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1 | Tags | Authors | Year | Title | Full Citation | Intext Citation | Abstract | Thesis/Hypothesis | Methodology | Results | Conclusions | Insights | Additional Comments | |||||||||||||||
2 | https://usc.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsSurveyEngine/File.php?F=F_2qrChlXryhqeCyS | age; comparison; consoles; content analysis; gender; identity; race; population; ratings; video games | Williams, Dmitri; Martins, Nicole; Consalvo, Mia; Ivory, James | 2009 | The virtual census: representations of gender, race and age in video games | Williams, D., Martins, N., Consalvo, M., & Ivory, J. D. (2009). The virtual census: Representations of gender, race and age in video games. New media & society, 11(5), 815-834. | Williams, et al., 2009 | A large-scale content analysis of characters in video games was employed to answer questions about their representations of gender, race and age in comparison to the US population. The sample included 150 games from a year across nine platforms, with the results weighted according to game sales. This innovation enabled the results to be analyzed in proportion to the games that were actually played by the public, and thus allowed the first statements able to be generalized about the content of popular video games. The results show a systematic over-representation of males, white and adults and a systematic under-representation of females, Hispanics, Native Americans, children and the elderly. Overall, the results are similar to those found in television research. The implications for identity, cognitive models, cultivation and game research are discussed. | How frequently are different gender, race, and age groups represented in games? Is there any difference between the group’s appearance in primary and secondary roles? Is there a difference in character representation between less popular games and more popular games? Is there a difference in character’s social identity representations in games with different ESRB ratings? | Sample: Sales data for 133 game titles from NPD research Group from 2005-2006 for nine major game systems sold in U.S., unspecified number of expert game players Procedure: Researchers conducted a large-scale analysis of video game characters. To do this, they had an unspecified number of expert game players play each of the 133 games for 30 minutes on the lowest difficulty level. These sessions were recorded and stored in a computer for coding. Researchers coded for representation of gender, race, and age based on PC (player-controlled) or NPC (non-player-controlled) characters in the game. This data was then compared to the NPD sales data, in which each game’s data was weighted more or less depending on their sales. Measures: character age, race, and gender; game title sales; U.S. census data, ESRB rating (E=everyone, T=Teen, M=Mature) | Male characters were much more likely to appear than female characters (gender ratio: 85.23/14.77). Primary “doer” characters were much more likely to be male than female; females are more likely to appear in secondary roles. However, even in secondary roles, the ratio between male and females was 85.47/14.65. Compared to U.S. census data, whites and Asians were overrepresented and all other racial groups were underrepresented (except in the case of PCs, where whites were the only group that appeared more often). In general, “gamemakers created games that heavily featured male characters, but the games that were actually purchased were even more heavily male” (except in the case of M-rated games). In general, teens appeared at around the same rate as the actual population; adults appeared at a 47.33% higher rate than in the actual population; however, among PC characters, these numbers (except for the elderly) came closer to the real population. There was a substantive race difference for E-rated games, which contained fewer white characters and more black and biracial characters (popular sports titles in particular showed a higher proportion of black and biracial representations of real-world athletes). | In general, “The results show that males, whites, and adults are over-represented in comparison to the actual US population.” This mainly comes at the expense of women and minority groups-- chiefly Latinos and Native Americans. The most popular games were less representative than typical games produced by developers. The researchers suggest that in the case of Latinos in particular (as Latino children tend to play more video games than white children), this lack of representation in PC characters and characters in general signals to them that they are powerless and unimportant in the gaming industry. They propose the explanation that the gaming industry is largely reflective of its developer demographics, where Latinos are vastly underrepresented. Additionally, the researchers suggest that this lack of representation could lead to minority disenchantment with technology and its opportunities. Lastly, they noted that their findings nearly mirrored Harwood and Anderson’s (2002) television race and age distribution data; however, gender differences were even more stark in games than T.V. Overall, the main way in which this study expands upon previous research is by weighting the popularity of the games. | ||||||||||||||||
3 | https://usc.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsSurveyEngine/File.php?F=F_3GuOyMu1mmjYBYs | aggression; altruism; emotion; emotion regulation; helping/prosocial behavior | Whitaker, Jodi L.; Bushman, Brad J. | 2012 | ‘‘Remain Calm. Be Kind.’’ Effects of Relaxing Video Games on Aggressive and Prosocial Behavior | Whitaker, J. L., & Bushman, B. J. (2012). “Remain calm. Be kind.” Effects of relaxing video games on aggressive and prosocial behavior. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 3(1), 88-92. | Whitaker & Bushman, 2012 | Research shows that violent video games increase aggressive behavior and decrease prosocial behavior, but could relaxing video games have the opposite effects? In two experiments, participants were randomly assigned to play a relaxing, neutral, or prosocial video game for 20 min. In Experiment 1, participants competed with an ostensible partner on a competitive reaction time task in which they could behave in an aggressive manner (by blasting their partner with loud noise), or in a prosocial manner (by giving their partner money). In Experiment 2, participants reported their mood after playing the video game. After the study was over, they could help the experimenter by sharpening pencils. Compared to those who played violent or neutral video games, those who played relaxing video games were less aggressive and more helpful. Playing a relaxing video game put people in a good mood, and those in a good mood were more helpful. | Playing relaxing video games can promote calm, positive feelings. | Experiment 1: Participants were told the researchers were studying different types of computer games, and that they would play one game alone and one game with a partner. They were randomly assigned to play a relaxing, neutral, or violent game. Next, they participated in a competitive reaction time task. Next, they listed their three favorite games. Experiment 2: Participants randomly assigned to play relaxing, neutral, or violent game for 20min. Next, they did a questionnaire that measure their mood. Finally, they listed their 3 favorite video games. | Experiment 1: The type of game participants played significantly influenced aggressive behavior. Participants who played a relaxing game gave their partner more money than did participants who played the other games, and participants who played a neutral game gave their partner more money than those who played violent games. Men were more generous than women. As predicted, violent and relaxing video games had opposite effects on aggressive and prosocial behavior. In both men and women, relaxing games decreased aggressive and increased prosocial behavior, whereas violent video games increased aggressive and decreased prosocial behavior (in comparison to neutral games). Experiment 2: As predicted, playing relaxing video games increased prosocial behavior compared to playing neutral or violent video games. This effect was significantly mediated by positive mood. Those who played a relaxing video game were in a better mood than those who played neutral or violent video games. The resulting positive mood produced from playing a relaxing video game, in turn, significantly increased the number of pencils participants sharpened for the experimenter. These results are consistent with mood management and priming theories. | Experiment 1 showed that playing relaxing video games decreased the amount of aggression toward an ostensible partner in a subsequent activity. In addition, those who played a relaxing game gave more money to their partner, a veritable act of kindness. Experiment 2 examined a different kind of prosocial behavior—sharpening pencils for the experimenter after the study had ended, which required considerably more effort from the participants. Those who played relaxing video games helped the experimenter more by sharpening more pencils, presumably after the study was over. | Relaxing video games not only decrease aggression but also increase prosocial behavior. Playing different kinds of video games can promote different types of behavior. | |||||||||||||||
4 | https://usc.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsSurveyEngine/File.php?F=F_3GCb1KRQK2daNDk | Aggressive behavior; behavioral self-control; emotional competence; emotional regulation; empathy; prosocial behavior; violent video games. | You, Sukkyung; Kim, Euikyung; No, Unkyung. | 2015 | Impact of violent video games on the social behaviors of adolescents: The mediating role of emotional competence | You, S., Kim, E., & No, U. (2014). Impact of violent video games on the Social Behaviors of adolescents: The mediating role of emotional competence. School Psychology International, 36(1), 94–111. https://doi.org/10.1177/0143034314562921 | You et al., 2014. | Recently, research studies and media have reported on the detrimental effects violent video games have on the social behaviors of adolescents. For example, previous studies have found that playing video games is positively associated with aggressive behaviors and negatively associated with prosocial behaviors. However, very few studies have examined the mediating effects of personal characteristics between students playing video games and their social behaviors. Thus, using a sample of 1,242 seventh, eighth, and ninth grade Korean students, the authors aimed to determine how playing video games is related to aggressive and prosocial behaviors and whether the emotional competencies of adolescents, such as empathy, emotional regulation, and behavioral self-control, mediate this relationship. The results indicated that violent video games have a significant direct effect on aggressive behaviors, and a significant indirect effect on prosocial behaviors. Specifically, empathy and behavioral self-control were found to mediate the relation between playing violent video games and prosocial behaviors. These results suggest different prevention and intervention approaches to reduce aggressive behaviors and increase prosocial behaviors in students exposed to violent video games. The limitations and implications of these findings are discussed. | The first goal of the current study was to extend the body of literature regarding the relationship between violent video game play and social behaviors. Thus, the second goal of this study was to examine the mediating role of three subscales of emotional competence on the link between video game violence and social behaviors. | The study participants were students in grades 7, 8, and 9 attending three middle schools located in Seoul. Students with parental consent completed the survey in their classroom under homeroom teacher supervision. Teachers read instructions provided by the researchers to students. The surveys were completed with teacher assistance when questions arose. Students were informed that they could choose not to take the survey if they did not want to, or stop participating at any time. Students were told not to write their names on the survey in order to protect their anonymity. The survey took approximately 20–30 minutes to complete. | Frequencies of playing video games were also examined to better understand the distributions across demographics. Overall, there were significant differences in playing video games, with male students reporting higher frequency in use com- pared to females (see Table 2). Also, adolescents reported a higher frequency if they are male, have divorced or separated parents, mother has a part-time job, and father’s educational level is less than high school graduation. | Results of this study broaden our understanding of relations between violent video gaming and social behaviors by considering the relations to be indirectly dependent on an individual’s emotional competence. According to our findings, emotional competence has no mediating effect on the relation between violent video games and violent behaviors, instead a direct relation was observed between violent video gaming and violent behaviors. That is, aggression is likely to result directly from violent video games rather than being mediated by personal characteristics such as empathy, emotional regulation, or behavioral self-control, which seems to support the GAAM theory that exposure to violent media can result in increased aggression (Anderson & Dill, 2000). These results suggest that in order to prevent or reduce the level of adolescent aggression, preventative and interventional efforts are more likely to be effective when focus is placed on reducing exposure to violent video games rather than on increasing emotional competence. | Aggression is likely to result directly from violent video games rather than being mediated by personal characteristics such as empathy, emotional regulation, or behavioral self-control – exposure to violent media can result in increased aggression. To prevent or reduce the level of adolescent aggression, preventative and interventional efforts are more likely to be effective when focus is placed on reducing exposure to violent video games rather than on increasing emotional competence. | |||||||||||||||
5 | https://usc.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsSurveyEngine/File.php?F=F_2aWcKl0cKVb2KB1 | allyship; Indigenous Futures; indigenous video games; Iñupiat | Murphy, Margaret-Anne | 2017 | The Importance of Gender in Never Alone as an Act of Visual and Indigenous Sovereignty | Murphy, M.-A. (2017). The Importance of Gender in Never Alone as an Act of Visual and Indigenous Sovereignty. NOVEL ALLIANCES. | Murphy, 2017 | n/a | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | The community and creators behind the video game Never Alone are challenging unequal colonial and gendered power dynamics while asserting Inupiaq self- representation. | This is not a research paper, it seems like more of an op-ed for the video game – Never Alone – with indigenous storytelling elements that praise the videogame for challenging stereotypes and pushing diverse narratives. | ||||||||||||||
6 | https://usc.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsSurveyEngine/File.php?F=F_3rS7KTGIl4ZFAYl | avatar; cyber/space;gaming;'gender-bending';women | Todd, Cherie | 2012 | Troubling' gender in virtual gaming spaces | Todd, C. (2012). ‘Troubling’ gender in virtual gaming spaces. New Zealand Geographer, 68(2), 101–110. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-7939.2012.01227.x | (Todd, 2012) | This article considers the relationship between gaming and gender, and explores how eight mature women gamers (30 years of age and older), living in the Waikato region of New Zealand negotiate their ‘real-life’ identities with their ‘virtual’ gaming identities. In particular, performances of ‘gender-bending’ in gaming are examined and Butler’s notion of ‘gender trouble’ is drawn upon to look at the ways in which ‘gender-bending’ disrupts and/or reinforces hegemonic binary distinctions of gender – masculinity/femininity and man/woman. This article concludes by arguing that gender-switching within gaming spaces is a normative practice within gaming culture, and as such, acts of ‘gender-bending’ do very little to challenge or ‘bend’ dominant notions of gender within the spaces of mainstream gaming. | While games allow people to enter virtual landscapes via virtual bodies and interact with other characters within these environments, these interactions and environments (for the most part) mirror real-life bodies and landscapes, as well as sociocultural values and norms. | This article is based on the findings of a small qualitative study that explored the experiences of mature women gamers at home, which was part of a masters thesis study conducted in 2009, entitled ‘Gaming and gender: home as a place of (non)conformity for women gamers.’The research employed a mixed-method approach and involved the administration of a short questionnaire followed by an in-depth semistructured interview with eight women gamers (all over 30 years old). All participants were living in Aotearoa New Zealand, and come from various backgrounds. Participant observation was also conducted in four of the eight interviews; observing women as they gamed was not a compulsory method of data collection and was only conducted when it seemed appropriate or convenient for participants. Autoethnography was employed and a record was kept of my own gaming experiences and online interactions with other gamers during the course of the study. Finally, semi-structured interviews were carried out with two ‘key informants’ who held managerial positions within retail businesses specialising in the sale of multimedia video games. | Being a qualitative study with such a small sample, much of the results varied from participant to participant. It was found that although some participants opted to play as male characters (for a variety of reasons, going from better character stats to that being the only option), many identified strongly with their female characters. Many see these in-game avatars as a representation of themselves, trying to be as accurate as possible, while others felt they could play the game more authentically if other gamers did not assume there was a women behind the controller. | On one hand, the act of gender-bending is a common experience for many gamers. In fact, the term ‘gender-bending’ seems obsolete given that ‘playing’ with gender is no longer a subversive act for gamers, but rather a normative choice. However, on the other hand, it is these types of performances that enable new ways of examining gender identity that have the potential to transgress boundaries between identity and desire. Cyber/space offers an innovative and exciting place for ‘trying out’ new identities. Furthermore, it offers people a place to experience gender without being affected by many of the limitations and challenges that they would otherwise be faced with in real life. | Gender expression in video games is a nuanced place for exploring new and different identities, and there is room to be explored more about how this impacts people of different genders. | |||||||||||||||
7 | https://usc.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsSurveyEngine/File.php?F=F_2XjQSeaQIfZWSzb | avatar; gaming; trans and gender diverse; gender identity; gender questioning; serious games | Morgan, Helen; O'Donovan, Amanda; Almeida, Renita; Lin, Ashleigh; Perry, Yael | 2020 | The Role of the Avatar in Gaming for Trans and Gender Diverse Young People | Morgan, H., O'Donovan, A., Almeida, R., Lin, A., & Perry, Y. (2020). The role of the avatar in gaming for trans and gender diverse young people. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(22), 8617. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17228617 | (Morgan et al., 2020) | A significant proportion of trans and gender diverse (TGD) young people report membership of the gaming community and resultant benefits to wellbeing. To date their experiences and needs regarding a key feature of games, the avatar, are largely unexplored, despite increasing interest in the therapeutic role of avatars in the general population. The aim of this study was to better understand the role of the avatar in gaming, its impact on TGD young people’s mental health, and their unique needs regarding avatar design. N = 17 TGD young people aged 11–22 years (M = 16.3 years) participated in four focus groups. A general inductive approach was used to thematically analyze the transcribed data. TGD young people report considerable therapeutic benefits of using avatars with positive mental health implications. Importantly, TGD young people use avatars to explore, develop and rehearse their experienced gender identities, often as a precursor to coming out in the offline world. They also report negative experiences of feeling excluded due to the constraints of conventional notions of gender that are widely reflected in game design. Participants described simple design features to better reflect gender diversity, such as increased customization. Such changes would facilitate the positive gains reported by participants and better reflect the diversity of young people who use games. The findings have important implications for both recreational and serious or therapeutic game design. | Although scant, TGD (Trans and Gender Diverse) studies reporting on online behaviors indicate that gaming can be experienced as a positive psychological tool to facilitate self-awareness and expression of their experienced gender in a relatively safe environment | Participants were recruited via convenience samples from local and university LGBT+ services, social media, and previous gender diversity cohorts. Participants took place in two focus groups exploring attitudes towards online experiences and digital health interventions and providing feedback on the game. Sessions were then transcribed and run through qualitative analysis software. | Character avatar use was often helpful in consolidating gender identity, and creating avatars of experienced gender led to a positive emotional impact. Customization that facilitated gender identity expression, including pronouns, and nonbinary options, led to a better experience for TGD. | TGD young people report considerable therapeutic benefits from avatar use although they also describe feeling excluded and under-represented within mainstream gaming design, primarily due to the application of conventional notions of gender. Importantly, TGD young people use avatars to explore, develop and rehearse their experienced gender identities, often as a precursor to coming out in the offline world. TGD young people stipulated predominantly simple game design features, such as greater avatar customization, to better reflect gender diversity. Such changes would likely facilitate the positive gains reported by participants and better reflect the heterogeneity of young people who game. The findings establish a detailed understanding of how TGD young people experience the avatar in gaming and indicate exciting avenues for future development, particularly regarding the therapeutic promise the avatar holds. The findings have important implications for both recreational and serious game design. | TGD young people use avatars to explore, develop and rehearse their experienced gender identities, often as a precursor to coming out in the offline world. TGD young people stipulated predominantly simple game design features, such as greater avatar customization, to better reflect gender diversity. | |||||||||||||||
