Video Game Engagement Research Articles

Using Self-Determination Theory to Examine Differences in Motvation and Engagement in Video Gamers

The purpose of this study is to extend the work on video gamers by better understanding some of the motivational underpinnings of video gameplay. To do this, we have incorporated nontraditional measures of autonomy, competence, and relatedness, into a study of hardcore and casual video gamer behavior. Additionally, we incorporated an exploratory variable, meaningfulness, which could theoretically be involved in video game engagement. Two hundred and forty-eight undergraduate students at a large university completed an inventory of video game usage and behavior, as well as several surveys related to motivation. Overall, while there were significant correlations between these measures of motivation, hardcore and casual gamers did not differ in terms of motivation to play. Interestingly, there was a significant difference between female and male gamers in terms of their need for autonomy, but not on any other measures. The results of this research will be discussed in greater detail.

Video Game Addiction, Engagement and Symptoms of Stress, Depression and Anxiety: The Mediating Role of Coping

A number of studies have reported a co-occurrence between video game addiction and poorer mental health, but few have contextualised this relationship by identifying mediating variables. Further, there remains uncertainty in how to differentiate high engagement from what may be termed addiction in the context of video gaming. This study examined the mediating role of coping between one measure of video game addiction and engagement, and mental health. An international sample of 552 adult participants (M age 24.9 years, 52.3 % Australian) completed an online survey including the Computer Addiction-Engagement Scale (CAES), Depression, Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21) and Approach/Avoidance Coping Questionnaire (BACQ). Multiple mediation analysis showed that coping explained a significant portion of the relationship between video game addiction and symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress. However, even after accounting for coping, a direct relationship remained. Video game engagement, on the other hand, indicated full mediation with no direct connection to declined mental health, except in the case of anxiety. Less use of approach coping strategies and particularly more use of resignation and withdrawal coping strategies were related to poorer mental health. Gaming for distraction was unrelated to mental health. This study identified maladaptive coping as a partial explanation of the relationship between video game addiction and poorer mental health. Also, the findings provide validity for making a distinction between video gaming engagement and addiction. Highly engaged gamers with maladaptive coping styles may be more vulnerable to developing video game addiction.

The Contributions of Perceived Graphic and Enactive Realism to Enjoyment and Engagement in Active Video Games

How perceived realism in a video game contributes to game enjoyment and engagement is a theoretically important and practically significant question. The conceptualization and operationalization of perceived realism in previous video game studies vary greatly, particularly regarding the dimensions of perceived graphic realism and perceived external realism. The authors argue that it is important to examine perceived enactive realism, particularly for interactive and participatory media such as video games. This study examines the contribution of two types of perceived realism—perceived graphic realism and perceived enactive realism—to enjoyment and engagement as manifested by the level of physical movement intensity in an active video game playing context. It was found that perceived enactive realism was a significant predictor of enjoyment and engagement in playing active video games. However, perceived graphic realism was not found to be a significant predictor of enjoyment or engagement. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

A Conceptual Model: Video-Game Engagement and Its Moderating Impact on Consumers’ Personality

A Conceptual Model: Video-Game Engagement and Its Moderating Impact on Consumers’ Personality

Versatility and addiction in gaming: the number of video-game genres played is associated with pathological gaming in male adolescents.

This study tested the predictive power of gaming versatility (i.e., the number of video game genres engaged in) on game addiction in male adolescents, controlling for time spent on gaming. Participants were 701 male adolescents attending high school (Mage=15.6 years). Analyses showed that pathological gaming was predicted not only by higher time spent on gaming, but also by participation in a greater number of video game genres. Specifically, the wider the array of video game genres played, the higher were the negative consequences caused by gaming. Findings show that versatility can be considered as one of the behavioral risk factors related to gaming addiction, which may be characterized by a composite and diversified experience with video games. This study suggests that educational efforts designed to prevent gaming addiction among youth may also be focused on adolescents' engagement in different video games.

