The Enlightened Jammer: Intrinsic Drives for Game Jam Participations

We present a qualitative model which can be used to encode free-text data gathered from game jam participations. Previously, the literature has focused on aggregated quantitative results, which left a gap in qualitative research, in particular methods for understanding game jam participations. Our model that we call ‘enlightened jammer’ comprises three pillars of intrinsic drives: inspiration, reward salience, and the mode of deliberate practice. From the three pillars we form nine attributes, which can be used to encode game jam questionnaires, interviews and self-reported surveys. In this paper we outline the motivations for a qualitative model, disseminate the nine attributes, and discuss our observations after encoding questionnaires from participants in two game jams. Additionally, we propose a set of seven archetypes summarised by the enlightened jammer model for understanding game jam participatory patterns.