8 | Avatars; Educational games; game design; human-computer interaction; identity; impact games; interactive narrative; racial discrimination; reflection; serious games; serious play; social identity; transformative education | Olson, Danielle Maria | 2020 | “I Don’t See Color”: Characterizing Players’ Racial Attitudes and Experiences via an Anti-Bias Simulation Videogame | Olson, D. M., & Harrell, Ph. D, D. F. (2020, September). “I Don't See Color”: Characterizing Players’ Racial Attitudes and Experiences via an Anti-Bias Simulation Videogame. In Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (pp. 1-4). | Olson & Harrell, 2020 | Videogames and learning/training applications that address racial discrimination have risen in popularity recently, coinciding with the rapid development of the field of serious (or impact) games [1, 2]. While there has been much focus on understanding the efficacy of these systems as interventions to reduce racial bias, there has been less attention paid to how individuals’ prior physical-world racial attitudes influence their experiences of such games about racial issues. Toward addressing this gap, the study presented here exam- ines the relationships between PreK-12 educators’ colorblind racial attitudes and their game experience and narrative interpretations in narrative videogame modeling racial and ethnic socialization called Passage Home. Passage Home embeds a novel computational model and simulation informed by the Racial Encounter Coping Appraisal and Socialization Theory (RECAST) [3] to simulate a discrimina- tory racial encounter in a classroom setting. The system serves as a tool for assessing players’ racial and ethnic socialization (RES) experiences to support interventions for learning about racial bias. This paper presents the results of a user study deploying Passage Home with PreK-12 educators. Analysis revealed that players’ col- orblind racial attitudes and ethnic identity were related to their in-game racial appraisal and feelings of competence, negative affect, and empathy in the game. Given the prevalence of colorblind racial ideology across racial and ethnic groups in the United States [4, 5], we propose an initial typology of players’ colorblind racial attitudes emerging from this analysis to aid in the future development of serious game interventions addressing racial discrimination. | Hypothesis: White players’ ethnicity and ideas about racial colorblindness will correlate with how they perceive a virtual simulation of a racially biased incident. | Sample: 37 U.S. K-12 educators compensated with a $10 eGift card. 30 female, 6 male, 1 non-binary. 24 white, 2 Asian , 5 Black or African American, 2 Hispanic, Latinx, or Spanish origin, 1 Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and 3 identified with three or more categories. Age: 20-57, mean 30.3 years. Procedure: Participants were randomly split into graphics or text-based conditions and received a link that directed them to either gameplay or text. If a participant was in the gameplay group, they would first watch an instructional video. Then, they would play through a game Passage Home, in which a young black girl without a history of cheating is accused of doing so by her white teacher. They would assume the position of the teacher. Next, they would complete an online survey. The text-based control group would experience the same narrative content through text. Measures: in-game choices, narrative content interpretation, gameplay strategies, post-game affect, the in-game and social presence modules of the Game Experience Questionnaire, Multi-Ethnic Identity Measure, Colorblind Racial Attitudes Scale (CoBRAS), and demographic information | Results: Players’ Game Experience: Competence, negative affect, and empathy scores on the GEQ had significant correlations with colorblind racial attitudes. Player competence (feeling of success in the game) was positively associated with unawareness of racial privilege. Negative affect was positively associated with unawareness of obvious racial issues. Empathy towards the in-game racially biased white teacher was negatively associated with ethnic identity search and positively associated with all three CoBRA factors: unawareness of racial privilidge, institutional discrimination, and blatant racial issues. Players’ Narrative Interpretations: Perceived competence of the white teacher and perceived unfairness of the accused black student’s treatment were significantly correlated to measures of colorblind racial attitudes and ethnic identity. Perceived competence of the teacher was negatively associated with unawareness of institutional discrimination and blatant racial issues. Perceived unfairness of the young black student was negatively correlated with all three aforementioned CoBRA factors. | Importance/Comments: The experiment confirms the hypothesis. However, this study does not determine whether this relationship is causal or not. Even so, the researchers hypothesize that if this is in fact a causal relationship, this would indicate lessened efficiency of teaching racial sensitivity through video games. For instance, if players have preconceived ideas about racial colorblindness, they may be less willing to acknowledge bias incidents as such. The researchers call for future studies studying this causal relationship for the purpose of developing more effective games for teaching about racial sensitivity. This study establishes the need for future study. | Players’ Game Experience: Competence, negative affect, and empathy scores on the GEQ had significant correlations with colorblind racial attitudes. | ||||||||||||||||
9 | https://usc.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsSurveyEngine/File.php?F=F_3Ej6jKSf9Vy5IVd | Bonding social capital; bridging social capital; social support ; e-sports; clan; online game | Trepte, Sabine; Reinecke, Leonard; Juechems, Keno | 2012 | The Social Side of Gaming: How Playing Online Computer Games Creates Online and Offline Social Support | Trepte, S., Reinecke, L., & Juechems, K. (2012). The social side of gaming: How playing online computer games creates online and offline social support. Computers in Human behavior, 28(3), 832-839. | (Trepte et al, 2012) | Online gaming has gained millions of users around the globe, which have been shown to virtually connect, to befriend, and to accumulate online social capital. Today, as online gaming has become a major leisure time activity, it seems worthwhile asking for the underlying factors of online social capital acquisition and whether online social capital increases offline social support. In the present study, we proposed that the online game players’ physical and social proximity as well as their mutual familiarity influence bridging and bonding social capital. Physical proximity was predicted to positively influence bonding social capital online. Social proximity and familiarity were hypothesized to foster both online bridging and bonding social capital. Additionally, we hypothesized that both social capital dimensions are positively related to offline social support. The hypotheses were tested with regard to members of e-sports clans. In an online survey, participants (N = 811) were recruited via the online portal of the Electronic Sports League (ESL) in several countries. The data confirmed all hypotheses, with the path model exhibiting an excellent fit. The results complement existing research by showing that online gaming may result in strong social ties, if gamers engage in online activities that continue beyond the game and extend these with offline activities. | In the present study, we proposed that the online game players’ physical and social proximity as well as their mutual familiarity influence bridging and bonding social capital. Physical proximity was predicted to positively influence bonding social capital online. Social proximity and familiarity were hypothesized to foster both online bridging and bonding social capital. Additionally, we hypothesized that both social capital dimensions are positively related to offline social support. The hypotheses were tested with regard to members of e-sports clans. | -SAMPLE AND PROCEDURE: Participants (N= 811) were recruited via the online portal of the Electronic Sports League (ESL). Participants responded to 10 items from Williams’ (2006) Internet Social Capital Scales on a five-point scale ranging from 1 ‘‘does not apply at all’’ to 5 ‘‘does fully apply’’. Items were edited to fit the clan context (e.g., ‘‘There is someone in my clan I can turn to for advice about making very important decisions’’). The items focused on two aspects: clan bridging and clan bonding social capital, with five items each. -OFFLINE SOCIAL SUPPORT: The UCLA Social Support Inventory (UCLA-SSI) was used to assess offline social support (Dunkel-Schetter, Feinstein, & Call, 1986). Participants were instructed to indicate how often they had received different types of social support from their friends, relatives, partners and groups/organizations during the preceding 4 weeks. -SOCIAL PROXIMITY: social proximity was determined based on the involvement in clan administration. The four items (‘‘In my clan, I spend a lot of time on organizing the clan’’, ‘‘In my clan, I’m the team leader’’, ‘‘I’m the manager of my clan’’, ‘‘I’m not involved in the clan organization very much’’ (reverse coded)) were rated on a 5-point scale from 1 ‘‘does not apply at all’’ to 5 ‘‘does fully apply’’. -FAMILIARITY: familiarity was determined through the frequency of mutual exposure (training frequency). Participants responded to the item ‘‘How often do you and your clan practice?’’ on a 7-point scale from 1 ‘‘never’’ to 7 ‘‘daily’’ | Physical proximity showed a significant positive relation to clan bonding social capital and a negative relation to clan bridging social capital. Social proximity was positively related to both clan bonding social capital and clan bridging social capital. Familiarity was positively related to both clan bonding social capital and clan bridging social capital. Both clan bonding social capital and clan bridging social capital were significant predictors of offline social support. | The results showed that all 3 (physical and social proximity, as well as familiarity) play a role in forming offline social support through gaming e-sport clans. Implications of the results include: protecting young gamers who are at risk of excessive gaming and thus social isolation. Fostering physical and social proximity will buffer the negative effects of online game and create a positive environment for offline friendships. | Gaming in clans can provide gamers additional social support offline. Offline concepts of friendships can be applied to online gaming to foster positive social relationships through gaming. | not really relevant to either workshop as it is not gender focused but more based on potential social benefits of online gaming. | ||||||||||||||
10 | https://usc.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsSurveyEngine/File.php?F=F_1NaGJpIorNcBwnH | Bonding social capital; Bridging social capital; Social support; E-sports; Clan; Online game | Trepte, Sabine; Reinecke, Leonard; Juechems, Keno | 2012 | The social side of gaming: How playing online computer games creates online and offline social support | Trepte, S., Reinecke, L., and Juechems, K. (2012). The social side of gaming: How playing online computer games creates online and offline social support. Computers in Human Behavior, 28(3), 832–839. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2011.12.003 | Trepte et al., 2012 | Online gaming has gained millions of users around the globe, which have been shown to virtually con- nect, to befriend, and to accumulate online social capital. Today, as online gaming has become a major leisure time activity, it seems worthwhile asking for the underlying factors of online social capital acqui- sition and whether online social capital increases offline social support. In the present study, we proposed that the online game players’ physical and social proximity as well as their mutual familiarity influence bridging and bonding social capital. Physical proximity was predicted to positively influence bonding social capital online. Social proximity and familiarity were hypothesized to foster both online bridging and bonding social capital. Additionally, we hypothesized that both social capital dimensions are posi- tively related to offline social support. The hypotheses were tested with regard to members of e-sports clans. In an online survey, participants (N = 811) were recruited via the online portal of the Electronic Sports League (ESL) in several countries. The data confirmed all hypotheses, with the path model exhib- iting an excellent fit. The results complement existing research by showing that online gaming may result in strong social ties, if gamers engage in online activities that continue beyond the game and extend these with offline activities. | N/A | 2.1. Sample and procedure Participants (N = 811) were recruited via the online portal of the Electronic Sports League (ESL). An invitation to participate in an online survey on e-sports was posted in the news sections of the websites of the ESL Europe (http://www.esl.eu) and the German subdivision of the ESL (http://www.esl.eu/de/). Respondents received no compensation for their participation in the survey. However, ESL merchandising (two backpacks and two t-shirts) was raffled among all participants. The ESL, which currently has more than 3.2 million international members, provides clans with the possibility to engage in matches against other clans. The majority of participants (n = 524) lived in Germany; the remaining participants lived in 25 other countries, among them Bulgaria (n = 61), Russia (n = 46), Spain (n = 22), and Italy (n = 19). 96.8% were male(n = 785) with ages ranging from 13 to 78 years (M = 19.08 years, SD = 4.28 years). Participants’ favorite game genres were first-person shooters (69.1%), action (14.3%), and strategy games (7%). 2.2. Measures 2.2.1. Clan social capital Participants responded to 10 items from Williams’ (2006) Internet Social Capital Scales on a five-point scale ranging from 1 ‘‘does not apply at all’’ to 5 ‘‘does fully apply’’. Items were edited to fit the clan context (e.g., ‘‘There is someone in my clan I can turn to for advice about making very important decisions’’). The items formed two subscales – clan bridging and clan bonding social capital –with five items each. For clan bridging social capital (M = 3.65; SD = .86) Cronbach’s a was .786 and for clan bonding social capital(M = 3.47; SD = .86) a was .702. 2.2.2. Offline social support The UCLA Social Support Inventory (UCLA-SSI) was used to assess offline social support (Dunkel-Schetter, Feinstein, & Call, 1986). The UCLA-SSI assesses three types of social support received: (a) Informational support in form of advice, (b) tangible support in form of assistance, and (c) emotional support in form of reassurance and listening. Participants were instructed to indicate how often they had received these forms of support during the preceding 4 weeks by (a) friends, (b) relatives, (c) partners, and (d) groups or organizations on a scale from 1 ‘‘never’’ to 5 ‘‘very frequently’’. Scores were summed up and averaged to form a single indicator (M = 3.18, SD = .74, a = .864). 2.2.3. Physical proximity We assessed physical proximity with four items (e.g., ‘‘We always meet offline to practice’’) on a 5-point scale from 1 ‘‘does not apply at all’’ to 5 ‘‘does fully apply’’ (M = 2.04, SD = .93), Cronbach’s a = .694. 2.2.4. Social proximity Social proximity refers to the mutual accessibility of clan members. As members who are engaged in clan administration have to get in touch with others, we assessed social proximity based on the involvement in clan administration. The four items (‘‘In my clan, I spend a lot of time on organizing the clan’’, ‘‘In my clan, I’m the team leader’’, ‘‘I’m the manager of my clan’’, ‘‘I’m not involved in the clan organization very much’’ (reverse coded)) were rated on a 5-point scale from 1 ‘‘does not apply at all’’ to 5 ‘‘does fully apply’’ (M = 3.02, SD = 1.29), Cronbach’s a = .819. 2.2.5. Familiarity In the e-sports setting, mechanisms that increase the players’ mutual encounters and contact frequency should be a good indicator of familiarity. We assessed familiarity with the frequency of mutual exposure which is the training frequency. Participants responded to the item ‘‘How often do you and your clan practice?’’ on a 7-point scale from 1 ‘‘never’’ to 7 ‘‘daily’’ (M = 6.01, SD = 1.4). | Zero-order correlations among all variables as well as their means and standard deviations are presented in Table 1. All paths predicted in Hypotheses 1–5 were tested using path analysis com- puted with the AMOS 19 statistical package using the maximum likelihood method. As physical proximity and social proximity showed a significant zero-order correlation (cf. Table 1), both vari- ables were allowed to co-vary in the model. Furthermore, as clan bonding and clan bridging social capital showed a significant zero-order correlation (cf. Table 1) the disturbance terms of both variables were allowed to co-vary within the model. Model fit was estimated based on established fit criteria. Model fit was con- sidered acceptable with a minimum discrepancy statistic (CMIN/ df) below 2.00 (Byrne, 1989), a root mean square error of approx- imation (RMSEA) below .06 (Hu & Bentler, 1999), and a compara- tive fit index (CFI) above .95 (Hu & Bentler, 1999). With CMIN/ df = 1.26, RMSEA = .02 (90% confidence interval from .00 to .07), and CFI = .99, the model exhibited a good fit. The statistical model is presented in Fig. 2. As predicted in H1, physical proximity showed a significant po- sitive relation to clan bonding social capital (b = .07, p < .05) and a negative relation to clan bridging social capital (b = .10, p < .01). Furthermore, confirming H2, social proximity was positively re- lated to both clan bonding social capital (b = .25, p < .001) and clan bridging social capital (b = .29, p < .001). Familiarity was positively related to both clan bonding social capital (b = .11, p < .01) and clan bridging social capital (b = .12, p < .001), thus confirming hypothe- sis 3. Both clan bonding social capital (b = .13, p < .01) and clan bridging social capital (b = .15, p < .001) were significant predic- tors of offline social support. Hypothesis 4 was therefore confirmed. Hypotheses 5a–5c predicted a positive indirect effect of physi- cal proximity, social proximity, and familiarity on offline social support, mediated by bonding and bridging clan social capital. When controlling for the influence of bonding and bridging clan social capital, neither social proximity (b = .01, p = .88) nor famil- iarity (b = .03, p = .42) had a significant direct effect on offline so- cial support, whereas physical proximity showed a small but significant positive direct effect on offline social support (b = .07, p < .05). Following the procedure recommended by Preacher and Hayes (2008), the indirect effect of physical proximity, social prox- imity, and familiarity on offline social support was bootstrapped with 5000 bootstrap samples with replacement. Both social prox- imity (b = .08, p < .001, 90% bias-corrected confidence interval from .06 to .10) as well as familiarity (b = .03, p < .01, 90% bias-corrected confidence interval from .02 to .05) showed a positive indirect ef- fect on offline social support. In contrast to that, physical proximity did not show a significant indirect effect on offline social support (b = .01, p = .61, 90% bias-corrected confidence interval from .03 to .01). Consequently, H5b and H5c were confirmed, whereas H5a was not supported by the data. The final model is presented in Fig. 2. The model explains 9% of the variance in clan bonding social capital (R2 = .09), 10% of the var- iance in clan bridging social capital (R2 = .10), and 7% of the vari- ance in offline social support (R2 = .07). | The results of the present study have revealed three underlying processes – physical proximity, social proximity, and familiarity – that either directly or indirectly determine the formation of offline social support through gaming in e-sports clans. These results have practical implications that could proof beneficial especially with regard to the protection of younger video game players who are particularly at risk of excessive gaming and thus of facing social isolation. Implementing mechanisms that foster physical-and so- cial proximity as well as familiarity in gaming and hence support- ing the formation of social capital might help buffering the potential negative effects of online gaming by transforming games into an activity with a positive potential for offline friendships. Prior research on online gaming (Steinkuehler & Williams, 2006; Williams et al., 2006) as well as the results of the present study suggest that beneficial effects of online gaming on online so- cial capital and offline social support are particularly likely the more users interact both in online and offline settings. Mutual activities that go beyond game play may thus make gaming in gen- eral and e-sports in particular a valuable social resource. Finally, games and their social effects may also be applicable in clinical contexts. The social side of gaming might be particularly beneficial for physically disabled persons who suffer from limited mobility and a lack of social interactions and social capital. An ad- vanced understanding of the factors influencing the formation of bridging and bonding social capital in the context of gaming as well as offline social support thus appears highly promising both in terms of theory building and our scientific view on the effects of video games as well as with regard to the practical use of games as facilitators of social interaction. | Physical proximity, social proximity, and familiarity are three underlying processes that directly and indirectly determine the formation of offline social support through gaming in e-sports clans. | |||||||||||||||
11 | https://usc.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsSurveyEngine/File.php?F=F_3oI6361avI8xkIE | characters, representation, gender | Leusden, Jady Van | 2019 | Are video games increasingly mirroring globalized society? | Van Leusden, J. (2019). Are video games increasingly mirroring globalized society. Diggit Magazine. | (Leusden, 2019) | n/a | The diversity of video games' main characters has increased and I wonder if this is a consequence of globalization. Has the digital society, in which we are constantly connected and confronted with norms, opinions and ideas from people all over the world, changed the stories of Western video games? | n/a | n/a | Gaming is now more global and popular than ever and this might be why games are also becoming more diverse, a development that has provoked conversations about political correctness, since it includes groups of people who in the past were a neglected subject in gaming. | globalized and diverse society is now indeed influencing the stories of video games, whether or not it is "ruining" games is another discussion. | Relevant to workshop 1 as it talks about stereotypical character designs. | ||||||||||||||
12 | https://usc.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsSurveyEngine/File.php?F=F_1OV0oLHgQaRM6hr | Code; Engine; Programming; Queer; Software; Technobiography; Video game | Freedman, Eric | 2018 | Engineering Queerness in the Game Development Pipeline | Freedman, E. (2018). Engineering Queerness in the Game Development Pipeline. The International Journal of Computer Game Research, 18(3). https://gamestudies.org/1803/articles/ericfreedman | (Freedman, 2018) | This essay provides an overview of the relevant discursive tensions that emerge as game developers negotiate the demands of game engine technologies, and encourages broader critical and creative consideration of the role of game engines in an industry otherwise understood mainly in terms of its published games. For developers, game engines present a necessary mechanical order, but they also facilitate rapid development and cross-platform deployment. This presents a trade off between order and possibility that organizes the field of play and establishes the player’s relative freedom. This essay examines how the space for possibility, for radical queer sensibility, shrinks through the process of development, and considers the subtle compromises that are made in the selection and use of game engine. Many indie developers, in the pursuit of efficiency, have no choice but to accept this limit, to tie their intellectual properties to the systematized writing associated with engines, and to see their works operate less queerly, less out of bounds. This analysis considers a range of different engines--more dominant, costly, high-powered tools and proprietary engines built by AAA studios, and alternative, entry level tools such as Twine and GameMaker. The latter have been celebrated for their accessibility, but, more significantly for queer game artists, they also seem to facilitate qualities such as empathy, community and communicative openness. This analysis considers the value of seeing engine choice in such binary terms, and the possibility for more generally queering code space by considering the game development pipeline as an open text. This essay proposes that a queer analysis of the labors and technologies undergirding the work in progress might strengthen more generalized discussions of the representational politics of video games, their audiences and their production communities. | This essay proposes that a queer analysis of the work in progress and the technologies that undergird that work in progress might strengthen discussions of the representational politics of video games, their audiences and their production communities. | In this analysis, our attention is drawn more precisely to object-oriented programming; governed by specific organizing principles, basic object classes can be used to generate other classes. Through encapsulation or information hiding, code can conceal the internal representation, or state, of an object from the outside. The developer’s selection of a game engine serves as the most significant transactional limit. When engines appear in public demos, they stand as conflicted texts, as self-contained and readily analyzed objects. They also serve as a symbol of the development pipeline for unfinished games that lack specific release dates, narratives and forms of interaction, and in many cases engines serve as a forecast for the build of as-yet- undetermined intellectual properties. As such, they stand in a unique critical position, speaking to the distinct binaries of developer and audience, hardware and software, engine and interface--as uniquely mutating, queerly open objects. Indeed, a more nuanced approached to game studies should consider both the relative fluidity of the work in progress as an unrealized body as well as the formative conditions of core game technologies. As distinct points of analysis, consider the following examples from three distinct large-scale developers: Capcom, Techland and Kojima Productions. | There is a broader lesson here in shifting our attention to the deeper architectures of game design while not abandoning the image altogether--a lesson that may be aligned with one of the possible futures of queer media studies. By studying software, we are unlocking our ability to be mindful of the manner in which closed design and deployment systems push human agency toward technocentric certitude, and we are more mindfully situating the study of representation in a richer contextual field. There are broader lessons about connecting algorithms to material outcomes that are more important than the theorization and build of a queer game mechanic. To realize a queer game mechanic necessitates building from the ground up with an acute awareness of our cultural context--using cultural theory to inform engine design, for example. Yet the industrial frameworks of the game industry, where labor is situated within a pipeline model, and the institutional lineages of programming languages make this an inauthentic value proposition. Constructing non-normative space, creating narrative incongruity, and evoking liminality are a few collective queer tactics that have been used to reorient play, but these are punctuations in storytelling that do not pierce the systems layer. Taken together, these gestures and objects have value in that they privilege queer history and experience; but code persists and the singular pursuit of realism is well underway. The space for possibility, for radical queer sensibility, cuts across game layers (image, interface, the architectures of software and hardware) and shrinks through the process of development. While this is true as well in the more obvious signs of game trailers that fix meaning in parallel ways (making even the most open game a knowable, marketable property), the compromises that are made in the selection and use of the game engine are much subtler. The choices made in marketing material that set a series of limits are just as important as the default character rigs and the binary data sets that delimit “Hero_Gender_Male” or “Hero_Gender_Female.” | There is significant value for queer game studies to advance computational literacy and to consider the relative authenticity of the transactional calls to community found in a marketplace of object-oriented ideas and solutions; resource sharing is more often focused on collaborative problem solving (on pushing past a procedural limit) than it is on ideological decoding. This is not surprising, as code is a text most commonly understood in relation to the causal chains in machines (Tzankova and Filimowicz, 2017). Code has to work; but code is also a form of creative expression. Code is embedded in structuring transactions that foster deep cultural dependencies between organic and inorganic actors. While many queer game designers are indeed building and not simply occupying game space, and are writing code as a new form of technobiographic practice, engines are built with limits, and every development choice has its consequences. | If we understand code as the set of instructions that undergird software systems, to queer code is to understand it not simply as a functional constraint but also as a method to distribute norms. To queer code is to perceive those flashpoints where technology regulates social experience--where algorithms have decided material outcomes. | |||||||||||||||
