Experiencing Digital Games Jari Takatalo 1 , Juhani Ihanus 1 , Jyrki Kaistinen 1 , Göte Nyman 1 and Jukka Häkkinen 2 1 Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland 2 Aalto University School of Science and Technology - Department of Media Technology ABSTRACT Games are part of many peoples’ lives and many different outcomes are related to them, such as enjoyment, learning and addiction, depending on who is making the evaluation. The special character of games is the experience they provide. Thus scholars in different fields are interested in understanding what constitutes such an experience. Yet even if interest in gaming experience is on the increase, there is no consensus on how such experience should be studied. Whatever approach is taken, the subjective and psychologically multidimensional nature of experience should be respected. This chapter endeavours to understand conscious experiences. First, we introduce a theoretical approach to psychologically-based and content-oriented experience. In the experiential cycle presented here, classical psychology and orienting-environmental content are connected. This generic approach is applicable to any human-environment interaction. Then, we apply the approach to entertainment digital games and present a framework with the poten- tial for studying experiences in games. When the experiential richness of games is disclosed and understood, better games can be designed and researchers can predict the consequences of play- ing games more accurately. J. Gackenbach (ed.), Video Game Play and Consciousness. Nova Science Publishers 2012.