Linda K. Kaye, Rebecca L. Monk, Helen J. Wall, Iain Hamlin & Adam Qureshi Department of Psychology, Edge Hill University Measuring Flow on the Go: The effect of real-time flow and context on in-vivo positive mood in digital gaming

Digital gaming outcomes Predominance of negative outcomes of violent gaming on aggression and other hostile effects (Anderson & Bushman, 2001; Prot et al., 2014; Saleem et al., 2012) Less understood about positive affective outcomes, particularly for shooting games What are the factors/mechanisms which may explain more positive affective experiences and outcomes?

Flow Conditions Characteristics Skill-challenge balance Clear goals and instant feedback Characteristics Focused attention Loss of self-consciousness Sense of control Distortion of time Autotelic/rewarding experience

Solo gaming experience CONTEXT Flow Solo gaming experience CONTEXT Online Offline Social gaming experience Mood TYPE OF PLAY Cooperative Competitive Kaye, L. K. & Bryce, J. (2014). Go with the flow: The experience and affective outcomes of solo versus social gameplay. Journal of Gaming and Virtual Worlds, 6 (1), 49-60

Solo versus Social Gaming t (259) = 2.16, p <.05 Mean Gaming Context

t (49) = 2.58, p < .05 Kaye, L. K. (2016). Exploring flow experiences in cooperative digital gaming contexts. Computers in Human Behavior, 55, 286-291. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2015.09.023

The Research Context Digital gaming is diverse and varied BUT lab paradigms lack external validity Contextual cues/signaling and researcher presence are influential in participant responding Retrospective questionnaire-based assessments are reliant on autobiographic memory  questionable Ethnographic to capture “real life” gameplay experiences, in context, is greatly needed in this field of research

RQs 1. How does in-vivo flow impact upon the positive affective outcomes of gameplay, and does this vary as a result of context? 2. What is the role of personality (Big-5) on the positive affective outcomes of gaming, across different social contexts?

App methodology Participants (N = 41) Report regularly playing shooting games Asked to report on any times they were playing shooting games over the period of up to 2 weeks (across range of contexts). Took initial measures of personality, demo gaming factors etc On first gameplay session, participants accessed the app which was hosted on a website (designed purely for the purposes of the research) and provided a use-generated username. Initiated app in which Time 0 – measurements of flow and positive mood (short form FSS and short form PANAS) Played for 1 hour and a prompt occurred in the app- complete time 1, etc etc After each hour of play participants were asked with they wished to finish gaming or not (message on screen throughout duration of app being active) That completed a given gameplay session. Data corresponded to number of gameplay sessions across the two weeks, as well as number of time-point responses within each gameplay session. Saturation point at

Percentage of responses from total sample (N = 41)   Percentage of responses from total sample (N = 41) Time point in session Time 0 Time 1 Time 2 Time 3 Time 4 Session 1 100.00 95.12 70.73 2.44 Session 2 97.57 92.68 58.54 12.20 0.00 Session 3 90.24 87.80 43.90 7.32 Session 4 78.05 73.17 Session 5 68.29 53.66 29.27 Session 6 31.71 21.95 Session 7 17.07 4.88 Session 8 19.51 Session 9 Session 10 9.76 Session 11  0.00 

Session Number Time Point N Flow M (SD) Positive Mood 1 Time 0 40 - 14.98 (5.35) Time 1 39 17.77 (4.85) 15.38 (4.98) Time 2 23 17.74 (5.71) 14.61 (5.37) Time 3 5 17.80 (3.63) 13.40 (5.98) 2 36 15.42 (5.12) 34 18.03 (3.62) 15.76 (4.48) 3 20.00 (2.00) 12.00 (4.58) 15.00 10.00 31 14.84 (4.87)   28 19.00 (4.59) 15.86 (5.04) 16 18.56 (4.29) 14.50 (5.38) 18.67 (3.06) 13.67 (8.50) 4 27 13.93 (7.33) 22 19.32 (4.60) 15.82 (5.54) 12 17.42 (3.75) 15.58 (5.32) 16.00 13.00

Preferred context of play Prompt-level variables Current Context Solo; Online with friends; Online with strangers, Offline In-Vivo Positive Mood In-Vivo Flow Individual-level variables Average hours per week 1-5; 6-10; 11-15; 16-20; 21-25; 26-30 Type of gamer Hardcore, Casual, Social, Serious Preferred context of play Solo; Online; Offline Big-5 Personality Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Openness, Neuroticism, Extraversion

Preferred context of play Prompt-level variables Current Context Solo; Online with friends; Online with strangers, Offline β= 1.73, p < .05 In-Vivo Positive Mood In-Vivo Flow β= -2.00, p < .01 Individual-level variables Average hours per week 1-5; 6-10; 11-15; 16-20; 21-25; 26-30 Type of gamer Hardcore, Casual, Social, Serious β= -2.11, p < .05 Preferred context of play Solo; Online; Offline Big-5 Personality Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Openness, Neuroticism, Extraversion

Summary Context plays a role in digital gaming experiences, thus understanding them as and when is clearly important Online with friends seems particularly relevant for promoting positive mood When flow was captured “in the moment” it appears to have differential relationships with positive mood compared to previous research Are we capturing flow in its true essence compared to the overall reflection of its autotelic nature as in retrospective studies? Demographics gaming factors (HPW) appear to be influential on mood outcomes Play less = better mood. Moderation is key?

Future Directions We can use this methodology to more rigorously establish how game features and manipulations correspond to in-vivo flow and mood Extend findings of Laffan et al (2016)* E.g., to what extent are punishment and presentation features related to flow “as and when” it occurs? *Laffan, D. A, Greaney, J., Barton, H., & Kaye, L. K. (2016). The Relationships between the Structural Video Game Characteristics, Video Game Engagement and Happiness among Individuals who Play Video Games. Computers in Human Behavior, 65, 544-549. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2016.09.004

If you’re interested….. Kaye, L. K., Monk, R., Wall, H., Hamlin, I., & Qureshi, A. W. (2017). The effect of real-time flow and context on in-vivo positive mood in digital gaming. Revised manuscript under review in International Journal of Human-Computer Studies.