Author ORCID Identifier
Siqi Gao: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0016-7874
Petri Hallikainen: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3895-1592
Abstract
Digital games have emerged as a major form of hedonic information systems, attracting attention in the Information Systems field. However, it remains unclear whether existing theoretical knowledge can explain recent industry developments. To address this, we conducted a critical review of the literature on digital gaming experiences within the IS domain. Our review involved defining the concept of gaming experience and establishing boundary conditions to guide the review. A hermeneutic approach was applied to include 277 articles from 51 journals in the review. Our synthesis of the literature identified three aggregate research themes (internal dynamics of game players, game systems, and contextual experience) from existing gaming experience literature. Our critical analysis reveals the need for more focus on a process-based understanding of gaming experiences to better capture the dynamic and processual nature of digital gaming, as existing studies mostly draw on a variance-based perspective. We present a framework that illustrates a process-based understanding of the gaming experience. This framework informs a research agenda that suggests adopting a process perspective in future studies could better address challenges in gaming experience research, particularly those involving game updates, monetization changes, and playing across different situational contexts.
DOI
10.17705/1CAIS.05535
Recommended Citation
Gao, S., & Hallikainen, P. (2024). Rethinking the Gaming Experience: A Critical Review, Synthesis of Current Knowledge, and Research Agenda. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 55, 897-945. https://doi.org/10.17705/1CAIS.05535
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