Playing to Connect: Development of a Gaming Motivation Scale and Exploration of Social Benefits Among the Blind and Visually Impaired.

Recently, there have been growing concerns about excessive online gaming. Playing Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) appears to be particularly problematic, because these games require a high degree of commitment and time investment from the players to the detriment of occupational, social, and other recreational activities and relations. A number of gaming motives have been linked to excessive online gaming in adolescents and young adults. We assessed 175 current MMORPG players and 90 nonplayers using a Web-based questionnaire regarding their gaming behavior, problems as consequences of gaming, and game motivations and tested their statistical associations. Results indicated that (a) MMORPG players are significantly more likely to experience gaming-related problems relative to nonplayers, and that (b) the gaming motivations escapism and mechanics significantly predicted excessive gaming and appeared as stronger predictors than time investment in game. The findings support the necessity of using measures that distinguish between different types of online games. In addition, this study proves useful regarding the current discussion on establishing (online) gaming addiction as a diagnosis in future categorizations of psychopathology.

Objective: The main aim of the present study was to consider the impact of gaming motivations among young adults when evaluating the relationship between probable attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), with disordered gaming. Method: In the present study, participants were assessed with the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scales (ASRS-v1.1), the Motives for Online Gaming Questionnaire (MOGQ), and the nine-item Internet Gaming Disorder Scale-Short Form (IGDS9-SF). Results: Participants with probable ADHD (n=143, 19.2%) and without probable ADHD (n=602, 80.8%) did not differ according to the current age, gender, presence of romantic relationship, marital status, where and with whom they are living, employment status and time spent on the gaming. Compared to participants without probable ADHD, those with probable ADHD had higher rates of having a game console, purchasing games, gaming more than usual on weekends, having problems related to gaming, probable internet gaming disorder (IGD) according to IGDS9-SF cut-off score and higher scales scores (IGDS9-SF and MOGQ), whereas they had a lower age at first gaming. Among different game types, those with probable ADHD were gaming more with multiplayer online battle arena games, social network games, music games, MMORPGs, sports games/car games, and horror-themed/survival games. Scores of all six types of gaming motives were higher among those with probable ADHD, and among them coping/escape, social, skill development, and fantasy distinguished the presence of probable ADHD. In the ANCOVA analysis, the presence of probable ADHD and the use of MMORPGs (as well as online gaming motives [coping/escape, recreation, fantasy, social and competition]) predicted the severity of IGD symptoms, and also these effects also interacted, involving probable ADHD and using MMORPGs. Conclusion: These findings suggest that those with probable ADHD may have different gaming characteristics than those without probable ADHD. Probable ADHD and using MMORPGs are related to the severity of disordered gaming, along with almost all type of online gaming motivations. Also, the effects of probable ADHD and MMORPGs use interacted with each other.

