Understanding Playfulness - An Overview of the Revised Playful Experience (PLEX) Framework

Users increasingly expect products not only to be useful and efficient, but also to provide enjoyment and experiences. Playfulness is a state of mind of a user, or an approach to an activity. Design that elicits playfulness can make products emotionally appealing to the users and thus provide enjoyable experiences. This paper presents an overview of the revised Playful Experience (PLEX) framework intended to provide an understanding of the different elements that constitute Playful Experience. We summarize the original creation of the PLEX framework and present the validation efforts which led us to revise the framework. Finally, we provide updated definitions of 22 Playful Experience categories. We propose that the PLEX framework can be used by designers as a tool for assisting the design of products that elicit playful attitude and activities from the users