Kumari, Shringi, Deterding, Christoph Sebastian orcid.org/0000-0003-0033-2104 and Freeman, Jonathan (Accepted: 2019) The Role of Uncertainty in Moment-to-Moment Player Motivation:A Grounded Theory. In: CHI PLAY'19. CHI PLAY 2019, 22-25 Oct 2019 ACM , ESP (In Press)
Abstract
Uncertainty is widely acknowledged as an engaging characteristic of games. Practice and research have proposed various types and factors of game uncertainty, yet there is little work explaining when and why different kinds of uncertainty motivate, especially with respect to ’micro-level’, moment- to-moment gameplay. We therefore conducted a qualitative interview study of players tracing links between uncertainty experiences, specific game features, and player motives. Data supports that uncertainty is indeed a key element in keeping players motivated moment-to-moment. We present a grounded theory of seven types of engaging gameplay uncertainty emerging from three sources - game, player, and outcome - and document links to likely underlying motives, chief among them curiosity and competence. Comparing our empirically grounded taxonomy with existing ones shows partial fits as well as identifies novel uncertainty types insufficiently captured in previous models.
Metadata
Item Type: | Proceedings Paper |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2019 Copyright held by the owner/author(s). This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Arts and Humanities (York) > Theatre, Film, TV and Interactive Media (York) The University of York > Faculty of Sciences (York) > Computer Science (York) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number EPSRC EP/M023265/1 EPSRC EP/L015846/1 |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 21 Aug 2019 15:40 |
Last Modified: | 27 Nov 2024 00:14 |
Status: | In Press |
Publisher: | ACM |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:149801 |