13 | https://usc.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsSurveyEngine/File.php?F=F_3n8aUmHgpRbjsNR | Digital games • Motivation • Self-determination theory | (Uysal, Ahmet; Yildirim, Irem Gokce) | 2016 | Self-Determination Theory in Digital Games | Ahmet Uysal, Irem Gokce Yildirim. (2016). Self-Determination Theory in Digital Games. Research Gate, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-29904-4_8 | (Uysal and Yildirim, 2016) | Self-determination theory (SDT; Intrinsic motivation and self- determination in human behavior, New York, 1985; The oxford handbook of human motivation, New York, pp 85–107, 2012) is a broad motivational theory that has been developing for the last four decades. The theory makes the distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and identifi es three basic psychological needs that are essential for well-being. When people are intrinsically motivated, they engage in an activity because the activity itself is interesting, enjoyable, and congruent with their selves. In contrast, when people are extrinsically motivated, they engage in an activity because the activity is instrumental in obtaining rewards or avoiding pun- ishments. In this chapter, we will discuss digital games within a SDT framework, with a focus on how satisfaction of basic psychological needs in games can enhance user experience. We start with the behavioral psychology principles and the use of rewards in games that fuel extrinsic motivation. Next, we discuss intrinsic–extrinsic motivation and the three basic psychological needs—autonomy, competence, and relatedness—that facilitate intrinsic motivation and enhance player experience. Finally, we discuss some basic game features and their relation to basic needs. | According to the self-determination theory, video game players will have a positive experience if game designers include autonomy, competence, and relatedness in their games. | This is a meta-review, so no methodology. | This is a meta-review (no experimental results) | "In conclusion, SDT provides a concise framework to understand the motivational aspects of gamer psychology. Moreover, it also identifies three basic needs that facilitate fun in games. Game designers should focus on implementing game mechanics that support autonomy, competence, and relatedness needs to enhance the player experience." | "According to the self-determination theory (SDT) (Deci and Ryan 1985 ), extrinsic motivation is defined as doing an activity to obtain an outcome that is separable from the activity. Self-determination theory suggests games should "support autonomy, competence, and relatedness". | |||||||||||||||
14 | https://usc.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsSurveyEngine/File.php?F=F_2c0mgYh1IvIBv9U | Emerging adulthood Media violence Video games Empathy Prosocial behavior | Fraser, Ashley; Padilla-Walker, Laura; Coyne, Sarah; Nelson, Larry; Stockdale, Laura | 2012 | Associations Between Violent Video Gaming, Empathic Concern, and Prosocial Behavior Toward Strangers, Friends, and Family Members | Fraser, A. M., Padilla-Walker, L. M., Coyne, S. M., Nelson, L. J., & Stockdale, L. A. (2012). Associations between violent video gaming, empathic concern, and prosocial behavior toward strangers, friends, and family members. Journal of youth and adolescence, 41, 636-649. | (A. M Fraser, 2012) | Exposure to media violence, including violent video gaming, can have a cognitive desensitization effect, lowering empathic concern for others in need. Since emerging adulthood offers increased opportunities to volunteer, strengthen relationships, and initiate new relationships, decreases in empathic concern and prosocial behavior may prove inhibitive to optimal development during this time. For these reasons, the current study investigated associations between violent video gaming, empathic responding, and prosocial behavior enacted toward strangers, friends, and family members. Participants consisted of 780 emerging adults (M age = 19.60, SD = 1.86, range = 18–29, 69% female, 69% Caucasian) from four universities in the United States. Results showed small to moderate effects between playing violent video gaming and lowered empathic concern for both males and females. In addition, lowered empathic concern partially mediated the pathways between violent video gaming and prosocial behavior toward all three targets (at the level of a trend for females), but was most strongly associated with lower prosocial behavior toward strangers. Discussion highlights how violent video gaming is associated with lower levels of prosocial behavior through the mechanism of decreased empathic concern, how this association can affect prosocial behavior differently across target, and finally what implications this might have for development during emerging adulthood. | Predicted that violent video gaming would have the greatest negative association with prosocial behavior enacted toward strangers, since violent video games portray characters that are unfamiliar to the player. In addition we predicted that empathic concern would at least partially mediate the relationship between violent video gaming and prosocial behavior toward all targets. | Participants: 790 undergraduate students aged 18-29. Participants completed the Project Ready questionnaire via the Internet. The use of an online data collection protocol facilitated unified data collection across multiple university sites and allowed for the survey to be administered to emerging adults. Violent video gaming was assessed by asking participants how many days in the past 12 months they had played violent video games either on- or off-line. Participants responded to this item on a 6-point Likert scale with possible answers being (1) none; (2) once a month or less; (3) 2 or 3 days a month; (4) 1 or 2 days a week; (5) 3 to 5 days a week; or (6) every day or almost every day. A similar question using the same scale was asked regarding overall video gaming. | Findings suggested that males played violent video games more often than did females. In fact, 81.5% of females in the sample reported that they did not play violent video games at all. In contrast, the distribution across violent video gaming for males was normal, with no significant outliers. Across the other variables in the model, t tests indicated that females had significantly lower scores than males on the reverse scored empathic concern variable. Males also exhibited significantly lower levels of prosocial behavior than did females did toward strangers | This study highlights the associations between violent video gaming and prosocial outcomes during emerging adulthood. Our findings add to the extant research by further exploring the associations between violent video gaming and prosocial behavior, specifically by highlighting one mechanism (decreased empathic concern) through which this process might function. The current study adds to a growing body of research suggesting that the target of the prosocial behavior is important to consider. | Study highlights violent video gaming as one potential socialization influence that might impact prosocial behavior differentially as a function of the target. | n/a | ||||||||||||||
15 | https://usc.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsSurveyEngine/File.php?F=F_3qZI9zQ89wIdq9u | gamer; gender; identity; media representation; race; sexuality; target marketing; video games | Shaw, Adrienne | 2011 | Do you identify as a gamer? Gender, race, sexuality, and gamer identity | Shaw, A. (2011). Do you identify as a gamer? Gender, race, sexuality, and gamer identity. New Media & Society, 14(1), 28–44. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444811410394 | (Shaw, 2011) | The demand for minority representation in video games often focuses on proving that members of marginalized groups are gamers. In turn, it is asserted that the gaming industry should focus on appealing to these players via targeted content. Being targeted as a gamer, however, does not a gamer make. Identity as a gamer intersects with other identities like gender, race, and sexuality. Negative connotations about gaming lead people to not identify as gamers, and even to not play video games. This article concludes, based on interview data, that those invested in diversity in video games must focus their attention on the construction of the medium, and not the construction of the audience as such. This shift in academic attention is necessary to develop arguments for representation in games that do not rely on marking groups as specific kinds of gaming markets via identifiers like gender, race, and sexuality. | This article looks critically at how and if interviewees who are members of marginalized groups self-identify as gamers, rather than labeling them as gamers simply because they play video games. It argues that targeted marketing may make members of targeted groups less likely to identify as gamers. It also demonstrates that negative connotations surrounding gaming lead people to feel less invested in representation in games. It argues that the social construction of the medium itself, not the targeting of markets, should be a more central concern to those who wish to promote diversity in game texts. | A general survey online found members of marginalized groups who play video games. As the focus was people who play video games, rather than ‘gamers’ per see, interviewees varied in types of games, platforms, and amount of time they play. Two separate interviews were conducted. In the first, a modified life history approach was used (Langness and Frank, 1965). The second interview was a ‘gaming interview,’ as described in Schott and Horrell (2000). Qualitative data were analyzed using a grounded theory approach (Glaser and Strauss, 2006 [1967]), with themes coded via the qualitative software program Nvivo. Quantitative data were analyzed in SPSS. All names used to reference interviewees are aliases, most selected by participants themselves. | Interviewees also rejected gamer identity, in part, because they viewed games as peripheral to mainstream media culture, a guilty pleasure, a juvenile pastime, and as a medium that is inherently unimportant. In sum, it is not just relating to institutionalized gamer identity that makes one a gamer. Other factors such as the relationship between ‘gamer’ and other identities, different contexts, and games’ position in relation to mainstream media culture are important factors as well. Juul (2010) claims that though not everyone plays video games, nothing ‘prevents this from happening. Video games are fast becoming games for everyone’ . That there are games that appeal to mass audiences, however, is not the same as saying that all games are for everyone. | Those invested in the representation of marginalized groups in video games should focus on how the construction of the medium, not the construction of the market, shapes discourse about representation games. That is to say, it is not enough to make the game industry recognize that their consumer base broader than they tend to assume. Such an approach promotes targeting groups on the basis of essentialized notions of identity. In | Identity as a gamer intersects with other identities like gender, race, and sexuality, and negative connotations about gaming lead people to not identify as gamers, and even to not play video games. Normalizing video games for all audiences, finding ways to emphasize their ‘everydayness’ in contemporary media culture, is a more productive approach to demands for representation. | |||||||||||||||
16 | https://usc.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsSurveyEngine/File.php?F=F_22QueCATpp5BuEq | gamers; social development; character, allyship | Cole, Helena; Griffiths, Mark | 2007 | Social Interactions in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Gamers | Cole, H., & Griffiths, M. D. (2007). Social interactions in massively multiplayer online role-playing gamers. Cyberpsychology & behavior, 10(4), 575-583. | (Cole & Helena, 2007) | To date, most research into massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs)has examined the demographics of play. This study explored the social interactions that occur both within and outside of MMORPGs. The sample consisted of 912 self-selected MMORPG players from 45 countries. MMORPGs were found to be highly socially interactive environments providing the opportunity to create strong friendships and emotional relationships. The study demonstrated that the social interactions in online gaming form a considerable element in the enjoyment of playing. The study showed MMORPGs can be extremely social games, with high percentages of gamers making life-long friends and partners. It was concluded that virtual gaming may allow players to express themselves in ways they may not feel comfortable doing in real life because of their appearance, gender, sexuality, and/or age. MMORPGs also offer a place where teamwork, encouragement, and fun can be experienced. | Thesis: This study explored the social interactions that occur both within and outside of MMORPGs. MMORPGs were found to be highly socially interactive environments providing the opportunity to create strong friendships and emotional relationships. | -Participants (N= 912) self-selected MMORPG players from 45 countries. -Design was an online questionnaire divided into 5 parts looking to understand the dynamic of online friendships (looked at: player demographic, friendships/attractions within the games, trust and topics of conversation, different types of gamers, players' personalities) -The questionnaire was sent to 20 different MMORPG gaming forums. | DEMOGRAPHICS: Average age of players was 23.6 years. Their occupations: 47% students, 10% work in IT, 3.7% work in managerial roles, 2.6% work in design, 2.2% in clerical and administration, 2.2% in education, and 2.1% in health and medicine (2.1%). The remaining respondents were accounted for by 32 other occupations (22.9%) or were unemployed (2.1%). The most popular game was World of Warcraft. Mean hours played per week of MMORPG was 22.85 hours. SOCIAL ACTIVITIES OF GAMERS: The mean number of “good friends” made within a MMORPG for participants was seven. Out of the 912 participants, 851 responded to the question, “Have you ever been attracted to another player?” Almost one third of the sample (31.3%) had been attracted to another player. 26.3% of the sample played with family and friends. 67.4% of gamers believed that the games have a positive effect on their relationships. 39.3% of gamers said they discussed sensitive issues with their peers. 45.6% believed that their online friends were comparable to offline ones. | MMORPG can be incredibly social and create opportunities for disclosure and close bonds. A high percentage of gamers interact with their online friends outside of the games, they disclose sensitive information to one another and are comfortable expressing themselves to one another. | This study shed light on common misconceptions about gaming within gender differences and the motivations of players. Most players found MMORPGs safe environments where they can create healthy relationships. | More relevant to workshop 2 than 1 as the study briefly covers gender differences in gaming, going on to say that "virtual gaming may allow players to express themselves in ways they may not feel comfortable doing in real life because of their appearance, gender, sexuality, and/or age". | ||||||||||||||
17 | https://usc.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsSurveyEngine/File.php?F=F_1ERFL1ttBl9eGaJ | Gaming | Blair, Lucas | 2011 | The Use of Video Game Achievements To Enhance Player Performance, Self-efficacy, and Motivation | Blair, L. (2011). The use of video game achievements to enhance player performance, self-efficacy, and motivation. | Blair, 2011 | A taxonomy of achievement design features that exist currently in video game systems was created in order to evaluate the current the state of the art in achievement design. From the taxonomy of design features multiple mechanisms of action that influence player behavior were identified. These mechanisms lead to a predictive model that can guide the designs of achievements in order to improve performance, self-efficacy and motivation in players. Expected, unexpected, and incremental achievements were tested. Notifications occurring before and after earning an achievement were also tested. In addition to testing individual mechanisms of action a “combined achievement” was created with multiple mechanisms added that were hand-picked. For testing purposes the model was applied to achievements that were inserted into an instructional game. The results of the study revealed that individual mechanisms of action had little effect on players while multiple mechanisms in a combined achievement caused significant improvements in several categories. The limitations of the current study, as well as, plans for future study are also discussed. | H1: Players who have expected achievements will perform better than those who have unexpected achievements H1a: Players who have expected achievements will have better retention than those who have unexpected achievements H2: Players who have incremental achievements will perform better than those who have non-incremental achievements H2a: Players who have incremental achievements will have better retention than those who have non-incremental achievements H3: Players who have incremental achievements will spend more time playing than those who have non-incremental achievements H4: Players who receive notifications after play will perform better than those who receive notifications during play. H4a: Players who receive notifications after play will have better retention than those who receive notifications during play. H5: Players who receive notifications after play will report more enjoyment than those who receive notifications during play. H6: The relationship between achievements and performance will be mediated by intrinsic motivation. H7: The relationship between achievements and performance will be mediated by self-efficacy. H8: The relationship between achievements and performance will be mediated by the creation of schemas. H9: Players who have the “combined achievement” will perform better than the control. H9a: Players who have the “combined achievement” will have better retention than the control. | - Video Game Self-Efficacy Scale (VGSES): Questionnaire with 10 items for use with assessing perceived self-efficacy when playing video games - Relevance and Usefulness: Questionnaire with 16 items for use with assessing "motivation variables of self-efficacy, enjoyment, and learning goal orientation in order to predict the use of Web-based information system" - Game Engagement Questionnaire (GEQ): Questionnaire with 19 items scored on a Likert scale measuring absorbion, flow, presence, and immersion - Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI): Interest/Enjoyment sub-scale with 7 questions and Effort/Importance sub-scale with 5 questions - TPL KATS structural knowledge assessment tool: Users create concept maps or mental representations of schema | H1: Players with expected achievements answered significantly more calls than the control H2: No significant difference in number of achievements earned H4: Players who received notifications during play showed a greater increase in calls than did the "after" group Retention: When investigating expected vs. unexpected achievements, there was a main effect of time. Enjoyment and time spent: Hypothesis 3 predicted that incremental achievements would cause players to spend more time playing the game. This was evaluated with an ANOVA revealing that players who had incremental achievements did not spend significantly more time playing than those who had non-incremental achievements. Mediation: - Hypothesis 6: The relationship between achievements and performance (pre, post, and retention) was not significantly mediated by intrinsic motivation. - Hypothesis 7 - The relationship between achievements and performance (pre, post, and retention) was not significantly mediated by self-efficacy. - Hypothesis 8 - When testing for incremental vs. non-achievements, schemas were a significant moderator between achievements and performance (pre, post, and retention). However, after the mediator was taken into account there. Combined achievement: - The combined achievement trial players had significantly higher improvements in the pre to post test scores than the control group - The combined achievement trial players had significantly higher improvements in knowledge organization than the control group - There was a significant difference between the combined achievement trial players and the control group in perceived relevance - There was a significant difference between the combined achievement trial players and the control group in behavior intention - The combined achievement trial players had significantly higher improvements in intrinsic motivation than the control group | - It was noted that the overall number of calls answered was significantly higher in the expected achievement condition, which may provide partial support for Hypothesis 1. This finding indicates that players increased their effort because they saw what achievements they could potentially earn. In contrast, players who had unexpected achievements did not put forth as much effort, resulting in fewer answered calls. However by levels 2 and 3, the expected and unexpected conditions became roughly the same in number of calls answered. A potential cause of this could be that after level 1, players in the unexpected group earned an achievement. Once players were aware that achievements could be earned by performing well and their level of effort would have increased. - Players receiving notification of an earned achievement during play had an increased number of calls answered when compared to those who received notification afterwards. - The results of the combined achievement were by far the most successful. In the combined trials the achievements were incremental, expected, and notifications occurred after play. The design features used in the combined achievement seemed to have a more powerful effect in unison than when they were measured independently. The expected incremental stars may have made it apparent to the players that in order to achieve mastery at the game they would have to play the game frequently and seriously. This would account for the significant finding in the behavior intention measure. The expectation and anticipation caused by the expected incremental achievements may have been intimidating to players, which would explain the lower intrinsic motivation. | The significant findings shown in this study for design features such as combined achievement should indicate the strength of the case for using a standardized system of achievement design. | |||||||||||||||
