ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we discuss player responses to transgressive game content with point of departure in the psychology of emotions. We first introduce the idea of games as emotion machines with the purpose of generating emotions in players. The chapter first looks at how transgressive game experiences can be understood through the concept of flow and shows how transgressive game experiences challenge the notion of flow. With point of departure in cognitive psychology and the philosophy of emotion, the chapter moves on to discuss the relationship between cognition, emotion, and affect in connection with game experiences. With point of departure in the empirical data, we discuss how the participants’ immediate responses to transgressive game content differ from their later, reflective responses to the same game content. The chapter concludes by stressing the centrality of emotions in games and their role in understanding games as an aesthetic experience.
