Changes in Gaming: What Digital Game Players Value in the Gaming Experience

Abstract

Digital gaming has become a mainstream form of entertainment in recent years. This phenomenon raises new levels of complexity in understanding the digital gaming experience, including gaming platforms, new player groups, and business models. The objective of this thesis is to improve understanding of the digital gaming experience in light of new industry phenomena. The thesis will specifically examine: 1) how a growing player group continues to play digital games on a new gaming platform, 2) how we can understand gaming experience in varying situational contexts, and 3) how the gaming experience unfolds in one specific context. The thesis consists of three essays, comprising a survey study, a critical literature review, and a case study, respectively, to investigate these three research questions.

My thesis offers: (1) a comprehensive and up-to-date synthesis of the gaming experience literature, challenging the dominant variance-based perspective to study gaming experience; (2) a demonstration of the importance of studying gaming experience in different situational contexts by revealing how a prior marginalized player group (i.e., female player) experience digital games intensively on a dominant gaming platform (i.e., mobile gaming), and (3) a contextualized understanding of game player loyalty in the context of Chinese Role-playing game. In terms of practical implications, my thesis provides insights for game developers on (1) the validity of their prior design experience to design a game that enhances the representation and inclusivity of female players; (2) the implications of continuous game updates on gaming experience and monetization strategy; and (3) how to cultivate player loyalty in the context of Chinese digital gaming, the largest game market around the world in terms of both market revenue and gaming population.