G G LUED TO AMES New Directions in Media Robin Andersen, Series Editor Blogging America: Th e New Public Sphere Aaron Barlow Celeb 2.0: How Social Media Foster Our Fascination with Popular Culture Kelli S. Burns Politics on Demand: Th e Eff ects of 24-Hour News on American Politics Alison Dagnes American Film in the Digital Age Robert C. Sickels G G LUED TO AMES How Video Games Draw Us In and Hold Us Spellbound Scott Rigby and Richard M. Ryan New Directions in Media Robin Andersen, Series Editor Copyright 2011 by Scott Rigby and Richard M. Ryan All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Rigby, Scott. Glued to games : how video games draw us in and hold us spellbound / Scott Rigby and Richard M. Ryan. p. cm.—(New directions in media) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-313-36224-8 (hard copy : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-0-313-36225-5 (ebook) 1. Video games—Psychological aspects. 2. Video games—Social aspects. I. Ryan, Richard M. II. Title. GV1469.3.R55 2011 794.8—dc22 2010040752 ISBN: 978-0-313-36224-8 EISBN: 978-0-313-36225-5 15 14 13 12 11 1 2 3 4 5 Th is book is also available on the World Wide Web as an eBook. Visit www.abc-clio.com for details. Praeger An Imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC ABC-CLIO, LLC 130 Cremona Drive, P.O. Box 1911 Santa Barbara, California 93116-1911 Th is book is printed on acid-free paper Manufactured in the United States of America T o our wives Jasmine and Miriam, who at least pretend to believe that the many hours we spend playing video games are for the purpose of research. C ONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS IX INTRODUCTION XI 1. THE EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE OF GAMES TODAY 1 2. GAMES AND THE NEED FOR COMPETENCE 15 3. GAMES AND THE NEED FOR AUTONOMY 39 4. GAMES AND THE NEED FOR RELATEDNESS 65 5. IMMERSION AND PRESENCE 81 6. DANGEROUS WATERS: THE ADDICTIVE UNDERTOW OF GAMES 97 7. THE APPEAL AND PERILS OF AGGRESSION IN VIDEO GAMES 119 8. GAMING BEYOND ENTERTAINMENT 139 9. RELATING TO GAMES: A PRACTICAL ROAD MAP 155 INDEX 175 A CKNOWLEDGMENTS T his work was a collective eff ort, and we are very appreciative to all who helped in its completion. In particular, we would like to thank Andy Przybylski, Nicholas Murray, and Edward Deci for their important and ongoing contributions to our research on the psychology of video games. We also wish to acknowledge Shannon Hoefen, the members of the Motivation Research Group at the University of Rochester, and Drew Hanson, along with the other crack staff members at Immersyve, all of whom provided support and feedback that helped us hone our views on video games. We also off er a sincere thanks to Will Ryan for his help in reviewing and preparing this manuscript. Finally, we have especially appreciated and benefi tted from the many players who have par- ticipated in our studies and given us an open look into the direct experience of games and virtual worlds.