18 | https://usc.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsSurveyEngine/File.php?F=F_1P0JNfHbm0x0wdq | gaming, multiplayer, online, role-playing | Cole, Helena; Griffiths, Mark D. | 2007 | Social Interactions in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Gamers | Cole, H., & Griffiths, M. D. (2007). Social interactions in massively multiplayer online role-playing gamers. Cyberpsychology & behavior, 10(4), 575-583. | Cole & Griffiths, 2007 | To date, most research into massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs)has examined the demographics of play. This study explored the social interactions that occur both within and outside of MMORPGs. The sample consisted of 912 self-selected MMORPG players from 45 countries. MMORPGs were found to be highly socially interactive environments providing the opportunity to create strong friendships and emotional relationships. The study demonstrated that the social interactions in online gaming form a considerable element in the enjoyment of playing. The study showed MMORPGs can be extremely social games, with high percentages of gamers making life-long friends and partners. It was concluded that virtual gaming may allow players to express themselves in ways they may not feel comfortable doing in real life because of their appearance, gender, sexuality, and/or age. MMORPGs also offer a place where teamwork, encouragement, and fun can be experienced. | The purpose of the research was to explore the social interactions that occur both within and outside of MMORPGs. | Online questionnaire survey asking about: demographics, which game was played and how often, friendships within the game, attraction to other players, meeting online friends in real life, topics that players might discuss with their online friends, trust between online friends, different categories gamers could fit into, and extroversion (on a five-point Likert scale). | - Most played MMORPGS: WoW, City of Heroes, Ultima Online, EverQuest2, Lineage II, Blade Mistress - WoW was significantly more popular among female than male participants (60.5% to 44.1%) - 3/4 of both males and females said that had made good friends within the game - Females were significantly more likely than males to have met up with online friends in real life - 1/3 of the sample had been attracted to another player - Over 1/4 of sample played MMORPGs with family and real-life friends (female gamers significantly more likely than male gamers) - Very small number of gamers believed that MMORPGs had a negative effect of relationships with those with whom they play the game - 2/3 of gamers believed that MMORPGs have a positive effect on their relationships with those with whom they play the game - 45% of all gamers believer their online friends to be comparable to their real-life friends - 2/5ths of gamers said they discussed sensitive issues with their online gaming friends that they would not discuss with their real-life friends - Females significantly more likely than males to discuss sensitive issues (family problems, loss of loved ones, sexuality issues, discrimination, and work problems) - Females more likely than males to report their motivation for playing to be "therapeutic refreshment" - Males more likely than females to report playing because of "curiosity, astonishment, and interest" - Significant positive correlation was found between the number of hours played per week and the number of friends within the game | - Most popular MMORPG in the study was World of Warcraft (WoW) - MMORPGs are highly socially interactive - Dissociative anonymity and invisibility will cause people to self-disclose more than they ordinarily would, which might explain why such a high proportion of players discuss sensitive issues online but not in real life - MMORPGs offer a safe environment for players to become emotionally involved with others - Players felt "more themselves" during game play - MMORPGs can be as goal-oriented or as casual as the player's desire, and part of the appeal is the opportunity to create an in-game experience that is unique and individual | The virtual world that MMORPGs offer allows players to express themselves in ways they may not feel comfortable doing in real life because of their appearance, gender, sexuality, age, or other factors | |||||||||||||||
19 | https://usc.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsSurveyEngine/File.php?F=F_2fvboTIF6M1Vyrr | gaming; learning | Rankin, Yolanda; Morrison, Deidra; Shute, Marcus | 2009 | Utilizing Massively Multiplayer Online Games to Foster Collaboration and Learning | Rankin, Y., Morrison, D., & Shute, M. (2009, October). Utilizing Massively Multiplayer Online Games to foster collaboration and learning. In 2009 Atlanta Conference on Science and Innovation Policy (pp. 1-10). IEEE. | Rankin et al., 2009 | Abstract-Successful integration of traditional learning objectives with elements of entertainment becomes the goal for the design and application of video games used for educational purposes. Oftentimes assumptions are made that students who are not gamers can play video games and reap the pedagogical benefits of gameplay without experiencing a learning curve relative to understanding game objectives. We argue that inexperienced players encounter two different trajectories of learning: the cognitive process associated with understanding how to play the game and the cognitive processes embedded in gameplay activities that correspond to domain specific learning goals. These dissimilar trajectories of learning create competing goals for the player who portrays dual roles of student and novice gamer. We examine this dilemma in the context of second language students who play a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games for the purpose of improving their English proficiency skills. We utilize statistical analysis to evaluate English as Second Language (ESL) students’ ability to acquire second language vocabulary. Results indicate positive learning outcomes for vocabulary acquisition of ESL students who participate in collaborative gameplay with Native English Speakers, emphasizing the role of social interactions in second language acquisition. However, visual analysis of game logs measures the learning trajectory associated with completing game tasks and reveals that ESL students who play EQ2 independently achieve increasing levels of virtual character progression in less time than their peers. | ESL students who engage in social interactions with other PCs will acquire more English vocabulary than those ESL students who play EverQuest® II (EQ2) independently. ESL students who engage in social interactions with other PCs will accomplish more game tasks in less time than those ESL students who play EQ2 independently. | - ESL students spend 1 hour becoming familiar with EQ2 - ESL students complete a pre-test assessment using 12 potential L2 vocabulary words in a sentence to demonstrate prior knowledge. - Researchers selected L2 vocabulary words that were not specific to the game (e.g. druids, goblins) and represented college level academic words (e.g. aspire, confrontation). - Each of the 12 L2 vocabulary words utilized in Non Player Characters' (NPCs) speech to convey information about quests or feedback. - 1 group of ESL students playing EQ2 were given tasks of completing quests 1-8 and additional, optional quests - ESL students engaged in 4 hours of gameplay - Both groups completed 2 assessments: - Recognition task based on gameplay scenarios where ESL participants selected correct meaning from multiple choice options of 10 L2 vocab words - Fill-in-the-blank assessment that measured ESL participants' semantic knowledge of 12 L2 vocab words | ESL students engaging in conversations with native speakers develops their communication skills and enriches their vocabulary in the target language -- ESL students that played EQ2 independently generated less than 100 chat messages. Dominant patterns of chat-based interactions between ESL students and Native English Speakers (NES) aid ESL students' vocabulary acquisition skills - Question-assert interaction: "Are you ready?", "You have to attune your weapon." - Question-action directive interaction: Explicit instructions on what to do next or how to complete the quest (e.g. "Follow me," "Go talk to that person over there.") | In summary, we re-purposed the popular MMORPG EverQuest® II (EQ2) as a pedagogical tool for Second Language Acquisition (SLA). Consequently, we identified two different learning trajectories: 1. the cognitive processes associated with SLA, specifically vocabulary acquisition and reading comprehension skills; and 2. the learning processes associated with understanding the objectives of the game and completing game tasks. Statistical analysis reveals that ESL students who participated in collaborative gameplay with their NES achieved higher learning outcomes for the SLA learning trajectory than their independent peers. ESL students who played EQ2 achieved higher levels of virtual character progression in less time and accumulated more rewards than their more collaborative peers. Furthermore, we conclude that these two different learning trajectories have serious implications for the design of educational video games, one that requires game objectives to be closely aligned with domain-specific learning goals that facilitate learning along both trajectories. | The learning trajectory associated with completing game objectives interfere with learning opportunities for ESL (English as Second Language) students to increase their Second Language Acquisition (SLA). In other words, the learning that occurs in recreational video games is quite different from domain-specific learning goals and creates competing goals for ESL students who portray the dual role of student and newbie. | |||||||||||||||
20 | https://usc.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsSurveyEngine/File.php?F=F_w19rZXRYD20eayd | gaming; superpowers; prosocial behavior | Rosenberg, Robin S.; Baughman, Shawnee L.; Bailenson, Jeremy N. | 2013 | Virtual Superheroes: Using Superpowers in Virtual Reality to Encourage Prosocial Behavior | Rosenberg, R. S., Baughman, S. L., & Bailenson, J. N. (2013). Virtual superheroes: Using superpowers in virtual reality to encourage prosocial behavior. PloS one, 8(1), e55003. | Rosenberg et al., 2013 | Background: Recent studies have shown that playing prosocial video games leads to greater subsequent prosocial behavior in the real world. However, immersive virtual reality allows people to occupy avatars that are different from them in a perceptually realistic manner. We examine how occupying an avatar with the superhero ability to fly increases helping behavior. Principal Findings: Using a two-by-two design, participants were either given the power of flight (their arm movements were tracked to control their flight akin to Superman’s flying ability) or rode as a passenger in a helicopter, and were assigned one of two tasks, either to help find a missing diabetic child in need of insulin or to tour a virtual city. Participants in the ‘‘super-flight’’ conditions helped the experimenter pick up spilled pens after their virtual experience significantly more than those who were virtual passengers in a helicopter. Conclusion: The results indicate that having the ‘‘superpower’’ of flight leads to greater helping behavior in the real world, regardless of how participants used that power. A possible mechanism for this result is that having the power of flight primed concepts and prototypes associated with superheroes (e.g., Superman). This research illustrates the potential of using experiences in virtual reality technology to increase prosocial behavior in the physical world. | 1. A main effect for motion type such that flying participants would be more helpful than helicopter participants, 2. A main effect for task, such that participants who helped the child would be more helpful than those who toured. In addition, we wanted to examine the possibility of an interaction such that participants in the superpowered helping condition would be the most helpful. We also predicted a larger effect from behavioral measures of helping than from the self-report measures of helping, as previous research has demonstrated similar findings. | Participants assigned to receive either the virtual power of flight or to fly as a passenger in a helicopter. They were also assigned either to a helping condition or a touring condition. Stage 1: Immersive virtual experience Stage 2: Collection of behavioral dependent variable (knocking over pens and allowing the participant an opportunity to help by picking them up) Stage 3: Participants went to a small testing room and completed several surveys | Flying participants quicker to help than helicopter participants. There was a significant effect of number of pens picked up such that flyers picked up more pens than helicopter riders. | Embodying the ability to fly in VR primes concepts and stereotypes related to superheroes in general or to Superman in particular, and thus facilitates subsequent helping behavior in the real world. | This study shows that video gaming, particularly virtual reality, has the potential to facilitate prosocial behavior by allowing players to become superheroes, which may lead to a change in self-concept and subsequent helping behavior. | |||||||||||||||
21 | https://usc.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsSurveyEngine/File.php?F=F_32WaisuQQnLqNXe | human-centered computing; Information systems; Chat; Twitch; livestreaming; tie strength; relationships; online communities; networks; strong bridges | Sheng, Jeff; Kairam, Sanjay R. | 2020 | From Virtual Strangers to IRL Friends: Relationship Development in Livestreaming Communities on Twitch | Sheng, J. T., and Kairam, S. R. (2020). From Virtual Strangers to IRL Friends: Relationship Development in Livestreaming Communities on Twitch. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 4(CSCW2), 1–34. https://doi.org/10.1145/3415165 | Sheng et al., 2020 | Accounts of the social experience within livestreaming channels vary widely, from the frenetic “crowdroar” of- fered in some channels to the close-knit, “participatory communities” within others. What kinds of livestream- ing communities enable the types of meaningful conversation and connection that support relationship development, and how? In this paper, we explore how personal relationships develop within Twitch, a popular livestreaming service. Interviews with 21 pairs who met initially within Twitch channels illustrate how interac- tions originating in Twitch’s text-based, pseudonymous chat environment can evolve into close relationships, marked by substantial trust and support. Consistent with Walther’s hyperpersonal model [76], these environ- ments facilitate self-disclosure and conversation by reducing physical cues and emphasizing common ground, while frequent, low-stakes interaction allow relationships to deepen over time. Our findings also highlight boundaries of the hyperpersonal model. As group size increases, participants leverage affordances for elevated visibility to spark interactions; as relationships deepen, they incorporate complementary media channels to increase intimacy. Often, relationships become so deep through purely computer-mediated channels that face-to-face meetings become yet another step in a continuum of relationship development. Findings from a survey of 1,367 members of Twitch communities demonstrate how the suitability of these spaces as venues for relational interaction decreases as communities increase in size. Together, these findings illustrate vividly how hyperpersonal interaction functions in the context of real online communities. We consider implications for the design and management of online communities, including their potential for supporting “strong bridges,” relationships which combine the benefits of strong ties and network bridges. | How do new personal relationships form within Twitch communities? How do relationships formed within Twitch communities become stronger over time? What types of Twitch communities support the maintenance of personal relationships? | Paired-interviews and surveys | "In this section, we analyzed data from a survey of 1,367 Twitch viewers to explore how support for personal relationships varies across livestreaming communities. We found that both weak and strong ties are surprisingly prevalent across the site. Two measures serving as proxies for close, offline friendship revealed that roughly half of respondents to our survey had a close friend within their primary community on Twitch. We note that the survey was intentionally directed towards individuals who engage with Twitch for social or community-oriented reasons, through both the email invitation and a screening question asking about previous communication on Twitch. However, as prior research has found that many users of livestreaming services share social motivations for use, it is likely from these findings that both weak and strong relationships are pervasive across livestreaming communities. Age is negatively associated with having social connections within one’s primary Twitch community, though this effect was smaller for strong ties than for weak ties. Level of gamer identification did not influence the likelihood of having weak ties within one’s primary community, but did influence the likelihood of having strong ties. We observe no effect of gender on the likelihood of forming either weak or strong ties, though we did find that respondents identifying as female were more likely to have indicated that they had used Chat or Whispers. Surprisingly, we find no relationship between control variables capturing high-level Twitch usage, including frequency of visits and account tenure, and the likelihood of forming weak or strong ties on the service. Beyond 2000 CCU, we find that the probability of maintaining strong ties within a channel begins to increase again. In Figure 3, we observe that this effect grows stronger as the measure of tie strength increases. We note that our survey focuses on which channels are better venues for supporting the types of interaction associated with maintaining personal relationships, and do not distinguish between relationships formed on and off the site. As the probability of weak ties does not also increase after this threshold, a plausible interpretation is that, in the largest channels, viewers may instead be bringing in existing friends from outside to share the experience. If chat within these channels is like experiencing the roar of the crowd [29], then viewers’ strong ties within these large communities may very well be the friends who came to the stadium with them." | Public perception of livestreaming services is often driven by massive streams and events, leading many non-users to believe that meaningful connection is impossible, but the experiences of individuals engaging with these services has often shown otherwise. This study to understand how common these experiences were, and to understand how deep, human connections could develop within this pseudonymous, often chaotic, and sometimes mischievous environment. Surprisingly and deeply impressively by the depth of the relationships that our participants described and the levels of social, emotional, and instrumental support which grew from connections created by that environment. The findings of this work provide insight into how sociotechnical design decisions influence relationship formation processes in computer-mediated communication spaces and point to the potential of CMC environments for fostering “strong bridges” or relationships that offer a high degree of support alongside access to resources from outside one’s network. | Hyperpersonal interaction plays out within livestreaming communities, enabling the formation of close, personal relationships. Many connections can form within CMC contexts, and these relationships can develop deeply via purely CMC, to the point where face-to-face meetings serve more to confirm the strength of a relationship, rather than to increase it. | |||||||||||||||
22 | https://usc.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsSurveyEngine/File.php?F=F_A4FhRFAZ6KsQMql | media violence; aggression; video games; empathy and desensitization; prosocial behavior | Anderson, Craig; Shibuya, Akiko; Swing, Edward; Bushman, Brad; Sakamoto. Arika; Rothstein, Hannah; Saleem, Muniba | 2010 | Violent Video Game Effects on Aggression, Empathy, and Prosocial Behavior in Eastern and Western Countries: A Meta-Analytic Review | Anderson, C. A., Shibuya, A., Ihori, N., Swing, E. L., Bushman, B. J., Sakamoto, A., Rothstein, H. R., & Saleem, M. (2010). Violent video game effects on aggression, empathy, and prosocial behavior in eastern and Western countries: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 136(2), 151–173. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018251 | Anderson et al., 2010 | Meta-analytic procedures were used to test the effects of violent video games on aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition, aggressive affect, physiological arousal, empathy/desensitization, and prosocial behav- ior. Unique features of this meta-analytic review include (a) more restrictive methodological quality inclusion criteria than in past meta-analyses; (b) cross-cultural comparisons; (c) longitudinal studies for all outcomes except physiological arousal; (d) conservative statistical controls; (e) multiple moderator analyses; and (f) sensitivity analyses. Social–cognitive models and cultural differences between Japan and Western countries were used to generate theory-based predictions. Meta-analyses yielded significant effects for all 6 outcome variables. The pattern of results for different outcomes and research designs (experimental, cross-sectional, longitudinal) fit theoretical predictions well. The evidence strongly suggests that exposure to violent video games is a causal risk factor for increased aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition, and aggressive affect and for decreased empathy and prosocial behavior. Moderator analyses revealed significant research design effects, weak evidence of cultural differences in susceptibility and type of measurement effects, and no evidence of sex differences in susceptibility. Results of various sensitivity analyses revealed these effects to be robust, with little evidence of selection (publication) bias. | N/A | N/A | N/A | The present findings show that the social–cognitive theoretical view fits the existing data on video game violence effects quite well. This has important implications for public policy debates, for further development and testing of basic theory, and for the development and testing of potential intervention strategies designed to reduce the harmful effects of playing violent video games. Concerning basic theory, additional research of all three types (but especially experimental and longitudinal) is needed, especially on VGV effects on empathy, desensitization, and prosocial behavior. Ad- ditional longitudinal studies with longer intervals are needed for aggressive behavior and aggressive cognition. Furthermore, longitudinal studies with very large samples and very long time spans between the first time period and the last are needed so we can assess the impact of violent video games on very serious forms of physical aggression (i.e., violence). Concerning interventions, there have been a few studies with findings that suggest that specific programs involving schoolchildren and their parents can reduce exposure to violent media and the frequency of unwarranted aggressive behavior (e.g., Huesmann, Eron, Klein, Brice, & Fischer, 1983; Robinson, Wilde, Navracruz, Haydel, & Varady, 2001). Concerning public policy, we believe that debates can and should finally move beyond the simple question of whether violent video game play is a causal risk factor for aggressive behavior; the scientific literature has effectively and clearly shown the answer to be “yes.” Instead, we believe the public policy debate should move to questions concerning how best to deal with this risk factor. Public education about this risk factor—and about how parents, schools, and society at large can deal with it— could be very useful. It is true that as a player you are “not just moving your hand on a joystick” but are indeed interacting “with the game psychologically and emotionally.” It is not surprising that when the game involves rehearsing aggressive and violent thoughts and actions, such deep game involvement results in antisocial effects on the player. Of course, the same basic social– cognitive processes should also yield prosocial effects when game content is primarily prosocial. Unfortunately, there has been relatively little research on purely prosocial game effects, largely because there are few games that have the main characters modeling helpful behavior in the complete absence of violent behavior. However, some recent studies have found that prosocial games can increase cooperation and helping (Gentile et al., 2009; Greitemeyer & Osswald, 2009). Video games are neither inherently good nor inherently bad. But people learn. And content matters. | There were six independent meta-analyses on topics of "Violent Video Game Effects on Aggressive Behavior," "Violent Video Game Effects on Aggressive Cognition," "Violent Video Game Effects on Aggressive Affect," "Violent Video Game Effects on Prosocial Behavior," "Violent Video Game Effects on Empathy/Desensitization" and "Violent Video Game Effects on Physiological Arousal" with varying results of particular importance that showcase the power of video games. | |||||||||||||||
