TY - GEN
T1 - How Awe Affects Players’ Entertainment Experiences Over Six Weeks of Playing
AU - Possler, Daniel
AU - Klimmt, Christoph
AU - Bowman, Nicholas D.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, IFIP International Federation for Information Processing.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Anecdotal evidence suggests that video games regularly inspire awe in players—an emotional response involving feelings of being ‘blown away’ or ‘amazed’. While game research has mostly overlooked awe, initial theoretical and empirical work just recently suggested that awe experiences substantially fuel players’ entertainment experiences. The present contribution aims to add to the deficient body of research. Specifically, it is examined whether awe is indeed a unique and reliable facilitator of both players’ enjoyment (i.e., hedonic entertainment experience) and their perception of deeper meaning and a sense of being moved (i.e., eudaimonic entertainment experience). We secondary analyzed a longitudinal study examining players’ experiences with the game Fallout 76 over a six-week period (N = 556). Results indicate that Fallout 76 reliably inspired awe in players and that the intensity of the emotion did not erode over the six-week period of the study. Furthermore, awe was found to exert a unique effect on players’ eudaimonic entertainment experience beyond well-studied gaming gratifications. However, no unique effect of awe on players’ enjoyment was found. Overall, the results suggest that awe does indeed make a unique and reliable contribution to players’ sense of entertainment.
AB - Anecdotal evidence suggests that video games regularly inspire awe in players—an emotional response involving feelings of being ‘blown away’ or ‘amazed’. While game research has mostly overlooked awe, initial theoretical and empirical work just recently suggested that awe experiences substantially fuel players’ entertainment experiences. The present contribution aims to add to the deficient body of research. Specifically, it is examined whether awe is indeed a unique and reliable facilitator of both players’ enjoyment (i.e., hedonic entertainment experience) and their perception of deeper meaning and a sense of being moved (i.e., eudaimonic entertainment experience). We secondary analyzed a longitudinal study examining players’ experiences with the game Fallout 76 over a six-week period (N = 556). Results indicate that Fallout 76 reliably inspired awe in players and that the intensity of the emotion did not erode over the six-week period of the study. Furthermore, awe was found to exert a unique effect on players’ eudaimonic entertainment experience beyond well-studied gaming gratifications. However, no unique effect of awe on players’ enjoyment was found. Overall, the results suggest that awe does indeed make a unique and reliable contribution to players’ sense of entertainment.
KW - Appreciation
KW - Awe
KW - Enjoyment
KW - Entertainment
KW - Video games
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85119425156&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/978-3-030-89394-1_17
DO - 10.1007/978-3-030-89394-1_17
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85119425156
SN - 9783030893934
T3 - Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
SP - 223
EP - 235
BT - Entertainment Computing – ICEC 2021 - 20th IFIP TC 14 International Conference, ICEC 2021, Proceedings
A2 - Baalsrud Hauge, Jannicke
A2 - Baalsrud Hauge, Jannicke
A2 - C.S. Cardoso, Jorge
A2 - Roque, Licínio
A2 - Gonzalez-Calero, Pedro A.
PB - Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
T2 - 20th IFIP TC 14 International Conference on Entertainment Computing, ICEC 2021
Y2 - 2 November 2021 through 5 November 2021
ER -