From Culturally Grounded Virtual Games to Real-World Destination Engagement: Flow, Cultural Identity and Behavioral Intention Conversion

Culturally embedded virtual games increasingly shape digital design, cultural communication, and place experience, yet how immersion translates into real-world engagement remains unclear. Drawing on the cognition–affect–conation model and flow theory, this study analyzes survey data from 458 young players. Presence, perceived realism, and curiosity significantly enhance emotional interaction and flow, while challenge improves flow but not emotional interaction. Flow mediates the relationship between virtual cultural experience and intention to visit real-world places; emotional interaction has no direct effect. Cultural identity strengthens the flow–participation relationship, highlighting its role in converting virtual immersion into cultural engagement. Culturally grounded games therefore function as destination pre-experience and cultural design platforms, through which digital scenes, cultural symbols, and interaction shape players’ imagination, identification, and willingness to participate in real-world cultural spaces. Findings inform game design, heritage communication, and place-experience design.