23 | https://usc.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsSurveyEngine/File.php?F=F_1hZjln9DrIxbqo7 | N/A | Anderson, Craig; Dill, Karen | 2000 | Video Games and Aggressive Thoughts, Feelings, and Behavior in the Laboratory and in Life | Anderson, C. A., & Dill, K. E. (2000). Video games and aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behavior in the laboratory and in life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78(4), 772–790. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.78.4.772 | Anderson et al., 2000 | Two studies examined violent video game effects on aggression-related variables. Study 1 found that real-life violent video game play was positively related to aggressive behavior and delinquency. The relation was stronger for individuals who are characteristically aggressive and for men. Academic achievement was negatively related to overall amount of time spent playing video games. In Study 2, laboratory exposure to a graphically violent video game increased aggressive thoughts and behavior. In both studies, men had a more hostile view of the world than did women. The results from both studies are consistent with the General Affective Aggression Model, which predicts that exposure to violent video games will increase aggressive behavior in both the short term (e.g., laboratory aggression) and the long term (e.g., delinquency). | "Basic theory-guided research is needed on the effects of playing violent video games. Such research would also contribute to the field's understanding of media violence effects in general." | General Affective Aggression Model (GAAM): Short-Term Effects of Video Game Violence and Aggressive Personality STUDY 1: CORRELATION TESTS OF VIDEO GAME VIOLENCE EFFECTS STUDY 2: EXPERIMENTAL TEST OF VIDEO GAME VIOLENCE EFFECTS | Four main hypotheses concerning video game violence and aggression emerge from a careful consideration of GAAM. First, consideration of social-cognitive learning processes and social dynamics leads to the prediction that exposure to violent video games over a long period of time should be positively correlated with aggression in naturalistic settings. Second, GAAM predicts that short-term exposure to video game violence will lead to increases in aggressive behavior. Third, GAAM also predicts that people who score high on aggressive personality measures will behave more aggressively when provoked than will low trait aggression individuals. Fourth, GAAM predicts that short-term exposure to video game violence will lead to increases in aggressive cognition and that this effect mediates the short-term violent content/aggressive behavior relation, at least to some extent. | Violent video games provide a forum for learning and practicing aggressive solutions to conflict situations. The effect of violent video games appears to be cognitive in nature. In the short term, playing a violent video game appears to affect aggression by priming aggressive thoughts. Longer-term effects are likely to be longer lasting as well, as the player learns and practices new aggression-related scripts that become more and more accessible for use when real-life conflict situations arise. If repeated exposure to violent video games does indeed lead to the creation and heightened accessibility of a variety of aggressive knowledge structures, thus effectively altering the person's basic personality structure, the consequent changes in everyday social interactions may also lead to consistent increases in aggressive affect. The active nature of the learning environment of the video game suggests that this medium is potentially more dangerous than the more heavily investigated TV and movie media. With the recent trend toward greater realism and more graphic violence in video games and the rising popularity of these games, consumers of violent video games (and parents of consumers) should be aware of these potential risks. Recent events in the news, such as the link between teenage murderers in Colorado and violent video game play, have sparked public debate about video game violence effects. As the debate continues, video games are becoming more violent, more graphic, and more prevalent. As scientists, we should add new research to the currently small and imperfect literature on video game violence effects and clarify for society exactly what these risks entail. The General Affective Aggression Model has proved useful in organizing a wide array of research findings on human aggression and in generating testable propositions, including the present studies of video game violence. Additional short-term studies of the effects of violent video games are needed to further specify the characteristics of games and of game players that reduce and intensify the aggression-related outcomes. Longitudinal studies of exposure to violent video games are needed to test the proposition that such exposure can produce stable changes in personality, changes of the type seen in research on long-term exposure to other violent media. | Not too many conclusions or definitive answers – said more research is needed on short-term and long-term effects. | |||||||||||||||
24 | https://usc.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsSurveyEngine/File.php?F=F_1j9Bnx2OEcsqkDG | N/A | Cole, Helena; Griffiths, Mark | 2007 | Social Interactions in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Gamers | Cole, H., & Griffiths, M. D. (2007). Social Interactions in massively multiplayer online role-playing gamers. Cyber Psychology & Behavior, 10(4), 575–583. https://doi.org/10.1089/cpb.2007.9988 | Cole et al., 2007 | To date, most research into massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) has examined the demographics of play. This study explored the social interactions that oc- cur both within and outside of MMORPGs. The sample consisted of 912 self-selected MMORPG players from 45 countries. MMORPGs were found to be highly socially interac- tive environments providing the opportunity to create strong friendships and emotional re- lationships. The study demonstrated that the social interactions in online gaming form a con- siderable element in the enjoyment of playing. The study showed MMORPGs can be extremely social games, with high percentages of gamers making life-long friends and part- ners. It was concluded that virtual gaming may allow players to express themselves in ways they may not feel comfortable doing in real life because of their appearance, gender, sexual- ity, and/or age. MMORPGs also offer a place where teamwork, encouragement, and fun can be experienced. | The purpose of our research was to explore the social interactions that occur both within and outside of MMORPGs. The development of virtual friendships can be very enjoyable for gamers, and anecdotal evidence has suggested they sometimes develop into serious real-life friendships and relationships. Not only do MMORPGs facilitate formation of relationships, they are also windows into and catalysts in existing relationships.2 Our research also explored attraction between players within MMORPG environments, which to date has not been investigated. | Participants The sample consisted of 912 self-selected MMORPG players from 45 countries. All participants completed an online questionnaire in their own time. Of these participants, 70% were male (n 641), 29% were female (n 261), and 1% did not give their gender (n 10). The sample was aged be- tween 11 and 63 years, with the mean age of 23.6 years (SD 7.55 years). Of the participants who gave their country of residence, 46% (n 420) were from the United States, 26% (n 240) were from the United Kingdom, and 5% (n 46) were from Canada. Lack of motivation and integrity in Web-based surveys are two potential concerns, but studies have shown that Web-based respondents are typically highly motivated because of self-selection. Furthermore, anonymity does not have an adverse affect on data integrity Design and materials An online questionnaire survey was designed using a university-generated online data collection program (Autoform) and was divided into five sections. The first section asked for information about gender, age, country of residence, and which game was played and how often. The second section asked questions about friendships within the game, attraction to other players, and meeting online friends in real life. The third section covered a number of topics that players might discuss with their online friends and examined the trust between online friends. The fourth section examined the different categories gamers could fit into (categories were taken from Utz’s types of players18 and Bekhtina’s four types of motivations for playing22). The final section contained eight questions taken from the International Personality Item Pool (IPIP)23 on extroversion (measured on a six-point Likert scale). A ninth question asked the participants to rate themselves on a five-point Likert scale from “very introverted” (1) to “very extroverted” (5). Procedure Following a small pilot study, the questionnaire was posted on over 20 dedicated MMORPG gaming forums and was also e-mailed to a range of students at a UK university. From this e-mail, participants then followed a hyperlink to the questionnaire. The e-mail address of the first author was given for any queries about the study. Participants were informed that participation was entirely voluntary and that the research was conducted according to the British Psychological Society’s Ethical Code of Conduct for Psychologists. If participants no longer wished to take part, they simply had to close the Internet browser. All duplicate answers were omitted from the data before analysis. Questionnaires with more than 50% of responses missing were also omitted. | N/A | One of the myths surrounding computer game playing is that the games appeal only to children and adolescents. However, the mean age of MMORPG players in this study was 23.6 years, and 28.2% of players were over 25 years. Only one fifth of players (20.6%) were under 18. Yee’s2 findings were similar, with the mean age of MMOPRG players being 26.57 years and 25% of MMORPG players being teenagers. Voiskounsky et al.24 reported a lower mean age of 21 years for MUD players, and Griffiths and colleagues’1 study of EverQuest play- ers found a mean age of 27.9 years. It is also worth noting that females in this study were significantly older than males. Males still dominate the gaming culture, but a no- table increase in female gamers appears to be oc- curring. In 2001, Yee17 reported that about 84% of EverQuest players were male. More recently, Grif- fiths and colleagues1 found 81% of players were male. This study found that male players accounted for 71% of participants and females accounted for 29%. A possible reason for this increase is the wider acceptance of online games that has occurred in re- cent years, with game design and advertising be- coming more targeted toward women, making the games more appealing and accessible to them. It has been suggested that women are drawn to MMORPGs because they enjoy gaming within so- cial communities that encourage exploration of an environment with others as a team, allowing for the opportunity to play out different aspects of self- identity in a safe setting and supporting the pleasure associated with success.3 The mean number of hours spent playing per week in this study was 22.85, similar to the 22.72 hours per week reported by Yee.2 A weak but significant negative correlation was found between player’s age and hours played per week. It suggests that the older the player, the less time per week he or she plays. Krotoski3 found that female gamers in the United Kingdom play an average of 7.2 hours per week, whereas this study found that female gamers in the United Kingdom play for an average of 18.2 hours per week, and men in the United King- dom play for 28 hours per week, illustrating that ei- ther females are gaming for longer than they did in 2004 or MMORPGs are more popular than other games among females. The most popular MMORPG in this study was World of Warcraft (WoW), which currently has over 6 million subscribers worldwide. Over 48% of participants named this their favorite game. WoW was significantly more popular among females than males. Gender differences in popularity could be due to the nature of the games. For instance, first impressions of Lineage II suggest that it is a lot less socially interactive and less visually stimulating than WoW, which might indicate that females pre- fer social interaction and visual effects more so than males. Previous research has made assumptions that gamers are socially inactive. However, the study showed that 76.2% of male and 74.7% of female players had made good friends within the game. This suggests that MMORPGs are highly socially in- teractive. Furthermore, the mean number of good friends made within a MMORPG was seven, with males making significantly more online friends than females. Four fifths of participants (80.8%) reported that they enjoyed playing the same game with real- life friends and family. Both Yee17 and Utz18 reached similar findings in that 80% of male and 77% of fe- male players play MMORPGs with someone they know. Two fifths of participants (39.3%) said they would discuss sensitive issues with their online gaming friends that they would not discuss with their real life friends. Females were more likely to do so, suggesting that online relationships provide an outlet to safely discuss serious matters that may be difficult to talk about with real life family and friends. One of the advantages of online friendships is anonymity, and while online, some people self-disclose or act out more frequently or intensely than they would in person. The appeal of discussing issues such as sexuality lies in the ease and anonymity with which online seekers can obtain advice and re-assurance, particularly regarding sensitive topic. Because of the age range of players, it is very easy to obtain advice from people who have more life experience. However, Suler25 notes that dissociative anonymity (“you don’t know me”) and invisibility (“you can’t see me”) will cause people to self-disclose more than they ordinarily would, which might explain why such a high proportion of players dis- cuss sensitive issues online but not in real life. The study showed that 42.8% of participants had met with online friends in real-life situations, again suggesting that online gaming is a social activity or facilitates social activity. Females were significantly more likely than males to meet online friends in real life. Meeting with other players was not limited to occurring only in the players’ local neighborhoods. An interesting finding regarding gender differences is that male players make more friends online, but females are more likely to meet with online friends. Females are also more likely to talk about sensitive issues with online friends, to be attracted to other players, and more to date others players in real life. These gender differences could suggest that while men do form friendships with a number of players, women actually form emotionally stronger friendships, with the ability to discuss sensitive issues, to meet with friends, and to physically date other players. Another interesting finding was that 31.3% of participants had found themselves attracted to another player (26.2% males compared to 42.3% females). The presence of mutual attraction was just under 50%. This finding suggests that MMORPGs offer a safe environment for players to become emotionally involved with others. Overall, 10.1% of players had developed a physical relationship with another player, again indicating that online gaming can be a highly sociable activity. Significant positive effects on relationships were found, especially with those gamers who played with close friends and partners. Two thirds of participants (67.4%) be- lieved that MMORPGs had a positive effect on their relationships with those with whom they play the game. Yet another interesting finding was that some players felt “more themselves” during game play. It was found that the number of hours played per week were significantly greater for players who felt more themselves in game than for players who did not feel more themselves in game, suggesting that those players who spend many hours per week in these virtual worlds actually feel more themselves when they are immersed in them rather than in the real world. This finding could be explained by the disinhibition effect and by the tendency for players to act out more frequently and intensely to self-disclose more while online than they would in per- son. Players revealed that they feel more themselves online because they are not judged by their appearance, gender, age, or other personal in- formation. One in five participants (20.3%) believed that playing MMORPGs had a negative effect on their relationships with people with whom they did not play. To support the possibility that playing MMORPGs for many hours a week has a negative effect on relationships with those who do not play the same game, a significant but weak negative correlation was found between the effect playing the game has had on relationships and the number of hours played per week. The relationship was slightly stronger for males than females, possibly because more time spent playing online means less time available to spend with real-life friends and family. A potentially serious consequence that may occur from playing MMORPGs is addiction. Griffiths and colleagues27 propose that adolescents may be more vulnerable than adults to online video gaming addiction, although there is probably a difference between those who play excessively and those who are addicted. | The virtual world that these games offer(MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER online role-playing) allows players to express themselves in ways they may not feel comfortable doing in real life because of their appearance, gender, sexuality, age, or other factors. They also offer a place where teamwork, encouragement, and fun can be experienced. | |||||||||||||||
25 | https://usc.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsSurveyEngine/File.php?F=F_238ezUishtiMr9v | N/A | Cole, Alayna M; Barker, Dakoda J; Zammit, Jessica | 2017 | Impossible Identities: The Limitations of Character Creation Systems | Cole, A., Barker, D., & Zammit, J.(2017). Impossible Identities: The Limitations of Character Creation Systems. https://research.usc.edu.au/discovery/fulldisplay/alma99450324002621/61USC_INST:ResearchRepository Document Type: Presentation | (Cole et al., 2017) | N/A | As games are going to continue incorporating character creation systems and users will continue enjoining customization mechanics, what do users want in a character creation system? | Two representation surveys with broad-ranging questions going over all aspects of character creation were asked, one in 2016 and one in 2017. | Participants in general found that diverse body types and more than one gender option were the most important, while believed that queer representation was the least important. When looking at only those who believe diversity is important, the least important was found to be realistic graphics. | Providing users with a diversity of options in character creation systems is valued. Users primarily care about diversity of body type and gender. Users who are attracted to diverse games would also like to see diversity in other tested categories. Users enjoy being able to create representations of themselves or to see the potential for creating these representations. | Providing users with diverse options in character creations is valued, and people enjoy being able to make creations of themselves in games. | |||||||||||||||
26 | https://usc.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsSurveyEngine/File.php?F=F_2sT1vq79MyJ4hU4 | n/a | Pozo, Diana; Ruberg, Bonnie; Goetz, Chris | 2017 | In practice: Queerness and games | Pozo, D., Ruberg, B., & Goetz, C. (2017). In practice: Queerness and games. Camera Obscura: Feminism, Culture, and Media Studies, 32(2), 153-163. | (Pozo et al, 2017) | n/a | This article builds outward from the community formed around the Queerness and Games Conference (QGCon), founded in 2013 at the University of California, Berkeley, to identify a set of practices associated with queerness and games across independent and industry game design, queer video game theory and criticism, and queer games pedagogy. | n/a | n/a | The gaming culture is by nature heteronormative. QGCon represents the queer game movement in the US. Focuses on the queer gaming experience through character designs and mechanics and queer histories. The significance of fans for media companies, and the rise of independent gaming brought more attention to queer gamers, game designers and games critics. | The past 10 years have created a new wave in independent gaming, bringing recognition to the queer gaming experience. As QGCon continues to grow there are more conversations happening around the queer gaming experience. | Briefly talks about character design and its role in queer gaming. Also mentions heteronormativity of gaming culture. | ||||||||||||||
27 | https://usc.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsSurveyEngine/File.php?F=F_Yc7ywzH72rICxAl | N/A | Ruberg, Bonnie | 2018 | Queerness and Video Games: Queer Game Studies and New Perspectives through Play | Ruberg, B. (2018). Queerness and Video Games: Queer Game Studies and New Perspectives through Play. GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 24(4), 543-555. https://www.muse.jhu.edu/article/706702. | (Ruberg, 2018) | N/A | Queerness and video games share an ethos that can be fundamentally characterized through play. | N/A | Play is already central to queer theory, as in the examples of sexual and theoretical “play” given at the start of this essay, but bringing video games into direct dialogue with queerness highlights how play can itself be a framework for queer critique. As a designed experience, play can offer opportunities for critical reflections on how systems of power operate and how expectations for selfhood are formed; it also creates opportunities for deconstructing and resisting these systems. Ultimately, what video games bring to queerness is new ways to think about queerness itself. Considered through queer game studies, queerness emerges as a set of desires and a way of being that are fundamentally linked to playfulness. At the same time, queerness relates to games through its disruption of hegemony. Queerness refuses to “play the game” of dominant culture. This speaks to the complexities of play, as well as the complexities of queerness: the game of queerness is both queer experience itself and the forces that queerness rejects. Both queerness and play contain possibilities for resistance and for reinscribing norms. Much as video games seem to offer innite possibilities but in fact greatly limit player agency, the lives of LGBTQ subjects can in fact be highly restricted by homo- normativity and other culturally imposed expectations. Identifying the resonances between video games and queerness does, however, imply a powerful potential for imagining playing as a queer verb — not the verb “to queer,” that is, but play as a queer action. | The work of queer game studies is only just beginning. In addition to the growing network of scholars taking part in research in this area, new voices must join this dynamic paradigm. Just as game studies is already expanding its horizons through its consideration of queerness, queer studies and queer theory can take on new forms through an engagement with video games. The bitter feud raging around diversity and video games makes it clear that there has never been a more important time for bringing LGBTQ perspectives to digital media. Conversely, when queer studies engages with video games, it does the important work of throwing itself into this fray — demonstrating a clear connection to the realities faced by queer subjects in cultural spaces related to technology. | Much as video games seem to offer infinite possibilities but in fact greatly limit player agency, the lives of LGBTQ subjects can in fact be highly restricted by homonormativity and other culturally imposed expectations. | |||||||||||||||
28 | https://usc.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsSurveyEngine/File.php?F=F_djxEaZTncBLRCw1 | Online communities; Knowledge sharing; Incentives; Collaboration | Halla, Hazel; Grahamb, Dianne | 2004 | Creation and recreation: motivating collaboration to generate knowledge capital in online communities | Hall, H., Graham, D. (2004). Creation and recreation: Motivating collaboration to generate knowledge capital in online communities. International Journal of Information Management, 24(3), 235–246. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2004.02.004 | Hall et al., 2004 | The results of a research project that examined the factors that motivated individuals competing to win an award of 10,000 to interact collectively in a Yahoo e-group are presented. The project was the apparent willingness of competitors to help their rivals when only one prize was available. The findings revealed that the initial impetus for members to join the group was to discover information for personal benefit. Overtime, however, individual desire to reciprocate the help received from the group developed out of the online interactions. Other results from the study * challenge the findings of previous research on the value of strong social capital in online communities; * confirm that in order to motivate active participation in online environments incentives offered should match the values of the group in question; * advocate that a balance needs to be achieved in determining the degree of focus in a discussion group’s activities: a narrow focus leads to action amongst members and diminishes the requirement for social support and community control; * reveal that decisions on a community’s size may determine its power to support genuine collaboration and new knowledge creation: all-inclusive membership provides opportunities for individual learning, but true knowledge capital is generated in smaller, less public groups. These findings highlight issues that businesses may wish to consider when there are plans to create virtual communities of practice to meet corporate goals. This is particularly important with reference to furnishing environments where employees are willing to work collaboratively in the creation of new knowledge. | N/A | N/A | N/A | A number of conclusions can be drawn from this study. The case of the CipherChallenge reveals that strong social relationships are not necessarily crucial to the operation of a virtual community. However, the level of social infrastructure that supports the community contributes to the extent to which individual knowledge (as opposed to information) is shared across the membership. This also impacts the community’s propensities for, and capabilities in, creating newknowledge. Observations made here indicate that the array of incentives that it is actually possible to offer community members depends on the nature of the community. In some instances a community’s set-up will simply deny particular incentives. For example, in this case there were no direct economic rewards on offer for knowledge sharing. Where a range of incentives might be employed, an effective balance is one which takes into account what is valued by the community’s membership. In this case, for example, where work required addressing a very demanding intellectual set of challenges, public admiration of those who were smart enough to make progress appeared to motivate them to share their learning. The study also shows that virtual communities develop their own systems of acceptable behaviour. The most commonly cited attraction of membership of the CipherCh- allenge e-group was for the selfish reason of enhancing individual learning opportunities, yet later visits were prompted by the desire to contribute to others’ learning. Equally the activities of lurkers and free-riders were debated on the list. Even in a community where there is apparent low interest in developing interactions with others beyond straightforward information exchange, social capital is developed. This is manifest in the reciprocities that derive from the network. Just as social capital generates knowledge capital, social capital can emerge from knowledge capital in communities. | The initial impetus for members to join an online group is to discover information for personal benefit. Overtime, individual desire to reciprocate the help received from the group developed out of the online interactions. | This article was a result of a previously conducted project that examined the factors that motivated individuals competing to win in an online community. | ||||||||||||||
