1. 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

2. 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?

3. 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

4. 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

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

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

7. 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

8. 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?

9. 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

10. 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 

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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?

15. 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, doi: /j.chb

16. 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.