What Makes Online Collectible Card Games Fun to Play?

Online collectible card games are fun for different reasons at different levels of play, and a case study of The Eye of Judgment, a PlayStation 3 title, shows that enjoyment is strongest during matches and weakest in the collection and deck-building phases. The analysis applies Malone's intrinsic motivation factors and the GameFlow model across three levels of play: collecting, deck building, and matches. Enjoyment is strongly supported at the match level, while concentration and skill development are less present during collecting, and feedback is weaker during deck building. Release-timing problems, such as delayed regional launches of new card sets, frustrated players at every level.

Interviews with five former players, combined with these two frameworks, identify the match level as the highest scoring area on the GameFlow evaluation, followed by deck building and card collecting. Social interaction through online communities played a significant role in sustaining engagement. Players who quit cited cost as the primary barrier, with a full Master set exceeding $1,000, along with time and physical space demands. Balance issues were also prominent, particularly overpowered Zealot cards and later library-defeat decks that discouraged competitive play.

The study also examines the social dimensions of the game. In-game social support is limited to chat and match invitations, so broader internet communities fill much of the gap, especially around deck building and collecting. The authors identify three player types: collectors, casual match players, and deck-theory enthusiasts. They argue that existing design frameworks such as GameFlow do not adequately account for community-level factors. A GameFlow evaluation rates the game across eight criteria, with its overall score rising from 3.03 in the earlier development version to 3.85 in the final release.