This research study aims to discover the relationships among the fashion of characters, storytelling, and game satisfaction in Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games(MMORPG) in order to examine the influence of the fashion of characters in games on storytelling and game satisfaction, and to identify the following constructs: fashion of characters, storytelling, and game satisfaction. The global game market has grown rapidly every year since the introduction of computer games. The size of the global game market in 2010 was 6 billion dollars, and the online game market captured 64.2% of the total market. The competition in the online game market has become increasingly fierce in South Korea. Millions of people now spend several hours per week on MMORPGs, which have several features that attract a large number of users. First, the world of MMORPGs is open and user-oriented. Many game users interact with each other in the same space and play games in their own way. MMORPGs also have continuous updates, which allow for the dissemination of sequence stories and provides new content to game users. Many MMORPGs are released each year, and each has its own story, characters, and system to attract and satisfy game users. However, due to the maturity of the game market, there are a few differences among the games (particularly in reference to game systems and services). Therefore, the fashion of characters in the game can serve as one of the important elements that provide enjoyment for users who partake in the online game industry. As is the case in the real world, game users in the virtual world prefer beautiful and chic characters to ugly characters. Good-looking people are likely to have better interpersonal interactions and thus develop more satisfying interpersonal relationships, while ugly people frequently fail in interpersonal interactions. Regardless of age, people like to make friends with others who are outwardly attractive. In online games, the characters represent all of the players, even though players are free to choose what role they want to play. In addition, many gamers spend money to purchase items in order to have unique character appearances and fashion styles. People who play games desire to express their identity and aesthetic sensibilities through their characters. The apperance of the characters is the main component that game users use to express their own personalities within the MMORPG environment. Stories and storytelling are the most efficient means by which to understand customer psychology. Using the Internet, many people upload their experiences and other useful information onto their blogs or community sites and share these information pieces with friends as well as with unknown community members. People naturally think in narratives rather than in arguments or in paradigms, and stories that include rousing incidents, experiences, and summaries/nuances of person-to-person and person-and-brand relationships within specific contexts enhance strong feelings of presence while playing a game. An existing game user's story can influence new game users. Game users share their experiences and the pros and cons of the game with other game users through blogs or gaming community websites. Through these postings, those who were not initially interested in a particular game eventually develop an interest. Game users tend to share their useful information with other game users by using game communities and do so without any monetary profit. In visiting these gaming community websites, game users look for new and/or humorous information. An online gaming community consists of a group of users who interact with each other via the Internet, create fantasy roles, develop online relationships, share common interests, and indulge their need for entertainment by playing their own virtual roles. As new users gather more information regarding a particular game and increase their level of experience within this realm, the probability of them choosing said particular game increases. The satisfaction that customers attain from online games is an emotional reaction that occurs in response to an assessment from the experiences of playing said games. Many influential factors exist that correspond with product features and affect the satisfaction level of consumers with regard to online games. These include the connection speed, stability of server connectors, emotional experience, services, challenges presented within the games themselves and interpersonal relationships formed with other players. Online games use an international set of standards (reliability, usability, functionality, efficiency, maintainability, and portability) for their evaluation, which is suitable for a given purpose such as software quality characteristics (ISO/ICE 9126, 2001). Visual stimulation can more easily lead to immersion than other forms of stimulation, and online gaming mainly uses this visual stimulation through the gamer's monitor so that gamers tend to be immersed in a game and feel satisfied. Data collection resulted in 235 usable responses from MMORPG users, and the accompanying demographic information included age, gender, education, employment, and time spent per day on gaming. The user age in the sample ranges from 15 to 44, and there were 178 respondents (75.7%) ages 21 to 31 (average 27) and 51 respondents over 35 years of age (10.2%). Males made up 91.1% of the sample, and females made up 8.9% (21 in total). The majority of participants reported spending approximately 2.4 hours playing games each day. The mean score of each sub-construct is calculated and used for further analysis, and the measurement model provides a satisfactory fit to the data. The fit indices are as follows: χ2 (11) = 34.151, which is statistically significant (p < .001); goodness-of-fit index (GFI) = (.958); normed fit index (NFI) = (.947); incremental fit index (IFI) = (.963); comparative fit index (CFI) = (.963); and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = (.095), indicating a high level of validity for the measures. Thus, the measures of the gaming customers' data demonstrate adequate convergent validity. Examination of the overall model fit reveals the Chi-square standard coefficient of fashion of character on storytelling, which is found to be .805 (t=7.716) and which is significant (p < .001). The standard coefficient of fashion of character on game satisfaction is found to be .556 (t=3.111), which is significant (p < .005). The standard coefficient of storytelling on game satisfaction is found to be .516 (t = 2.997), which is significant (p < .005). Thus, all hypotheses are supported based on the results of the analyses. The fashion of character in MMORPGs is an important element for game satisfaction even though it differs from one game to another. Many games provide various options for fashioning one's game character. However, online game companies should increase game satisfaction further by providing services such as altering a character's appearance, clothes, and fashion. In addition, the game environment should support players' desires to manage the fashion of their characters. In this research model, the storytelling of game users has a positive influence on game satisfaction in MMORPGs, as has been shown to be the case by many previous research studies in this field. For further research, it is necessary to conduct the same survey in several countries as well as across other online game genres. Keywords: Character's fashionStorytellingGame satisfactionMMORPGOnline game

The research is relevant due to the necessity to explore how gaming motivational mechanisms reduce internal tension and shape gamers’ identity in massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG). The aim of the research is to investigate the role of gaming motivation shaping virtual identity and hardiness of young gamers. Hypothesis: gaming motivation correlates with reduced internal tension and influences the formation of gamers’ virtual identity in cyber space. Participants: N = 120 aged 18–25 years (n male = 72; n female = 48; M = 20.4; SD = 2.5) living in the central region of the Russian Federation. Methods (tools): The Gaming Motivation Scale (Nick Yee adapted by N. V. Bogacheva, V. E. Epishina, A. V. Milyanskaya) was used to assess game motivation for playing massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG); an abridged version of the Hardiness Test (S. Maddi adapted by E. N. Osin, E. I. Rasskazova) was used to assess resilience; the Virtual Identity Status Inventory (VISI) (M. V. Klementyeva) was used to assess the status of virtual identities; the Game Experience Questionnaire (W. A. Ijsselsteijn, Y. A. W. de Kort, and K. Poels adapted by M. V. Klementyeva, M. V. Kurguzov) was used to assess players’ competence. Results: the research demonstrated significant differences in the manifestation of gamers’ “hardines”: higher values were recorded during gameplay. We found strong links between gaming motives, hardines, gaming skills and virtual identity. Despite their seamless gaming motivation and perfect gaming competence, gamers experience internal tension, helplessness in real life and strive to escape reality while forming a virtual identity based on the images of their gaming avatars. Main conclusions: in an online game, young gamers are able to cope more effectively with internal stress, compared with the real environment; they are able to maintain identity, and successfully implement gaming motives. Practical application: the research results can be used to develop techniques aimed at strengthening hardines and supporting identity formation in young gamers.