29 | https://usc.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsSurveyEngine/File.php?F=F_3QYM4lGEVklTQEp | Online communities; Massively Multiplayer Online Games; social dynamics; activity metrics | Ducheneaut, Nicolas; Yee, Nicholas; Nickell, Eric; Moore, Robert J. | 2006 | “Alone Together?” Exploring the Social Dynamics of Massively Multiplayer Online Games | Ducheneaut, N., Yee, N., Nickell, E., & Moore, R. J. (2006, April). " Alone together?" Exploring the social dynamics of massively multiplayer online games. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human Factors in computing systems (pp. 407-416). | Ducheneaut et al., 2006 | Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) routinely attract millions of players but little empirical data is available to assess their players’ social experiences. In this paper, we use longitudinal data collected directly from the game to examine play and grouping patterns in one of the largest MMOGs: World of Warcraft. Our observations show that the prevalence and extent of social activities in MMOGs might have been previously over-estimated, and that gaming communities face important challenges affecting their cohesion and eventual longevity. We discuss the implications of our findings for the design of future games and other online social spaces. | - PvP servers could have larger guilds with players more inclined to grouping – both would simply increase a player’s chance of survival (a common occurrence on PvP server is to be “ganked,” that is, to be killed by other players while traveling alone). - A guild's size and cohesiveness are affected by level differences - Guilds put social pressures on members to play longer | - Authors created main characters and alts and played World of Warcraft (WoW) - Examined playing time, progression, average time to complete a level, grouping versus solo classes, impact of guild membership on playing time and groups, size of guilds and commitment levels, and social networks in guilds | Playing time and leveling: Average play time per character over a week was 10.2 hours. Game objectives are instrumental in affected a MMORPG player's behavior -- Leveling time (in minutes) = (Current Level x 14.0) - 44 Grouping patterns: Characters who are never in a group consistently level faster than characters who group at any frequency -- Grouping is an inefficient way to level and many players are not observed to be in a group until they are past level 55, preferring "soloable" classes when the game becomes more difficult. Guilds and their impact: Overall, 66% of WoW's characters are in a guild. This number increases to 90% for characters level 43 and above. Characters in guilds group more often and spend more time in the game than others. Size of guilds: 17.5% of characters were observed to be in a one-person guild. The median was 6 and the largest guild had 257 members. Of 2,744 guilds observed, on average, guilds did not grow or shrink over a one-month period, indicating fairly low levels of commitment to guilds. | WoW is a "virtual Skinner box," smoothly increasing reward and difficulty and reinforcing player commitment to ensure its success and addictive quality. Audience, social presence, and spectacle are three factors in explaining the appeal of being "alone together" in multiplayer games. Multiplayer game designers should take behavior more seriously, as it could be worthwhile to simultaneously design for audience/player interactions. | WoW's success suggests alternative design strategies for online games where encouraging and supporting direct interactions might be less important than designing for the "spectator experience" and a sense of social presence. In addition, carefully crafted reward structure can contribute significantly to a game's success. | |||||||||||||||
30 | https://usc.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsSurveyEngine/File.php?F=F_1mrfoQ7WQC815Az | online gaming; digital games; gender; race; ethnicity; stereotype threat; social identity theory; communities of practice; informal learning; interest-driven learning; 21st century learning | Richard, Gabriela; Hoadley, Christopher | 2015 | Learning Resilience in the Face of Bias: Online Gaming, Protective Communities and Interest-Driven Digital Learning | Richard, G. T., & Hoadley, C. (2015). Learning resilience in the face of bias: Online gaming, protective communities and interest-driven digital learning. International Society of the Learning Sciences, Inc.[ISLS]. | (Richard & Hoadley, 2015) | Online digital gaming environments have been proposed as an important form of computer-supported collaborative learning, but these environments have been shown to marginalize some learners, most notably women or girls, as well as ethnic or racial minorities. Furthermore, game-based competencies and identities have been shown to be important for digitally-mediated learning activities and trajectories in computer science and technology. In this paper we look at how supportive communities can improve resilience by mitigating stereotype threat, and thereby helping to protect vulnerable groups from the negative effects of implicit and explicit bias in gaming culture and game-based learning activities. Our findings demonstrate that a female-supportive gaming community can foster equitable gaming identification and self-concept, and we propose that similar models can be used with other marginalized groups (i.e., ethnic/racial minorities). | Research Questions: What is the relationship between community perceived support, gaming self-concept and gaming identification? If the possible effect of community is controlled for, can community perceived support predict gaming self-concept and gaming identification? | Survey (mixed-methods) on gaming experience, online communities, and learning-relevant outcomes, derived from Perceived community support questionnaire (PCSQ) and Social identities and Attitudes Scale (SIAS). Measured on 5-point Likert scale. | The correlations demonstrated that perceived community support, as measured with the PCSQ, has a significant positive relationship with gaming identification, particularly for members of communities other than the female supportive one. Further, the subscale community participation and gaming self-concept had a significant positive relationship for members of communities other than the female-supportive community (FSC). However, there appeared to be no significant relationship between perceived community support and gaming identification or self-concept for members of the female-supportive community. The statistical results indicate that the holistic measure of perceived community support has a significant positive relationship with gaming identification and the subscale of community participation had a significant positive relationship with gaming self-concept, if, and only if, one were in communities other than the female supportive community. There was not a significant relationship between perceived community support or any of its separate sub-scales with gaming identification or self-concept for individuals in the female supportive community. However, membership in the female supportive community positively predicts higher gaming identification and self-concept than does perceived community support. In other words, while members of the female supportive community may not perceive it as supportive, membership in the community contributes over and above general support. | One interpretation for these results is that the community provides structures other than perceived support that help with fostering resiliency and increasing identification and efficacy. One possibility is the presence of role-models that defy stereotypes of female inability in gaming spaces (since the community contains multiple highly ranked and professional female gamers); another possibility is that its tactics for providing a structured way to deal with harassment online while playing with the community, which involves reporting and muting negative players, while maintaining sportsmanship (Author, 2014), could be scaffolding and modeling a healthier way to deal with threat. As a result, players could have positive structures to help build investment, confidence, identity and ability. | This work shows that treating resilience as an important learning outcome, and the intentional creation of protective communities, is a viable technique for responding to the need for facilitation and equitable participation in collaborative learning. While this study only looked at female-supportive communities, it offers implications for identity-supportive communities across sociocultural experiences. | |||||||||||||||
31 | https://usc.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsSurveyEngine/File.php?F=F_2earRpreYO347d0 | online support group, social media, video games, positive psychology | Tichon, Jennifer; Mavin, Timothy | 2017 | Experiencing Resilience via Video Games: A Content Analysis of the PlayStation Blog | Tichon, J. G., & Mavin, T. (2017). Experiencing resilience via video games: A content analysis of the playstation blog. Social Science Computer Review, 35(5), 666-675. | (Tichon & Mavin, 2017) | The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of games, where characters must overcome adversity, on player’s perceptions of their psychological resilience. Located on the PlayStation blog (blog.us.playstation.com), the online PlayStation Network (PSN) community group focuses on video gamers unique stories and experiences. Using a qualitative and exploratory design, blogs posted between March 2012 and January 2013 were analyzed for content describing experiences via gameplay that members reported made them feel more resilient. Both social and emotional aspects of resilience were discussed with players reporting game experiences had helped them feel more confident in their abilities. Many also associated themselves with the same resilient traits as their characters display in games. A range of popular off-the-shelf video games were reported as helpful in providing players with the opportunity to feel confident under pressure and, importantly, some players reported transferring these positive psychological effects to their real-world lives. | Thesis: A range of popular off-the-shelf video games were reported as helpful in providing players with the opportunity to feel confident under pressure and, importantly, some players reported transferring these positive psychological effects to their real-world lives. | Methodology consisted of qualitative content analysis of online messages sent to blog.us.playstation.com. ‘‘PSN Community Spotlight’’ is a discussion board located on the main PlayStation site. The messages sent to this section of the site were chosen for analysis as it was specifically placed on the website to provide PlayStation users with a forum in which to ‘‘share their unique stories, experiences, and thoughts.’’ The primary aim of this project was to investigate if players report an increase in psychological resilience via the experience of bouncing back and recovering from setbacks/losses in video games and whether they are using these experiences to cope in their real-world lives. | The data showed that participants in the blog community often discussed topics related to resilience and that they related these to their real-world lives. Even though the topic of resilience was not targeted specifically for discussion through the forum, it appeared unprompted in 66% of the posts. The experience of learning to be more resilient was always discussed as a highly positive outcome of game playing. | Setbacks in games increases participants' resilience which was translated to real world pressures. | In this project, video games were repeatedly described as the most important and key resource that were used to help individual’s ‘‘bounce back.’’ Aspects included: positive emotions, cognitive flexibility, social support, life meaning, and active coping. | n/a | ||||||||||||||
32 | https://usc.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsSurveyEngine/File.php?F=F_3me4KMRQTOBP6pv | priming; prosocial thoughts; video games | Greitemeyer, Tobias; Osswald, Silvia | 2011 | Playing Prosocial Video Games Increases the Accessibility of Prosocial Thoughts | Greitemeyer, T., & Osswald, S. (2011). Playing prosocial video games increases the accessibility of prosocial thoughts. The Journal of social psychology, 151(2), 121-128. | Greitemeyer & Osswald, 2011 | Past research has provided abundant evidence that playing violent video games increases aggressive tendencies. In contrast, evidence on possible positive effects of video game exposure on prosocial tendencies has been relatively sparse. The present research tested and found support for the hypothesis that exposure to prosocial video games increases the accessibility of prosocial thoughts. These results provide support to the pre- dictive validity of the General Learning Model (Buckley & Anderson, 2006) for the effects of exposure to prosocial media on social tendencies. Thus, depending on the content of the video game, playing video games can harm but may also benefit social relations. | Testing the effect of video game exposure on prosocial thought accessibility using a task that does not require conscious expression of remembering and is thus not as easily affected by demand characteristics as it is by direct memory tasks. | Participants were told that they would take part in two unrelated pilot studies, one about the enjoyment factor of classical computer games and the other about recognizing words. They played either Lemmings as the prosocial game or Tetris as the neutral one for 10 minutes. They then filled out a short questionnaire about the game, including how prosocial the content of the video game was. They then performed a lexical decision task . | Participants who had played a prosocial video game responded faster to prosocial target words than participants who had played a neutral video game. Participants who had played a neutral video game responded faster to neutral target words than to prosocial words or non-words. | Playing prosocial video games activates the cognitive route of the General Learning Model, in that it primes related prosocial thoughts in semantic memory. Playing a prosocial video game primes cognitive associative networks specifically related to prosocial behavior, which may in turn activate related behavior. | The effect of exposure to prosocial video games on prosocial behavior could be due to an increased accessibility of prosocial thoughts. | |||||||||||||||
33 | https://usc.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsSurveyEngine/File.php?F=F_2b3OjBvKhphXBQi | prosocial behavior; General Learning Model; cognitive learning model; content analysis | Lim, Ji Soo; Baba Akira | 2015 | Research on Prosocial Behaviors in Video Games: Content Analysis and Empirical Study | Lim, J. S., & Baba, A. (2015). Research on Prosocial Behaviors in Video Games: Content Analysis and Empirical Study. | Lim et al., 2015 | Because digital games are interactive media, it is expected that digital games have various effects on players. However, while there are many studies on negative effects, there are only few on positive effects. In this study, to clarify prosocial effect of digital games, content analysis and survey were conducted. Specifically, the study aims to answer two research questions: 1) does prosocial behavior in video games promote prosocial behavior of players? and 2) do prosocial behaviors of different contexts in regard to six dimensions of prosocial behaviors in video games have different effects on players? Although the statistical analysis indicates only marginal significance of prosocial effect of digital games, the result justifies the importance of using proper contexts for depicting prosocial behaviors of different dimensions based on the cognitive learning model. | Does prosocial behavior in video games promote prosocial behavior of players? Do prosocial behaviors of different contexts in regard to six dimensions of prosocial behaviors in video games have different effects on players? | The current study first conducted a rigorous content analysis of video games to be used to see what kinds of prosocial behavior based on six dimensions of situational context are presented in the video games. If the contents of video games can be analyzed based on more concrete definitions, many games may become available for study on prosocial effect. | Although the results did not show significant differences or changes in general prosocial behavior from playing prosocial video games, they have suggested that, from the multidimensional perspective, there are some notable differences or changes in certain dimensions of prosocial behaviors. If only one aspect or overall aspect of prosocial behaviors were considered like in previous studies, changes in different dimensions of prosocial behaviors might have been overlooked. However, people differ in the extent of different dimensions of prosocial behaviors, and it is important to look at prosocial behaviors from the multidimensional perspective. | This study proposes how prosocial effects of video games can be achieved through prosocial behavior depicted in a proper context and further suggest the ways video games can be used in prosocial ways. This study provides a concrete definition of prosocial behavior to first resolve the ambiguities in interpreting the results. Also, the study specifies the effects of different prosocial behaviors in video games from context perspective. This can be used to assess video games of their prosocial aspects, like level of violence is assessed. It may also serve to help people like parents and teachers who look for good games for children. According to ESA (2014), 95% of parents pay attention to the content of the games their children play. If parents can be aware of prosocial content, it may be made available to children prosocial video games and thus promote prosocial behavior of children. | Videogames can be used in prosocial ways. | |||||||||||||||
34 | https://usc.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsSurveyEngine/File.php?F=F_3J1Jry0MUNHMBZI | prosocial behavior; video games; priming | Greitemeyer, Tobias; Osswald, Silvia | 2010 | Effects of Prosocial Video Games on Prosocial Behavior | Greitemeyer, T., & Osswald, S. (2010). Effects of prosocial video games on prosocial behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98(2), 211–221. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0016997 | (Greitemeyer & Osswald, 2010) | Previous research has documented that playing violent video games has various negative effects on social behavior in that it causes an increase in aggressive behavior and a decrease in prosocial behavior. In contrast, there has been much less evidence on the effects of prosocial video games. In the present research, 4 experiments examined the hypothesis that playing a prosocial (relative to a neutral) video game increases helping behavior. In fact, participants who had played a prosocial video game were more likely to help after a mishap, were more willing (and devoted more time) to assist in further experiments, and intervened more often in a harassment situation. Results further showed that exposure to prosocial video games activated the accessibility of prosocial thoughts, which in turn promoted prosocial behavior. Thus, depending on the content of the video game, playing video games not only has negative effects on social behavior but has positive effects as well. | The aim of the present research was to address whether playing video games not only affects social behaviors negatively (as previous research has shown) but may do so positively as well. More concretely, we tested the hypothesis that exposure to prosocial video games promotes prosocial action. The hypothesis builds upon two theoretical models, which address the effects of video games on social behavior. | In four experiments, the effects of playing a prosocial video game on prosocial tendencies were examined. To this end, participants played either a prosocial or a neutral video game (Experiment 1 also included an aggressive video game). A pilot study addressed the affective and arousal properties of the video games used in the main experiments. | The present research shows that playing video games with prosocial content is positively related to increases in different kinds of prosocial behavior. Participants who had played a prosocial video game were more likely to help the experimenter pick up spilled pencils (Experiments 1 and 4), were more willing to assist in further experiments (Experiment 2), and were more likely to help a harassed experimenter (Experiment 3). By using these different types of prosocial behavior, we verified that playing prosocial video games increases unrequested and requested helping as well as low-cost and high-cost helping. It should be also noted that these effects were recorded even though participants played the video games for a relatively brief time period (8 –10 min). | As noted above, whereas short-term effects of exposure are mostly due to priming of existing well-encoded cognitions, long-term effects require learning of scripts, beliefs, and schemas. Because adults are more likely to possess well-elaborated networks of associations, they should be affected by priming to a greater extent. Children, in contrast, are more likely to have minds that are modifiable and are thus more susceptible to learning. The present research using an adult sample suggests that the (short-term) effects of playing a prosocial video game on prosocial behavior may be mediated by the accessibility of prosocial constructs. | This study presented evidence that exposure to prosocial video games increases prosocial behavior. | |||||||||||||||
