Games as affective medium, A theoretical framework for studying emotions in the context of digital games

This thesis explores emotion processes in the context of digital games and game research and proposes a framework for studying emotions and emotional individuality in the context of digital games. The focus is on the positive effects of digital games on subjective emotional experiences and well-being, and especially the differences in affective styles since individual differences in emotionality may influence the effects of playing digital games. This thesis is formed from three parts: a literature review, a framework I have built based on the literature, and a pilot study that explores the relation of the suggested two aspects of the framework. The literat ure review gives an overview of the current knowledge of the emotion processes as large scale neural net works that are partly developed evolutively and partly through learning throughout life. The emotion processes are claimed to have three layers: core affects, conditionally learnt emotions, and complex emotional experiences. The positive core affect processes SEEKING and PLAY are claimed to be related to curiosity, positive anticipation, intrinsic motivation and playfulness, which are further linked to increased positive emotionality and may influence the individual's well-being. Interestingly, digital games may elicit the foundations of these positive emotional experiences. I propose that each game has emotion-eliciting elements and that the gameplay influences the player's emotion processes which show as changes in the emotion components and result in different affective states, which may include subjective emotional experiences. The proposed framework introduces four dimensions on how games affect the player: 1) context, embodied in the game elements; 2) the player’s affective style; 3) the player’s emotional state; and 4) outside of the game context. Aspects of the first two dimensions of the framework, suggested three emotional game elements and two affective traits were tested in a pilot study. The methods include textual analysis, and the pilot study was conducted with self-reports using a questionnaire that gathered data about the participants' emotional game element preferences and affective traits. The questionnaire included a modified version of the short affective neuroscientific personality scale (ANPS-S) questionnaire to gather the affective trait scores. I focused on Seeking and Play ANPS-S scores and analyzed all findings in a person-centred method. The two proposed Seeking game elements divided the participants into six clusters based on their preferences. Interestingly, all participants had high or very high ANPS-S Seeking score, and all participants reported preferences for one or more Seeking related game element. This finding may indicate that the proposed two elements may be associated with the Seeking trait, however, this finding may also indicate that individuals who play digital games have a high Seeking trait or curiosity in general. All participants reported average or high ANPS-S Play score, however, the results varied on the preference for the Playfulness element, which may indicate the ANPS-S Play questions measure more social patterns than gameplay. Future studies could explore the differences between affective styles and game element preferences when aiming to understand the effects of digital games. Furthermore, there should be more studies comparing players to non-players and their affective styles and effects of digital games.