2025
Vahlo, Jukka; Tuuri, Kai
Validating Motives of Autonomous Players (MAP) inventory : a bottom-up model of general motivational factors to videogame play Journal Article
In: User Modeling and User-Adapted Interaction, vol. 35, 2025, ISSN: 0924-1868.
Abstract | Links | Tags: Factor analysis, Human-computer interaction, Motivation, Scale validation, Videogames
@article{Vahlo2025,
title = {Validating Motives of Autonomous Players (MAP) inventory : a bottom-up model of general motivational factors to videogame play},
author = {Jukka Vahlo and Kai Tuuri },
url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/s11257-025-09431-7
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11257-025-09431-7},
doi = {10.1007/s11257-025-09431-7},
issn = {0924-1868},
year = {2025},
date = {2025-03-30},
urldate = {2025-03-30},
journal = {User Modeling and User-Adapted Interaction},
volume = {35},
abstract = {In this study, we develop and validate Motives of Autonomous Players (MAP) inventory. Several models on videogame motives have been published recently, but typically these models focus either on specific videogame types, on individual games, or on a particular theory on human motivation. The MAP model takes an integrative approach that considers why people play games in general. This is done by adopting an inductive bottom-up research attitude and by focusing on motives that can be argued to be broadly applicable for all kinds of videogames, ranging from casual mobile games to massively multiplayer online role-playing games. Since the MAP model is based on extensive player data that represent a great variety of player motives, the results are widely applicable in player modeling and in understanding player–game interaction at large. The initial MAP model was developed by analyzing open-ended gaming motive descriptions (N 1,648) by a content analysis procedure. A preliminary 101-item MAP inventory was included in a UK-based survey (N 600). A nine-factor model was identified and further validated as a 34-item version by making a confirmatory factor analysis with a USA-based survey data (N 600). Additional analyses on construct validity were performed for investigating how motives to play videogames predict players’ game enjoyment factors that were kept analytically distinct from general motivational factors to play videogames.},
keywords = {Factor analysis, Human-computer interaction, Motivation, Scale validation, Videogames},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
In this study, we develop and validate Motives of Autonomous Players (MAP) inventory. Several models on videogame motives have been published recently, but typically these models focus either on specific videogame types, on individual games, or on a particular theory on human motivation. The MAP model takes an integrative approach that considers why people play games in general. This is done by adopting an inductive bottom-up research attitude and by focusing on motives that can be argued to be broadly applicable for all kinds of videogames, ranging from casual mobile games to massively multiplayer online role-playing games. Since the MAP model is based on extensive player data that represent a great variety of player motives, the results are widely applicable in player modeling and in understanding player–game interaction at large. The initial MAP model was developed by analyzing open-ended gaming motive descriptions (N 1,648) by a content analysis procedure. A preliminary 101-item MAP inventory was included in a UK-based survey (N 600). A nine-factor model was identified and further validated as a 34-item version by making a confirmatory factor analysis with a USA-based survey data (N 600). Additional analyses on construct validity were performed for investigating how motives to play videogames predict players’ game enjoyment factors that were kept analytically distinct from general motivational factors to play videogames.
2021
Vahlo, Jukka; Koskela, Oskari; Tuuri, Kai; Tissari, Heli
Linkages Between Gameplay Preferences and Fondness for Game Music Proceedings Article
In: Baalsrud Hauge, Jannicke; Cardoso, Jorge C. S.; Roque, Licínio; Gonzalez-Calero, Pedro A. (Ed.): Entertainment Computing – ICEC 2021: 20th IFIP TC 14 International Conference, ICEC 2021, pp. 304–318, Springer, 2021, ISBN: 978-3-030-89393-4.