35 | https://usc.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsSurveyEngine/File.php?F=F_2dgwLLptmt5nQoM | prosocial behavior; video games; priming | Greitemeyer, Tobias; Osswald, Silvia | 2010 | Effects of Prosocial Video Games on Prosocial Behavior | Greitemeyer, T., & Osswald, S. (2010). Effects of prosocial video games on prosocial behavior. Journal of personality and social psychology, 98(2), 211. | Greitemeyer & Osswald, 2010 | Previous research has documented that playing violent video games has various negative effects on social behavior in that it causes an increase in aggressive behavior and a decrease in prosocial behavior. In contrast, there has been much less evidence on the effects of prosocial video games. In the present research, 4 experiments examined the hypothesis that playing a prosocial (relative to a neutral) video game increases helping behavior. In fact, participants who had played a prosocial video game were more likely to help after a mishap, were more willing (and devoted more time) to assist in further experiments, and intervened more often in a harassment situation. Results further showed that exposure to prosocial video games activated the accessibility of prosocial thoughts, which in turn promoted prosocial behavior. Thus, depending on the content of the video game, playing video games not only has negative effects on social behavior but has positive effects as well. | Exposure to prosocial video games promotes prosocial action | Participants randomly assigned to play one of three video games: Lemmings = prosocial video game, Tetris = neutral, Lamers = aggressive. After a short explanation of the video game, the participant began playing the game. After 8 min, the experimenter explained that the game session was over and reached for the questionnaires the participant was required to fill out. By reaching for the ques- tionnaires that were positioned on the table next to the participant, The experimenter knocked a cup of pencils off the table and onto the floor. The experimenter said something under her or his breath, paused to see whether the participant would help to pick up the scattered pencils, and then proceeded to pick them up. Whether the participant stood up and helped or not was recorded. | As expected, participants who had played a prosocial video game were more likely to pick up the pencils than were those who had played a neutral or an aggressive video game. Of the 18 participants who had played the prosocial game, 12 helped to pick up the pencils. Of the 18 participants who had played the neutral game, 6 helped. Of the 18 participants who had played the aggressive game, 5 helped. That is, 67% of the participants in the prosocial video game condition helped, whereas 33% in the neutral video game condition and 28% in the aggressive video game condition did so. No significant effects were found for mood, either on the positive affect scale. In the second experiment, 100% of the prosocial video game condition helped, whereas 68% in the neutral video game condition did so. | The present research shows that playing video games with prosocial content is positively related to increases in different kinds of prosocial behavior. Participants who had played a prosocial video game were more likely to help the experimenter pick up spilled pencils (Experiments 1 and 4), were more willing to assist in further experiments (Experiment 2), and were more likely to help a harassed experimenter (Experiment 3). By using these different types of prosocial behavior, we verified that playing prosocial video games increases unrequested and requested helping as well as low-cost and high-cost helping. It should be also noted that these effects were recorded even though participants played the video games for a relatively brief time period (8 –10 min). | The content of the video games played affects the player’s internal state, and these internal states in turn affect whether someone responds prosocially or antisocially. For example, whereas playing a prosocial video game increases the accessibility of prosocial cognitions that instigate prosocial behavior, playing an antisocial video game increases the accessibility of antisocial cognitions that instigates antisocial behavior. | Researchers point out that there is clearly a need for prosocial video games that are highly attractive to consumers, and that convincing the video game industry to create such games would be an important first step. | ||||||||||||||
36 | https://usc.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsSurveyEngine/File.php?F=F_3dWAPmoPCv82UiJ | Queer Theory; Trans Studies; Game Design; Critical Praxis | Baird, Josephine; Harrer, Sabine | 2021 | Challenging Systems of Play: Towards game design ethics for transgender allyship | Baird, J., & Harrer, S. (2021). Challenging Systems of Play. The 16th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games. https://doi.org/10.1145/3472538.3472586 | (Baird & Harrer, 2021) | Game design processes, just like games themselves, are infused with unconscious values which need to be made transparent to ensure a successful outcome. Building on previous studies in educational and queer game design, this paper critically reflects on the values of our game design process with Allied Forces, a game which aims to teach trans allyship to cisgender players. Using a personal account routed in reflective design and standpoint methodology, we describe our involvement as queer subject matter experts assisting in the development of a game focusing on cis education. Our discussion reflects on two dimensions of critical game design which we believe are suited to generate a better understanding of unconscious interpersonal dynamics in politically engaged, social justice-oriented game design. These are (1) external assumptions related to our expertise as queer designers, and (2) the internal labor and hidden costs of working as marginalized creators with and for cis players. Our observations regarding these emergent themes allow us to interrogate and make visible the hidden power dimensions which tend to drive social change-oriented educational game design more generally. Our contribution thus seeks to help marginalized creators identify and calculate the costs and benefits of participating in politically engaged game design, and to develop their own feasible strategies and voices as trans and nonbinary creators in collaborative game design spaces. | The design reflections we present in this paper examine what implications this might have for game designers, especially those working on the margins to create educational games. We present these reflections through the lens of our experience as designers working on Allied Forces, a work-in-progress game prototype which tries to address the challenge of allyship education through play. The ruptures and insights we experienced in this process present us with an opportunity to critically unpack some of the internalized assumptions and power structures queer game designers need to resolve when working towards positively influencing the lives of trans people. | In this paper, we reflect on a game design process to identify emergent methodological concerns arising for queer creators working towards social change. Our analysis focuses both on the gameplay themes when developing the game Allied Forces, as well as the ethical issues we encountered when doing so. By looking at these aspects in conjunction, we expect to gain a better understanding of the hidden assumptions underlying participatory game-based learning projects. | A central assumption inherent in the project goal was that cis-oriented game design can, in fact, improve the lives of trans people. Although there is no doubt that allyship training is an essential part of trans liberation struggles, the equation of trans safety and cis education cannot help but evoke the dubious ‘empathy game’ model. A realization we had whilst working on Allied Forces is that living marginalized lives does not automatically equip us to make sense of them in coherent ways, least through a game. Secondly, there are emotional ramifications to turning ‘lived experience’ into a format that can fit and accommodate someone else’s experience and perspectives. It puts an onus on us to transform our trauma into a ‘usable’ shape where it will empower others to learn from it. This entails making our experiences ‘acceptable’ or ‘comprehensible’ to a standard that would mean the player does not reject it out of hand. As such, ‘optimizing’ queer experience for playability by compartmentalizing it may have been just as traumatic, or more so, than simply sharing our experience in its complicated entirety. | While our paper intends to highlight some of the tensions arising from such difficult questions, we are confident that reflecting on them can be useful to define actionable, realistic, and respectful game design goals moving forward. An empowering aspect in our Allied Forces process has been our collective capacity to name and question invisible framing errors through our shared standpoints. That said, a reality which cis stakeholders must face when inviting trans people to turn experience into games for cis audiences is that this is potentially going to be work experienced as challenging, emotionally taxing and possibly paradoxical. Nevertheless, the undisputed need for cis ally education and the hope for social impact that it could lead to, will drive some of us to do this work regardless. | While our paper intends to highlight some of the tensions arising from such difficult questions, we are confident that reflecting on them can be useful to define actionable, realistic, and respectful game design goals moving forward. | |||||||||||||||
37 | https://usc.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsSurveyEngine/File.php?F=F_2bKJ8oHjrwbbO8N | role-playing games; games; mental health; psychotherapy; prevention; scoping review | Arenas, Daniel Luccas; Viduani1, Anna; Araujo, Renata Brasil | 2022 | Therapeutic Use of Role-Playing Game (RPG) in Mental Health: A Scoping Review | Arenas, D. L., Viduani, A., & Araujo, R. B. (2022). Therapeutic use of role-playing game (RPG) in Mental Health: A scoping review. Simulation & Gaming, 53(3), 285–311. https://doi.org/10.1177/10468781211073720 | Arenas et al., 2022 | Role-playing game (RPG) is a term that covers a series of forms and styles of games that involve, in some way, the creation, representation and progression of characters who interact in a fictional world under a system of structured rules. Its applications and effects on human behavior and mental health are, however, still an underexplored area. | N/A | A scoping review was performed on the literature about RPGs as a therapeutic tool or prevention strategy in psychotherapies and mental health, highlighting studies’ populations, forms of RPG and interventions used. To that, a systematic search in the PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, BVS/LILACS databases and grey literature was performed. | Of the 4,069 studies reviewed, 50 sources of evidence were included. The majority was published as of 2011 (78%) in journals (62%) and targeted ther- apeutic uses of RPGs (84%). Most interventions used computer (50%) or ta- bletop RPGs (44%), mostly with cognitive and/or behavioral (52%) therapeutical approaches and targeting adolescents (70%). | The findings suggest a potential use of RPGs as a complementary tool in psychotherapies. However, only 16% of the studies included were experimental. We identified considerable heterogeneity in RPGs definitions, outcomes and interventions used, preventing a systematic review. Thus, more empirical and well-designed studies on the application of RPGs in mental health are needed. | RPGs have been used in mental health as therapeutic tools complementary to psychotherapies, especially in CBT, and focusing on depression. More well-designed empirical studies are needed to support the use of RPG or RPG-based interventions in clinical populations. | |||||||||||||||
38 | https://usc.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsSurveyEngine/File.php?F=F_O1lWlXad2qQCiTn | social change, allies, motivations, collective action, protest | Radke, Helena R.M.; Kutlaca, Maja; Siem, Birte; Wright, Stephen C.; Becker, Julia C. | 2020 | Beyond Allyship: Motivations for Advantaged Group Members to Engage in Action for Disadvantaged Groups | Radke, H. R., Kutlaca, M., Siem, B., Wright, S. C., & Becker, J. C. (2020). Beyond allyship: Motivations for advantaged group members to engage in action for disadvantaged groups. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 24(4), 291-315. | Radke et al., 2020 | White Americans who participate in the Black Lives Matter movement, men who attended the Women’s March, and people from the Global North who work to reduce poverty in the Global South—advantaged group members (sometimes referred to as allies) often engage in action for disadvantaged groups. Tensions can arise, however, over the inclusion of advantaged group members in these movements, which we argue can partly be explained by their motivations to participate. We propose that advantaged group members can be motivated to participate in these movements (a) to improve the status of the disadvantaged group, (b) on the condition that the status of their own group is maintained, (c) to meet their own personal needs, and (d) because this behavior aligns with their moral beliefs. We identify potential antecedents and behavioral outcomes associated with these motivations before describing the theoretical contribution our article makes to the psychological literature. | We propose that advantaged group members can be motivated to participate in these movements (a) to improve the status of the disadvantaged group, (b) on the condition that the status of their own group is maintained, (c) to meet their own personal needs, and (d) because this behavior aligns with their moral beliefs. | Literature review: We describe four motivations (outgroup- focused, ingroup-focused, personal, and morality) and build on the extended social identity model of collective action(extended SIMCA; Van Zomeren et al., 2018) to frame the antecedents associated with each of these motivations. We then describe the behavioral outcomes associated with each of these motivations drawing on the intergroup helping(Nadler & Halabi, 2006), collective action (Wright et al., 1990), and allyship literatures (Droogendyk et al., 2016). We finish by detailing the contribution our work makes to the psychological literature and directions for future research. | Some advantages group members who engage in action for the disadvantages group may genuinely seek to improve the status of the disadvantaged group. This is consistent with the common definition for allies found in the psychological lit- erature (e.g., Ashburn-Nardo, 2018; Broido, 2000; K. T. Brown, 2015; K. T. Brown & Ostrove, 2013; Ostrove & Brown, 2018). We proposed that this motivation emerges from a set of antecedents that match nicely with some of the predictors considered in the extended SIMCA (Van Zomeren et al., 2018). In short, we expect that the antecedents of this motivation will include: lower identification with or even disidentification from the advantaged ingroup; identification with a politicized group that endorse norms and beliefs asso- ciated with fighting for the rights of the disadvantaged group; feelings of group-based anger toward the authorities and those who engage in discrimination; rejection of negative stereotypes and prejudicial attitudes about the disadvantaged group; and higher privilege awareness. It is advantaged group members with this profile who are most likely to be propelled toward the sometimes uncomfortable and difficult work required to improve the status of the disadvantaged group. We believe it is valuable to recognize that advantaged group members might be motivated to participate in action for the disadvantaged group at the same time maintaining a strong focus on the needs and interests of their own advantaged ingroup. Thus, they may seek actions that benefit the disadvantaged group on the condition that the status of their own group is maintained. Alternatively, and more malevolently, they could engage in actions which on the surface appear to support the disadvantaged group, but in reality seek to bolster the status of the advantaged group. We propose that this kind of ingroup-focused motivation is underpinned by the higher ingroup identification; the emotions of group-based guilt and sympathy; and specific beliefs and attitudes such as zero-sum beliefs, paternalism, and SDO that maintain the higher status of the advantaged group. The antecedents of personal motivation include higher personal identification, positive emotions such as pride and joy, as well as the endorsement of an ideology of individualism and the personal self-aggrandizing beliefs and self-focused attention associated with narcissism. Advantaged group members can be motivated to take action for the disadvantaged group because doing so aligns with their moral beliefs. Violations of one’s moral beliefs can lead to identification with a politicized group which includes the disadvantaged group, if the normative content of this politicized identity fits with one’s moral beliefs. | The tensions that sometimes arises between disadvantaged and advantaged group members who participate in political movement is in part due to the motivations advantaged group members have for taking action for the disadvantaged group. | Advantaged group members can be motivated to improve the status of the disadvantaged group on the condition that the status of the advantaged group is maintained, to meet their own personal needs, and/or because this behavior aligns with their moral beliefs. | |||||||||||||||
39 | https://usc.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsSurveyEngine/File.php?F=F_3M6BBcGTAUUFg0P | transgender; avatar; video games; non-binary; gender diversity; gender identity | McKenna, John L.; Wang, Yu-Chi; Williams, Coleen R.; McGregor, Kerry; Boskey, Elizabeth R | 2022 | “You can’t be deadnamed in a video game”: Transgender and gender diverse adolescents’ use of video game avatar creation for gender- affirmation and exploration | McKenna, J. L., Wang, Y.-C., Williams, C. R., McGregor, K., & Boskey, E. R. (2022). “You can’t be deadnamed in a video game”: Transgender and gender diverse adolescents’ use of video game avatar creation for gender-affirmation and exploration. Journal of LGBT Youth, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/19361653.2022.2144583 | In-text citation: (McKenna et al., 2022) | Transgender and gender diverse (TGD) adolescents experience mental health challenges at higher rates than cisgender peers due to a combination of minority stress and gender dysphoria. Many TGD youth use video games to cope with stress and access informal networks of support. However, very little is known about the potential positive influence avatar customization has for this group of youth. To address this gap in the literature, in-depth, semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with ten TGD adolescents about their experiences with avatar customization. Thematic analysis revealed four primary themes including that (1) video game avatar customization offers a low stakes environment for gender exploration, (2) avatars offer both internal and external validation of gender identity and transition goals, (3) avatars allow players to enact aspirational appearance goals, and (4) video games and avatars offer immersion and escapism for TGD adolescents. These novel findings underscore the range of positive impacts avatar customization can have for TGD adolescents, particularly for youth with gender dysphoria. Video game avatar customization can be a key part of the gender exploration and affirmation for some TGD adolescents. | To explore ways in which young TGD people may experience affirmation and validation during avatar creation in video games. | After ensuring there was equal representation among TGD youth in the sample, recruited from a gender clinic in Massachusetts, in-depth, semi-structured interviews allowed a more tailored approach to understanding the unique experiences of each participant. Quantitative demographic information was also collected to better characterize the sample. | The opportunity to use avatar customization to present themselves without being questioned or doubted allowed some TGD youth to not only better understand and feel more comfortable about their gender identity, but also freely explore and change their gender identity. In addition to such internal affirmation and validation, avatars allowed TGD players to receive external validation through reliable affirmation by other players or non-playable characters without the fear of being misgendered or deadnamed. Avatars also provided important documentation of gender identity to others (such as family members) and served as proof to TGD adolescents and those around them, that their identity is authentic. Many participants also noted that avatars allowed them to explore aspirational or idealized versions of themselves and helped them gain clarity about how they would like to look in the future. Lastly, avatars and gaming offered players the chance to escape from difficult experiences associated with being TGD, including gender dysphoria, and that virtual reality may be an especially useful tool for exploring the benefits of avatar embodiment. | The present study suggests that video game avatar creation can be a uniquely positive and affirming experience for TGD youth across gender identities and experiences. Clinicians and healthcare providers should consider discussing such experiences with their TGD patients to better understand both their gender histories and how they seek support. For patients who enjoy video games and have experience with avatar customization, asking questions about these experiences can not only shed light on the patient’s gender identity development but help to quickly build rapport given this is a passionate topic for many TGD youth (see Table 4 for sample questions healthcare providers can ask). These types of inquiries may open the door for deeper discussions with adolescents about gender and gender exploration in a way that feels exciting, relevant, and enjoyable rather than uncomfortable and anxiety-inducing. Future research may reveal other opportunities to use avatar creation and video games in the care and support of TGD youth, including through VR. | Video game avatar creation can be a uniquely positive and affirming experience for TGD youth across gender identities and experiences. | |||||||||||||||
40 | https://usc.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsSurveyEngine/File.php?F=F_1KfizEFZaOABC1q | Video Games, Content Analysis, Gender, Sexualization, Sex, Social Identity Theory, Objectification Theory. | Lynch, Teresa; Tompkins, Jessica; van Driel, Irene; Fritz, Niki | 2016 | Sexy, Strong, and Secondary: A Content Analysis of Female Characters in Video Games across 31 Years: Female Game Characters across 31 Years | Lynch, T., Tompkins, J. E., Van Driel, I. I., & Fritz, N. (2016). Sexy, strong, and secondary: A content analysis of female characters in video games across 31 years. Journal of Communication, 66(4), 564-584. | (Lynch, 2016) | We analyzed in-game content from titles released between 1983 and 2014 (n = 571) featuring playable female characters. Results indicate that sexualization has diminished since an observed height in the 1990s. Traditionally male-oriented genres (e.g. fighting) have more sexualized characters than role-playing games. Games rated Teen or Mature did not differ in sexualization and featured more sexualization than Everyone games. Despite an increase in games featuring playable female characters, games still depict female characters more often in secondary roles and sexualized them more than primary characters. A positive relationship emerged between the sexualization of female characters and their physical capability. Critical success of games was unrelated to sexualization. We discuss these findings in light of social identity and objectification theories. | The time is ripe to examine the nature of female representations in games across time to determine whether the development of content follows any meaningful trends of sexualization in response to societal pressure or changes within the demographics of the industry. | First, we referenced websites that provide video game information (IGN, GiantBomb, and Wikipedia) to compile a list of video games released between 1983 and 2014 that featured playable female protagonists. Researchers eliminated games that did not feature playable female characters and characters in existing franchises, and intentionally erotic games as well games that featured non-anthropomorphized characters. The remaining sample was thus 571 video games. The video game served as the first unit of analysis. We derived game data from one of three online video game databases in prioritized order (IGN, then GiantBomb then Wikipedia). The female character during gameplay served as the second unit of analysis. First, we identified each game’s female protagonists then derived female character data from 5-minute segments of recorded gameplay from YouTube. Researchers analyzed character variables such as proportions and clothing to determine extent of sexualization within the games (across different genres, ratings, in relation to audience reception and in relation to characters capabilities). | RQ1 asked whether the sexualization of female protagonists would change over time. Omnibus results indicated significant differences existed across time. RQ2 asked whether sexualization of female protagonists differed between genres. The omnibus test revealed that significant differences existed across genres. RQ3 asked whether sexualization of female characters would differ between games of certain ratings. Significant differences were present. Games rated T for Teen and M for Mature featured more sexualized characters than E for Everyone and Unrated games. RQ5 asked whether the sexualization of a female character related to her capability. After a bivariate analysis was done, the results revealed that a positive relationship existed such that as sexualization increased so did capability. RQ6 asked whether critical success of the game was related to the sexualization of female characters, Finally, we asked whether the critical success of these games related to the sexualization of female characters. The final analysis revealed that this was not the case. | Representation of female characters is a perplexing issue, but research shows that game designers are creating more accurate representations. More positive female representation exists as the number of female gamers continues to rise. | Gender disparity within gaming still persists and continuing to provide more accurate representations and nonobjectified portrayals can contribute to an egalitarian game culture. | Focuses on character design and stereotypical sexualization of female characters. | ||||||||||||||
