Early adolescent players’ playfulness and psychological needs in online games

Early adolescent in-game playfulness (state), playfulness trait rated during the study procedure, and psychological needs fulfilled through online gaming were explored. Taiwan adolescents (N = 132) were recruited to connect to an online game for a certain period of time. Immediately after this gaming procedure, they completed questionnaires of players’ momentary playfulness and psychological needs. Online game playfulness trait was mapped onto 2 broad dimensions: self-game focused and cognition-affect driving. In-game playfulness was a more suitable indicator (than playfulness trait) to describe adolescents’ immediate experience of playfulness. Adolescents’ psychological needs included in-game autonomy, in-game competence, and in-game relatedness, and adolescents’ psychological needs predicted in-game playfulness.