University of Twente Student Theses
As of Friday, 8 August 2025, the current Student Theses repository is no longer available for thesis uploads. A new Student Theses repository will be available starting Friday, 15 August 2025.
Embracing Mortality : How Narrative Engagement and Eudaimonic Experiences Contribute to Mortality Reflection in Spiritfarer, Explored through Diary Studies and Interviews
Wee, Nienke van der (2025) Embracing Mortality : How Narrative Engagement and Eudaimonic Experiences Contribute to Mortality Reflection in Spiritfarer, Explored through Diary Studies and Interviews.
|
PDF
1MB |
| Abstract: | Introduction: This study explores how Spiritfarer encourages mortality reflection through narrative engagement and eudaimonic experiences. In the game, players care for spirits and guide them to the afterlife while engaging with themes surrounding death. The narrative, characters, and gameplay mechanics encourage meaningful reflection on mortality. The game explores death positively, inspired by encounters with patients, caregivers, and personal stories. Experiential Learning Theory is used as a lens to analyse how participants reflected on mortality through a structured process of experiencing, reflecting, conceptualising, and potentially applying their insights. Materials and methods: A qualitative approach was used, combining diary studies and semi-structured interviews with 11 players who each played the game for around 25 hours. The diary entries provided insight into participants’ thoughts and feelings, while the interviews allowed for an opportunity to reflect more after finishing the game. Results: Participants often shared feeling emotional connections to in-game characters and gaining new insights. Some participants shared they experienced a shift in their perspective on mortality, while others maintained their existing beliefs or found that their beliefs were reinforced. Conclusion: This study contributes to the exploration of how digital games can result in meaningful reflective experiences. It highlights that games like Spiritfarer are able to facilitate emotional and philosophical engagement with complex themes such as death through narrative engagement and eudaimonic elements. These findings support the potential for digital games to serve as tools for eudaimonic experiences and meaningful reflection. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Master) |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Subject: | 05 communication studies |
| Programme: | Communication Science MSc (60713) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/106630 |
| Export this item as: | BibTeX EndNote HTML Citation Reference Manager |
Show download statistics for this publication
Show download statistics for this publicationRepository Staff Only: item control page