什么是电子游戏最常见的体验情感？

我基于1040份调查问卷，总结出10个最常见的游戏情感，且根据各情感的得分情况（总分5分）粗略估算其普遍程度。这并非什么精确的科学标准，但得分最高的情感不仅是大家公认的体验感受，而且他们还表示此情感能够强化体验乐趣。

（游戏邦注：各情感的首个答案选项是“是的，我承认这是我的体验感受。我寻找能够带给我这种感受的游戏内容”。中间选项是“是的，我承认这是我的体验感受，它能够强化我的游戏乐趣”。最后选项是“不，我在体验游戏时从未有这种感受”。）

这里我融入基于神经生物机制的假设。

1. 有趣（4.28）

amusement from lipstiq.com

远超出调查中其他情感的感受是趣味性。只有极少数玩家称自己没有在电子游戏中感受到趣味（1.7%），而有92.6%用户将此情感列为自己的主要感受，有39.7%用户表示他们积极寻找此感受。

由此看来若我们希望制作出更优秀的游戏，我们需要着眼于如何让游戏变得更富趣味，而非更具挑战性。

2. 满足感（4.09）

82.7%的用户在此勾选前两种选择，其中38.2%的玩家追求能够带来满足感的游戏。和欣喜若狂一样，这和血清素有关系，虽然超过1/4的玩家没有感受过欣喜若狂，但只有5.8%的玩家称未在体验游戏中有过满足感。

3. 惊叹（4.07）

惊叹是兴趣机制的表现，同β-内啡肽有关。这里的感觉比后面的好奇感强烈——玩家的反应程度较激烈。虽然很多玩家无法将此感觉同游戏体验挂钩，但41.5%的玩家称这强化游戏趣味，还有41.2%称他们寻找能够带来这种感觉的游戏。其实，在本调查研究的所有情感中，追求此感觉的用户比例最高，就连前两大最普遍情感的追逐者也没有超过40%。令玩家感到吃惊似乎是电子游戏需要掌握的最有效技巧之一。

4. 兴奋（4.02）

此情感如此靠前完全是意料之中！兴奋是肾上腺素的表现，是非常普遍的感受（游戏邦注：只有2.7%的用户称自己从未在电子游戏中体会过此感觉）。8/10（82.1%）的玩家在此给出的答案是前两种，有约1/4（26.3%）的用户积极追求带来此种感觉的内容。玩家在游戏中产生这种情感的概率居于第二名（55.8%），也就是说，很多用户承认兴奋是提高体验趣味性的主要因素。

5. 好奇感（3.92）

看到好奇感置于第五位我丝毫未感到吃惊，但其超越自豪感着实有些意料之外。被心理学家称作兴趣的好奇感似乎同β-内啡肽神经传递素（这存在于鼓励动物探索和寻找新刺激的机制）有关。Nicole Lazzaro首次将其同电子游戏联系起来，且佐以正当理由！此感觉影响众多用户，同时有3/4给其较高分（78.8%），有1/4（24.3%）的用户追求能够带来此感觉的游戏。只有5.4%的用户称自己从未在电子游戏中有过这种感觉。

6. 自豪感（3.89）

是的，自豪感居然没有入围前五！这不是由于其评分不够高——其实有3/4的用户在此勾选前两个选项（77.1%），约1/3用户称自己追求能够带来此感觉的游戏（32.7%）。总评分高于自豪感的情感有五种，就用户追逐比例而言，表现比其突出的情感则有三种。

7. 吃惊（3.59）

这是电子游戏存在的另一情感。吃惊同恐惧密切相关，因此也涉及荷尔蒙和神经递质肾上腺素。很少用户未在电子游戏中感受过吃惊（8.1%），超过一半的调查者（51.9%）称这能够提高游戏趣味性，另外有14.4%的用户称自己追求能够带来此感觉的游戏。

