2024/05/31 by Dmitry Alexandrovsky, Alexandrovsky, Dmitry, Kathrin Gerling +9 · 1 citation
Psychology · #Educational Games and Gamification #FOS: Computer and information sciences #Human-Computer Interaction (cs.HC)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2406.00189
openalex publication_date 2024/05/31 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The games research community has developed substantial knowledge on designing engaging experiences that draw players in. Surprisingly, less is known about player disengagement, with existing work predominantly addressing disengagement from the perspective of problematic play, and research exploring player disengagement from a constructive designer perspective is lacking. In this paper, we address this gap and argue that disengagement from games should be constructively designed, allowing players to exit play sessions in a self-determined way. Following a two-phase research approach that combines an interview study (n=16) with a follow-up online survey (n=111), we systematically analyze player perspectives on exiting play sessions. Our work expands the existing notion of disengagement through a characterization of exit experiences, a lens on disengagement as a process, and points for reflection for the design of games that seek to address player disengagement in a constructive way.