Abstract | Links | Tags: Factor analysis, Game music, Music preferences, Player preferences, Survey
@inproceedings{Vahlo2021,
title = {Linkages Between Gameplay Preferences and Fondness for Game Music},
author = {Jukka Vahlo and Oskari Koskela and Kai Tuuri and Heli Tissari},
editor = {Baalsrud Hauge, Jannicke and Jorge C. S. Cardoso and Licínio Roque and Pedro A. Gonzalez-Calero },
url = {http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:jyu-202111155662},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-89394-1_23},
isbn = {978-3-030-89393-4},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-10-22},
urldate = {2021-10-22},
booktitle = {Entertainment Computing – ICEC 2021: 20th IFIP TC 14 International Conference, ICEC 2021},
pages = {304–318},
publisher = {Springer},
series = {Lecture Notes in Computer Science},
abstract = {In this paper we explore connections between players’ preferences in gameplay and their desire to listen to game music. Music always takes place in cultural contexts and the activity of music listening is likewise entangled with versatile cultural practices. This is arguably evident in the case of game music since the primary context of encountering it is the active and participatory experience of gameplay. By analyzing survey data (N = 403) collected from the UK, we investigate how contextual preferences in gameplay activities predict fondness for game music. It was found that player preference for Aggression and Exploration are two precedents for liking game music. These findings indicate that a better understanding of the extra-musical qualities of game music is crucial for making sense of its overall attractiveness and meaningfulness.},
keywords = {Factor analysis, Game music, Music preferences, Player preferences, Survey},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
In this paper we explore connections between players’ preferences in gameplay and their desire to listen to game music. Music always takes place in cultural contexts and the activity of music listening is likewise entangled with versatile cultural practices. This is arguably evident in the case of game music since the primary context of encountering it is the active and participatory experience of gameplay. By analyzing survey data (N = 403) collected from the UK, we investigate how contextual preferences in gameplay activities predict fondness for game music. It was found that player preference for Aggression and Exploration are two precedents for liking game music. These findings indicate that a better understanding of the extra-musical qualities of game music is crucial for making sense of its overall attractiveness and meaningfulness.
2018
Vahlo, Jukka
In Gameplay: The Invariant Structures and Varieties of the Video Game Gameplay Experience PhD Thesis
2018, ISBN: 978-951-29-7168-8.
Abstract | Links | Tags: Agency, Cognition, Emotions, Experience narrative, Factor analysis, Motivations, Performativity, Phenomenology, Storytelling, Variation, Video games
@phdthesis{Vahlo2018d,
title = {In Gameplay: The Invariant Structures and Varieties of the Video Game Gameplay Experience},
author = {Jukka Vahlo},
url = {https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-29-7169-5},
isbn = {978-951-29-7168-8},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-04-14},
urldate = {2018-04-14},
abstract = {This dissertation is a multidisciplinary study on video game gameplay as an autonomous form of vernacular experience. Plays and games are traditional research subjects in folkloristics, but commercial video games have not been studied yet. For this reason, methods and concepts of the folkloristic research tradition have remained unknown in contemporary games studies. This thesis combines folkloristics, game studies and phenomenological enactive cognitive science in its investigations into player–game interaction and the video game gameplay experience at large.
In this dissertation, three representative survey samples (N=2,594, N=845, N=1,053) on “Rewarding gameplay experience” are analyzed using statistical analysis methods. The samples were collected in 2014–2017 from Finnish and Danish adult populations. This dissertation also analyzes data from 32 interviews, through which the survey respondents’ gameplay preferences, gaming memories, and motivations to play were further investigated. By combining statistical and qualitative data analyses, this work puts forward a mixed-methods research strategy and discusses how the findings relate to prior game research from several disciplines and schools of thought.
Based on theoretical discussions, this dissertation argues that the video game gameplay experience as a cultural phenomenon consists of eight invariants in relation to which each individual gameplay experience can be interpreted: The player must demonstrate a lusory attitude (i), and a motivation to play (ii). The gameplay experience consists of explorative and coordinative practices (iii), which engender a change in the player’s self-experience (iv). This change renders the gameplay experience inherently emotional (v) and performative (vi) in relation to the gameworld (vii). The gameplay experience has the dramatic structure of a prototypical narrative (viii) although a game as an object cannot be regarded a narrative in itself.
