scholarly journals Video Game Pursuit (VGPu) Scale Development: Designing and Validating a Scale With Implications for Game-Based Learning and Assessment

2019 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-86
Author(s):  
Diana R. Sanchez ◽  
Markus Langer

Background. Recent research on game-based assessment and training demonstrates growing interest in how individual differences affect game-based outcomes. However, there is still a lack of clarity about the variables that affect important game-based outcomes and issues with measurement approaches regarding these variables (e.g., no validation of scales). This study develops a model where video game pursuit (VGPu) is measured as an antecedent to entering the gaming cycle. We propose that VGPu-related antecedents lead to a feedback loop where engaging in the game cycle affects game-related outcomes which again affect the antecedents of re-entering the game cycle. Moreover, we validate a measure of VGPu and provide construct as well as criterion validity evidence. Methods. Within three studies ( N = 716) we develop and validate the VGPu scale - a psychometrically sound measure of intentions to pursue video games. Using Amazon’s MTurk (Studies 1, 2), participants responded to the VGPu items and we conducted exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses showing that VGPu consists of a general latent VGPu factor with four subfactors (Intentional Game Play, Generalized Game Self-Efficacy, Enjoyment of Games, Prone to Game Immersion). In Study 3, students responded to the VGPu items, to items examining construct validity, and played three video games from different genres to assess criterion-related validity of game performance and game reactions. Results. Results demonstrate construct and criterion-related validity showing that VGPu correlates with other game-related scales and predicts game performance and game reactions. Discussion. The findings demonstrate the value of the VGPu scale for research and practice because pursuing video games seems to be an important variable for predicting how individuals perform and react to game-based activities. Finally, we discuss implications for future research and practice in the realm of game-based assessment and training.

Author(s):  
Lavinia McLean ◽  
Mark D. Griffiths

Previous research has indicated that playing violent video games may be associated with an increase in acceptance of violence and positive attitudes towards perpetrators of crime. This study is the first to investigate the relationship between playing violent video games and attitudes towards victims of crime. A total of 206 young people (aged 12-24 years) completed measures of attitudes towards victims and violent video game exposure. The results suggest that exposure to violent video games is associated with less concern being reported for victims of crime. Young people who play more violent video games reported less concern for general victims and for culpable victims, and these effects cannot be explained by gender or age differences. The results are discussed in relation to relevant research in the area, along with recommendations for future research.


2000 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 813-835 ◽  
Author(s):  
Winfred Arthur ◽  
David J. Woehr ◽  
Robyn Maldegen

This study notes that the lack of convergent and discriminant validity of assessment center ratings in the presence of content-related and criterion-related validity is paradoxical within a unitarian framework of validity. It also empirically demonstrates an application of generalizability theory to examining the convergent and discriminant validity of assessment center dimensional ratings. Generalizability analyses indicated that person, dimension, and person by dimension effects contribute large proportions of variance to the total variance in assessment center ratings. Alternately, exercise, rater, person by exercise, and dimension by exercise effects are shown to contribute little to the total variance. Correlational and confirmatory factor analyses results were consistent with the generalizability results. This provides strong evidence for the convergent and discriminant validity of the assessment center dimension ratings–a finding consistent with the conceptual underpinnings of the unitarian view of validity and inconsistent with previously reported results. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.


