Paper Presented at GAMEON'09, Germany

Explorations In Player Motivations : Game Mechanics

REF: Bostan, B. & Kaplancali, U. (2009). Explorations in Player Motivations: Game Mechanics. GAMEON’2009 Conference, Germany.

This article investigates the relations between player needs and the driving game mechanics behind them. It is shown that the restrictions imposed by the game mechanics significantly reduce the number of player needs satisfied by a game, thereby trapping the player within the common motivational cycle of Achievement, Aggression, Harmavoidance and Acquisition. This motivational study on gaming experience should facilitate the design of computer games that satisfy a broader range of player needs by providing ways to investigate the matching actions for each individual need while identifying the common patterns imposed by game mechanics.

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