Why We Play: Affect and the Fun of Games: Designing Emotions for Games, Entertainment Interfaces and Interactive Products

William Shakespeare designed the emotional space between characters; game developers design the emotional space between players and game. Researchers have only just begun to explore the role emotion plays in human activities. In designing emotional responses, most aesthetic disciplines treat audiences as consumers of content and pay little attention to designing emotions from interaction or contribution. Video games lead the way as interactive products that create emotion. More emotional than software and more interactive than films, games manipulate player affect to create poignant experiences. How they do this provides lessons for the design of games, entertainment interfaces, and other interactive products. Player experiences are the combination of emotion, thoughts, and other sensations that occur inside and in between players during play. Beyond usability, player experiences design focuses on affect as well as ease of use. Playing games in their discretionary time, gamers mainly play for the emotions the games create.