Exploring game aesthetics as antecedents of game continuance: An analysis in the lens of self-determination theory

• Main Authors: Fabito, Bernie, Cabredo, Rafael
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2019
• Subjects: Mobile games > Philippines; Video gamers > Philippines > Psychology; Computer Sciences
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/faculty_research/391; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/context/faculty_research/article/1390/type/native/viewcontent
• Institution: De La Salle University

The Mobile Gaming Industry in the Philippines is expected to earn a total revenue of US$85M for 2019 and would continue to grow for as much as US$135M for 2023. Currently, the Philippines is ranked #26 in the Global Revenue Ranking for mobile games. Given this rapid and sustained growth, this may provide opportunities for local game developers to develop mobile games that can compete with known international game studios. To do this, it is essential that motivations of Filipino game players be identified. Though there are studies that have been made to uncover the motivations of mobile game use, it also revealed different claims. For this paper, it is the role of the study to determine the disparity by discovering the various game aesthetics of the five (5) Philippine top-ranking mobile games and how it is associated to the Self Determination Theory’s Psychological Motivations and Game Continuance. Nine (9) Game Aesthetics were used to determine the gameplay experience while the Gaming Motivation Scale (GAMS) was used to assess the players’ Psychological Motivations. A total of 210 respondents answered the online survey in one university in the Philippines and other Facebook groups for mobile games. Cronbach Alpha yielded a strong coefficient α = 0.872 based on the on over-all responses. Results show that the game aesthetics that are experienced by mobile players vary from one game to another. It also shows that the psychological motivations of SDT have a moderate positive relationship to Game Continuance. This study is the first step in understanding the aesthetics that Filipino gamers experience and their psychological motivations on mobile games. Results revealed that game players prefer mobile games that offer challenge, competition, expression, and fellowship game experience. © 2019 Association of Computing Machinery.