Well-Being, Motives and Experiences in Live and Online Game Settings

Abstract

Traditional mind sports are extremely suitable for online environment, so various specialized platforms, were developed for this purpose. Although online games are technically superior and popular, many players argue that online play lacks “the game spirit”. The aim of this article was to compare motives and experiences of live and online games of Bridge. The authors conducted ten semi-structured online interviews with bridge players. All participants confirmed that Bridge significantly improved their quality of life. The participants reported benefits in accordance with Major (2001) serious leisure benefits and partially in accordance with the DRAMMA model of five factors related to leisure activities (Newman, Tay and Diener, 2014). Results showed that online bridge was generally perceived as less challenging and demanding, but appropriate for training purposes. The most important difference in motivation is related to boredom – frequent motive of online bridge, while not existent in live settings.

Playing with emotions: emotional complexity in the social world of elite tournament bridge

“…A variety of emotions are experienced prior to, during and following bridge matches, which are fundamentally shaped by context and social interaction. The experience of emotion for elite bridge players ranges from extremes of excitement and joy to anger, frustration, disappointment and everything in between (see also Brkljačić et al, 2017). However, there is a strong tendency towards dualistic experiences of emotion, given the repeated occurrence of winning and losing.…”