This paper presents the Gamer Response and Decision (GRAD) Framework as an approach to examining video gameplay experiences with an emphasis on gamer interpretation, decision-making, and learning processes during gameplay. The GRAD Framework draws from Rosenblatt’s Reader Response Theory and concepts from new literacies, psychology, and game studies. This framework posits each gamer has a unique experience during video gameplay, as all gamers have unique knowledge, experiences, skills, goals, and sense of agency and self-efficacy that influence their interpretations, decisions, and learning during gameplay. The gamer’s decisions affect how the game unfolds, which feed back to the gamer in the form of unique experiences and perceptions. Gamers learn about the video games and strategies for success through this recursive process of interpretation and decision making. This paper explores these ideas in depth and illustrates how the GRAD Framework can be used by researchers and educators to accomplish their educational goals.
