Understanding specific gaming experiences: the case of open world games

Digital games offer players a variety of experiences. Open world games allow players to choose what to engage with, and subsequently choose what experiences they want to have. However, this means it is not always clear what players are doing or why, even within the same game. This lack of commonality questions what it means to have `a’ gaming experience if there is little overlap in player behaviour. This thesis explored what it means to experience an open world game, and how experiences are unique to specific games/type of games. The first two studies showed that despite differences in what players do, there is an overarching experience: self-pacing gameplay by choosing what to engage with. Studies three and four explored if motivation could explain what experiences players pursue, but current measurement tools were not statistically or conceptually dependable enough to provide robust findings. Study five conversely explored whether goals can explain player behaviour, and found players consider their actions goal-directed. Finally, study six explored how to overlay goals to actions taken in a specific gaming session. This revealed that the game also provides goals for players to consider, meaning gameplay is not only driven by player intent.

Overall, open world games are a series of contextually-situated experiences; players purposefully engage with in-game content, but remain flexible to what the game may offer in the moment. Whilst individual experiences vary greatly, players had the same unifying experience of navigating goal pursuit. Goals can be related to gameplay data to reveal what player-game interactions take place, and how players report them. Therefore, this thesis shows players can have little overlap in the specific experiences they have within games, yet still have the same overarching experience. Understanding such experiences requires data from a player’s perspective, as gameplay data alone cannot reveal player intent.