Digital games, the aftermath : qualitative insights into post game experiences

To date, most research on user experiences in digital games has focused on what happens during game play. In this chapter, we conceptualize the phenomenon of postgame experiences, that is, experiences gamers have once they stopped playing. We propose and tackle two types of postgame experiences: shortterm postgame experiences that arise immediately after game play and long-term postgame experiences that occur after repeatedly and intensively playing a particular game or game genre. We present two focus group studies that offered qualitative insights into which postgame experiences are at play, to what extent, and under which conditions. The chapter concludes with a discussion and recommendations for future research.