Understanding the impact of cultural contents in digital games on players' engagement, enjoyment, and motivation in gameplay

Abstract

Culturalization plays an important role in digital game localization. To date, game culturalization is under-researched, and little is known about the influence of cultural contents in digital games on players' gameplay experiences (e.g. engagement). Thus, in this study, we conducted a user study of the digital game called Return: Forbidden Throne with 15 participants to understand the impact of cultural contents in the game on players' experiences. The findings show that the players' engagement in the cultural contents of the game is positively associated with their engagement in the gameplay while having no relationship with their enjoyment and motivation in the game. The participants' interests and attention towards the cultural contents of the game are relatively high. The findings suggest that integrating relevant cultural contents in digital games, especially for game localization and culturalization, can make players more engaged in the game. The findings can be insightful for game designers and developers, especially in digital game localization and culturalization.