scholarly journals An examination of living through enjoyment: Live-action role-play

2009 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Odom
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Role Play ◽  
Video Gaming ◽  
Live Action

Many in the gaming community argue that video gaming has enhanced the RPG experience, allowing for ever more immersive experiences for players. The live-action aspects of LARPing anticipated the movement toward virtual play that video games have worked to create.

Gambling-like video game practices: A cross-sectional study of links with problem gambling and disordered gaming

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Zendle
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Problem Gambling ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Significant Degree ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Video Gaming ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Streaming Services ◽  
Clinically Significant

A variety of practices have recently emerged which are related to both video games and gambling. Most prominent of these are loot boxes. However, a broad range of other activities have recently emerged which are also related to both gambling and video games: esports betting, real-money video gaming, token wagering, social casino play, and watching videos of both loot box opening and gambling on game streaming services like Twitch.Whilst a nascent body of research has established the robust existence of a relationship between loot box spending and both problem gambling and disordered gaming, little research exists which examines whether similar links may exist for the diverse practices outlined above. Furthermore, no research has thus far attempted to estimate the prevalence of these activities.A large-scale survey of a representative sample of UK adults (n=1081) was therefore conducted in order to investigate these issues. Engagement in all measured forms of gambling-like video game practices were significantly associated with both problem gambling and disordered gaming. An aggregate measure of engagement was associated with both these outcomes to a clinically significant degree (r=0.23 and r=0.43). Engagement in gambling-like video game practices appeared widespread, with a 95% confidence interval estimating that 16.3% – 20.9% of the population engaged in these activities at least once in the last year. Engagement in these practices was highly inter-correlated: Individuals who engaged in one practice were likely to engage in several more.Overall, these results suggest that the potential effects of the blurring of lines between video games and gambling should not primarily be understood to be due to the presence of loot boxes in video games. They suggest the existence of a convergent ecosystem of gambling-like video game practices, whose causal relationships with problem gambling and disordered gaming are currently unclear but must urgently be investigated.

The Impact of Gamification and Individual Differences on Second Language Learning Among First-Year Female University Students in Saudi Arabia

2021 ◽  
pp. 104687812110565
Author(s):  
Maram Almufareh
Keyword(s):  
Student Achievement ◽  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Second Language ◽  
Video Games ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
Video Gaming ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Students Attitudes ◽  
The Impact

Background The Technology-Enhanced Training Effectiveness Model (TETEM) has been used to assess the effectiveness of various technology-driven solutions in improving students’ outcomes in multiple academic fields. However, limited research is available on the use of TETEM in the context of second language learning. Using a modified TETEM, this study seeks first, to assess the direct effects of students’ attitudes and experiences with video gaming on their achievement; and second, to evaluate the effects of students’ attitudes and experiences that are mediated by their motivation. Methods This study was conducted among preparatory year students at Al-Jouf University, Saudi Arabia. Students were randomly assigned to the technology-enhanced group (Duolingo® + workbook) or the control group (classroom workbook group). We started by comparing student performance between the two groups to evaluate the effect of the intervention. Subsequently, we conducted a confirmatory factor analysis to establish homogenous latent variables for experience, attitude, and motivation. Finally, we used structural equation models to evaluate the presence of direct and mediated effects. Results Students in the Duolingo® + workbook group scored higher on reading, grammar, vocabulary, and writing compared to the workbook group. Positive attitude toward video gaming had both a direct and mediating positive correlation with student achievement. Additionally, motivation toward ESL learning was independently and positively correlated with student achievement. As expected, the technology-enhanced group performed better in reading, grammar, and vocabulary while the control group showed more participation and timely completion of assignments. Conclusion Technology enhancement improves students’ performance for ESL, however, adequate integration of technology in the course curriculum is needed to minimize interference with class participation. Positive attitudes toward video games and motivation toward ESL learning are positive predictors of student achievement while experience with video games has no significant effect.

