Abstract
The present study investigated the relationships between the structural video game characteristics (e.g.
social, presentation and punishment features), video game engagement components (e.g. flow, immersion
and psychological absorption) and general happiness among an international sample of individuals
who play video games. Online questionnaires were completed by 207 participants who simultaneously
had their favourite or most played video game in mind while completing the questionnaires. The results
indicated that flow was significantly predicted when individuals rated punishment (e.g. lose a life, restart
a level) and presentation (e.g. audio and graphics) characteristics as present and important. A negative
and weak relationship was found between general happiness and flow. It was concluded that the
punishment and presentation features aid in the facilitation of a flow experience, as the punishment
gaming aspects may contribute to the task difficulty and degree of effort required to achieve a flow state,
when playing video games
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 544-549 |
Journal | Computers in Human Behavior |
Volume | 65 |
Early online date | 18 Sept 2016 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 18 Sept 2016 |