Game Psychology: Understanding Player Mentality and Game Design
Explore how games influence behaviour, motivation, and cognitive processes in this engaging online course on game psychology.
Duration
4 weeksWeekly study
2 hours100% online
How it works
Game Psychology: Understanding Player Mentality and Game Design
Uncover the psychology behind player experiences
Games are more than entertainment—they engage cognitive processes, influence behaviour, and shape decision-making.
Join this four-week online course and explore how perception, sensation, and behavioural psychology impact game design and player experiences.
You’ll walk away with a fresh perspective to improve game design and playability by uncovering how game mechanics, reward, and challenges players.
Discover how personality shapes gameplay
Player psychology varies based on personality traits, emotional responses, and motivation. You’ll first examine how personality psychology, including elements of sports psychology, helps explain player engagement and decision-making.
By understanding these traits, you’ll be able to design experiences that resonate with different player types.
Apply psychological principles to game design and beyond
You’ll then explore how psychological insights can transform game development, making experiences more immersive and engaging. Unpacking gamification, you’ll learn to apply these techniques beyond the realm of gaming, such as in education for healthcare sectors.
By analysing real-world applications, you’ll learn how psychology enhances motivation, problem-solving, and user engagement.
Create more immersive and engaging gaming experiences
By the final week of this course, you’ll have a strong foundation in game psychology and its application ready to take on your next project with the tools to create games that captivate, challenge, and inspire players.
Syllabus
Week 1
Cognitive factors in Video Game Design
Introduce
The cognitive viewpoint, encompassing mainly the areas of perception and sensation, alongside their interconnected facets, will be a focal point of our exploration.
Cognition
The role of the brain in the process of playing games.
Vision
Vision is the most important and direct thing you feel when playing a video game.
Hearing, Touch and other senses
As mentioned earlier, vision is the primary channel through which we acquire most of our information, yet sound in games also conveys information and possesses artistic merit, much like visuals do.
Week 2
Behavioral study in Video Game Design
Behaviorist Psychology
This communication is essential for creating an engaging and immersive experience, and the player feels both challenged and supported, learning the game's rules and mechanics through active participation.
Shaping Player Behavior in Games
Introduce how video games shape players' behavior.
Tutorial In Games
Introduce how video games guide players.
Week 3
Personality Psychology in Video Game Design
Why do we play games
Why do we start playing games? Like engaging in any other activity, the initiation of playing games always stems from a motivation.
Players differ yet share similarities
Even players devoted to the same game often have their own unique reasons and aspects they favor.
Emotions, Love, and Violence
In English, the terms "emotion," "sentiment," and "feeling" are often used interchangeably in casual conversation, but they have distinct meanings in academic and psychological contexts.
Week 4
To learn more about Video Game
Learn from fellow researchers
Learn more from fellow researchers
Closing Remarks of the Course
Spending these past four weeks with you has been a great pleasure, and I hope the content has been enlightening for you.
When would you like to start?
Start straight away and join a global classroom of learners. If the course hasn’t started yet you’ll see the future date listed below.
Available now
Learning on this course
On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.
What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...
- Improve learners' professional knowledge about psychology in video game design.
- Explain what types of psychological designs are used in video games.
- Describe various specific video game cases from the perspective of game psychology.
- Explore more game design methods from the perspectives of psychology and emotional experience.
Who is the course for?
This course is designed for gamers, designers, and anyone curious about the psychology behind gaming. It’s important to have some hands-on experience with games before starting, and learners are encouraged to explore the games referenced on this course for a deeper understanding.
Who will you learn with?
Who developed the course?
Communication University of China
The Communication University of China (CUC) is one of the China’s key universities included in 211 Project and “985 Project Innovation Platform” under the Double First-Class Initiative, which is directly administered by the Ministry of Education. CUC was the first communication university founded in 1954 . In August 2004, it was renamed from Beijing Broadcasting Institute to Communication University of China.
Ways to learn | Subscribe & save | Buy this course | Start learning today |
|---|---|---|---|
| Choose the best way to learn for you! | $349.99 for one year Automatically renews | $79/one-off payment | Free |
| Develop skills to further your career | Fulfill your current learning need | Try this course - with limits | |
| Access to this course | tick | tick | Limited to 4 weeks |
| Access to 1,000+ courses | tick | cross | cross |
| Learn at your own pace | tick | tick | cross |
| Discuss your learning in comments | tick | tick | tick |
| Certificate when you're eligible | Digital only | Printed and digital | cross |
Cancel for free anytime |
Ways to learn
Choose the best way to learn for you!
Buy this course
$79/one-off payment
Fulfill your current learning need
- Access to this course
- Learn at your own pace
- Discuss your learning in comments
- Printed and digital certificate when you’re eligible
Subscribe & save
$349.99 for one year
Automatically renews
Develop skills to further your career
- Access to this course
- Access to 1,000+ courses
- Learn at your own pace
- Discuss your learning in comments
- Digital certificate when you're eligible
Cancel for free anytime
Start learning today
Free
Try this course - with limits
- Limited to 4 weeks
Find out more about certificates, Unlimited or buying a course (Upgrades) | |||
Find out more about certificates, Unlimited or buying a course (Upgrades)
Learning on FutureLearn
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- Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
- Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores
Join a global classroom
- Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
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- Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others
Map your progress
- As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
- Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
- Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate
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