A4 Refereed article in a conference publication
Discovering the Motivational Constitution of ‘Playing Games for Fun’
Authors: Tuuri Kai, Vahlo Jukka
Editors: Barbara Göbl, Erik van der Spek, Jannicke Baalsrud Hauge, Rod McCall
Conference name: International Conference on Entertainment Computing
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
Publishing place: Cham
Publication year: 2022
Journal: Lecture Notes in Computer Science
Book title : Entertainment Computing: ICEC 2022: 21st IFIP TC 14 International Conference, ICEC 2022, Bremen, Germany, November 1–3, 2022, Proceedings
Journal name in source: Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
Series title: Lecture Notes in Computer Science
Volume: 13477
First page : 39
Last page: 46
ISBN: 978-3-031-20211-7
eISBN: 978-3-031-20212-4
ISSN: 0302-9743
eISSN: 1611-3349
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-20212-4_3(external)
Web address : https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-20212-4_3(external)
Regardless of its all-encompassing and ubiquitous nature, game and play researchers have often steered away from applying fun as a research concept. If a concept seems to be associated with everything, it logically follows that the concept lacks explanatory power. In this paper, we do not merely settle for the blunt conclusion that fun is not an interesting research concept. Rather we start to explore the phenomenon of fun by approaching it through three lenses: motivation to play, gameplay experience, and psychological need satisfaction. By analyzing two large survey samples collected in Finland (N = 879) and South-Korea (N = 1519), we cluster survey participants into player types according to their gameplay motivations. It is revealed that all players are more motivated by fun than by other need-based gaming motives, but also that a significant minority of players are only motivated by fun. By studying player preferences of the player types, it is furthermore highlighted that these Fun-Seekers generally dislike most gameplay activities and differ from other player types also regarding their genre play habits. Practical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.