Notes from the Sharing Knowledge conference organized by the Da Vinchi Institute in Amsterdam.

Lecture by Peter Vorderer

What attracts people to games or anything else for that matter?
The standard way of looking at this is the uses and gratification theory
But Vorderer advocates the use of entertainment research/theory: effect-dependent theory of stimulus arrangement.

1. excitatory homeostasis: optimal level of arousal.
2. intervention potential: level of absorption of the medium.
3. message-behavioral affinity: does it fit my mood?
4. hedonistic valence: is it uplifting or distressing, can it change my mood?

Problems of this approach:

1. entertainment is multifaceted and multidimensional.
2. interactive entertainment is completely different from classical media.

More recent approaches:

• evolutionary psychology: explaining our behavior from evolutionary principles.
• motivational theories: intrinsic and external motivations.
• self-determination theory: which states that people need 3 things for enjoyment or even mental health:
  1. need for competence: a challenge to overcome at just the right level of difficulty to not get frustrated.
  2. need for autonomy: the feeling of personal achievements.
  3. need for relatedness: being part of a group where there are not only rivals but also friends.

Competence:
In traditional media you almost always feel competent; you don't switch of the television because it's too challenging.
In interactive media the level can change so it delivers excitatory homeostasis.

Autonomy:
Users of any media underestimate the interdependence from outside influences. When asked they think media influences others a lot, but not so much themselves.
In interactive media, you are not part of a movie-audience, you are scoring points and exploring individually.

Relatedness:
PSI/PSR affective dispositions. This is of mayor importance. The success of a tv-show or game (MMOG) or a film depends very much on the popularity or unpopularity of show-hosts, avatars, movie-stars. Do we feel related, this is crucial to success.

Side-notes: * the popularity of destruction. We like things exploding, falling over, and crashing, especially old and expensive things. Vorderer speculates that this tapps into a deep longing for change and renewal and the liberation from existing structures. The collapsing of the World Trade Center has overtaken the Challenger-explosion as the most broadcast picture of all time. * The budged for research into education in the USA is dominated by exploring the use of avatars as a learning tool.