We beat the cops in GTA: Po(ludic)al activism in the age of video games

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 623-647 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melike Demirbag-Kaplan ◽  
Begum Kaplan-Oz
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Qualitative Approach ◽  
Video Gaming ◽  
Illustrative Case ◽  
Material World ◽  
Material Reality ◽  
Virtual Experiences

This article explores how individuals reflect on their digital experiences of actualizing fantasies to make sense of their everyday actions, particularly in the context of video gaming. Our study takes a qualitative approach to understanding the context of materializing consumer fantasies, as initially experienced and actualized in video games, and how these fantasies are transformed into material reality, through an investigation of an illustrative case of mass street protests, the 2013 Gezi Protests in Turkey. The findings suggest that digital virtual experiences in video games have obvious manifestations in the material world, as consumers travel on the borders of reality, moving back and forth into the liminoid terrain of the digital virtual, and provide a deeper understanding of how the blurred boundaries between the virtual and material are established in practice.

An Overview of Gaming Terminology

2011 ◽  
pp. 24-44
Author(s):  
Clark Aldrich ◽  
Joseph C. DiPietro
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Video Gaming ◽  
Educational Video ◽  
Educational Video Games ◽  
The World

This appendix introduces and defines commonly used terms and phrases from the world of video gaming. It seeks to bridge the gaps between researchers, gamers, and educators so that a more thoughtful and productive conversation may be had. The authors hope that this appendix adds to the understanding of and appreciation for both consumer-based and educational video games, furthers academic research within this field, and serves as a valuable tool for anyone interested in learning more about video games and related terminology. Fifty-two entries are discussed within this appendix serving as a solid, yet not all-encompassing, foundation for future inquiry and discussion.

The Contribution of Videogames to Anti-Social Attitudes and Behaviours amongst Youngsters

2011 ◽  
pp. 237-251
Author(s):  
Olga Albuquerque ◽  
Gillian Grace Moreira
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Parental Control ◽  
Social Attitudes ◽  
Video Gaming ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Age Group ◽  
Simulation Games ◽  
Age And Gender ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
And Gender

Using questionnaires and interviews, the video-gaming habits of 136 youngsters, ranging from the ages of 9 to 15 years, were assessed, taking into consideration their age and gender. It was found that many youngsters are playing games which are not appropriate for their age group, and that long hours are spent at computer screens on these games without parental control or supervision. In fact, most parents do not even know what games their children are playing never mind whether they are rated as suitable for their age group. In addition, differences between boys and girls were significant, allowing us to confirm that boys prefer more action-oriented games while girls choose simulation games. Although the small-scale nature of this study does not allow us to generalise its conclusions, its findings are relevant and can point the way for future studies of this type. The centrality of video games in the lives of children and teenagers today is such that these and the practices they engender need to be taken into account when considering the rise of anti-social, aggressive, and at times violent attitudes and behaviours amongst youngsters.

Ars Erotica

2020 ◽  
pp. 112-149
Author(s):  
Christopher B. Patterson
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Role Play ◽  
Mass Effect ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Rule Based ◽  
Sexual Role ◽  
Power Differentials ◽  
Conditions Of Possibility ◽  
Material Process ◽  
Liberal Tolerance

This chapter compares narratives of digital utopia against the turgid material process of factory labor in Asia. It begins by exploring how role-playing video games like Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Guild Wars 2, and others shore up evidence for digital utopia by enacting its values of liberal tolerance, freedom, and egalitarianism within a virtual realm. Yet played erotically, role playing offers new connections between the empire and its Asian provinces through playing a role, an act characteristic of the power positions of sexual role play (domination and subjugation). Using Michel Foucault’s theories of ars erotica and aphrodisia, this chapter argues that role playing bounds the gamelike, the queer, and the erotic, as all develop rule-based fantasy worlds with hierarchized avatars or roles. Role play can make explicit the transnational power differentials that function as digital utopia’s conditions of possibility.

scholarly journals More than a Game: Racecraft and the Adaptation of “Race” in Live Action Role Play

Humanities ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 124
Author(s):  
Samantha Eddy
Keyword(s):  
Role Play ◽  
Social Process ◽  
Double Standard ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Role Players ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Live Action

