Attribution Theory

From a sports psychology perspective, attribution theory, proposed by American social psychologist Bernard Weiner, explains how individuals interpret and assign causes to their success and failure in various situations. Weiner’s attribution theory categorizes reasons into four dimensions: locus (internal vs. external), stability (stable vs. unstable), controllability, and universality. However, focusing on your question, we primarily consider the first two dimensions – locus and stability – to describe how Players make sense of their outcomes in sports activities.

Within Weiner’s attribution model, a two-dimensional coordinate system can be used to illustrate different types of attributions, where the x-axis represents locus (internal vs. external) and the y-axis represents stability (stable vs. unstable). According to this framework, there are four primary attribution categories:

Internal Stable Factors (Internal-Stable):
These factors are inherent to the individual and relatively unchanging, such as ability. If an athlete attributes success to their innate ability, they might experience pride and increased confidence. Conversely, attributing failure to a lack of ability can lead to decreased self-esteem and negative emotions.

Internal Unstable Factors (Internal-Unstable):
These factors are internal to the individual but subject to change, such as effort. Players who attribute success to their hard work may feel satisfied and motivated. If failure is attributed to not trying hard enough, it can spur determination to work harder in training.

External Stable Factors (External-Stable):
These factors are external to the individual and relatively fixed, such as task difficulty. Players attributing failure to the high difficulty of the competition might feel resigned but less likely to blame themselves. Success attributed to lower task difficulty might not significantly boost their sense of self-efficacy.

External Unstable Factors (External-Unstable):
These factors are external to the individual and prone to fluctuation, such as luck or referee decisions. Players attributing success to good fortune might not feel especially proud. Conversely, attributing failure to bad luck or unfair refereeing can lead to frustration or disappointment without questioning their own abilities.

In sports psychology, the attribution theory is primarily utilized to analyze aspects of athletes’ mental health, motivation, and persistence. Similarly, in game design, the theory of attribution plays a critical role in understanding how players perceive the outcomes of their gaming sessions. Different genres of games, or even different mechanics within the same genre, can influence whether players attribute their success or failure to their own skills or to the game itself.

Especially in instances of gaming setbacks, if players attribute the results to their own capabilities (Internal-Stable) or the game difficulty (External-Stable), there is a higher likelihood that they will disengage from the game—after all, if they perceive their skills as inadequate to overcome excessively challenging games, the desire to continue playing diminishes. This sentiment resonates deeply with many readers who might have been intimidated by the notorious difficulty of so-called “Souls-like” games. Indeed, the steep learning curve and unforgiving nature of these games can lead some players to feel overwhelmed and decide to step away, attributing their inability to progress to personal shortcomings rather than exploring adaptive strategies or seeking to improve their skills.

After all, gamers are not athletes; they engage in gaming to satisfy certain needs, which can indeed be diverse. However, the demand to simply be subjected to hardship by a game is likely to be too niche. While some players may find a perverse pleasure in overcoming extreme challenges, the majority seek experiences that align more closely with their personal preferences and comfort levels. Games that offer a wide range of difficulties or adjustable settings can cater to a broader audience, accommodating those who prefer a more relaxed experience as well as those who thrive on intense challenges.

In most cases, when players attribute the outcome to their own efforts (Internal-Unstable) or luck(External-Unstable), it clearly instills in them the courage to try again. Taking the once-popular mobile game Flappy Bird as an example, the game features a straightforward mechanism, simple controls, and randomly generated levels that provide a constant sense of novelty. Players often found themselves attributing their failures to either not having tried hard enough or to an element of bad luck, such as a particularly tricky pipe configuration. This attribution style encouraged repeated attempts, as players felt that with a bit more effort or better luck, they could succeed. The game’s simplicity and the feeling that success was just within reach kept players engaged and coming back for more, despite the high level of difficulty.

Here, effort seems to be more motivating than luck, as the player’s sense of control over the game and their belief in their ability to influence the game’s outcome are crucial sources of engagement, which is also mentioned in Self-Determination Theory (SDT). SDT posits that people have innate psychological needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness and that these needs must be satisfied for optimal motivation and psychological health. When players feel that their actions directly impact the game’s results, their sense of competence and autonomy increases, leading to higher levels of intrinsic motivation, which is the drive to engage in an activity for sheer pleasure and interest in the activity itself.

So, I invite you to reflect on your own gaming experiences. Are there any games that tormented you for a long time yet left you unable to quit? When you failed in a game, how did you attribute the cause of your failure? Did you blame it on your own lack of skill, the unfairness of the game’s design, or perhaps a combination of both? Understanding your own attribution patterns can provide insights into why certain games captivate you despite their challenges and how these attributions influence your motivation to continue playing.