A Study on the Application of Emotional Design in Smartphone MMORPGs and Impact on Player Immersion

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of emotional design on the players’ immersion in a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) running on a smartphone, and to propose a design direction for future MMORPGs suitable for smartphones. To this end, the literature analysis revealed that with the rapid development of communication technology, smartphones have become a very important gaming platform. the MMORPG genre has become the central genre of gaming platforms. Most of the existing research focuses on improving player immersion through sensory stimulation, which poses difficulties and limitations in solving the problem of lack of immersion. this study conducted surveys and interviews with smartphone MMORPG players to analyze the three stages of immersion - building, deepening, and declining - and comprehensively summarize how emotional design affects the player's immersive experience, suggesting strategies to enhance immersion. The value of this study lies in the new perspectives and approaches to game design that allow developers to gain a deeper understanding of players’ needs, and we hope that this research will provide a theoretical foundation for the improvement and development of the MMORPG genre on smartphones.