People vary greatly in their ability to engage in a variety of work, play, and leisure activities such as watching videos, playing sports, and computer games (Norman, 2010). These differences relate to the ability to focus attention and consciously control the surrounding reality. In the context of computer games, they refer to mental processes and objective mental properties related to brain processes (Toschi, 2017), favoring or not favoring mental functioning in virtual reality. Virtual reality can remodel the frame of reference from an exocentric (from the outside) to egocentric (from within the phenomenon) view (Shin, 2019), which can lead to a more physical and concrete experience. This property, having a genetically determined basis (Harwood et al., 2015, Britton, 2012), is an important component of personality that has been described as an exotelic - autotelic factor (Csikszentmihalyi, 2020, Mao et al., 2016; Nakamura & Csikszentmihalyi, 2014; Asakawa, 2004). In Greek, the word ‘autotelic’ stems from ‘auto’, meaning the ‘self’ oriented towards a person themselves, and telos, meaning ‘goal’, whereas exotelic means its opposite. Autotelic engagement absorbs the gamer's attention to the extent that they feel real emotions and affection, even if they are induced by fictional objects. Autotelic activities, which have the purpose in themselves, are performed only for themselves, while exotelic activities are directed towards external goals. Autotelicity vs. exotelicity in computer games can also be thought of as an emotional dimension of the gamer's attitude towards his or her activities in virtual reality. It reflects identification with the performed activity, sets a measure of loyalty to playing itself, and determines the level of satisfaction and sense of emotional attachment (Mikicin, 2013). The essence of autotelic v/s exotelic engagement in computer games is the flow of attention required to become interested in the action of the game and experience immersion. It encompasses a state of mental engagement that can be perceived as "being here and now" despite the lack of realism.
Furthermore, people with an autotelic type of personality are involved in computer games just for playing itself, whereas people with an exotelic type play for another reward. As measurable states of mind associated with gamer engagement, autotelicity and immersion are not subjectively experienced as effort because they allow attention to be automated. The concepts of autotelicity and immersion define the dimensions of action that allow for the determination of the level of integration with an action not to achieve distant goals but for itself. Autotelic v/s exotelic engagement in computer games can manifest in a variety of ways, where even when the hardware conditions are met, it induces various levels of experienced immersion (Norman, 2010). For example, sensory engagement refers to how the senses interact (Toschi et al., 2017; Uesaki and Ashida, 2015; Brown, 2004) to engage a person in a game. These are visual and auditory interconnections that represent feedback, triggering visual and auditory perception to create a realistic (Uesaki and Ashida, 2015), three-dimensional message. Furthermore, the preconditions for inducing immersive experiences in computer games (McMahan, 2003) are consistent with those necessary for autotelic engagement (Wefald and Downey, 2009): the game convention must meet the user's expectations, it must be meaningful to the gamer, and there must be a "coherent game world". The level of autotelicity and conducive technology is then expected to result in deep immersion. Autotelicity and immersion are therefore expressions of identification with the activity, and also determine the level of satisfaction and sense of emotional attachment (Csikszentmihalyi and Larson, 2014). Affective feelings, interactive regulation, and unconscious relational transactions in attachment (Schore and Schore 2008) are processes necessary for experiencing joy in action, but autotelic action, which readily converts the perception of potential threats into inner harmony, can reinforce this attachment. These aspects are also taken into consideration in the model proposed by Macey and Schneider (2008), who distinguished the characteristics of autotelic action: behavior (visible reactions, typical of a specific role, proactivity, adaptability); states (reflecting feelings of enthusiasm, pride, being a combination of constructs such as satisfaction, attachment, and identification), and traits (conscientiousness and emotional equilibrium) that are likely to enhance and deepen immersion in the gamer's autotelic action. Ermi and Mäyrä (2005) developed a three-component model of immersion that included: sensory immersion relating to the quality of the graphics, the size of the three-dimensional screen, the visual and auditory experience; challenge-based autotelic engagement relating to a satisfactory balance of challenges and skills; problem-solving and strategy; imagination-related immersion, and identification with signs. As the tendency to act for the sake of acting or not, autotelic v/s exotelic engagement makes the gamer more or less susceptible to immersion. Engagement is naturally manifested in the feedback from the person experiencing immersion and the autotelic or exotelic nature of the activity being performed. Assuming that a computer gamer with a high level of these properties is easily emotionally attached, he or she can infiltrate virtual reality. Bearing this in mind, one may become convinced that a high level of autotelic involvement in computer gamers allows them to experience deep immersion while playing. Later in the study, this assumption is further supported by the results of research showing that the interdependence of experiencing immersion with the sense of autotelic engagement corresponds to the level of autotelic immersion.
The focus of the analysis was on the correlation between immersion experienced in computer games and autotelic engagement. The analysis revealed that the relationships between immersion experience in computer games and autotelic engagement are related to the dimensions of immersion and autotelic vs. exotelic engagement. They engage the attention to such an extent that the gamer may or may not have a borderline experience as a transition between everyday experience, which he or she treats as external to himself, and the fantasies of his or her mind. The results of this study indicate that the experience of autotelic immersion is enhanced by autotelic engagement, manifesting autotelic cognitive properties during computer game playing. In such cases, Interaction with the environment, Sensory Engagement, Sense of Control, balance between ability level and challenge, intrinsic rewarding, concentrating and focusing, control, feedback, and action awareness merging intertwine with each other (Fig. 1).