Psychologically structured approach to user experience in games

Abstract

User experience (UX) in digital games has recently become a common topic of research. Despite association between psychology and experiences is clear, results have often been inadequately explicated by using psychological terms. In this study we explore the variety of experiences (i.e. positive and negative) that are received from playing digital games. The main aim is to integrate gamers' descriptions of their UX to theoretical constructs in psychology to reach a more analytic approach to the topic. The results suggested that user experiences are versatile in nature but they consist of four major constructs: cognition, motivation, emotion and focused attention. In addition to the main findings, gender was related on how gaming was experienced. As a conclusion, this study offers a solid and empirical-based terminology for communicating about UX in games. Also, the results can be utilized in developing models and measurement tools for UX in games in future.