scholarly journals Social capital in video game studies: A scoping review

2021 ◽  
pp. 146144482110547
Author(s):  
Henry Korkeila
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Quantitative Method ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Game Studies ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
Video Game Studies ◽  
Sphere Of Influence

This study explored how social capital has been utilized in video-game studies by conducting a scoping review. In total, 74 peer-reviewed publications were analysed from three different databases. The following aspects pertaining to social capital were analysed: definition, methodology, game or genre as stimulus, its utilization inside or outside the stimulus, whether it was the sole concept or variable, how it was utilized, whether social capital was used to predict variables or whether variables were used to predict it, and what where the predicted or predicting variables. The results of the analysis show that Putnam’s research, the quantitative method and Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games were most commonly combined. Social capital was predominantly utilized in binary form. It was utilized almost equally inside and outside the video games’ sphere of influence. The study then presents the main findings and discusses future research avenues.

Mechanisms of Disclosure: A Socio-technical Perspective on Sociality in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Games

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 315-333 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iulia Coanda ◽  
Stef Aupers
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Personal Information ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Game Studies ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
One Year ◽  
Massively Multiplayer

It is a mainstay in game studies that Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games are boasting social relations and community formation. Considering games as “sociotechnical” environments, this article studies how the usage of external communication technologies in an online video game guild shapes the members’ social dynamics. Based on a one-year ethnographic study of a women’s guild in The Elder Scrolls Online (TESO), the analysis shows that the infrastructure of TESO guards anonymous interaction by default and contributes to the game as a “safe space.” The displacement of guild communication to media platforms outside the game, however, unleashed mechanisms of disclosure: a leakage of information from the private, domestic domain via TeamSpeak and the “sharing” imperative of personal information on Facebook. Such techno-induced forms of personal disclosure act as a double-edged sword: they strengthen the guild’s social bonds but, simultaneously, breed tensions, peer-to-peer surveillance, and social control within the guild.

scholarly journals From a Video Game in a Virtual World to Collaborative Visual Analytic Tools

1970 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Theresa A. O’Connell ◽  
Yee-Yin Choong ◽  
John Grantham ◽  
Michael Moriarty ◽  
Wyatt Wong
Keyword(s):  
Video Game ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Digital Natives ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
Collaborative Game ◽  
Future Research Directions ◽  
Age Range

We investigated collaboration during a riddle-solving video game in a virtual world that drew elements from massively multiplayer online role-playing games and serious games. This disclosed benefits of collaborative game play over non-collaborative play in a virtual world. Participants were in the digital natives age range. Collaboration conditions varied over five sessions. We derived implications for accommodating collaboration in visual analytic (VA) tools. We have determined future research directions with respect to borrowing from video games to design VA tools that accommodate the unique characteristics of digital natives who become information analysts as evidenced during collaboration in a virtual world.

Game Studies

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shira Chess
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Narrative Structure ◽  
Game Studies ◽  
Specific Approach ◽  
Emerging Media ◽  
Video Game Studies ◽  
Media Objects

As a nascent form of screen culture, video games provide a challenging new lens to think about emerging media. Because video games do not abide by traditional narrative structure and because many different kinds of media objects fall under the purview of video games, they provide particular complications for researchers. In turn, within video game studies, which has been a growing field since the early 2000s, researchers often focus on a specific approach to understanding video games: studying the industry, studying audiences, or studying games as texts. Additionally, many researchers have found it useful to consider “assemblage”-type approaches that look holistically at several aspects of a video game object in order to understand the game from a broader context.

Reasons for Avatar Gender Swapping by Online Game Players

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu-Jen Chou ◽  
Shao-Kang Lo ◽  
Ching-I Teng
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Game Playing ◽  
Online Game ◽  
Core Theme ◽  
The Core ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
Opposite Gender ◽  
Gender Swapping

Players of massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG) frequently select avatars of the opposite gender, a phenomenon known as gender swapping. While this phenomenon is widely recognized, little is known about the underlying reasons. This study thus examines why players use opposite-gender avatars. Heterogeneity sampling is used to maximize information completeness. Data are obtained from interviews with 21 MMORPG players in Taiwan. The core theme identified is “increased enjoyment”, which itself integrates six more specific themes or aspects (social interaction, harassment avoidance, obtaining free gifts, fooling others, fantasy experiences and playing superior avatars) through which players derive increased enjoyment from game playing with gender-swapped avatars. This exploratory work creates a foundation for future research to develop and test hypotheses linking gender-swapping with player psychology or behavior.

