The Motivation to Play Scale (MOPS) - introducing a validated measure of gaming motivation

With billions of players, gaming is ubiquitous in everyday life. The growing interest in games has also sparked scientific interest in why people play. Existing measures, however, are focused on specific theories, genres, or games, lack validation, or highlight disordered gaming. Therefore, the Motivation to Play Scale (MOPS) provides a comprehensive scale assessing general gaming motivation. After an item pool was based on a systematic literature review, we evaluated the dimensionality of items and used exploratory factor analysis (N₁ = 562) resulting in 58 items and a 10-factor structure (i.e., creativity/exploration, escapism, competition, prestige, enjoyment, achievement, socializing, boredom, aggression, and skill). Lastly, we cross-validated the structure using confirmatory factor analysis and exploratory structural equation modeling (N₂ = 732). Latent profile analysis identified four gamer types (i.e., casual players, high performers, crafters, and highly involved players). Overall, results suggest that the MOPS is reliable and valid to assess general gaming motivation.