Since its commercial outbreak during the 1970’s, digital games have grown to become one of the foremost ways of entertainment. A recent trend that can be observed in the game industry is to remake old games, relaunch classic titles and develop new games in a distinct “retro” style. In this paper we explore nostalgic emotions as a possible explanation behind the fascination to replay games we already played through or play games with graphics that resembles the early era of digital games. Through this research we can provide an understanding of what creates a memorable digital experience, and why some games still live on today. A qualitative user study was conducted where eight players played a game defined by: (1) being a part of a long-lasting franchise or (2) applying the retro aesthetic. The empirical data was captured through observations and interviews. The results from the data gathering where then analyzed and used to answer the questions: what causes nostalgic emotions to occur during the playing of a video game?; How does nostalgic emotions impact the user experience of a game? Through the thematic analysis a model was created to visualize the cause and impact of nostalgia during gaming. We concluded that nostalgia is induced by players recognizing the visual aesthetics, the auditory impressions and the familiar gameplay. Nostalgia impacts the players by inducing emotions such as joy and frustration. The players express a desire for recreating an experience, resulting in expectations and disappointments. Furthermore, nostalgia creates a sense of belonging by allowing players to connect with their memories and the people around them. Finally, nostalgia contributes to the player wanting to invest more time into a game and take part in all aspects of a loved story.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:umu-159559 |
| Date | January 2019 |
| Creators | Hemgren, Amanda, Esseen, Natalie |
| Publisher | Umeå universitet, Institutionen för informatik, Umeå universitet, Institutionen för informatik |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | Informatik Student Paper Bachelor (INFSPB) ; 2019.21 |
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