TITLE:
Flow Experience While Computer Gaming: Empirical Study
AUTHORS:
Alexander Voiskounsky, Shilu Wang
KEYWORDS:
Positive Psychology, Cyberpsychology, Optimal Experience, Flow Experience, Intrinsic Motivation, Video/Computer/Online Game, Collectivism, Individualism, Immersion, Culture
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.2 No.8,
August
22,
2014
ABSTRACT: Video/computer/online gaming acquired great
popularity. A series of studies show that gaming is accompanied by flow experience
(the term coined M. Csikszentmihalyi), which is associated with intrinsic motivation,
creativity and life happiness. The study was held with Chinese adolescent and adult
gamers (N = 1574). A 24-item questionnaire (available in English, Russian and French)
was adapted to be used within a Chinese population. The results show that Chinese
gamers experience low level of Flow during gameplay sessions; males experience flow
more frequently compared to females; adolescents experience flow more often than
adults. Chinese gamers seldom express facts of immersion during play sessions. In
sum, Chinese players seldom regard playing video/compu- ter/online games a reasonable
way to attain intrinsic motivation and flow. This result is discussed and supposedly
rooted in the social ideals of collectivism in Chinese culture, according to which
individuality is not encouraged.