Abstract
In order to study the impact of game user experience features on flow, this study documented player reactions to different versions of Tetris. These reactions were: psychological need satisfaction, psychological need frustration, self-efficacy, and flow. Participants played three different versions of Tetris: NES Tetris, Tetris Effect for personal computers (PC), and Tetris Effect for virtual reality (VR). The results were mixed depending on the construct and the version of Tetris being analyzed. The researcher found that that there is a significant positive relationship between self-efficacy and flow in VR Tetris Effect, a significant positive relationship between flow and competence need satisfaction on all three versions of Tetris, and a significant negative relationship between flow and competence need frustration for NES Tetris and PC Tetris Effect. Post-hoc research was conducted on flow’s fluency and absorption dimensions to better explain the patterns observed in the overall flow scores.
Degree Date
Spring 2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.I.T.
Department
Production
Advisor
Elizabeth Stringer
Second Advisor
Dr. Karl Steiner
Format
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Recommended Citation
Rysdyk, Douglas, "Stacking Satisfaction: Exploring Flow and Competence in Tetris User Experiences" (2025). Production Theses and Dissertations. 6.
https://scholar.smu.edu/guildhall_production_etds/6
