<p>Oddly enough, the place where you find the most information about this topic is where there's a lot of money to be made from it.   Facebook games or games in general.   If you focus on "why do people like to play some games and not others", then you're asking more of an economical question, and there will be a lot more information on the topic.</p>

<p>Example:
Funology: From Usability to Enjoyment (Human-Computer Interaction Series)</p>

<p>There's plenty of other works of this kind.</p>

<p>If you want things that are not related to games, I recommend Bruce C. Daniels's Puritans At Play: Leisure and Recreation in Early New England.</p>

<p>I believe both of these are available on Open Library.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-01-13T16:53:21.907Z
Thanks!  I'm really looking for peer-reviewed research, not anecdotal or philosophical stuff, so the HCI series could be promising.
Krysta
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-01-13T17:27:48.033Z
Okay, that's fair.   Thanks.
zumalifeguard
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-01-14T19:18:50.770Z
@Krysta if you have extra criteria for answers, like demanding that they be empirical (since, as we've discussed before, this is not an inherent criteria for CogSci) then you should make that explicit in your question out of respect for the time of people who write the answers.
Artem Kaznatcheev
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-01-14T19:24:49.933Z
I think asking for a scientific or cognitive definition or a body of research is specific enough--it doesn't have to be empirical, specifically (nor did I say that), just well-supported research and not general speculation.
Krysta
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-01-13T16:50:54.937Z
2015-01-13T16:50:54.937Z
zumalifeguard
<p>What does research have to say about defining "fun"--what it is or when it happens?  I've found some research on whether or not people rate specific things as fun, and lots of misleading titles with the word "fun" in them, but very little on what fun is (cognitively, neurologically, affectively, socially) and when it happens.  I also found a couple of <a href="https://cogsci.stackexchange.com/questions/6477/why-do-we-find-things-fun">cogsci.SE</a> <a href="https://cogsci.stackexchange.com/questions/5610/what-makes-some-things-more-fun-than-others-universally">questions</a> but the answers are either entirely unsupported or stray into other waters (motivation, addiction).</p>

<p><strong>Is there a cognitive or scientific definition of "fun"?<br>
Is there a body of research on when fun happens?</strong></p>

<emotion><terminology><well-being>
Definition of or research on fun
Krysta
# Definition of or research on fun

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-12-18)

What does research have to say about defining "fun"--what it is or when it happens? I've found some research on whether or not people rate specific things as fun, and lots of misleading titles with the word "fun" in them, but very little on what fun is (cognitively, neurologically, affectively, socially) and when it happens. I also found a couple of [cogsci.SE](https://cogsci.stackexchange.com/questions/6477/why-do-we-find-things-fun) [questions](https://cogsci.stackexchange.com/questions/5610/what-makes-some-things-more-fun-than-others-universally) but the answers are either entirely unsupported or stray into other waters (motivation, addiction).

**Is there a cognitive or scientific definition of "fun"?  
Is there a body of research on when fun happens?**

**Tags:** emotion, terminology, well-being


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2015-01-13. Score: 2

Oddly enough, the place where you find the most information about this topic is where there's a lot of money to be made from it. Facebook games or games in general. If you focus on "why do people like to play some games and not others", then you're asking more of an economical question, and there will be a lot more information on the topic.

Example:
Funology: From Usability to Enjoyment (Human-Computer Interaction Series)

There's plenty of other works of this kind.

If you want things that are not related to games, I recommend Bruce C. Daniels's Puritans At Play: Leisure and Recreation in Early New England.

I believe both of these are available on Open Library.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thanks!  I'm really looking for peer-reviewed research, not anecdotal or philosophical stuff, so the HCI series could be promising.  
> **username_1**: Okay, that's fair.   Thanks.  
> **username_2**: @username_0 if you have extra criteria for answers, like demanding that they be empirical (since, as we've discussed before, this is not an inherent criteria for CogSci) then you should make that explicit in your question out of respect for the time of people who write the answers.  
> **username_0**: I think asking for a scientific or cognitive definition or a body of research is specific enough--it doesn't have to be empirical, specifically (nor did I say that), just well-supported research and not general speculation.  

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