Self-Determination Theory in HCI Games Research: Current Uses and Open Questions

Abstract

Self-Determination Theory (SDT), a major psychological theory of human motivation, has become increasingly popular in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research on games and play. However, it remains unclear how SDT has advanced HCI games research, or how HCI games scholars engage with the theory. We reviewed 110 CHI and CHI PLAY papers that cited SDT to gain a better understanding of the ways the theory has contributed to HCI games research. We find that SDT, and in particular, the concepts of need satisfaction and intrinsic motivation, have been widely applied to analyse the player experience and inform game design. Despite the popularity of SDT-based measures, however, prominent core concepts and mini-theories are rarely considered explicitly, and few papers engage with SDT beyond descriptive accounts. We highlight conceptual gaps at the intersection of SDT and HCI games research, and identify opportunities for SDT propositions, concepts, and measures to more productively inform future work.

Motivational Profiling of League of Legends Players

“…The notions of need satisfaction and intrinsic motivation are also prevalent in player-computer interaction research (Tyack and Mekler, 2020). However, OIT has received relatively little attention (Tyack and Mekler, 2020). A few works have employed the Situational Motivation Scale (SIMS, Guay et al, 2000), but report no results (Alexandrovsky et al, 2019;Johanson et al, 2019).…”

“…Psychological need satisfaction is a core concept in SDT (Deci and Ryan, 2000;Ryan and Deci, 2000), and motivational regulation is known to shape the extent to which experiences satisfy people's psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Need satisfaction is also prevalent in playercomputer interaction research (Tyack and Mekler, 2020), where it has been consistently linked to positive player experience across a variety of genres (Ryan et al, 2006;Johnson et al, 2015Johnson et al, , 2016 and playing persistence (Neys et al, 2014). However, with regards to MOBA games, players have reported less autonomy satisfaction, as well as increased frustration (Johnson et al, 2015), hinting at a possible relation to competence.…”

“…In turn, people's motivation for playing games shapes their player experience and in-game behavior (e.g., Yee et al, 2012;Canossa et al, 2013;Schaekermann et al, 2017;Melhart et al, 2019), as well as their well-being (Przybylski et al, 2009;Vella et al, 2013;Perry et al, 2018). However, while concepts from motivational psychology, particularly Self-Determination Theory (SDT, Deci and Ryan, 2000), commonly inform research on player experience (Tyack and Mekler, 2020) and game analytics (e.g., Canossa et al, 2013;Melhart et al, 2019), the notion of motivational regulation (Deci and Ryan, 2000)has received limited attention in the context of games (Tyack and Mekler, 2020). This is an unfortunate gap in our understanding of the player-computer interaction, as motivational regulations have been found to determine to what extent people experience positive emotions and need satisfaction, as well as how persistently they engage in a behavior (Neys et al, 2014).…”

Masterclass: Rethinking Self-Determination Theory in Player-Computer Interaction

“…The extent to which rewards (or other stimuli) are perceived as comparatively informational, controlling, or amotivating changes their influence on need satisfaction, and hence intrinsic motivation. Although these latter concepts figure prominently in HCI games scholarship [18], considered examination of CET's central tenets is comparatively rare. • Need Frustration denotes the active thwarting of basic needs, i.e., feeling incapable, controlled, or ostracised by others [2,16].…”

“…Self-Determination Theory (SDT), a major psychological theory of human motivation [6,13], figures prominently in HCI games research [18]. SDT represents a theoretical foundation for research investigating player experience, the design of applied games and gamified systems that aim beyond entertainment, and the ways that videogames can improve player wellbeing.…”