Why to Play? - What motivates players to participate in orthogamic trading card game play
Virtanen, Vilma Matilda (2025)
2025
Master's Programme in Game Studies
Informaatioteknologian ja viestinnän tiedekunta - Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2025-04-30
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202504294444
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202504294444
Tiivistelmä
The thesis examines what motivates players to engage in trading card game (TCG play), how the motivations compare to other genres like MMORPGs, and how gender affects the motivations for the play. As there has been little prior research on player motivation in TCGs and the subgenre of card games in general, the work builds a basis for possible future research of TCGs. The thesis seeks to understand the overall motivations for the TCG play, as while some of the play happens in an orthogamic way, there is also part of the play which happens outside of the actual orthogamic play.
The online quantitative survey conducted in February 2025 gathered over 300 responses, which were analysed utilising exploratory factor analysis (EFA). After EFA, the extracted factors were compared to the results of existing research on player motivation for MMORPG play. The possible difference between genders was analysed by comparing male and non-male respondents' answers using Chi-Square analysis.
The findings indicate five factors for TCG play: competitiveness, escapism, social, manipulation and design. While some of the factors were directly related to the orthogamic gameplay, some of the factors showed how TCG play is much more than the actual act of playing against other players. Some of the factors pointed towards the importance of social interactions both inside and outside of the gameplay, the stress-relieving aspects of the play, and how players could understand concepts outside of the gameplay, such as social interactions, through their play.
Two of those five factors, escapism and manipulation, were shared factors across the genres. While there can be multiple reasons for this, one of them could be the difference between gaming environments, as TCGs are played in physical environments, while MMORPGs are played in digital ones. The study also found that while there were differences between male and non-male participants, those were not significant enough to affect the motivations in great detail. Still, there were some differences in how different genders approached TCG play, such as the competitive aspects of the play.
The online quantitative survey conducted in February 2025 gathered over 300 responses, which were analysed utilising exploratory factor analysis (EFA). After EFA, the extracted factors were compared to the results of existing research on player motivation for MMORPG play. The possible difference between genders was analysed by comparing male and non-male respondents' answers using Chi-Square analysis.
The findings indicate five factors for TCG play: competitiveness, escapism, social, manipulation and design. While some of the factors were directly related to the orthogamic gameplay, some of the factors showed how TCG play is much more than the actual act of playing against other players. Some of the factors pointed towards the importance of social interactions both inside and outside of the gameplay, the stress-relieving aspects of the play, and how players could understand concepts outside of the gameplay, such as social interactions, through their play.
Two of those five factors, escapism and manipulation, were shared factors across the genres. While there can be multiple reasons for this, one of them could be the difference between gaming environments, as TCGs are played in physical environments, while MMORPGs are played in digital ones. The study also found that while there were differences between male and non-male participants, those were not significant enough to affect the motivations in great detail. Still, there were some differences in how different genders approached TCG play, such as the competitive aspects of the play.