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Cognition, motivation and Emotion based on digital games (EN)

Main objective

The main objective of this research was to find out what makes people get so fascinated by computer games. Players can get so absorbed playing games that they forget to eat, to drink or to sleep, a behaviour that looks like an addiction. Virtual reality seems to offer rewards that real life can not. Since no basic needs are satisfied while playing (eating, drinking, sleeping, caring offspring etc.), there must be satisfaction of psychological needs involved.

Method

To figure out how and why people get hooked on games a case study method was used basing the qualitative analysis on 27 interviews with persons aged 8 to 68, 22 males and five females. 50 hours of interviews on the reasons to play were used to help to elucidate the motives for playing.

Central results

The flow sensation seemed to be common to all players, but there were many different approaches to and motivations for playing. The four gaming types based on Bartle (Explorer, Achiever, Socializer and Killer) were ratified and their psychic mechanisms clarified based on Dörner’s Psi-Theory of action regulation. The concept of flow was explained in psychological terms.


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