Abstract
This study examined differences in self-regulation among college-age expert, moderately expert, and non-expert video game players in playing video games for fun. Winne's model of self-regulation (Winne, 2001) guided the study. The main assumption of this study was that expert video game players used more processes of self-regulation than the less-expert players. We surveyed 143 college students about their game playing frequency, habits, and use of self-regulation. Data analysis indicated that while playing recreational video games, expert gamers self-regulated more than moderately expert and non-expert players and moderately expert players used more processes of self-regulation than non-experts. Semi-structured interviews also were conducted with selected participants at each of the expertise levels. Qualitative follow-up analyses revealed five themes: (1) characteristics of expert video gamers, (2) conditions for playing a video game, (3) figuring out a game, (4) how gamers act and, (5) game context. Overall, findings indicated that playing a video game is a highly self-regulated activity and that becoming an expert video game player mobilizes multiple sets of self-regulation related skills and processes. These findings are seen as promising for educators desiring to encourage student self-regulation, because they indicate the possibility of supporting students via recreational video games by recognizing that their play includes processes of self-regulation.
Highlights
The best-selling game of 2014 [ESA (Entertainment Software Association), 2015], Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, has been played over a billion hours since its release in November 2014, while the PEW Teens, Social Media, Technology Overview (Lenhart et al, 2015) has reported that 42% of Americans play games regularly for 3 h or more in a week and 81% of American youth can access a game console
Quantitative data were collected using the Video Game Playing Survey (VGPS), which was designed to provide information about whether college age players of recreational video game in different expertise groups could be distinguished by the selfregulatory processes they reported using while playing these games
The first involved participant views about characteristics specific to an expert video gamer, while the remaining four provided information about how video gamers experience the processes of self-regulation in video gaming for fun, including conditions for playing a video game, figuring out a game, how gamers act, and game context
Summary
The best-selling game of 2014 [ESA (Entertainment Software Association), 2015], Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, has been played over a billion hours since its release in November 2014, while the PEW Teens, Social Media, Technology Overview (Lenhart et al, 2015) has reported that 42% of Americans play games regularly for 3 h or more in a week and 81% of American youth can access a game console This means that the average young individual in the US ages 12–17 may spend hundreds of hours annually playing video games and will have had thousands of hours of experience with video games in a 10-year span. They typically use pattern recognition, often reaching solutions with few or no errors (Chi et al, 1988; Stubbart and Ramaprasad, 1990; Wenning, 2002)
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