8. 欣慰感（3.57）

这是非常古怪的感觉——因学生或孩子的成就而感到骄傲，情感研究者Ekman赋予此感觉意第绪语名称欣慰感（naches）。玩家似乎很喜欢引导自己的朋友和家人玩游戏，53.4%的玩家称这能够提高游戏的乐趣，还有12.9%称他们追求能够带来这种感觉的游戏。只有10.9%的玩家称从未在电子游戏中有过这种感觉。也许就如Katherine Isbister所述，更多电子游戏应融入合作或学徒模式？

9. 安慰（3.26）

这同荷尔蒙可体松有关，被视作是最重要的体验情感。尽管如此，21.5%的玩家称自己从未在电子游戏中有过这种感觉。但43%的玩家表示这能够强化游戏趣味，14.4%的玩家称自己追求带来这种感觉的游戏。

bliss from teenagereader.com

10. 欣喜若狂（3.26）

排名第十的就是极度的喜悦感受，这是神经递质色拉托宁高度活跃的结果。虽然27.7%的调查者称他们从未在电子游戏中有过这种感觉，但59.9%的玩家在此勾选的是前两个选项，我很怀疑竟有如此多玩家感受过情感专家Paul Ekman口中的欣喜若狂，我觉得更多时候大家会以“极度高兴和欣喜”来形容自豪感（战胜敌人的快感）。

其他情感

最后，你也许会很想知道最后面的3种情感是什么。第20是悲伤（2.08），第21种是内疚（1.91），第22是尴尬（1.70）。关于这三种情感，超过一半的玩家表示从未在电子游戏中体验这种感觉。出乎意料的是，有1.1%的玩家称自己积极追求能够带来尴尬感觉的游戏，这确实有些奇怪。但 我猜这就是所谓的萝卜白菜各有所爱。

游戏邦注：原文发布于2008年4月9日，文章叙述以当时为背景。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Top Ten Videogame Emotions

What are the most popular emotions of play in videogames?

Based on the 1,040 responses to the DGD2 survey, I have ranked the top 10 emotions with their average score out of 5 to get a rough-and-ready estimate of the popularity of various emotions. This isn’t a strict scientific measure, as such, but the highest scoring emotions are those for which the majority of people not only recognised having that emotion while playing games, but recognised it enhanced their enjoyment.

(For reference, the top answer that could be given in each case was “Yes, [I recognise this emotion in my play] and I seek out games that give me this feeling” and the next highest was “Yes [I recognise this emotion in my play] and it enhances my enjoyment of a game”. The bottom answer in each case was “No, I never feel this way when playing games.”)

I have included my hypothetical deductions concerning the underlying neuro-biological mechanisms where I have some idea of what is involved.

10. Bliss (3.26)

At the bottom of our Top 10, the feeling of utter joyfulness, which is probably the experience of highly elevated levels of the neurotransmitter seratonin. While 27.7% of respondents said no videogame had given them this feeling, 59.9% of people gave this emotion one of the top two responses (with 22.1% actively seeking out games which give them this feeling). I’m actually quite doubtful that so many people have experienced bliss in the sense intended by emotions-expert Paul Ekman (although a study could easily determine this), and I find it more likely that people are taking the description “utter joy and bliss” to mean fiero (the emotion of triumph over adversity), which we will come to below.

9. Relief (3.28)

Relief, which may be the experiential analogue of the hormone cortisol, has already been acknowledged as an important emotion of play (as we discussed before in the piece on rushgames). Despite this, 21.5% of respondents said no videogame had ever given them this feeling. However, 43% said it enhanced their enjoyment of games, and 14.4% said they sought out games that gave them this feeling.

8. Naches (3.57)

Here’s a curious one – the emotion of pride in the accomplishments of one’s students or children, referred to by emotion researcher Ekman by the Yiddish term naches. Players seem to really enjoy training their friends and family to play games, with a whopping 53.4% saying it enhances their enjoyment, and another 12.9% saying they seek out games that give them this feeling. (I don’t have the data yet, but I wonder if such people play mostly MMORPGs?) Only 10.9% had never had the experience in the context of videogames. Perhaps, as Katherine Isbister has suggested, more videogames should include a co-operative Tutor mode?

