Turkish Journal of Computer and Mathematics Education Vol.12 No.3 (2021), 1018-1028 Research Article 1018 Evaluating Game-Playing Activities of a MOBA Game with Gameplay Experience Instruments Maizatul Hayati Mohamad Yatimˡ, Tan Wee Hoe 2 1,2 Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris maizatul@fskik.upsi.edu.my 1 , whtan@fskik.upsi.edu.my 2 Article History: Received: 10 November 2020; Revised: 12 January 2021; Accepted: 27 January 2021; Published online: 05 April 2021 Abstract: This article reports the findings of a study that aimed to evaluate gamers’ experiences in playing MOBA and DOTA2 games using gameplayexperience instruments. This study was based on a qualitative approach involving interviews and observations. The study sample consisted of 10 participants who were divided into two teams comprising five players who competed with one another in the best of five matches. Data collection through observations was performed by video recording gamers’ activities during the games and by checking them against a checklist of play experiences. Interviews were then followed that asked the players several pertinent questions to gather their opinions and feedback regarding the common experiences they gained by playing the games. The narrative analysis of recorded activities and interview feedback showed five major factors had significant impacts on players’ overall experience in playing the MOBAgame, namelycompetitiveness, mechanic, socialization, emotion, and immersion.In particular, the mechanics and emotions of the game had the most and least impacts on their overall experience, respectively. Keywords:DOTA game, MOBA game, user experience (UX), game-play experiences, instrument. 1. Introduction The gameplay is a form of interaction thorough which players collaborate and interact with a structured form of play (Becker, 2017; Macklin & Sharp, 2016, Salen& Zimmerman, 2004). Such interaction is defined by several components, such as patterns of game rules (Michael & Chen, 2010), interconnections between players and the game (McEvoy, 2016), obstacles and challenges(Denisova et al., 2020), storytelling(Hand, 2018), cognitive skills acquisition (Wasserman & Koban, 2019), and immersive experiences (Muntean et al., 2018). The natural connection between these components and gameplay experience gradually leads to a meaningful play that increases satisfaction among players (Landers et al., 2018; Schrader et al., 2017). Studies of gameplay experiences in game-playing activities in today’s cultures have been gaining strong traction of late (Abeele et al., 2020; Klabbers, 2018; Deterding, 2017).In the context of gameplay experiences, most studies have attempted to examine the motivation of playing games based on the player-centered design approach(Todello&Nacke, 2019). The approach initially focuses on the need of players to have the option to evaluate game needs, solve game obstacles or challenges, and react with proper choices of decisions with intended skills (Tondello et al., 2019; Turner, 2018). Thus, understanding gameplay experiences is a basic skill that all game developersmustacquire. Essentially, they can design and develop new gameplay or new games by observing how players play and react togameplay experiences in game-playing activities (Wong, Maizatul, Tan & Yap, 2019; May Asliza, 2018; Ghavifekr, 2018; Nijholt, 2014). Moreover, game-playing activities require players to havestrongcritical thinking, aptitude, and skills to examine the levels of logic and rationale of games, fix errors and bugs in programs, focus on game mechanics, aesthetics, playability, and a wide range of subtleties (Nur, Nur, &Laili, 2020; Ampatzidou&Gugerell, 2019; de Souza, Monteiro&Jucá, 2019; Haz, et al. 2018; Mossman, et al., 2017; Farber, 2015). The following three sections discuss the motivation that compelled the researchers to conduct this study, namely the components of gameplay, the gameplay experience, and the need for game designers to understand the requirements of gameplay. The discussion of this article centers on a deep understanding ofplayers’ gameplay experience in game-playing activities. 2. Motivation Many consider the study of gameplay experience falls under the user experience (UX) study (Bernhaupt, 2015)that investigates the emotions and attitudes displayed by end-users when using a product, service, or system (Nacke, Mirza-Babaei&Drachen, 2019; Norman & Nielsen, 2019). Some even believe that any study within the UX field is subjective as individual users may experience UX design in different ways (Shin, 2019). Despite such subjectivity, UX is an important factor in designing a product, service, or system, as it “includes the