Potts, Henry and Rouncefield, Mark (2023) Flow In Video Games : With a Focus on Multiplayer First-Person Shooters. Masters thesis, Lancaster University.
![[thumbnail of 2023pottsmsc]](https://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/style/images/fileicons/text.png)
Abstract
Video games are a popular form of entertainment. Since games have grown in popularity and become commonplace, studies have been carried out attempting to understand this phenomenon and players more. Many people may be familiar with the notion of “being in the zone” yet may be unaware of flow. They are fundamentally similar concepts. Since Csíkszentmihályi’s work on flow people have aimed to further understand the idea. Flow is an aspect of positive psychology, understanding it may help people focus and perform better. Flow may be a useful idea to know of when understanding users. Video games are often a form of entertainment so enjoyment is key to players and designers. Understanding flow can help creators of games create games with improved flow. Flow’s close links to immersion means understanding flow could make games more immersive. Creating a game with flow in mind could improve the gameplay experience of a game, something which will benefit many games including multiplayer first-person shooters. What follows is a master’s thesis considering flow in video games, focusing on multiplayer first person shooters, specifically, the games in the Halo series of this type. The thesis chronicles an attempt to understand flow in video games. Relevant literature and themes are discussed in this work. The work contains information on an autoethnography study carried out by the author on their experiences with games, specifically, multiplayer first-person shooters in the Halo series. Other studies are included supplementary to this including a questionnaire study and a group play session and group interview. The findings of the study and data are analysed and discussed. This thesis contributes to the subjects of flow and designing video games.