Farming simulator: A study on player engagement

Abstract

Lepistö Elias Farming Simulator: A Study on Player Engagement Jyväskylä: Jamk University of Applied Sciences, November, 2025, 39 pages Degree Programme in Business Information Technology. Bachelor’s thesis. Permission for open access publication: Yes Language of publication: English Abstract The research about player engagement in the game Farming Simulator 25 was done by taking advantage of MDA Framework and mixed methods research. Information was gathered by using internet documents from locations such as Theseus and Google Scholar. In addition, an interview and an internet survey were done. The research was done mainly through a survey into a chat platform by the name of Reddit and through a interview with two experts in the field. The survey was the main research done and it was done on the cha platform as stated previously. The survey had 8 mandatory and 1 voluntary question. The mandatory ques-tions were multichoice questions or yes or no questions. The voluntary question was a text box where the person answering could write something more they had in their mind. The survey was done from 11.7.2025 to 21.7.2025 and it got a total of 37 answers. In the survey the author tried to reach players who have played at least the game Farming Simulator 25 but also preferably other games of the Farming Simulator gaming series as well. This way I hoped to get those already familiar with the game to answer the questions as the questions would need at least intermediate knowledge of the game. The interview was done with two people that are experts in the farming field. They, however, are not knowledgeable about games or how they work. The interview was done during the first hour of the game. With the interview and survey, two forms of data sets could be gathered. With the survey, players of the game but not necessarily people who know farming in real life were asked to give the knowledge from a gamers point of view. From the interview not only the reaction of a new gamer for the first time playing the game could be gathered but also knowledge on how realistic the game was compared to real life. The task of the research was to find out how the game Farming Simulator 25 engages and immerse the player to play the game more. Based on the results a logical conclusion can be assumed. This assumption is that to truly hook the player to the game one needs to be mindful of two things. Immersion and engagement. With these two combined the player will be immersed in the game world seeing themselves as their character making them engaged with the world of the game. Keywords/tags (subjects) Game development, Farming Simulator 25, Simulator games, Engagement, Immersion, Player engagement, Interview study, Survey study.