Table 3.
Ranked themes with examples of responses (n = 7).
| Theme as Categorized by Authors | Times Ranked a | WSCR b | WSCR/ SE |
Response Examples |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q1. What features of games make you want to play them or keep playing? | ||||
| Immersion | 5 | 7.78 | 1.47 | Visual/audio aesthetics, exploration of dynamic universe, known theme or IP, player/playstyle customization, great stories, color, sound |
| Achievement | 5 | 3.54 | 0.67 | Rewards, either literal ones in the form of items, unlocks, in-game money, OR psychological rewards such as a rewarding story pay off or resolution to a puzzle; well-balanced gameplay |
| Game type | 4 | 0 | 0 | Arcade-based games like racers or mech games. |
| Mood | 3 | −0.71 | −0.13 | Repeatable enjoyment |
| Competition c | 1 | −10.61 | −2.00 | Winning |
| Q2. What features of games make you want to stop playing? | ||||
| Social | 4 | 5.24 | 0.89 | Online interaction with terrible people (most) |
| Novelty | 5 | 5.24 | 0.89 | Repetition/grinding with little variety |
| Immersion | 4 | 1.96 | 0.33 | Unclear control of avatar, Games that are crashy or slow |
| Environment | 2 | −3.93 | −0.66 | Out of time |
| Achievement | 2 | −3.93 | −0.66 | Unfair or unreliable game mechanics that result in “cheap” deaths/failures, games that are not balanced, games that are broken/not working |
| Mood | 3 | −4.58 | −0.77 | Not fun anymore |
| Q3. What are some strategies people can use to regulate the amount of time they game? | ||||
| Self-regulation | 7 | 5.2 | 1.39 | 2xd,c-Limit time… (60 min/session),2xd-Use an alarm clock, 2x-Set firm goals for gameplay ex. “Just 3 quests”, set a schedule for gaming after other responsibilities |
| Social | 6 | 0 | 0 | Play with others in a game that requires everyone to be present…since the other players can effectively force you to stop |
| Analyzing moves c | 5 | −5.2 | −1.39 | Analyzing moves, moving slower |
| Q4. What are some things the game industry could do to make it easier to regulate the amount that people play games? | ||||
| Mechanics | 6 | 10.07 | 2.2 | Clear delineations between missions/chapters which offer clear “break points” to the player, as opposed to open-ended/open world games which don’t give an “excuse” to stop, autosave/quicksave, rewards that emphasize short sessions or have negative reinforcement mechanisms like XP delay, time allowed |
| Environment | 5 | −0.77 | −0.17 | Integrated health tips into game that use health points that players can use themselves |
| Social | 5 | −2.32 | −0.51 | Local multiplayer only- take away features of MO |
| Novelty | 3 | −6.97 | −1.52 | Augmented Reality Gaming—local multiplayer fun with new tech |
a Number of times an item was ranked as one of a participant’s top three choices. b Weighted sum of centered ranks statistic from the Skillings–Mack statistic, where high/positive ranks correspond to agreed-upon items and low/negative ranks correspond to items that were chosen less often or ranked as less important. SE were the same for each question: SEQ1 = 5.29, SEQ2 = 5.92, SEQ3 = 3.74, SEQ4 = 4.58. c New theme emerging from discussion. d More than one version/wording submitted by different respondents.