7. Surprise (3.59)

Another emotion we’ve seen in the context of rushgames, surprise is closely related to fear and thus probably relates to the hormone and neurotransmitter epinephrine (adrenalin). Few people (8.1%) had never been surprised by videogames, while more than half the respondants (51.9%) said it added to their enjoyment, and another 14.4% saying they sought out games that gave them this experience.

6. Fiero (3.89)

Yes, arguably the most prominent of the videogame emotions, fiero (the feeling of triumph over adversity – probably a cocktail of norepinephrine, epinephrine, and dopamine) didn’t even make it half way up the top ten! It wasn’t because it wasn’t highly rated – in fact about three quarters of respondants (77.1%) gave it the top two marks, with about a third (32.7%) saying they seek out games that give them this feeling. Still, there were five other emotions that scored more highly, and three other emotions which scored higher in terms of players actively seeking out the feeling…

5. Curiosity (3.92)

I wasn’t surprised to see curiosity in the Top Five, but to see it edge out fiero was unexpected! Curiosity, which is an expression of what some psychologists refer to as interest (and could be seen as a behaviour rather than an emotion) seems to relate to the beta-endorphin neurotransmitter, which is involved in a mechanism encouraging animals to explore and seek new stimulus. Nicole Lazzaro was the first person to relate it to videogame play, and with good cause! It pulled in big numbers, with once again about three quarters rating it highly (78.8%) and of these about a quarter (24.3%) seeking out games that give them this feeling. Just 5.4% had never had the experience in videogames.

4. Excitement (4.02)

Well no surprise to see this one near the top! Excitement, as discussed previously, is an expression of epinephrine (adrenalin), and an extremely common experience – just 2.7% of respondents claimed they had never experienced it in the context of videogames. 8 out of 10 people (82.1%) gave it one of the top two responses, with about a quarter (26.3%) actively seeking it out. This emotion also produced the highest incidence of the second-to-highest response (55.8%) in the survey, that is, a strict majority of players recognise excitement as a major contribution to their enjoyment of play.

3. Wonderment (4.07)

Another expression of the interest mechanism mentioned under curiosity, wonderment is probably also related to beta-endorphin. Here, the feeling is more intense – and it seems players respond to the greater intensity. Whilst a larger number of people could not relate the experience to their play (8.1% had no experience of it in videogames), 41.5% said it enhanced their enjoyment and an additional 41.2% (for a total of 82.7%) said they sought out games that gave them this feeling. In fact, of all the emotions studied in this survey, this was the highest scorer in terms of respondents actively seeking it out, as even the top 2 emotions did not clear 40% in seeking out the emotion. It seems amazing players is one of the most effective techniques videogames can muster.

2. Contentment (4.09)

I said before the survey began that I suspected that the research community had underestimated the importance of contentment to videogames, and although this crude ranking is far from definitive, it does seem I was correct! 82.7% gave this emotion one of the top two marks, with 38.2% seeking out games that would give them a sense of contentment. Like bliss, this probably connects to serotonin, but whereas more than a quarter of players had no experience of bliss to draw upon, just 5.8% could find no memory of contentment in their play.

1. Amusement (4.28)

But head and shoulders above every other emotion in the survey was amusement (for which I have no biological mechanism, although psychologists link it to the resolution of inconsistencies, and it will involve an endorphin of some kind as well as the pre-frontal cortex). The fewest number of people responded that they had no experience of amusement in videogames (just 1.7%) while a whopping 92.6% gave this emotion one of the top two responses, and 39.7% stating they actively sought out this feeling (second only to Wonderment for the rate of response in the top answer).

It seems that if we want to make better games for everyone, we should be looking at how to make our games funnier, not more challenging!

Bottom of the List

Finally, you might be interested to know what the bottom three emotions were. At number 20, it was Sadness (2.08), at number 21, Guilt (1.91) and bottom of the barrel at number 22 was Embarrassment (1.70). In all three cases, more than half the respondents said no game had made them feel this way. Oddly, 1.1% of respondents said they actively sought out games that made them feel embarrassed – even allowing for some fatuous respondents, this is still odd. I guess it truly is different strokes for different folks!（Source：onlyagame）