As a key result of factor analytical studies and qualitative interview analyses, a novel approach to understanding player–game interaction is put forward. An original gameplay preference research tool and a player typology are introduced. This work argues, that, although video games as commercial products would not be intuitive research subjects for folkloristics, video game gameplay, player–game interaction, and the traditions in experiencing and narrating gameplay do not differ drastically from those of traditional social games. In contrast to this, all forms of gameplay are argued to be manifestations of the same vernacular phenomenon. Indeed, folkloristic research could pay more attention to how culture is experienced, modified, varied and expressed, regardless of whether the research subject is a commercial product or not.},
keywords = {Agency, Cognition, Emotions, Experience narrative, Factor analysis, Motivations, Performativity, Phenomenology, Storytelling, Variation, Video games},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {phdthesis}
}
This dissertation is a multidisciplinary study on video game gameplay as an autonomous form of vernacular experience. Plays and games are traditional research subjects in folkloristics, but commercial video games have not been studied yet. For this reason, methods and concepts of the folkloristic research tradition have remained unknown in contemporary games studies. This thesis combines folkloristics, game studies and phenomenological enactive cognitive science in its investigations into player–game interaction and the video game gameplay experience at large.
In this dissertation, three representative survey samples (N=2,594, N=845, N=1,053) on “Rewarding gameplay experience” are analyzed using statistical analysis methods. The samples were collected in 2014–2017 from Finnish and Danish adult populations. This dissertation also analyzes data from 32 interviews, through which the survey respondents’ gameplay preferences, gaming memories, and motivations to play were further investigated. By combining statistical and qualitative data analyses, this work puts forward a mixed-methods research strategy and discusses how the findings relate to prior game research from several disciplines and schools of thought.
Based on theoretical discussions, this dissertation argues that the video game gameplay experience as a cultural phenomenon consists of eight invariants in relation to which each individual gameplay experience can be interpreted: The player must demonstrate a lusory attitude (i), and a motivation to play (ii). The gameplay experience consists of explorative and coordinative practices (iii), which engender a change in the player’s self-experience (iv). This change renders the gameplay experience inherently emotional (v) and performative (vi) in relation to the gameworld (vii). The gameplay experience has the dramatic structure of a prototypical narrative (viii) although a game as an object cannot be regarded a narrative in itself.
As a key result of factor analytical studies and qualitative interview analyses, a novel approach to understanding player–game interaction is put forward. An original gameplay preference research tool and a player typology are introduced. This work argues, that, although video games as commercial products would not be intuitive research subjects for folkloristics, video game gameplay, player–game interaction, and the traditions in experiencing and narrating gameplay do not differ drastically from those of traditional social games. In contrast to this, all forms of gameplay are argued to be manifestations of the same vernacular phenomenon. Indeed, folkloristic research could pay more attention to how culture is experienced, modified, varied and expressed, regardless of whether the research subject is a commercial product or not.
In this dissertation, three representative survey samples (N=2,594, N=845, N=1,053) on “Rewarding gameplay experience” are analyzed using statistical analysis methods. The samples were collected in 2014–2017 from Finnish and Danish adult populations. This dissertation also analyzes data from 32 interviews, through which the survey respondents’ gameplay preferences, gaming memories, and motivations to play were further investigated. By combining statistical and qualitative data analyses, this work puts forward a mixed-methods research strategy and discusses how the findings relate to prior game research from several disciplines and schools of thought.
Based on theoretical discussions, this dissertation argues that the video game gameplay experience as a cultural phenomenon consists of eight invariants in relation to which each individual gameplay experience can be interpreted: The player must demonstrate a lusory attitude (i), and a motivation to play (ii). The gameplay experience consists of explorative and coordinative practices (iii), which engender a change in the player’s self-experience (iv). This change renders the gameplay experience inherently emotional (v) and performative (vi) in relation to the gameworld (vii). The gameplay experience has the dramatic structure of a prototypical narrative (viii) although a game as an object cannot be regarded a narrative in itself.
As a key result of factor analytical studies and qualitative interview analyses, a novel approach to understanding player–game interaction is put forward. An original gameplay preference research tool and a player typology are introduced. This work argues, that, although video games as commercial products would not be intuitive research subjects for folkloristics, video game gameplay, player–game interaction, and the traditions in experiencing and narrating gameplay do not differ drastically from those of traditional social games. In contrast to this, all forms of gameplay are argued to be manifestations of the same vernacular phenomenon. Indeed, folkloristic research could pay more attention to how culture is experienced, modified, varied and expressed, regardless of whether the research subject is a commercial product or not.