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Development and Validation of the Boardgaming Motivations Scale

Games, and boardgames specifically, are an increasingly central part of many individuals’ media diets. Boardgames also have immense potential as naturalistic laboratories for studying psychological phenomena, providing players opportunities for small-group and interpersonal interactions with social, emotional, and cognitive consequences. Although different boardgaming motivations likely modulate these processes and outcomes, no grounded, validated instrument exists to measure them. This three-study investigation explored gaming motivations of and gratifications enjoyed by boardgamers (Study 1) and drew from this exploration to develop the Boardgaming Motivations Scale (Study 2; N = 1,045). Exploratory structural equation models provided initial evidence of the scale’s validity (Study 2). The scale was further refined, confirmed, and validated with an independent sample of less involved boardgamers (Study 3; N = 652). The diverse pool of motivations for playing boardgames inductively identified in Study 1 were reduced to seven dimensions in Study 2 and finally to six in Study 3. These dimensions reflected lusory, immersion, group sociality, community, escapism, and mastery boardgaming motivations. Relationships among these motivations and preferences for boardgame mechanics and genres, individual differences, and videogaming motivations provided initial evidence of the construct, convergent, predictive, and discriminant validity of the Boardgaming Motivations Scale. Supplemental material and data: https://osf.io/cqusx/