41 | https://usc.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsSurveyEngine/File.php?F=F_1eErcIdd4ij59TH | Video Games, Cultural Discourse, Empathy, Queer Games, Politics of Affect, Appropriation | Ruberg, Bonnie | 2020 | Empathy and Its Alternatives: Deconstructing the Rhetoric of “Empathy” in Video Games | Ruberg, B. (2020). Empathy and its alternatives: Deconstructing the rhetoric of “empathy” in video games. Communication, Culture & Critique, 13(1), 54-71. | (Ruberg, 2020) | This article analyzes the contemporary discourse that surrounds video games. Specifically, it confronts the rhetoric of “empathy,” which has become a buzzword in North American industry, academic, education, and media conversations about video games and their supposed power to place players into others’ shoes—especially those games created by queer or otherwise marginalized people. Scholars like Wendy Chun and Teddy Pozo and game designers like Robert Yang have spoken out against this rhetoric. Building from their writing, as well as critiques from the creators of queer independent games commonly mislabeled as “empathy games,” this article delineates the discriminatory implications of the term. Rather than simply dismissing “empathy,” however, this article unpacks it, turning to textual artifacts like news stories and industry presentations, as well as the 2016 video game Unravel(ColdWood Interactive), to deconstruct the term’s many meanings and to identity alternative (queerer) models of affective engagement with video games. | To understand the place of video games within society, it is crucial to analyze the ways that these games are talked about, not just the people and stories that these games represent. To this end, this article critiques the increasingly pervasive rhetoric of “empathy” that surrounds contemporary video games. | N/a, analysis of discourse. | n/a | The word empathy is being misused and reinforces discriminatory towards marginalized people. Empathy is used an umbrella term, limiting the attention given to more accurate and specific discourses about allyship, depth, compassion etc. It might be difficult to move past the word empathy as the gaming industry's framework, but it is important to reflect on the queer experience as it being dominated in the larger scope of heteronormativity. | The word empathy has become a "buzzword" within gaming (and other institutions) when in reality it does not provide fair assessment of the circumstances at hand. Given the role the queer experience has within gaming, using empathy as an umbrella term (for positive emotions like "good") dismisses other specific terms like allyship. | maybe for workshop 2 | ||||||||||||||
42 | https://usc.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsSurveyEngine/File.php?F=F_1mLb1MgiRKRTqPv | video games; learning; psychology; education | Gee, James Paul | 2006 | "Why Game Studies Now? Video Games: A New Art Form" | Gee, J. P. (2006). Why Game Studies Now? Video Games: A New Art Form. Games and Culture, 1(1), 58–61. https://doi.org/10.1177/1555412005281788 | (Gee, 2006) | Video games are a new art form, and this, the author argues, is one good reason why now is the right time for game studies. As a new art form, one largely immune to traditional tools developed for the analysis of literature and film, video games will challenge researchers to develop new analytical tools and will become a new type of “equipment for living,” to use Kenneth Burke’s phrase for the role of literature. This article discusses several of the features that make video games a unique art form, features that will, the author believes, come to play a role in analyses of games in the emerging field of game studies. | "This proactive production by players of story elements, a visual-motoric-auditory- decision-making symphony, and a unique real-virtual story produces a new form of performance art coproduced by players and game designers." | None (no experiment pr study conducted) | None (no experiment pr study conducted) | Video games "integrate pleasure, learning, reflection, and [expand] living in ways that we expect from art. | Because we create our own personal stories and find meaning in the video games we plat, video games are a unique art form. | No study explained, just an essay on why video games are unique. | ||||||||||||||
43 | https://usc.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsSurveyEngine/File.php?F=F_26xMO0LSB6jlNbb | video games; mental health; adolescents; social, motivation | Granic, Isabela; Lobel, Adam; Engels, Rutger C. | 2014 | The Benefits of Playing Video Games | Granic, I., Lobel, A., & Engels, R. C. (2014). The benefits of playing video games. American Psychologist, 69(1), 66–78. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0034857 | Granic et al., 2014 | Video games are a ubiquitous part of almost all children’s and adolescents’ lives, with 97% playing for at least one hour per day in the United States. The vast majority of research by psychologists on the effects of “gaming” has been on its negative impact: the potential harm related to violence, addiction, and depression. We recognize the value of that research; however, we argue that a more balanced perspective is needed, one that considers not only the possible negative effects but also the benefits of playing these games. Considering these potential benefits is impor- tant, in part, because the nature of these games has changed dramatically in the last decade, becoming in- creasingly complex, diverse, realistic, and social in nature. A small but significant body of research has begun to emerge, mostly in the last five years, documenting these benefits. In this article, we summarize the research on the positive effects of playing video games, focusing on four main domains: cognitive, motivational, emotional, and so- cial. By integrating insights from developmental, positive, and social psychology, as well as media psychology, we propose some candidate mechanisms by which playing video games may foster real-world psychosocial benefits. Our aim is to provide strong enough evidence and a the- oretical rationale to inspire new programs of research on the largely unexplored mental health benefits of gaming. Finally, we end with a call to intervention researchers and practitioners to test the positive uses of video games, and we suggest several promising directions for doing so. | In this article, the authors summarize the research on the benefits of playing video games, focusing on four main domains: cognitive (e.g., attention), motivational (e.g., re- silience in the face of failure), emotional (e.g., mood man- agement), and social (e.g., prosocial behavior) benefits. By integrating insights from developmental, positive, and social psychology, as well as media psychology, they propose some candidate mechanisms by which playing video games fosters real-world benefits. Their hope is to provide strong enough evidence and a theoretical rationale to inspire new programs of research on the largely unexplored mental health benefits of gaming. | N/A | They call to intervention and prevention researchers to test the potential positive uses of video games, and they suggest several promising directions for doing so. | This article began by summarizing the rich and long history of the study of play. Video games share many similarities with traditional games and likely provide benefits similar to those provided by play more generally. Both traditional and video games are fundamentally voluntary in nature, they can include competitive and cooperative objectives, players immerse themselves in pretend worlds that are safe contexts in which negative emotions can be worked out, and games allow a sense of control with just enough unpredictability to feel deep satisfaction and intense pride when formidable goals are finally reached. Yet video games today and those on the radar for development in the near future are also unique forms of play. Video games are socially interactive in a way never before afforded. Increasingly, players are gaming online, with friends, family, and complete strangers, crossing vast geographical distances and blurring not only cultural boundaries but also age and generation gaps, socioeconomic differences, and language barriers. The large amount of time invested in playing video games may also mean that they provide qualitatively different experiences than conventional games. Although we may remember spending whole weekends playing Monopoly with siblings and neighbors, few traditional games can boast the weeks and months of game play that many video games provide. These differences in space and time likely hold wholly new benefits and risks that have yet to be conceptualized. After pulling together the research findings on the benefits of video games, they have become particularly inspired by the potential that these games hold for interventions that promote well-being, including the prevention and treatment of mental health problems in youth. Remarkably, there are very few video games that have been developed with these aims in mind. Given how enthralled most children and adolescents are with video games, we believe that a multidisciplinary team of psychologists, clinicians, and game designers can work together to develop genuinely innovative approaches to mental health interventions. | Video games have the potential that these games hold for interventions that promote well-being, including the prevention and treatment of mental health problems in youth. | This article was more like a literature scan that brought together and organized other scholarly sources | ||||||||||||||
44 | https://usc.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsSurveyEngine/File.php?F=F_1jK6jMoQ3o1qHN4 | video games; prosocial behavior | Passmore, Holli-Anne; Holder, Mark | 2014 | Gaming for good: Video games and enhancing prosocial behavior | Passmore, H. A., & Holder, M. D. (2014). Gaming for good: Video games and enhancing prosocial behavior. Journal of Communications Research, 6(2), 199-224. | (Passmore & Holder, 2014) | The number of publications pertaining to video gaming and its effects on subsequent behavior has more than tripled from the past to the current decade. This surge of research parallels the ubiquitousness of video game play in everyday life, and the increasing concern of parents, educators, and the public regarding possible deleterious effects of gaming. Numerous studies have now investigated this concern. Recently, research has also begun to explore the possible benefits of gaming, in particular, increasing prosocial behavior. This chapter presents a comprehensive review of the research literature examining the effects of video game playing on prosocial behavior. Within this literature, a variety of theoretical perspectives and research methodologies have been adopted. For example, many researchers invoke the General Learning Model to explain the mechanisms by which video games may influence behavior. Other researchers refer to frameworks involving moral education, character education, and care-ethics in their examination of the relationship between gaming and prosocial development. Diverse parameters have been explored in these studies. For example, different studies have assessed both the immediate and delayed impacts of gaming, and investigated the effects of different durations of video game playing. Additionally, based on each study’s operational definitions of “aggressive behavior” and “prosocial behavior”, a variety of behaviors have been assessed and different measures have been employed. For instance, studies have used self-report measures of empathy, the character strengths of generosity and kindness, and the level of civic engagement, as well as used word-completion and story completion tasks and tit-for-tat social situation games such as “Prisoners' Dilemma”. These studies have examined both changes in aggressive and prosocial behaviors. “Video games” collectively span a wide spectrum of content, contexts, and player engagement modalities. Therefore, researchers have focused on different aspects of the video games and on different aspects of the context or structure within which the games are played. Competitive versus cooperative games have been studied, as have antisocial versus prosocial games; additionally, combinations of these facets (e.g., games that use violent or antisocial methods to achieve prosocial goals) have been studied. The effects of solo game playing versus co-playing with another research participant have also been studied. A cross-section of the variety of perspectives, methodologies, findings and foci of research within the study of video game playing and prosocial behavior is included in this literature review. Despite the wide array of research approaches and questions, gaps exist within the video game—prosocial behavior literature. This is not surprising, given that this is a relatively new domain of research. We conclude the chapter, therefore, by proposing future research questions and directions with which to address this gap in our knowledge. | This chapter presents a comprehensive review of the research literature examining the effects of video game playing on prosocial behavior. | n/a | One of the studies mentioned showed how playing the game Civilization in a classroom context helped students retain more historical information. Models illustrating how prosocial behavior is increased by video games: General Learning Model: Prosocial games, wherein prosocial acts are necessary to advance in the video game, provide models of, and give directions for, prosocial behavior. Immediate reinforcement for prosocial behavior is provided by the game, resulting in a feedback loop of continued prosocial behavior. This loop primes, and rehearses, prosocial cognitive scripts that are subsequently activated outside of the video game. | Current research shows how video games can increase prosocial behavior. | Current research shows how video games can increase prosocial behavior. | n/a | ||||||||||||||
45 | https://usc.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsSurveyEngine/File.php?F=F_2QWzMQ72kj3JrtU | video games; prosocial behavior; empathy; media violence; General Learning Model | Gentile, Douglas; Anderson, Craig; Yukawa, Shintaro; Ihorzi, Nobuko; Saleem, Muniba; Ming, Kam Lim; Shibuya, Akiko; Liau, Albert; Khoo, Angleine; Bushman, Brad; Huesmann, L. Rowell; Sakamoto, Akira | 2009 | The Effects of Prosocial Video Games on Prosocial Behaviors: International Evidence From Correlational, Longitudinal, and Experimental Studies | Gentile, D. A., Anderson, C. A., Yukawa, S., Ihori, N., Saleem, M., Ming, L. K., ... & Sakamoto, A. (2009). The effects of prosocial video games on prosocial behaviors: International evidence from correlational, longitudinal, and experimental studies. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 35(6), 752-763. | (D. A Gentile et al, 2009) | Although dozens of studies have documented a relationship between violent video games and aggressive behaviors, very little attention has been paid to potential effects of prosocial games. Theoretically, games in which game characters help and support each other in nonviolent ways should increase both short-term and long term prosocial behaviors. We report three studies conducted in three countries with three age groups to test this hypothesis. In the correlational study, Singaporean middle-school students who played more prosocial games behaved more prosocially. In the two longitudinal samples of Japanese children and adolescents, prosocial game play predicted later increases in prosocial behavior. In the experimental study, U.S. undergraduates randomly assigned to play prosocial games behaved more prosocially toward another student. These similar results across different methodologies, ages, and cultures provide robust evidence of a prosocial game content effect, and they provide support for the General Learning Model. | Theoretically, games in which game characters help and support each other in nonviolent ways should increase both short-term and long- term prosocial behaviors. Hypothesis 1: a positive association between amount of time spent playing prosocial video games and the amount of prosocial behavior, even when controlling for other factors related to prosocial behavior. Hypothesis 2: exposure to prosocial video games would predict subsequent prosocial behavior. Hypothesis 3: playing prosocial video games would increase prosocial behavior in the immediate situation, whereas playing matched violent games would increase aggressive behavior. | Looked at 3 studies conducted in 3 countries with 3 age groups. Study 1: Participants were 727 Singaporean secondary school children. Data about their prosocial behaviors and violent game exposures were collected at the schools from March through May 2007 using surveys. Study 2: Participants consisted of 2 samples (sample 1 n= 780 5th graders, sample 2= 1,050 eighth and elevenths graders). Surveys were used to collect data, asking about how frequent they played video games as well as how often had they participated in prosocial behavior ((e.g., “I helped a person who was in trouble) Study 3: Participants were 161 college students. Participants were tested individually in a study investigating "how different types of video games affected puzzle performance.” Participants were randomly assigned to play specific parts of a prosocial game, a violent game, or a neutral game for 20 minutes. | Study 1: prosocial game exposure was positively related to prosocial behaviors and traits. Violent game play was negatively related to the prosocial behaviors and traits. Study 2: LISREL 8.5 was used to test competing models using maximum likelihood procedures. Researchers began with structural equation model in which prosocial gaming and prosocial behavior at Time 1 were correlated with each other and predicted prosocial gaming and prosocial behavior at Time 2, which also were allowed to correlate with each other. the causal path from amount of prosocial game playing at Time 1 to amount of prosocial behavior at Time 2 (3 to 4 months later) was significant. Study 2 provides additional (and stronger) evidence for a causal long-term relation between prosocial game play and prosocial behavior. Study 3: The two prosocial games scored 5.6 (on a 7-point scale) for how often one does nice things to or for other characters and scored 1.8 for how often one shoots at or kills other characters. The two violent games averaged 2.5 and 6.2 for doing nice things and for shooting and killing, respectively. The two neutral games averaged scores of 1.1 and 1.1, respectively. These scores demonstrate that the prosocial games are seen as including helping content and little violent content, whereas violent games show the opposite pattern, and neutral games contain neither because there are not other characters to either help or harm. | video games can have both positive and negative effects. Content matters, and games are excellent teachers (Gentile & Gentile, 2008). Violent content in video games can lead people to behave more aggressively. Prosocial content, in contrast, can lead people to behave in a more cooperative and helpful manner. | Prosocial video games correlate to prosocial behavior. | n/a | ||||||||||||||
46 | https://usc.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsSurveyEngine/File.php?F=F_2pS12NDkqmzrWBJ | video gaming; Online gaming; Online videogames; Gender dysphoria; Transsexualism; Case series | Griffiths, Mark; Arcelus, Jon; Bouman, Walter Pierre | 2016 | Video Gaming and Gender Dysphoria: Some Case Study Evidence | Griffiths, M., Arcelus, J., & Bouman, W. P. (2016). Video Gaming and Gender Dysphoria: Some Case Study Evidence. Aloma: Revista de Psicologia, Ciències de l’Educació I de L’Esport, 34(2), 59–66. https://doi.org/10.51698/aloma.2016.34.2.59-66 | (Griffiths et al., 2016) | Video gaming has become an established area of psychological research over the last two decades. Over the past few years there has been increasing research into online gender swapping, showing that for many groups or individuals it can have positive psychological benefits (e.g., as a way to explore gender roles and boundaries in a safe environment). To date, no research has ever examined online gender swapping among individuals with gender dysphoria – people with acknowledged gender-identity issues. Using four case studies, this exploratory study examined the role of gaming in the life of individuals seeking treatment for gender dysphoria. The main objectives were to use exemplar case studies to highlight that gaming – in some circumstances – appears to be a functional way of dealing with gender identity issues, and that gender swapping in gaming may help such individuals to come to terms with their gender dysphoria. Recommendations for further research are suggested along with the limitations of the data collected. | As this is an exploratory study, there were no hypotheses, and since the case records were re-evaluated retrospectively, the authors could only report information that was in the case file(information that was gathered prior to undertaking a study focussed on gaming and gender dysphoria). The main objectives were to use exemplar case studies to highlight that gaming – in some circumstances – appears to be a functional way of dealing with gender identity issues and that gender swapping may help individuals to come to terms with the fact that they feel they were biologically born a different gender from that which they hope to become. | The following case studies relate to four people who attended an assessment at the National Centre for Gender Dysphoria in Nottingham. | These individual case studies go over four different cases in detail, talking about how each respective person found that video games were a safe outlet to express themselves in, regardless of their intent to transition or understanding of it. | The four case studies outlined in the present paper are only a selected sample of the number of cases attending a national clinic for people with gender dysphoria. They are in no way atypical of the clients that have sought help at the Centre. However, these individual accounts were specifically selected to demonstrate the different ways that video gaming may help people with gender dysphoria come to terms with their gender identity. For example, gaming can be used among trans people as a psychological tool to increase one’s awareness of gender identity and/or as part of the self. Gaming may therefore be a useful way to express one’s experienced gender identity in a safe, non-threatening, non-alienating, non-stigmatizing, and non-critical environment. | These individual accounts were specifically selected to demonstrate the different ways that video gaming may help people with gender dysphoria come to terms with their gender identity. | |||||||||||||||
47 | https://usc.qualtrics.com/WRQualtricsSurveyEngine/File.php?F=F_bPJG6w1V8G6ytPz | World of Warcraft; heteronormativity; LGBTQ; digital identity; discourse | Pulos, Alexis | 2013 | Confronting Heteronormativity in Online Games: A Critical Discourse Analysis of LGBTQ Sexuality in World of Warcraft | Pulos, A. (2013). Confronting Heteronormativity in Online Games. Games and Culture, 8(2), 77–97. https://doi.org/10.1177/1555412013478688 | (Pulos, 2013) | In 2008, ten million people were playing the massive multiplayer role-playing game World of Warcraft (WoW); a fantasy-based virtual landscape where players bridge real-life personas with digital identity. However, the construction of sexuality within this gaming environment has created an oppressive atmosphere for individuals who do not adhere to a heteronormative lifestyle. In this essay, I undress the bottom-up and top-down structures that are regulating an environment that has no use for a constructed sexual binary and yet has one strictly imbedded in it. This analysis utilizes discourse analysis to analyze 400 messages posted to a WoW discussion board regarding the topic of ‘‘LGBTQ players and the WOW Community’’ in order to queer the sexuality presented in this space. This essay is further supplemented with my own experience playing the game and with an analysis of the games structural elements. | The goal of this essay is to analyze (1) the ways in which the LGBTQ communities are discursively constructed between players within WoW- and the Blizzard-sanctioned forums—specifically LGBTQ players and the WoW community and (2) to understand the complex relationship of the production company Blizzard and the interaction between players in the negotiation of and resistance to this community. | The author contextualizes the WoW game and addresses the presence of the LGBTQ communities within this space; (2) presents an overview of critical discourse analysis (CDA) as a method to analyze the Blizzard-sanctioned forums; (3) offers an explanation of the ways in which normative constructions of power and sexuality are being integrated and negotiated within digital spaces; (4) offers an examination of the presented analysis | Participating in WoW is more than a game; it is a complex virtual world in which players can interact with individuals on a daily basis and address issues relevant to real life; making this MMORPG remarkably different from the traditional games.The negation of real-world structures in this game positions an out-of-sight, out of mind mentality. Unwilling to recognize the unequal structuring of sexuality, respondents further claim that frequently utilizing gay as a pejorative term can "hardly be called homophobia or discrimination" and that "It’s become common gamer lingo." The imposition of sexuality in WoW is not limited to structural powers or discursive practices, but is simultaneously constructed and regulated by both. The construction and regulation of digital sexuality, from the explicit top down instructions and the learned or socially shared bottom up models, is indicative of ideological social structures. | The positioning of heteronormative as good against queer as bad is a polarizing strategy that not only creates a hostile space but produces homophobic players that learn to govern or discipline other players. The participation with a discursive community develops an understanding of that world and ties appropriate interactions to the perspectives of that community. The regular patterns of interaction in these constructed spaces shape both the individual and the community itself and transform social practices into ways of being human. | If we take seriously the queer potential of digital environments such as WoW, where individuals can simultaneously confront the discursive practices and disrupt the structural powers that resist LGBTQ communities, then we can recognize digital games not as a forum to perpetuate pejorative viewpoints but as focal points to foster a commitment to equality and antisuffering that can transfer to experiences outside the digital spaces | |||||||||||||||
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