Background: The main aim of the current study was to evaluate the relationship of loot box engagement to gender, disordered gaming, using massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), and motives for online gaming among young adults. Method: The cross-sectional online study was conducted with 752 volun¬teer participants in Turkey. The participants were assessed with the nine-item Internet Gaming Disorder Scale- Short Form (IGDS9-SF) and the Motives for Online Gaming Questionnaire (MOGQ). Results: Age of participants who engage with loot boxes (n=171, 22.7%) was lower than the group who do not engage with loot boxes (n=581, 77.3%). Also rates of male gender, using microtransaction, buying games, time spend on the gaming, gaming more than usual in weekends, being an e-sport gamer and/or following e-sport, having problems related with gaming, using MMORPGs, severity of IGD symptoms, and all six types of motives for online gaming were higher in the group who engage with loot boxes. Age at first gaming did not differ between the groups. In logistic regression model, loot box engagement was related with the severity of disordered gaming, using MMORPGs and severities of skill development and competition motives for online gaming. Conclusion: These findings suggest that those who engage with loot boxes may be using MMORPGs more with the motives of skill development and competition and they may have higher severity of IGD symptoms. Thus, this group of gamers who engage with loot boxes should be considered as a risk group and interventions should particularly include these individuals.

Massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) escapists are individuals who indulge in the MMORPG environment to avoid real world problems. Though a relationship between escapism and deteriorated well-being has been established, little is known about particular pathways that mediate this relationship. In the current study, we examined this topic by testing an integrative model of MMORPG escapism, which includes game realism beliefs, gaming time, offline social support, and online social support for offline problems. MMORPG players (N=1,056) completed measures of escapist motivation, game realism beliefs, social support, well-being, and reported gaming time. The tested structural equation model had a good fit to the data. We found that individuals with escapist motivation endorsed stronger game realism beliefs and spent more time playing MMORPGs, which, in turn, increased online support but decreased offline social support. Well-being was favorably affected by both online and offline social support, although offline social support had a stronger effect. The higher availability of online social support for offline problems did not compensate for the lower availability of offline support among MMORPG escapists. Understanding the psychological factors related to depletion of social resources in MMORPG players can help optimize MMORPGs as leisure activities.

This paper researched the network externality in different types of Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs), found that the network externality is stronger in User-generated MMORPG than in Pre-structured MMORPG, due to the feature of the two types of MMORPGs. The existing of network externality leads to the differences in the game-playing time characteristics of the two types of MMORPGs, the total online time in User-generated game grows faster than its population growth, while the total online time in Pre-structured game exhibits a similar growth pattern with its population. Therefore, the game publisher should take appropriate operation strategy for different types of MMORPGs.

Nowadays, Online gaming industry has been fast growing in Bangkok especially massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). As online games grow in importance as an electronic commerce application, game developers and publishers increasingly believe that understanding factors affecting the quality of MMORPG online games is critical to the success of online game industry. Nevertheless, scant attention is given to the empirical investigation of the influence of online gaming perceived MMORPG quality. As for the study of factors affecting the quality of MMORPG online games in Bangkok, the researchers had set the regulations of quantitative research as a survey research with a questionnaire as the tool for data collection, the study results could be useful for online game industry.

Gamers play massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) for a variety of reasons. For example, some gamers play primarily as a form of socialization, whereas others play to gain a sense of achievement. Past studies have shown that these motives are associated with individual differences such as gender and number of years spent playing online games. What other individual differences might affect why people play MMORPGs? Personality is known to be associated with in-game behaviors, raising the possibility of link between personality and gaming motives. The present study examines the relationship between gamers' Big Five personality traits and their motivations for playing World of Warcraft. Results reveal several links between a player's personality and gaming motivations. For instance, individuals playing to socialize tend to be high on extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism, and openness, whereas individuals playing to gain a sense of achievement tend to be high on extraversion and neuroticism, but low on agreeableness and conscientiousness. Findings are discussed with respect to previous research on links between personality and motives in other MMORPGs and in terms of how and why the connections between personality and motives may differ across online and offline contexts.