Psychosocial causes and consequences of online video game play

Due to its worldwide popularity, researchers have grown concerned as to whether or not engagement within online video gaming environments poses a threat to public health. Previous research has uncovered inverse relationships between frequency of play and a range of psychosocial outcomes, however, a reliance on cross-sectional research designs and opportunity sampling of only the most involved players has limited the broader understanding of these relationships. Enlisting a large representative sample and a longitudinal design, the current study examined these relationships and the mechanisms that underlie them to determine if poorer psychosocial outcomes are a cause (i.e., pre-existing psychosocial difficulties motivate play) or a consequence (i.e., poorer outcomes are driven by use) of online video game engagement. The results dispute previous claims that online game play has negative effects on the psychosocial well-being of its users and instead indicate that individuals play online games to compensate for pre-existing social difficulties.

Measuring Video Game Engagement Through the Cognitive and Affective Dimensions

Aim. This study investigates a novel technique for measuring video game engagement by capturing behavioral data with little task interference. Background. Flow Theory and Cognitive Load Theory provide insight into understanding engagement by analyzing the interactions between skill and task challenge. The development of this real-time measurement of engagement provides a more precise diagnostic method for designing challenging, yet cognitively engaging, tasks. Method. Flow Theory guided the design of three conditions (Boredom, Flow, and Frustration) for a video game played by 156 participants. The authors tested a potential measure of engagement based on the number of times a participant clicked a game-clock during gameplay and during intermissions, along with performance and workload data. We differentiated the three conditions by synthesizing game-clock clicks during gameplay, during intermission, and overall cognitive load. Results. Boredom showed lower cognitive load than Flow and Frustration. Frustration had significantly lower game-clock clicks during gameplay and significantly higher clicks during intermission than Flow or Boredom. Conclusion. This study’s measurement approach could potentially be used to measure cognitive and affective elements of engagement, helping to identify where in a task a person may reach a point of disengagement, and where they may choose to reengage.

Internet and Video Game Addiction: Evidence & Controversy

Background: In recent years child and adolescent engagement in online activities and video games has increased dramatically to the point that it dominates the free time of many youth. Many young people seem unable to control their excessive use of technology in spite of consequences which impair aspects of their daily functioning. Methods: This article summarizes the literature regarding pathological video game and Internet use and presents proposed criteria and recommendations for assessment and treatment. Results: A sizable body of recently published research consistently demonstrates that a minority of youth develop symptoms consistent with a behavioral addiction to the Internet and video games, although there is no officially recognized diagnosis which describes the syndrome. Conclusions: Knowledge of current research findings, including epidemiology, will help enable mental health to recognize and appropriately care for patients suffering from these problems. Keywords: Addiction, computer games, Internet, online, pathological video game play, problematic Internet use, problematic video game play, video games.

The Effect of Sound on Visual Fidelity Perception in Stereoscopic 3-D

Visual and auditory cues are important facilitators of user engagement in virtual environments and video games. Prior research supports the notion that our perception of visual fidelity (quality) is influenced by auditory stimuli. Understanding exactly how our perception of visual fidelity changes in the presence of multimodal stimuli can potentially impact the design of virtual environments, thus creating more engaging virtual worlds and scenarios. Stereoscopic 3-D display technology provides the users with additional visual information (depth into and out of the screen plane). There have been relatively few studies that have investigated the impact that auditory stimuli have on our perception of visual fidelity in the presence of stereoscopic 3-D. Building on previous work, we examine the effect of auditory stimuli on our perception of visual fidelity within a stereoscopic 3-D environment.

Gauging Engagement in Video Games: Does Game Violence Relate to Player Behavior? Report on a Study

A study designed to define and measure the construct of ‘engagement’ with video games is reported, using a verbal questionnaire named the game engagement questionnaire (GEQ). The engagement construct is derived from an elaborate model of cognitive processes. Scale construction employed classical scaling techniques and the educationally oriented Rasch analytic procedures, and the authors assert that these procedures demonstrate that game engagement is quantifiable by the GEQ score. These analyses meet conventional psychometric standards, but they fail to clearly demonstrate construct unidimensionality. The theory behind the construct is complex and its relevance is not clear. Furthermore, restriction of attention to the violent aspects of games requires revalidation of the GEQ using non-violent (or less violent) games. The study restricted its attention to games with violent content, and showed that greater measured engagement in play of such games does manifest itself in higher scores on an existing aggression questionnaire (AQ). They infer that this association may be an indicator of the risk that deep engagement in violent video games could lead to actual aggressive behaviors on the part of players. This review acknowledges that GEQ is potentially useful for measuring some aspect of game engagement, but views the inferential linkage of engagement with aggressive behaviors based on questionable evidence concerning how game experiences are linked cognitively with emotional responses and behavioral changes outside of the game environment.

