Playing to be influencers: A comparative study on Spanish and Colombian young people on Instagram

This paper explores and describes how Colombian and Spanish young people present themselves on Instagram according to the social game and the symbolic capital that they infer as normative from influencers. The methodology used combines the focus group technique (seven groups) with a content analysis of the profiles of the informants (N = 651). In total, 53 first-year creative industries university students participated. The results show that the work developed by the influencers has given rise to an aspirational narrative genre that young people tend to emulate according to the Instagram habitus in order to be recognised as leading players. Their self-presentation has three main features: a) a preference for showing ‘in-classifying’ practices such as leisure and tastes for freedom; b) the predominance of a specific type of profile and gestures that avoids self-production markers and aspires towards a global audience; and c) the normalisation of self-promotional discourse. Most informants experience Instagram as a game in which they compete to accumulate visibility conceived as relational validation, although in the case of Colombian informants there is a more professional outlook towards the platform. Finally, for all of them, Instagram constitutes a serious game, and many of them admit to feeling too exposed. As a result, they have implemented self-surveillance practices, such as consulting with peers before posting photographs, using secondary accounts and deleting posts.

Sharing Money With Humans Versus Computers: On the Role of Honesty-Humility and (Non-)Social Preferences

Does giving behavior in economic games reflect true prosocial preferences or is it due to confusion? Research showing that trait Honesty-Humility accounts for giving behavior suggests the former, whereas research showing that participants give money to a computer might suggest the latter. In three preregistered, well-powered studies, we examined the relation of Honesty-Humility with behavior in the Dictator Game (Study 1, N = 468) and Public Goods Game (Studies 2 and 3, each N = 313), while participants interacted either with humans (“social game”) or with a computer (“non-social game”). We found that (a) decisions in the non-social game predicted decisions in the social game, supporting the confusion hypothesis; (b) the effect of Honesty-Humility differed within and between games; and (b) participants who gave money to the computer reported acting as if they were playing with humans. Overall, the studies suggest that both prosocial preferences and confusion underlie giving behavior.

Sharing money with humans versus computers: On Honesty-Humility and (non-)social preferences

Does giving behavior in economic games reflect true prosocial preferences or is it due to confusion? Research showing that trait Honesty-Humility accounts for giving behavior suggests the former, whereas research showing that participants give money to a computer might suggest the latter. In three preregistered, well-powered studies, we examined the relation of Honesty-Humility with behavior in the Dictator Game (Study 1, N = 468) and Public Goods Game (Studies 2 and 3, each N = 313), while participants interacted either with humans (“social game”) or with a computer (“non-social game”). We found that (1) decisions in the non-social game predicted decisions in the social game, supporting the confusion hypothesis; (2) the effect of Honesty-Humility differed within and between games; and (3) participants who gave money to the computer reported acting as if they were playing with humans. Overall, the studies suggest that both prosocial preferences and confusion underlie giving behavior.

The dynamic competition hypothesis

We study competitive and negative interactions in real world social network in which nodes represent agents and edges appear over discrete time step. We consider directed social network of competing agents that evolve dynamically over time, where directed edges represent some kind of negative relationships between the agents in the social network. We present a novel hypothesis to identify the alliances and leaders within the the dynamic competition networks. We verify our hypothesis by using historical voting data of the social game shows Survivor and Big Brother.

The dynamic competition hypothesis

We study competitive and negative interactions in real world social network in which nodes represent agents and edges appear over discrete time step. We consider directed social network of competing agents that evolve dynamically over time, where directed edges represent some kind of negative relationships between the agents in the social network. We present a novel hypothesis to identify the alliances and leaders within the the dynamic competition networks. We verify our hypothesis by using historical voting data of the social game shows Survivor and Big Brother.

Chesscards: Making a Paper Chess Game with Primary School Students, a Cooperative Approach

The game of chess can be too theoretical for children and can even be quite a challenge for teachers and chess masters. It is hard to make it approachable and, at the same time, technically correct. The Chesscards educational project arose from these observations, and is intended to be a way to translate chess theory actively, by tinkering with paper and colors. This delightful experience was conducted from 2015 to 2019 with 10-year-olds in a primary school in Rome, Italy, and enabled children to develop good chess skills by cooperating in making. Small groups of children aged 7–10 created playing cards and a paper chessboard along the lines of some of the most famous games. The initiative’s huge success, and the reason it was repeated in these last years, lies in its strictly constructionist approach to making: Chesscards became an original way to learn, and an easy social game that any child can play.

Dark side of online social games (OSG) using Facebook platform: effect of age, gender, and identity as moderators

PurposeOnline social games (OSG) possess unique characteristics that distinguish them from other kind of online games. Its overuse has brought addiction to it. In this perspective, the purpose of this study is to identify the factors impacting addiction of OSG and to investigate the role of age, gender and identity (students and non-students) to moderate addiction of OSG.Design/methodology/approachThis study has developed a research model by the help of literature review and different relevant theories. This model has been validated by survey method using feedbacks of 305 social game players. Structural equation modeling technique has been used to validate the model.FindingsThe study has been able to find key factors of social influence and individual influence (characteristics) that impact the intention of the online social games players to play social games that ultimately may cause addiction to online social games. Further, the study highlights that gender and identity (students and non-students) have no effects on the addictive behavior of the social game players, whereas age has a moderating impact.Practical implicationsThe results of this study have derived a set of rich guidelines to the policymakers and the management of social media platforms (like Facebook) toward framing policy and regulations on online social games.Originality/valueThe study has been able to uniquely highlight the dark side of online social games and its consequences. The study also provides a guideline to the policymakers, practitioners and online social game players on how to restrict its over usage that may prompt online social game addiction.