Designing for Curiosity: Achieving intrinsic motivation in exploration games

Abstract

Exploration games enable players to explore a variety of virtual game worlds through different means of traversal. Some of these exploration games appear to evoke or foster curiosity. The human behavior of curiosity is well-documented throughout history in the real-world context. Concerning digital environments, more precisely video game environments and game design, there remain gaps in how curiosity is maintained or achieved in players. Previous research collected game design techniques, as well as a profound theoretical background of how curiosity is fostered in video games. Similarly, game design patterns have been established as a way to analyze video games and to be utilized as a tool for game designers to implement, leaving the gap in how to analyze and extract game design patterns based on their capability to foster curiosity. A study of three exploration games was conducted, based on a previously established framework for describing games, in order to extract game design patterns. The resulting patterns were laid out and explained, as well as shown in application examples in the game Sonder: Embrace the World. These findings allow for the application of these patterns by game designers in their work, as well as an analytical tool for existing and future games.

Date of Award	2025
Original language	English
Supervisor	Michael Lankes (Supervisor)