Klimmt
Christoph Klimmt
Department of Journalism and Communication Research
Hanover University of Music and Drama
christoph.klimmt@ijk.hmt-hannover.de
Dimensions and Determinants of the Enjoyment of Playing Digital Games: A Three-Level Model
This presentation addresses an elementary question of digital games research, namely the dimensions and determinants of the enjoyment of playing digital games. A conceptual model is presented that identifies the key characteristics of digital games and the related dimensions of the entertainment experience. The model is organised in three levels of analysis.
The first level is centered around the single loops of user input and game feedback, which are the basic components of the playing process. The direct connection between the players' input and the game software's feedback (e. g., the visualization of movement) is important, because it fosters experiences of "effectance" (White, 1959), which is evaluated positively by the individual and facilitates enjoyment.
The second level of the model is focused on game episodes, that is, situations containing a challenge and the players' attempts to cope with it. Computer games offer certain possibilities to act and, most often, a challenge, that is, a necessity to implement (some of) those possibilities (Klimmt, 2001). The process of playing can be understood as a sequence of episodes that are enjoyable because (1) it is fun to explore the possibilities to act (2) it is suspenseful to deal with the necessity to act, and (3) successful solutions of game episodes increase the players' self-esteem (Klimmt, in press).
The third level is concerned with the activity of playing a game as a whole. This general perspective addresses the utility of playing a certain role (e. g., the action hero), which is offered by most computer games (see Malone, 1981). Playing computer games offers vicarious experiences in inaccessible domains of life (e. g., to learn "how it feels" to be a fighter pilot) and opportunities to overcome real-life experiences of powerlessness, which is both enjoyable for the players (see Sutton-Smith, 1997).
References
Klimmt, C. (2001). Computer-Spiel: Interaktive Unterhaltungsangebote als Synthese aus Medium und Spielzeug [Computer-Game: Interactive entertainment as combination of media and toys]. Zeitschrift fŸr Medienpsychologie [The German Journal of Media Psychology], 13(1), 22-32.
Klimmt, C. (in press). Die Nutzung von Computer- und Videospielen - aktives Spielen am Bildschirm [Exposure to computer and video games - active play in front of the screen]. In U. Hasebrink, P. Roessler, H. Scherer & D. Schluetz (Eds.), Nutzung der Medienspiele - Spiele der Mediennutzer [Use of the media games - Games of the media users]. Muenchen: R. Fischer.
Malone, T. W. (1981). Toward a theory of intrinsically motivating instruction. Cognitive Science, 4, 333-369.
Sutton-Smith, B. (1997). The Ambiguity of Play. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
White, R. W. (1959). Motivation reconsidered: The concept of competence. Psychological Review, 66(5), 297-333.
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