A Genre-Specific Investigation of Video Game Engagement and Problem Play in the Early Life Course

This study explored predictors of engagement with specific video game genres, and degree of problem play experienced by players of specific genres, during the early life course. Video game players ages 18-29 (n = 692) were recruited in and around video game retail outlets, arcades, conventions, and other video game related contexts in New York City. Participants completed a Computer-Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI) of contemporaneous demographic and personality measures and a Life-History Calendar (LHC) measuring video gaming, school/work engagement, and caffeine and sugar consumption for each year of life ages 6 - present. Findings were that likelihood of engagement with most genres rose during childhood, peaked at some point during the second decade of life, and declined through emerging adulthood. Cohorts effects on engagement also emerged which were probably attributable to changes in the availability and popularity of various genres over the 12-year age range of our participants. The relationship between age and problem play of most genres was either negative or non-significant. Sensation-seeking was the only consistent positive predictor of problem play. Relationships between other variables and engagement with and problem play of specific genres are discussed in detail.

“Sure, I Would Like to Continue”

In order to explore one aspect of the engaging nature of computer games, this study will propose a method that aims at classifying the experience of engagement in video games. Inspired by a literature review, we will focus on the fundamental causes of engagement that motivate a player so much that he or she wants to continue playing. By organizing this willingness to continue playing into six broad types of causes of engagement—intellectual, physical, sensory, social, narrative, and emotional—we describe a typology of player engagement and a method that is intended to map players’ experience of engagement while playing video games. The engagement mapping method is inspired by card sorting found from a perspective of usability testing, and in order to exemplify the use of the method, occurrences of the six types of engagement were investigated during gameplay in Angry Birds and Wii Sports.

A Motivational Model of Video Game Engagement

More Americans now play video games than go to the movies ( NPD Group, 2009 ). The meteoric rise in popularity of video games highlights the need for research approaches that can deepen our scientific understanding of video game engagement. This article advances a theory-based motivational model for examining and evaluating the ways by which video game engagement shapes psychological processes and influences well-being. Rooted in self-determination theory ( Deci & Ryan, 2000 ; Ryan & Deci, 2000a ), our approach suggests that both the appeal and well-being effects of video games are based in their potential to satisfy basic psychological needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness. We review recent empirical evidence applying this perspective to a number of topics including need satisfaction in games and short-term well-being, the motivational appeal of violent game content, motivational sources of postplay aggression, the antecedents and consequences of disordered patterns of game engagement, and the determinants and effects of immersion. Implications of this model for the future study of game motivation and the use of video games in interventions are discussed.

Children's materialism in urban ond rural china

: This study examined Chinese urban and rural children's endorsement of materialistic values, and investigated the influences of media exposure, cognitive development and demographics on this orientation. Altogether, 569 questionnaires were collected (254 from an urban area and 315 from a rural area) from children aged from 6 to 14. The results showed that children in mainland China held lukewarm attitudes to materialistic values and that urban children were more materialistic than rural children. Of all forms of media exposure, video game engagement was the most significant predictor of materialism. The influences of children's understanding of advertising, cognitive development and gender were also explored.

