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Article

Demystifying the First-Time Experience of Mobile Games: The Presence of a Tutorial Has a Positive Impact on Non-Expert Players’ Flow and Continuous-Use Intentions

by
Mario Passalacqua
1,*,
Raphaël Morin
2,
Sylvain Sénécal
2,
Lennart E. Nacke
3 and
Pierre-Majorique Léger
2
1
Polytechnique Montréal, Department of Mathematics and Industrial Engineering, Montréal, QC H3T 1J4, Canada
2
Tech3lab, HEC Montréal, Montréal, QC H3T 2A7, Canada
3
HCI Games Group, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Multimodal Technol. Interact. 2020, 4(3), 41; https://doi.org/10.3390/mti4030041
Submission received: 7 June 2020 / Revised: 7 July 2020 / Accepted: 9 July 2020 / Published: 11 July 2020

Abstract

The purpose of video game tutorials is to help players easily understand new game mechanics and thereby facilitate chances of early engagement with the main contents of one’s game. The mobile game market (i.e., phones and tablets) faces important retention issues caused by a high number of players who abandon games permanently within 24 h of downloading them. A laboratory experiment with 40 players tested how tutorial presence and player expertise impact on users’ psychophysiological states and continuous-use intentions (CUIs). The results suggest that in a simple game context, tutorials have a positive impact on non-expert players’ perceived state of flow and have no effect on expert players’ perceived flow. The results also suggest that flow has a positive impact on CUIs for both experts and non-experts. The theoretical contributions and managerial implications of these results are discussed.
Keywords: mobile gaming; tutorial; player expertise; flow; electrodermal activity; continuous-use intentions mobile gaming; tutorial; player expertise; flow; electrodermal activity; continuous-use intentions

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Passalacqua, M.; Morin, R.; Sénécal, S.; Nacke, L.E.; Léger, P.-M. Demystifying the First-Time Experience of Mobile Games: The Presence of a Tutorial Has a Positive Impact on Non-Expert Players’ Flow and Continuous-Use Intentions. Multimodal Technol. Interact. 2020, 4, 41. https://doi.org/10.3390/mti4030041

AMA Style

Passalacqua M, Morin R, Sénécal S, Nacke LE, Léger P-M. Demystifying the First-Time Experience of Mobile Games: The Presence of a Tutorial Has a Positive Impact on Non-Expert Players’ Flow and Continuous-Use Intentions. Multimodal Technologies and Interaction. 2020; 4(3):41. https://doi.org/10.3390/mti4030041

Chicago/Turabian Style

Passalacqua, Mario, Raphaël Morin, Sylvain Sénécal, Lennart E. Nacke, and Pierre-Majorique Léger. 2020. "Demystifying the First-Time Experience of Mobile Games: The Presence of a Tutorial Has a Positive Impact on Non-Expert Players’ Flow and Continuous-Use Intentions" Multimodal Technologies and Interaction 4, no. 3: 41. https://doi.org/10.3390/mti4030041

APA Style

Passalacqua, M., Morin, R., Sénécal, S., Nacke, L. E., & Léger, P.-M. (2020). Demystifying the First-Time Experience of Mobile Games: The Presence of a Tutorial Has a Positive Impact on Non-Expert Players’ Flow and Continuous-Use Intentions. Multimodal Technologies and Interaction, 4(3), 41. https://doi.org/10.3390/mti4030041

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