Give us something to chauffeur it: Exploring user needs in traditional and fully autonomous ridesharing for people who are blind or visually impaired

The growing aging population suffers from high levels of vision and cognitive impairment, often resulting in a loss of independence. Such individuals must perform crucial everyday tasks such as cooking and heating with systems and devices designed for visually unimpaired individuals, which do not take into account the needs of persons with visual and cognitive impairment. Thus, the visually impaired persons using them run risks related to smoke and fire. In this paper, we propose a vision-based fire detection and notification system using smart glasses and deep learning models for blind and visually impaired (BVI) people. The system enables early detection of fires in indoor environments. To perform real-time fire detection and notification, the proposed system uses image brightness and a new convolutional neural network employing an improved YOLOv4 model with a convolutional block attention module. The h-swish activation function is used to reduce the running time and increase the robustness of YOLOv4. We adapt our previously developed smart glasses system to capture images and inform BVI people about fires and other surrounding objects through auditory messages. We create a large fire image dataset with indoor fire scenes to accurately detect fires. Furthermore, we develop an object mapping approach to provide BVI people with complete information about surrounding objects and to differentiate between hazardous and nonhazardous fires. The proposed system shows an improvement over other well-known approaches in all fire detection metrics such as precision, recall, and average precision.

An exploratory study of the association between online gaming addiction and enjoyment motivations for playing massively multiplayer online role-playing games

The popularity of Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) has risen greatly over the last few years. To date there has been very little published academic research concerning online gaming and even less on the different types of online games that exist. Given the lack of data, a scoping study was undertaken to examine the extent, range and nature of different MMORPGs. Data were collected relating to the twenty most popular MMORPGs. The primary aim was to present a summarised overview of all material reviewed. The secondary aim was to provide a thematic construction in order to present a narrative account of existing MMORPG literature. Overall, the scoping study found that whilst some games had received moderate, or even substantial attention, others have had no research conducted upon them at all. This presents a problem since the growth in both the player base and the industry suggests that a single psychological profile of `the gamer' cannot be relied upon, and as such further research is required. It is hoped that this study suggests ways forward and helps set research agendas for future research into MMORPGs.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine whether children’s online play and participation in massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPGs) is leading to the development of virtual retail shopping motivations and behaviours. This exploratory study also examines the influence of age-related differences in children’s social and consumer development vs adults and gender on this. Design/methodology/approach The study was conducted using two focus groups and ten in-depth interviews with 20 French children between the ages of eight and 12 years. Findings Results show that children’s online play and participation in MMORPG communities is leading to the development of virtual retail shopping motivations and behaviour through the purchase of virtual tools and accessories by all children using virtual in-game money. But these motivations are very gender specific due to the overarching importance of gender-specific motivations for achievement. Boys engage in virtual retail shopping because they need in-game progress and power gains, while girls engage in virtual retail shopping because they need social status enhancement. Research limitations/implications Research should be conducted on children in different age groups. All aspects of the process and consequences of children’s participation in online gaming communities should be examined more comprehensively. Quantitative research is required. Results may also vary with country and cultural context. Practical implications First, children between eight and 12 years of age are active consumers (influencers and buyers) for all companies. MMORPGs provide the perfect setting for better understanding of children’s motivations and behaviour regarding virtual retail shopping because they provide virtual in-game money for different achievements that children use to engage in such behaviour. Second, MMORPG companies can benefit by taking into account gender differences in children’s motivations and the importance of the games’ social dimensions and interactions when designing the games. Social implications First, the risks of playing computer games for children in terms of playing violent games and leading a virtual life must be considered and studied carefully by public policy officials. Second, public policy officials that look into online gaming should take into account gender differences in children’s motivations and the importance of the games’ social dimensions and interactions when monitoring online games. These are issues that are not only developing children’s abilities as social actors but may well be promoting excessive materialism aided by the formation of online peer groups. Originality/value This is the first study on children’s online play and participation in MMORPGs in the consumer context and will help us to understand children’s mind-set and motivations for retail activities in this unique retail setting. The study results show that children’s online play and participation in MMORPGs is leading to the development of virtual retail shopping motivations and behaviour that are very gender specific unlike adults.

Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) bring players together in a large virtual community. This type of online gaming can serve many purposes such as entertainment, social interaction, information exchange and education and is now an integral part of many people's lives particularly the younger generation. This research study investigates the use of openly available MMORPGs to supplement second language teaching for higher education students. MMORPGs provide informal virtual worlds in which students can communicate in their second language with people from across the globe. The research approach combines ethnography and action research in the virtual and real worlds. In the real world the researcher observes the interaction with the MMORPGs by the students both through their informal discussion in the classroom and through screen video captures of their game play in the MMORPG. In addition the researcher takes on the role of a character within the MMORPG allowing for observation inside the virtual world from the viewpoint of another game character. Through action research, the researcher observes, plans and then interacts with the students' MMORPG characters within the game. This enables the researcher to provide anonymous but tailored support to the students including advice on the game play, a confidence boost where needed, a friendly face where needed and some support around language issues. In the real world, action research is also used to provide tutorial exercises and discussions based on the students' experiences with the MMORPG, facilitating further enhancement opportunities for their language development. This paper concludes that MMORPGs provide a safe, relaxed and engaging environment in which students can practice and improve their language skills.