Live action role players make the imaginative worlds of tabletop games manifest through collaborative storytelling and embodied play. Escaping the everyday, these communities could radically reimagine culture and challenge oppressive ideologies. Instead, they are deeply invested in essentializing “race”. I conducted a three-year ethnographic study alongside 20 semi-structured interviews to explore racecraft in live action role play. Supporting the groundbreaking work of Karen and Barbara Fields, I find that racecraft is a social process—continually negotiated and maintained through intimate interactions and community exchanges. Through this process, the definition of “race” is continually adapted while belief in this category remains entrenched. When participants confront racist stereotypes, practitioners coerce marginalized members into a false exchange. These members are encouraged to share experiences detailing the damage of problematic representations. Practitioners then reduce these experiences to monolithic understandings of “race”. In this insidious manner, anti-racist confrontations become fodder for racecraft. Complicating this further, patterned racism is characterized as an inborn quality of whiteness, minimizing practitioners’ accountability. Responsibility is then shifted onto marginalized participants and their willingness to engage in “racial” education. This trap is ingrained in the double standard of racism, adapting “race” such that whiteness is unrestricted by the monolithic definitions applied to those outside this category.

The U.S. Video Game Industry

2009 ◽  
pp. 499-514
Author(s):  
Janet C. Dunlop
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Cultural Studies ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Video Gaming ◽  
Video Game Industry ◽  
Star Wars ◽  
Game Industry ◽  
Cover Art ◽  
Capitalist Ideology ◽  
The U.S

Today’s media are vast in both form and influence; however, few cultural studies scholars address the video gaming industry’s role in domestic maintenance and global imposition of U.S. hegemonic ideologies. In this study, video games are analyzed by cover art, content, and origin of production. Whether it is earning more “powers” in games such as Star Wars, or earning points to purchase more powerful artillery in Grand Theft Auto, capitalist ideology is reinforced in a subtle, entertaining fashion. This study shows that oppressive hegemonic representations of gender and race are not only present, but permeate the majority of top-selling video games. Finally, the study traces the origins of best-selling games, to reveal a virtual U.S. monopoly in the content of this formative medium.

The U.S. Video Game Industry

2011 ◽  
pp. 231-246
Author(s):  
Janet C. Dunlop
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Cultural Studies ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Video Gaming ◽  
Video Game Industry ◽  
Star Wars ◽  
Game Industry ◽  
Cover Art ◽  
Capitalist Ideology ◽  
The U.S

Today’s media are vast in both form and influence; however, few cultural studies scholars address the video gaming industry’s role in domestic maintenance and global imposition of U.S. hegemonic ideologies. In this study, video games are analyzed by cover art, content, and origin of production. Whether it is earning more “powers” in games such as Star Wars, or earning points to purchase more powerful artillery in Grand Theft Auto, capitalist ideology is reinforced in a subtle, entertaining fashion. This study shows that oppressive hegemonic representations of gender and race are not only present, but permeate the majority of top-selling video games. Finally, the study traces the origins of best-selling games, to reveal a virtual U.S. monopoly in the content of this formative medium.

scholarly journals Video gaming addiction and its association with memory, attention and learning skills in Lebanese children

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Youssef Farchakh ◽  
Chadia Haddad ◽  
Hala Sacre ◽  
Sahar Obeid ◽  
Pascale Salameh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Video Games ◽  
School Children ◽  
Spatial Organization ◽  
Written Expression ◽  
Video Gaming ◽  
Gaming Addiction ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Learning Abilities ◽  
Visual Spatial

Abstract Background Examining whether any association exists between addiction to video games and cognitive abilities in children could inform ongoing prevention and management of any possible harm. The objective of this study was to investigate the associations between addiction to video games, and memory, attention and learning abilities among a sample of Lebanese school children. Methods This cross-sectional study, conducted between January and May 2019, enrolled 566 school children aged between 9 and 13 years. Three private schools were chosen conveniently for this study. Students were randomly chosen from the list given by the school administration. The students’ parents are those who responded to the questionnaire. Results The results showed that higher addiction to video gaming salience was significantly associated with worse episodic memory, problem solving, basic reading skills, written expression skills and worse clinical attention. Higher addiction to video gaming tolerance were significantly associated with worse novel problem solving and worse attention. Higher addiction to video gaming withdrawal were significantly associated with worse attention, factual memory, attention, processing speed, visual spatial organization, sustained sequential processing, working memory, novel problem solving and worse written expression skills. Conclusion The results suggest a correlation between addiction to video games and worse memory, attention, as well as cognitive and academic abilities among school children. Those findings indicate the need for more extensive research, and serve to highlight vital next steps needed in future papers, such as identifying predicting factors that could aid in early detection of video gaming addiction in children.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document