Metaphorical Perceptions of University Students towards the Concept of Digital Game

Abstract

Significant technological advances have occurred in the last century, and traditional game activities have been replaced by digital games as a result of rapidly increasing urbanization and a lack of playgrounds. The study sought to uncover university students' metaphorical perceptions of the concept of digital game. The study group is made up of 150 volunteer students from Yozgat Bozok University. Data such as "Digital Game... because..." gathered using a form containing the sentence. The content analysis method was used applied in the data analysis and interpretation. The data in this study were analyzed under the headings of coding and sorting, category development, validity and reliability, and data interpretation, with the content analysis stages taken into account. As a consequence of the grouping created according to the common and similar characteristics of 72 metaphors produced by the students of the faculty of sports sciences for the concept of digital game, they were collected in 5 different categories under the names of "Cognitive Dimension", "Affective Dimension", "Physical Dimension", "Social Dimension" and "Negative Dimension". When university students' metaphors were examined, generally positive descriptions were found. However, it is believed that there are metaphors that should be highlighted in the negative descriptions. There aren't many metaphorical experimental studies on digital games, according to the literature reviews. However, almost all of the studies that have been conducted are quantitative studies, and it is expected that they will contribute by separating university students' perceptions of the concept of digital game through conceptual dimensions.