Negative Emotional Value of Players: Exploring the Time Investment Dimension from Chinese Mobile Game Players’ Reviews

Abstract

This study delved into the concept of “time investment” by examining negative comments from players. It conducted a comprehensive analysis of how time investment and external motivation influence players’ emotional experiences, drawing from self-determination theory (SDT). Nonetheless, there has been limited exploration of the origins and significance of players’ negative emotions. The study employed a mixed-methods approach. Initially, it constructed a radar chart representing time investment by analyzing textual reviews from Chinese players across six distinct mobile game types and creating thematic models with BERTopic. Subsequently, the initial machine learning results were confirmed through a questionnaire survey (n = 1028), resulting in the identification of five primary time investment dimensions: in-game experience time investment, learning time investment, social time investment, emotional time investment, and economic time investment. The study unveils the impact of external motivation on players’ emotions and assessments, all from the viewpoint of players. It also offers an expanded perspective within SDT for the exploration of external motivation. The findings present a fresh theoretical outlook and research framework for game designers and the human–computer interaction (HCI) field. Additionally, they offer new insights into the concept of time as perceived by players.

Keywords:

• Digital game
• player time investment dimension
• human–computer interaction
• self-determination theory
• motivations

Acknowledgments

We would like to express our gratitude to all those who participated in the survey and to the experts who helped in the analysis of the data.

Author contributions

Rui Chen: Conceptualization; Supervision; Validation. Haolan Yan: Conceptualization; Writing original draft; Formal analysis; Investigation; Methodology; Data analysis; Resources; Supervision; Visualization. Xian Liu: Conceptualization; Writing original draft; Investigation; Supervision; Data analysis; Resources.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China: Research on the Value Co-creation Mechanism and Mode of Digital Content Production with the Participation of AIGC (72374171).

Notes on contributors

Rui Chen

Rui Chen PhD in Management, Associate Professor, Master’s Supervisor, Deputy Director of the Department of Cultural Industry Management at the School of Literature and Journalism, Xihua University. Researcher at the International Institute of Economic Management, Xihua University, specializing in digital cultural industries and generative artificial intelligence.

Haolan Yan

Haolan Yan is a graduate student at the School of Research Institute of International of Economics and Management at Xihua University in China. His research interests include human-computer interaction, deep learning, social media marketing, and psychology.

Xian Liu

Xian Liu is a graduate student at the School of Literature and Journalism at Xihua University in China. His research interests include human-computer interaction, digital cultural industries, cultural communication, and psychology.