Paper Info
Title
Digital Games and Beyond: What Happens When Players Compete.
Abstract
Because digital games are fun, engaging, and popular, organizations are attempting to integrate them within organizational activities as serious components, with the anticipation that they can improve employees' motivation and performance. But in order to do so and to obtain the intended outcomes, it is necessary to first obtain an understanding of how different digital game designs impact players' behaviors and emotional responses. Hence, in this study, we address one key element of popular game designs: competition. Using extant research on tournaments and intrinsic motivation, we model competitive games as a skill-based tournament and conduct an experimental study to understand player behaviors and emotional responses under different competition conditions. When players compete with players of similar skill levels, they apply more effort as indicated by more games played and longer duration of play. But when players compete with players of lower skill levels, they report higher levels of enjoyment and lower levels of arousal after game-playing. We discuss the implications for organizations seeking to introduce games premised on competition and provide a framework to guide information system researchers to embark on a study of games.
Year
DOI
Venue
2013
10.25300/MISQ/2013/37.1.05
MIS Quarterly
Keywords
Field
DocType
different competition condition,intrinsic motivation,emotional response,popular game design,lower level,different digital game design,competitive game,experimental study,digital game,lower skill level
Information system,Social psychology,Intrinsic motivation,Game mechanics,Video game design,Turns, rounds and time-keeping systems in games,Tournament theory,Anticipation,Psychology,Sequential game
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
37
1
0276-7783
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
41
1.25
23
Authors
3
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
De Liu115121.19
Xun Li2411.59
Radhika Santhanam377845.89