Having to versus Wanting to Play: Background and Consequences of Harmonious versus Obsessive Engagement in Video Games

The present research examined the background and consequences of different styles of engagement in video game play. Based on self-determination theory(1) and the dualistic model of passion,(2) the authors hypothesized that high levels of basic psychological need satisfaction would foster harmonious passion for video play, supporting the subjective sense that play is something one wants to do. It was also predicted that low levels of need satisfaction would promote obsessive passion for games and contribute to the feeling that game play is something one feels compelled to or has to do. It was expected, in turn, that passion for play would directly influence player outcomes closely tied to games, moderate links between play and well-being, and relate to overall levels of well-being as a function of basic need satisfaction. As expected, results showed that low levels of basic need satisfaction were associated with more obsessive passion, higher amounts of play, greater tension following play, and low game enjoyment, whereas high levels of need satisfaction did not predict hours of play but were associated with more harmonious passion, game enjoyment, and energy following play. Moderation analyses showed that high amounts of play related negatively to well-being only to the extent that players reported an obsessive passion and that the unique relations between passion and overall levels of player well-being were quite small once controlling for their basic need satisfaction in daily life. Discussion of the current findings focuses on their significance for understanding disordered play and the value of applying a theory-based approach to study motivation for virtual contexts.

Children and Video Games: Addiction, Engagement, and Scholastic Achievement

The aim of this study is to assess the relationship between video gaming habits and elementary school students' academic performance. More specifically, we seek to examine the usefulness of a distinction between addiction and high engagement and assess the predictive validity of these concepts in the context of scholastic achievement. Three hundred thirty-three children ages 8 to 12 years from two primary schools in Singapore were selected to participate in this study. A survey utilizing Danforth's Engagement-Addiction (II) scale and questions from DSM-IV was used to collect information from the schoolchildren, while their grades were obtained directly from their teachers. The findings indicate that addiction tendencies are consistently negatively related to scholastic performance, while no such relationship is found for either time spent playing games or for video game engagement. The implications of these findings are discussed.

The development of the Game Engagement Questionnaire: A measure of engagement in video game-playing

Deep engagement in video game-playing has the potential to be to be one important determinant of the impact of playing violent video games, but there are currently no reliable measures of this subjective experience. To fill this gap, the Game Engagement Questionnaire (GEQ) was developed using both classical and Rasch analyses. In Study 1 Rasch analyses provide support for the reliability and functionality of the GEQ scores. Rasch analyses also demonstrate that the GEQ has adequate separation, fit, rating scale functioning, and dimensionality, suggesting that one’s tendency to become engaged in video game-playing is a quantifiable construct. In Study 2, behavioral and questionnaire data supported the reliability and validity of the GEQ for predicting engagement in violent video games. The GEQ provides a psychometrically strong measure of levels of engagement specifically elicited while playing video games, and thus shows promise for future research examining risk and protective factors for negative game impact.

Acquisition of eye-hand coordination skills for videoendoscopic surgery

Evaluation of eye-hand coordination skills in relation to experiential human factors may lead to improved instruction for videoendoscopic surgical skills acquisition. Twenty-nine subjects (medical students or residents in surgical specialties) volunteered to perform three exercises of increasing complexity in an "inanimate" trainer system that simulated the eye-hand coordination tasks inherent in a laboratory videoendoscopic surgical environment. Fourteen subjects participated in a biweekly practice program of 4 weeks duration using an inanimate trainer. Fifteen subjects had no practice on the laparoscopic trainer during the 4 weeks. Both groups were tested after demonstration on three exercises at the beginning and end of a 4 week period and all performed the procedures in solitude. Both groups of subjects increased performance levels (time and accuracy) over the four weeks, but improvement was significantly greater for the practicing subjects. After eight sessions, convergence of performance levels was observed, but plateauing of performance levels was not evident, even with the simple paradigms evaluated. To investigate what factors contribute to learning, subjects were assessed with respect to their surgical experiences, personality, and self-evaluated motor skills. Subjects with prior endoscopic surgical experience, interest in mechanical activities (as measured by the Strong Interest Inventory), or regular engagement in video game play tended to be more skillful initially, but demonstrated less improvement in performance levels after practice than subjects who had lower levels of experience, interest, or video game play. Manual dexterity (as measured by the Purdue Pegboard Manual Dexterity Test) was positively related to the degree of observed improvement. We conclude that "inanimate" videoendoscopic paradigms offer relatively inexpensive and useful training exercises for acquiring basic eye-hand coordination skills. Relevance for animate laboratory skills requirements are probable but can only be inferred. Subjects with manual dexterity skills used in video games may perform better initially in the inanimate videoendoscopic situation but this advantage is shortlived.