Play Motivation

IGN tipped me off to a survey the University of Amsterdam is conducting entitled "Motiviations for Playing Video Games." The survery takes about 15 minutes and is well worth your time. What is most interesting about the survey is how you're forced to question your own motivations for playing. This isn't a simple Q&A, its a search into your soul: Why do you play video games. The most fascinating question, to me, was this:

"While I am playing the video game, I think about how much I enjoy it."

Do you? Answers are guaranteed to be different for different people. Think about this for awhile and then get back to me. I want to know what you guys have to say. After you've come to some sort of conclusion, think about the same question from a designer's perspective. Do you want players to think about having fin while playing a video game? If so, then how do you go about designing a game to achieve this?

Take the Survey
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Also, IGN has a great interview with Demiurge Software's director of development about Brothers in Arms: Double Time for Wii. He basically talks about the importance of desiging to a system. Valuable information indeed.