Global Trends in Flow Theory Research within Gameful Environments: A Scoping Review, Bibliometric Analysis and Agenda for Future Studies

Abstract

<p>A key challenge of any gameful environment (e.g., gamified systems, simulators, and board games) is to lead users to an engaging experience. Over the years, one of the most coveted and studied engagement experiences is the flow experience (from Flow Theory). However, it is difficult to identify the global trends in Flow Theory research within gameful environments. Stepping towards closing this gap, in this paper, we present a scoping review and bibliometric analysis on studies involving Flow Theory and gameful environment. The main results indicate that i) exists an increase in the number of studies published in the last years, ii) most of the studies are concentrated in the field of education, iii) the authors focus on conducting quantitative studies, iv) 601 authors from 40 different countries have published studies in recent years and v) only two countries are leading the publications in this field. Our results especially contribute to the fields of Human-computer Interaction, Game Studies, and Positive Psychology, presenting an overview of studies involving Flow Theory in gameful environments.</p>