Author(s):  
Łukasz Bryl ◽  
Justyna Majewska ◽  
Szymon Truskolaski

Purpose: The chapter examines the extent and level of the pandemic impact on sport, video game, and tourism industry by analyzing the emotional narration of articles related to Covid-19 effects on these industries so as to assess and predict the situation of industries during the pandemic and in the following years, but also to explain sources of positive sentiment for a given industry. Design/methodology/approach: The study provides a sentiment analysis of the global disclosure of the Covid-19 pandemic in the press, online articles, and social media (Twitter) with the use of three independent R packages. The final sample consisted of 142 articles; the oldest was published on January 23, 2020, whereas the newest one on October 14, 2020. Findings: Sentiment analysis revealed that the emotional tinge of the articles is much more positive for video games and soccer than in the case of tourism. In the case of video games and soccer, positive emotions such as “trust” or “anticipation” prevailed over much more common emotions of “fear” and “sadness” used about tourism. The impact of the pandemic was similar for video games and soccer, which was a mixture of negative and positive events. Research limitations/implications: Further research should use other resources such as the mass media or other data sources in addition to social media information and include a long-term analysis divided into stages of the pandemic as reactions and moods have been changing over time. Moreover, the factors influencing the perception of situations in different sectors of the economy should be identified in future research. Practical implications: The use of sentiment analysis shows that such quantification may be performed for new social phenomena before any hard (e.g., financial) data are available. Social implications: An approximation was obtained for quantifying the societal “general feeling” with regards to specific sectors affected by the pandemic. Originality and value: The chapter compares the response to the pandemic crisis of different sectors that reveal the sentiment contributing to the growth or difficulties of a given industry. The use of sentiment analysis enabled us to assess and predict the situation of industries during the pandemic before the hard and comprehensive data will occur.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kunsh Singh ◽  
Karen Molloy

Recent studies have shown that video games alter cognition in teenagers, but it is unknown how teen cognition changes in the short-term directly after playing video games. This study measured the differences in selective attention, processing speed, sustained attention, and cognitive flexibility of video-game playing (VGP) adolescents at different time intervals after playing video games. Three different reasoning tests were used: the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT), the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART), and the Stroop Task. A custom 250 question arithmetic test was also used, but was unable to uncover processing speed differences between VGPs after playing video games. All VGP participants in the study underwent reasoning tests before playing video games, played League of Legends (LoL)—known for its intensive use of spatial awareness, cognitive decision making, and working memory—for an hour, and then took reasoning tests once again at different times after having played LoL. This experiment affirms that video games create cognitive enhancement, though the experiment uncovered that VGP teens have worsened selective and sustained attention as time elapses after playing video games. Future research may want to extend the variable of time to test how video games affect attention or cognition by time in a longer term with a larger sample size.


Author(s):  
Ben Tran

Understanding the psychology of the gamer is important not just in studying video game players but also for understanding behaviors and characteristics of individuals who are non-players of video games. Currently, there is a gap in literature concerning the utilization of the gamer in selecting and training potential and current employees in organizational settings. The benefits of utilizing the gamer factor in selecting and training potential employees are: 1) identifying a qualified candidate who is a good fit to the organizational needs and 2) achieving and maintaining competitive advantage over competitors. Organizations are encouraged to utilize the Enneagram of Personality and Emotional Intelligence measures to identify gamers’ other characteristics (O) and utilize the Tavistock method to assess gamers’ factors. The Tavistock approach has been utilized in various formats including the Apprentice.


Author(s):  
Jonathan Newcombe ◽  
Billy Brick

Around 2 billion people worldwide engage in video games and a similar number of English language learners are anticipated by the year 2020. It can be assumed that many language learners are also ‘gamers', and that a language learner may play a video game to learn English. This article focuses on the language learning affordances in offline video games. General game-based learning principles identified by Gee are used as the method to identify and classify the learning affordances in a selection of video games. These learning principles are explained and then used to detail general learning opportunities inherent in a variety of video games. It suggests that language learning opportunities on video-games are too varied and that the scaffolding guidance of a teacher might be needed. It concludes by proposing that contextualized live video-game-like immersive experiences could also be conducive to language learning.


Author(s):  
Lavinia McLean ◽  
Mark D. Griffiths

Research on video game playing has focused mainly on the effects of such games in relation to aggression and attitudes towards perpetrators and towards crime. The present research was designed to investigate gamers’ attitudes towards victims of crimes and incidents that were designed to mirror those portrayed in violent video games. Vignettes were used during interviews to explore 50 participants’ attitudes towards different types of victims. The results indicate that long-term playing of violent video games appears to be associated with more negative attitudes towards victims of crime. This is the first study to directly explore attitudes towards victims of crime, in relation to violent video game exposure. Compared to nonviolent video game players, the violent video game players in the study reported less positive attitudes towards the victims in the study and attributed more blame to the victims. The implications of this finding in the context of previous research on violent video games, and on attitudes are explored. Directions for future research in the area are also highlighted.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason A. Middleton

