“Relax and chill with the cute baby animals”: Exploratory study on relaxing mobile games
Siváková, Viktória (2024)
2024
Master's Programme in Game Studies
Informaatioteknologian ja viestinnän tiedekunta - Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2024-05-21
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202404224079
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202404224079
Tiivistelmä
The emerging genre of relaxing games is rising in popularity, yet there is no clear understanding of what relaxing games really are. There exists a general idea of the games’ aim to provide stress and anxiety relieving play experiences, but the genre has not been defined in previous research. With the rising demand and influence of the genre on players and industry, the goal of this research is to provide necessary groundwork for better understanding the nature of relaxing games, which in turn can benefit further research on the topic from other perspectives.
To constitute a genre overview with its typical characteristics, the thesis focuses on typical mechanics, features and other elements that relaxing games appear to possess. Studying these aspects is helpful to find similarities between the games that are labelled as relaxing and, in this way, provide a basis for framing the genre. For this reason, the research question is as follows: What characteristics, such as mechanics, features or other elements, are described as present in relaxing games to support anxiety and/or stress relief?
To approach this research problem, game descriptions were determined as a suitable source of information about the context of the game, its mechanics, features and other elements, which also makes them useful for players to familiarize themselves with the genre. For this research, free-to-play mobile relaxing games were chosen, as the platform and payment model allow easy access for potential players and in this way provide the opportunity of stress relief whenever needed. By examining descriptions of these games in Google Play Store, 23 games labelled as relaxing were selected for the study. The descriptions were coded and analyzed by conducting thematic analysis.
The results show that there are two types or subgenres of relaxing games. Relaxing puzzle games aim to provide anxiety and/or stress relief via the mechanics of solving puzzles and progressing through levels, which are often approached by tapping the screen in a specific way. Relaxing cultivation games, on the other hand, use mechanics of growing, decorating and collecting, and put the player in the role of a caretaker. Moreover, descriptions of relaxing cultivation games frame the game setting more often than relaxing puzzle games. The environment appears to be peaceful with animals or plants as the characters. The two types of setting are nature, most commonly forest or island, and venue, most commonly cafe. The data also shows that soothing audio, soft visuals, emphasis on beauty, easy gameplay with no pressure and possibility of short interruptible play sessions are typical for relaxing games.
By analyzing the descriptions of the selected relaxing games, it was possible to create an overview of the genre and list the typical characteristics that the games seem to have. The findings of the thesis can serve as a basis for further research on relaxing games and relaxing gaming. Future research can focus, for instance, on player perception of the effectiveness of relaxing games in providing relaxing play experiences. The findings also shed more light on the design of relaxing games, as this part of the game industry is getting more recognition among players.
To constitute a genre overview with its typical characteristics, the thesis focuses on typical mechanics, features and other elements that relaxing games appear to possess. Studying these aspects is helpful to find similarities between the games that are labelled as relaxing and, in this way, provide a basis for framing the genre. For this reason, the research question is as follows: What characteristics, such as mechanics, features or other elements, are described as present in relaxing games to support anxiety and/or stress relief?
To approach this research problem, game descriptions were determined as a suitable source of information about the context of the game, its mechanics, features and other elements, which also makes them useful for players to familiarize themselves with the genre. For this research, free-to-play mobile relaxing games were chosen, as the platform and payment model allow easy access for potential players and in this way provide the opportunity of stress relief whenever needed. By examining descriptions of these games in Google Play Store, 23 games labelled as relaxing were selected for the study. The descriptions were coded and analyzed by conducting thematic analysis.
The results show that there are two types or subgenres of relaxing games. Relaxing puzzle games aim to provide anxiety and/or stress relief via the mechanics of solving puzzles and progressing through levels, which are often approached by tapping the screen in a specific way. Relaxing cultivation games, on the other hand, use mechanics of growing, decorating and collecting, and put the player in the role of a caretaker. Moreover, descriptions of relaxing cultivation games frame the game setting more often than relaxing puzzle games. The environment appears to be peaceful with animals or plants as the characters. The two types of setting are nature, most commonly forest or island, and venue, most commonly cafe. The data also shows that soothing audio, soft visuals, emphasis on beauty, easy gameplay with no pressure and possibility of short interruptible play sessions are typical for relaxing games.
By analyzing the descriptions of the selected relaxing games, it was possible to create an overview of the genre and list the typical characteristics that the games seem to have. The findings of the thesis can serve as a basis for further research on relaxing games and relaxing gaming. Future research can focus, for instance, on player perception of the effectiveness of relaxing games in providing relaxing play experiences. The findings also shed more light on the design of relaxing games, as this part of the game industry is getting more recognition among players.