Exploration of Novelty as Part of the Player Experience of Need Satisfaction in Games

Abstract Need for novelty has been proposed as a potential candidate to be a basic psychological need, in addition to autonomy, competence, and relatedness in the Self-Determination Theory literature. In this paper, we investigate the need for novelty in the video gaming domain, and examine whether it differentiates as a distinct construct from the other three basic needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness. To be able to test this, we examined whether novelty uniquely predicts context specific outcomes, such as concentration, satisfaction and commitment in games. We conducted an online survey with 390 online video game players. Regression analyses showed that need for novelty indeed emerges as a distinct construct, and uniquely predicts positive outcomes. This study provides initial support for novelty as a basic psychological need that is needed for players' intrinsic motivation, and shows the importance of novelty in online video gaming. We discuss new avenues for research related to need for novelty and how consideration of novelty may impact game design.