Digital games have been demonstrated to promote recovery from daily work strain. However, prior research has not examined the role that player experience (PX) plays in post-work recovery despite the fact that theories in this area rely implicitly on PX concepts. Hence, this research seeks to understand how the experience of immersion shapes the recovery potential of digital games. Our results suggest that immersion is broadly beneficial for recovery, though this is contingent on contextual factors, and that players actively optimise their immersion levels to maximise recovery. These findings extend previous research by empirically testing the PX-based mechanisms by which games are assumed to promote recovery, as well as offering design implications for creators of serious games for recovery purposes.
People
This project is being conducted by Jon Mella under the supervision of Prof Anna Cox, and Dr Jo Iacovides.
Publications
Mella, J., Iacovides, I., & Cox, A. (2024). ‘Jumping Out from the Pressure of Work and into the Game’: Curating Immersive Digital Game Experiences for Post-Work Recovery. ACM Games: Research and Practice.
Mella, J., Iacovides, I., & Cox, A. L. (2023, April). Gaming for post-work recovery: The role of immersion. In Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-15).
Mella, J. (2022). Investigating the Impact of Digital Game Immersion on Post-Work Recovery. In Extended Abstracts of the 2022 Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play (pp. 381-383).
Collins, E., Cox, A., Wilcock, C., & Sethu-Jones, G. (2019). Digital games and mindfulness apps: comparison of effects on post work recovery. JMIR mental health, 6 (7), e12853.
Collins, E., & Cox, A. L. (2014). Switch on to games: Can digital games aid post-work recovery? International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 72 (8-9), 654-662.