The present study aimed to investigate the possible relation between reported video game play (i.e., violent, aggressive driving, and prosocial types) and four outcomes of social behaviour: hostile attribution bias, aggression, aggressive driving tendencies, and empathy. A sample of 136 university students (67 males and 69 females), age 17 to 58 (M = 20.66), completed various self-report measures. Data were analyzed both in terms of the whole sample and separately according to participant sex. The results provide partial evidence that there are links between violent games and aggressive attitudes (i.e., physical, but not relational, aggression); aggressive driving games and aggressive driving tendencies/punitive attitudes toward a convicted driver; violent games and hostile attribution bias; and violent games and lower empathy ratings. No support was found for the link between prosocial games and higher empathy. Future research directions for research on video games effects are outlined.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-58
Author(s):  
Elena Shliakhovchuk ◽  
Adolfo Muñoz Garcia

The video-game industry has become a significant force in the business and entertainment world. Video games have become so widespread and pervasive that they are now considered a part of the mass media, a common method of storytelling and representation. Despite the massive popularity of video games, their increasing variety, and the diversification of the player base, until very recently little attention was devoted to understanding how playing video games affects the way people think and collaborate across cultures. This paper examines the recent literature regarding the impact of video games on players from an intercultural perspective. Sixty-two studies are identified whose aim is to analyze behavioral-change, content understanding, knowledge acquisition, and perceptional impacts. Their findings suggest that video games have the potential to help to acquire cultural knowledge and develop intercultural literacy, socio-cultural literacy, cultural awareness, self-awareness, and the cultural understanding of different geopolitical spaces, to reinforce or weaken stereotypes, and to some extent also facilitate the development of intercultural skills. The paper provides valuable insights to the scholars, teachers, and practitioners of cultural studies, education, social studies, as well as to the researchers, pointing out areas for future research.


10.2196/12418 ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. e12418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuela Ferrari ◽  
Sarah V McIlwaine ◽  
Gerald Jordan ◽  
Jai L Shah ◽  
Shalini Lal ◽  
...  

BackgroundVideo game playing is a daily activity for many youths that replaces other media forms (eg, television); it serves as an important source of knowledge and can potentially impact their attitudes and behaviors. Researchers are, thus, concerned with the impact of video gaming on youth (eg, for promoting prosocial or antisocial behavior). Studies have also begun to explore players’ experience of gameplay and video game messages about violence, sexism, and racism; however, little is known about the impact of commercial video games in the sharing and shaping of knowledge, and messages about mental illness.ObjectiveThe aim of this review was to identify how mental illness, especially psychosis, is portrayed in commercial video games.MethodsWe performed keyword searches on games made available between January 2016 and June 2017 on Steam (a popular personal computer gaming platform). A total of 789 games were identified and reviewed to assess whether their game content was related to mental illness. At the end of the screening phase, a total of 100 games were retained.ResultsWe used a game elements framework (characters, game environment/atmosphere, goals, etc) to describe and unpack messages about mental health and illness in video games. The majority of the games we reviewed (97%, 97/100) portrayed mental illness in negative, misleading, and problematic ways (associating it with violence, fear, insanity, hopelessness, etc). Furthermore, some games portrayed mental illness as manifestations or consequences of supernatural phenomena or paranormal experiences. Mental illness was associated with mystery, the unpredictable, and as an obscure illness; its treatment was also associated with uncertainties, as game characters with mental illness had to undergo experimental treatment to get better. Unfortunately, little or no hope for recovery was present in the identified video games, where mental illness was often presented as an ongoing struggle and an endless battle with the mind and oneself.ConclusionsThe game elements of the identified commercial video games included mental illness, about which many perpetuated well-known stereotypes and prejudices. We discuss the key findings in relation to current evidence on the impact of media portrayals of mental illness and stigma. Furthermore, we reflect on the ability of serious video games to promote alternative messages about mental illness and clinical practices. Future research is needed to investigate the impact that such messages have on players and to explore the role that video games can play in fostering alternative messages to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness.


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