"Horror, guilt and shame" -- Uncomfortable Experiences in Digital Games
summary
An online survey (N=95) of players of Papers, Please, Darkest Dungeon and Fallout 4 identifies five concrete ways games create discomfort: persistent pressure of uncertainty, failure aftermath and attachment-driven loss, responsibility with limited power, and unwanted exposure to disturbing themes. Researchers exclude games with suicide/depression content for ethics, recruit from game forums, and find most respondents stay engaged despite intense anxiety, guilt or shame, though a small number stop playing and some pursue real-world reflection or research.
AI-written summary · about
chapters (8)
- 0:00Introduction to study
- 1:10Negative emotions in gameplay
- 3:00Manifestations of discomfort
- 5:31Discomfort in specific games
- 7:20Unwanted exposure and consequences
- 8:24Impact on engagement
- 9:28Design implications
- 10:36Q&A session
related talks
18m"An Odd Kind of Pleasure": Differentiating Emotional Challenge in Digital Games
08mDisengagement From Games: Characterizing the Experience and Process of Exiting Play Sessions
03mVulnerability and Play: Exploring the Mundane Ways in Which Games Might Harm Players
08mPlaying Through Tough Times: Exploring the Relationship between Game Aspects and Coping Strategie...
08mToxicity by Game Design: How Players Perceive the Influence of Game Design on Toxicity
03mUnderstanding the Design of Emotionally Impactful Game Feel
51mFour lenses for designing morally engaging games: Lessons from moral psychology
03mWhen Games Become Inaccessible. A Constructive Grounded Theory on Stuckness in Videogames