"My Soul Got a Little Bit Cleaner"

Abstract

Videogames receive increasing acclaim as a medium capable of artistic expression, emotional resonance, and even transformative potential. Yet while discussions concerning the status of games as art have a long history in games research, little is known about the player experience (PX) of games as art, their emotional characteristics, and what impact they may have on players. Drawing from Empirical Aesthetics, we surveyed 174 people about whether they had an art experience with videogames and what emotions they experienced. Our findings showcase the prominence of epistemic emotions for videogame art experiences, beyond the negative and mixed emotional responses previously examined, as well as the range of personal impacts such experiences may have. These findings are consistent with art experience phenomena characteristic of other art forms. Moreover, we discuss how our study relates to prior research on emotions and reflection in PX, the importance of games' representational qualities in art experiences, and identify lines of further inquiry. All data, study materials, and analyses are available at https://osf.io/ryvt6/.

A thematic analysis of bereaved adults' meaning-making experience of loss through playing video games

“…Empirical studies showed that video games can generate diverse meaningful experiences such as complex emotional and reflective experiences through relating in-game experiences and out-of-game experiences (Bopp et al, 2016 ; Mekler et al, 2018 ). Also, video games can provide a distant space where players can actively explore their emotions, reflect on their past and present life experiences that resonate with their in-game experiences, and find new meaning and values (Bopp et al, 2021 ; Spors and Kaufman, 2021 ).…”

“…The potential of using meaningful gaming experiences to facilitate bereaved players' meaning-making of loss has received little research attention. Empirical studies suggest that playing video games provided a lifeline for bereaved players overwhelmed by grief (Iacovides and Mekler, 2019 ; Bopp et al, 2021 ), and designing games has been explored as a medium for bereaved individuals to construct their own self-narrative on loss and share their grief experience (Harrer, 2018 ). However, only a few studies have explored how grieving players made new meanings of their loss through playing video games.…”