Article Immersed in Virtual Worlds and Minds: Effects of In-Game Storytelling on Immersion, Need Satisfaction, and Affective Theory of Mind

Past research on video game effects was often limited to explaining effects of game content and mode, leaving structural and contextual game elements scarcely investigated. The present research examined the yet unclear role of narration in video games, by adapting concepts and methodology from video game research based on self-determination theory as well as past research on the effects of literary fiction. Results provided evidence for the facilitation of immersion and an immersion-mediated enhancement of autonomy and relatedness need satisfaction through in-game storytelling, suggesting a mutual enhancement of immersion and need satisfaction. Moreover, in-game storytelling enhanced affective theory of mind. Perspectives on future research, connecting in-game storytelling and game content to complement current knowledge of video game effects on various real-world outcomes, are discussed. Keywords video games, in-game storytelling, self-determination theory, theory of mind Given the ever-growing economic impact (NPD, 2014) and the immense number of video game consumers (Interactive Software Federation of Europe, 2012), a sustained interest in the consequences of video game play is not surprising. Arguably, the predominant research on video game effects can be described as concern focused (Przybylski, Rigby, & Ryan, 2010), examining potential negative effects of gaming such as the effects of violent video games on aggression (Anderson et al., 2010; Greitemeyer & Mügge, 2014, for meta-analyses). But there is also recent research showing that playing video games may benefit social relations. For exam-ple, prosocial game content was shown to increase prosocial outcomes (Prot et al., 2014) and reduce aggression (Greite