that involves emotion, immersion and gratifications. The three dimensions are independent, while closely related to and interacting with each other.