A survey into the top 22 emotions people experience while gaming has found that most people are amused, some are curious, and hardly any are sad.

　　Conducted by game design consultancy firm International Hobo, the Demographic Game Design 2 survey (aka DGD2) received 1,040 respondents through the company's Web site. The survey asked gamers to rate the intensity of emotions felt while playing based on whether or not they were actually aware of any such emotions. It also asked whether they actively sought out games that would give them such emotions.

　　Reporting on the preliminary findings of the survey on his personal blog, International Hobo managing director Chris Bateman gave a rundown of the top 10 emotions experienced by gamers. Amusement topped the list. Bateman commented, "The fewest number of people responded that they had no experience of amusement in videogames (just 1.7 percent) while a whopping 92.6 percent gave this emotion one of the top two responses, and 39.7 percent stating they actively sought out this feeling."

　　After amusement, International Hobo's survey found that contentment was the second most popular emotion, followed in descending order by wonderment, excitement, curiosity, fiero (the feeling of triumph over adversity), surprise, naches (the feeling of pride in the accomplishments of one's students or children), relief, and bliss. At the other end of the list, sadness was at number 20, guilt at 21, and embarrassment bottomed out at 22.