3. Nick Yee (2006) conducted some interesting research on gamer motivation. He argues all gaming incentives to fit in one of three overarching categories; Social motives, immersive motives or achievement motives.
I do not find this list to be compelling. I am looking at it, he's just talking about MMORPG's. If you want to apply it broadly, then well which thing are Patience players motivated by?
Thats an excellent question! I'll give it a go, applying Yee's framework++: *Boring Psych disclaimer*
1. "The Senior". First and foremost, Solitaire/Patience/Insert non immersive solo game, does not exist in a vacuum. Discussing strategy, exchanging tips, sharing bad luck induced frustration is all part of the socially derived Patience experience. Paradoxically, even this inherently unaccompanied game may be preceded by
social motives.This motivational level applies to any game that you can share with someone else, naturally.
2. "The bragger". Given the opportunity to share his or her Patience experience, the player is also given the opportunity to boast. "My success rate is a solid x%, what's yours?".
Achievement motives (competition) are not incompatible with the Patience experience.
3. "The Prisoner". Strict imprisonment (no expert here, this is US' domain
) offers the perfect counterargument to points 1. and 2. Why do isolated individuals, almost completely deprived of human interaction, often turn to games of this nature? Here, we need to take a bit of a theoretical detour. Destination: Self-determination Theory (Ryan & Deci, 2011). King & Delfabbro (2009) investigate the relationship between gaming motivation and problematically excessive play, applying this theoretical framework. Irrespective of agenda; they discuss a very interesting concept;
amotivated play. This is defined as "...playing without a sense of purpose about the activity...". Without delving too far into the original theory of basic psychological needs (tl;dr - all humans
need to experience autonomy, competence, and relatedness in order to maintain intrinsic motivation), we can all relate to occassionally not being able to account for exactly why we're doing something. Games are no exception. "The prisoner" can be argued as an
amotivated player. The psychoanalytic tradition would conceptualize this behaviour as a discomfort defence (repression of an insuffurable situation), but that is a theoretical quagmire best left at the gates of f.ds
All in all, Yee's list does't appear "compelling" because it covers
motives, not actual
behaviour. Although motive A, B and C predict behaviour X, it is perfectly possible to exhibit X without any motivation (i. e amotivated).
References:
King, D. & Delfabbro, P. (2009). Motivational Differences in Problem Video Game Play. Journal of Cyber Therapy & Rehabilitation, 2 (2), 139-149.
Ryan, R. M. & Deci, E. L. (2011) Self-Determination Theory and the Role of Basic Psychological Needs in Personality and the Organization of Behavior. In John, Robins & Pervin (Eds.), Handbook of Personality: Theory and Research (3. ed., pp. 654- 678). New York: Guilford Press.