scholarly journals The Zombie Aesthetics and the Post-Apocalyptic Franchise

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Stewart
Keyword(s):  
Video Game ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
The West ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
Successful Transfer

THE ZOMBIE AESTHETICS AND THE POST-APOCALYPTIC FRANCHISEON MARCH 22nd 1996, Japanese video game company Capcom Inc. released Biohazard, the first of their new immersive zombie survival-horror role playing games (RPGs) for the Sony PlayStation. Released in the West as Resident Evil, George A. Romero's model of the animated cadaver and Lucio Fulci's command of the atmospheric combined to provide the main inspiration for the game's visual and narrative aesthetic (Poole, 79): a complete and immersive reworking of the zombie genre by Tokyo based video game producer Shinji Mikami. Although not the first video game franchise to attain cult recognition or make a successful transfer to the big screen - Lara Croft and the Tomb Raider franchise come to mind - a determination, "to repackage the zombie as a mainstream monster and an icon of cool" (Russell, 171) clearly paid off: The Resident Evil games had succeeded...

Revisiting MMORPGs in Support of Learning

2019 ◽  
pp. 187-214
Author(s):  
Bodi Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Operational Definition ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Educational Benefits ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
Player Game ◽  
Recent Trends ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Education Psychology

This enhanced chapter revisits a previous literature analysis of research on the potential educational benefits of the use of massive multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPG) by considering both changes in the medium itself and recent trends in research. Initially, a working operational definition of MMORPGs in education is considered in light of research to date with a focus on how MMORPGs differ from most video games in terms of types of player-game interaction, levels of player-player interaction, and environments in which interaction occurs. Next considering previous and current theoretical and empirical studies on MMORPGs from a variety of disciplines, including education, psychology, and linguistics, a conceptual framework for the use of MMORPGs in support of learning is created. Finally, an overview of current research trends in MMORPGs is provided, concluding with suggestions concerning future research of the use of MMORPGs in support of learning.

Reasons for Avatar Gender Swapping by Online Game Players

2017 ◽  
pp. 202-219
Author(s):  
Yu-Jen Chou ◽  
Shao-Kang Lo ◽  
Ching-I Teng
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Game Playing ◽  
Online Game ◽  
The Core ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
Game Players ◽  
Opposite Gender ◽  
Gender Swapping

Players of massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG) frequently select avatars of the opposite gender, a phenomenon known as gender swapping. While this phenomenon is widely recognized, little is known about the underlying reasons. This study thus examines why players use opposite-gender avatars. Heterogeneity sampling is used to maximize information completeness. Data are obtained from interviews with 21 MMORPG players in Taiwan. The core theme identified is “increased enjoyment”, which itself integrates six more specific themes or aspects (social interaction, harassment avoidance, obtaining free gifts, fooling others, fantasy experiences and playing superior avatars) through which players derive increased enjoyment from game playing with gender-swapped avatars. This exploratory work creates a foundation for future research to develop and test hypotheses linking gender-swapping with player psychology or behavior.

Dangers of Playing with the Virtual Other in Mind

2015 ◽  
pp. 44-61
Author(s):  
Katharina Mittlböck
Keyword(s):  
Personality Development ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Game Studies ◽  
The Other ◽  
Educational Science ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
The One ◽  
Phd Thesis

This chapter contributes to the discussion on worth and dangers of digital role-playing games. With a psychoanalytical approach it focuses on the psyche's abilities provided by entering a game space. Building on the basic axioms of psychoanalysis a set of hypotheses concerning a psychoanalytic view on the act of playing is developed, which is systematically processed in the following. The aim of these deliberations is to outline that playing always means to deal with certain chaos in the sense of an unknown and unfamiliar structure in which the player immerses. The narrow edge between facilitating personality development on the one side and overwhelming - the player's psyche endangering - chaos on the other is worked out. The chapter is a revised part of an upcoming transdisciplinary PhD-thesis in the field of educational science and game studies.

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