The Struggle is Spiel: On Failure and Success in Games

Julian Frommel; Madison Klarkowski; Regan L. Mandryk

doi:10.1145/3472538.3472565

The Struggle is Spiel: On Failure and Success in Games

Julian Frommel, Madison Klarkowski, Regan L. Mandryk

University of Saskatchewan

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Experiencing the thrill of success is one of digital gaming's pleasures, but often also involves the crush of repeated failure. To explore success and failure in play, we conducted a mixed-methods study in which 182 participants described scenarios of success and failure and their experiences therein. Our results suggest that success and failure should be considered in relation to the players' goals, that failure should be differentiated into temporary and perpetual failure, and that temporary failure (the struggle) is integral to the experience of success (overcoming the struggle). We further show that although success is generally more enjoyable than failure, players who enjoy a challenge are more likely to experience competence and find enjoyment within experiences of failure. Our findings contextualize what players perceive as failure and success, and that, for many players, success is overcoming the struggle of failure.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2021
Editors	Allan Fowler, Johanna Pirker, Alesandro Alessandro Canossa, Ali Ali Arya, Casper Harteveld
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery
ISBN (Electronic)	9781450384223
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3472538.3472565
Publication status	Published - 3 Aug 2021
Externally published	Yes
Event	16th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2021 - Virtual, Online, Canada Duration: 2 Aug 2021 → 6 Aug 2021

Publication series

Name	ACM International Conference Proceeding Series

Conference

Conference	16th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2021
Country/Territory	Canada
City	Virtual, Online
Period	2/08/21 → 6/08/21

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank NSERC and SWaGUR for funding, members of the Interaction Lab for feedback, and our participants.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 ACM.

Funding

We thank NSERC and SWaGUR for funding, members of the Interaction Lab for feedback, and our participants.

Keywords

challenge
difficulty
failing
failure
games
success

Access to Document

10.1145/3472538.3472565

Cite this

Frommel, J., Klarkowski, M., & Mandryk, R. L. (2021). The Struggle is Spiel: On Failure and Success in Games. In A. Fowler, J. Pirker, A. A. Canossa, A. A. Arya, & C. Harteveld (Eds.), Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2021 Article 3472565 (ACM International Conference Proceeding Series). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3472538.3472565

Frommel, Julian ; Klarkowski, Madison ; Mandryk, Regan L. / The Struggle is Spiel : On Failure and Success in Games. Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2021. editor / Allan Fowler ; Johanna Pirker ; Alesandro Alessandro Canossa ; Ali Ali Arya ; Casper Harteveld. Association for Computing Machinery, 2021. (ACM International Conference Proceeding Series).

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abstract = "Experiencing the thrill of success is one of digital gaming's pleasures, but often also involves the crush of repeated failure. To explore success and failure in play, we conducted a mixed-methods study in which 182 participants described scenarios of success and failure and their experiences therein. Our results suggest that success and failure should be considered in relation to the players' goals, that failure should be differentiated into temporary and perpetual failure, and that temporary failure (the struggle) is integral to the experience of success (overcoming the struggle). We further show that although success is generally more enjoyable than failure, players who enjoy a challenge are more likely to experience competence and find enjoyment within experiences of failure. Our findings contextualize what players perceive as failure and success, and that, for many players, success is overcoming the struggle of failure. ",

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note = "Funding Information: We thank NSERC and SWaGUR for funding, members of the Interaction Lab for feedback, and our participants. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 ACM.; 16th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2021 ; Conference date: 02-08-2021 Through 06-08-2021",

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Frommel, J, Klarkowski, M & Mandryk, RL 2021, The Struggle is Spiel: On Failure and Success in Games. in A Fowler, J Pirker, AA Canossa, AA Arya & C Harteveld (eds), Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2021., 3472565, ACM International Conference Proceeding Series, Association for Computing Machinery, 16th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2021, Virtual, Online, Canada, 2/08/21. https://doi.org/10.1145/3472538.3472565

The Struggle is Spiel: On Failure and Success in Games. / Frommel, Julian; Klarkowski, Madison; Mandryk, Regan L.
Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2021. ed. / Allan Fowler; Johanna Pirker; Alesandro Alessandro Canossa; Ali Ali Arya; Casper Harteveld. Association for Computing Machinery, 2021. 3472565 (ACM International Conference Proceeding Series).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › Academic › peer-review

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Frommel J, Klarkowski M, Mandryk RL. The Struggle is Spiel: On Failure and Success in Games. In Fowler A, Pirker J, Canossa AA, Arya AA, Harteveld C, editors, Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2021. Association for Computing Machinery. 2021. 3472565. (ACM International Conference Proceeding Series). doi: 10.1145/3472538.3472565

The Struggle is Spiel: On Failure and Success in Games

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

Access to Document

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Cite this