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Play Across Boundaries: Exploring Cross-Cultural Maldaimonic Game Experiences

Katie Seaborn, Satoru Iseya, Shun Hidaka, Sota Kobuki, Shruti Chandra

TL;DR

The paper investigates whether maldaimonic game UX—a self-affirming, egocentric, and potentially harmful gaming orientation—transcends Western cultural boundaries by comparing Japanese players with a US cohort. Using a mixed-methods design anchored by critical incident reports and standardized scales (PANAS-X, HEMA, PXI, and a long-term meaning item), the study finds substantial cross-cultural alignment in motivations and experiences, with notable differences in affect and hedonic/eudaimonic orientations. Japanese participants show stronger links to eudaimonia and long-term meaning, while US participants exhibit higher hedonia and overall affect; these patterns are contextualized via Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. The results support the cross-cultural viability of maldaimonia as an experiential construct, while highlighting measurement and methodological considerations, and they lay the groundwork for future scale development and broader HCI applications in maldaimonic UX across cultures.

Abstract

Maldaimonic game experiences occur when people engage in personally fulfilling play through egocentric, destructive, and/or exploitative acts. Initial qualitative work verified this orientation and experiential construct for English-speaking Westerners. In this comparative mixed methods study, we explored whether and how maldaimonic game experiences and orientations play out in Japan, an Eastern gaming capital that may have cultural values incongruous with the Western philosophical basis underlying maldaimonia. We present findings anchored to the initial frameworks on maldaimonia in game experiences that show little divergence between the Japanese and US cohorts. We also extend the qualitative findings with quantitative measures on affect, player experience, and the related constructs of hedonia and eudaimonia. We confirm this novel construct for Japan and set the stage for scale development.

Play Across Boundaries: Exploring Cross-Cultural Maldaimonic Game Experiences

TL;DR

The paper investigates whether maldaimonic game UX—a self-affirming, egocentric, and potentially harmful gaming orientation—transcends Western cultural boundaries by comparing Japanese players with a US cohort. Using a mixed-methods design anchored by critical incident reports and standardized scales (PANAS-X, HEMA, PXI, and a long-term meaning item), the study finds substantial cross-cultural alignment in motivations and experiences, with notable differences in affect and hedonic/eudaimonic orientations. Japanese participants show stronger links to eudaimonia and long-term meaning, while US participants exhibit higher hedonia and overall affect; these patterns are contextualized via Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. The results support the cross-cultural viability of maldaimonia as an experiential construct, while highlighting measurement and methodological considerations, and they lay the groundwork for future scale development and broader HCI applications in maldaimonic UX across cultures.

Abstract

Maldaimonic game experiences occur when people engage in personally fulfilling play through egocentric, destructive, and/or exploitative acts. Initial qualitative work verified this orientation and experiential construct for English-speaking Westerners. In this comparative mixed methods study, we explored whether and how maldaimonic game experiences and orientations play out in Japan, an Eastern gaming capital that may have cultural values incongruous with the Western philosophical basis underlying maldaimonia. We present findings anchored to the initial frameworks on maldaimonia in game experiences that show little divergence between the Japanese and US cohorts. We also extend the qualitative findings with quantitative measures on affect, player experience, and the related constructs of hedonia and eudaimonia. We confirm this novel construct for Japan and set the stage for scale development.
Paper Structure (35 sections, 3 figures, 7 tables)

This paper contains 35 sections, 3 figures, 7 tables.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Theoretical Background
  3. From Eudaimonia to Maldaimonia
  4. Maldaimonia-Adjacent Concepts in Games and Play
  5. Methods
  6. Participants
  7. Procedure
  8. Qualitative Instrument
  9. Quantitative Instrument
  10. Positive and Negative Affect (H1)
  11. Hedonic and Eudaimonic Motivations (H2, H3)
  12. Player Experience (H2, H5)
  13. Long-term Meaning Potential (H4)
  14. Data Analysis
  15. Qualitative Analysis
  16. ...and 20 more sections

Figures (3)

  • Figure 1: Hedonic scores (left) were statistically significantly higher for US participants. Eudaimonic scores (right) were statistically significantly higher for Japanese participants.
  • Figure 2: Positive affect scores (left) were statistically significantly higher for US participants. Negative affect scores (right) were statistically significantly higher for Japanese participants.
  • Figure 3: Basic positive emotion scores related to self-assurance and attentiveness were statistically significantly higher for US participants (\ref{['fig:basicpositiveall']}). All basic negative emotion scores were statistically statistically significantly for Japanese participants (\ref{['fig:basicnegative']}). Other affective scores show higher values for US participants (\ref{['fig:otheraffective']}).