Abstract Need for novelty has been proposed as a potential candidate to be a basic psychological need, in addition to autonomy, competence, and relatedness in the Self-Determination Theory literature. In this paper, we investigate the need for novelty in the video gaming domain, and examine whether it differentiates as a distinct construct from the other three basic needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness. To be able to test this, we examined whether novelty uniquely predicts context specific outcomes, such as concentration, satisfaction and commitment in games. We conducted an online survey with 390 online video game players. Regression analyses showed that need for novelty indeed emerges as a distinct construct, and uniquely predicts positive outcomes. This study provides initial support for novelty as a basic psychological need that is needed for players' intrinsic motivation, and shows the importance of novelty in online video gaming. We discuss new avenues for research related to need for novelty and how consideration of novelty may impact game design.

Self-determination theory posits that satisfaction of basic psychological needs is essential for well-being. Empirical evidence for the distinction between need frustration and need satisfaction has been growing within the last decade. However, research on player experience of need frustration is lagging behind. This paper investigates whether player experience of need frustration is distinct from need satisfaction in the online video games context. In addition, it examines whether in-game need frustration is a stronger predictor for negative outcomes such as problematic gaming, escapist motivations, real-life stress and exit intentions and whether in-game need satisfaction is a stronger predictor for positive outcomes such as satisfaction, concentration, subjective vitality and voice. We collected survey data from online video gamers. Path analyses showed that in-game need frustration is a distinct construct, predicting negative outcomes uniquely and more strongly than in-game need satisfaction, whereas in-game need satisfaction was more strongly associated with positive outcomes. The findings suggest that assessing both need satisfaction and frustration in gaming research could prove valuable.

In this study, we investigate presence in augmented reality games and how it is related to daily physical activity levels and well-being of players. In a diary study, 49 participants played “Ingress” for 14 days and filled out a questionnaire that consisted of several Likert scales, at the end of every day. Multilevel analyses showed that presence was associated with daily walking duration and daily subjective vitality, and daily walking duration was associated with subjective vitality of players in the same-day level. It was also found that walking duration partially mediated the relationship between presence and daily subjective vitality of players at the same-day level. Lastly, cross-lagged analyses showed that presence predicted next day’s walking duration implying a causal direction from presence to walking duration, whereas walking duration did not predict next day’s presence. The results are discussed and the implications are presented.