Gameplay Research Articles

Subsequent musculoskeletal injury after concussion in National Football League players

ObjectiveTo assess whether National Football League (NFL) players diagnosed with a concussion have an increased risk of injury after return to football.MethodsA retrospective cohort study analysed the hazard of subsequent...

Stability Analysis of Innovation Collaboration between Commercial Banks and Fintech Companies

Recently, there has been an increasing trend among commercial banks to collaborate with fintech companies in order to promote corporate innovation. However, due to the uncertainty and turbulence of the business environment, it is difficult for the collaborators to generate full trust to integrate knowledge and resources. Innovation collaboration often suffers from instability. The objective of this study is to identify the factors that influence the stability of innovation collaboration and clarify the path of collaboration evolution. Based on prospect theory and evolutionary game theory, this study first establishes an evolutionary game model between commercial banks and fintech companies (fintechs), and analyses the factors influencing the stability of their collaboration. The findings indicate that the benefits and costs of innovation collaboration, the fairness of income distribution, the complementarity of knowledge and technology, the synergy of collaboration, and the perceived value of gains and losses by partners all influence the stability of innovation collaboration. This study’s findings provide valuable guidance for banks and fintech companies to balance the benefits and costs of collaboration and improve the stability of collaboration. In the future, the government will be considered as a new game player, and bilateral relations will be considered as a new mode of collaboration in studying the stability of innovation collaboration.

Effects of Calisthenic Exercises on Physical Fitness Component of Speed among Players of Racket Game

Effects of Calisthenic Exercises on Physical Fitness Component of Speed among Players of Racket Game

게임 <30일>의 돌봄재현과 콘텐츠 액티비즘의 실현

This study aims to examine the social value of content activism by analyzing social practice cases through social impact games. While traditional activism is a way for politicians, artists, etc. to convey social messages and call for participation through specialized knowledge, information, and technology, content activism is a way for ordinary individuals who live with one-person media to plan, produce, and distribute content about the problems they find in their lives and bring about change through solidarity with the audiences who sympathize with them. Social impact games are a genre of content that creates social messages through gaming experiences and interactions. Players of social impact games become the subjects who enjoy and extend the social value of the content through meaningful experiences and solidarity. This study analyzes the meaning-making process of players from the perspective of content activism by analyzing the game <30 Days>, in which members living in an orphanage practice care and prevent the suicide of a young man.

Enhanced “learning to learn” through a hierarchical dual-learning system: the case of action video game players

In contrast to conventional cognitive training paradigms, where learning effects are specific to trained parameters, playing action video games has been shown to produce broad enhancements in many cognitive functions. These remarkable generalizations challenge the conventional theory of generalization that learned knowledge can be immediately applied to novel situations (i.e., immediate generalization). Instead, a new “learning to learn” theory has recently been proposed, suggesting that these broad generalizations are attained because action video game players (AVGPs) can quickly acquire the statistical regularities of novel tasks in order to increase the learning rate and ultimately achieve better performance. Although enhanced learning rate has been found for several tasks, it remains unclear whether AVGPs efficiently learn task statistics and use learned task knowledge to guide learning. To address this question, we tested 34 AVGPs and 36 non-video game players (NVGPs) on a cue-response associative learning task. Importantly, unlike conventional cognitive tasks with fixed task statistics, in this task, cue-response associations either remain stable or change rapidly (i.e., are volatile) in different blocks. To complete the task, participants should not only learn the lower-level cue-response associations through explicit feedback but also actively estimate the high-level task statistics (i.e., volatility) to dynamically guide lower-level learning. Such a dual learning system is modelled using a hierarchical Bayesian learning framework, and we found that AVGPs indeed quickly extract the volatility information and use the estimated higher volatility to accelerate learning of the cue-response associations. These results provide strong evidence for the “learning to learn” theory of generalization in AVGPs. Taken together, our work highlights enhanced hierarchical learning of both task statistics and cognitive abilities as a mechanism underlying the broad enhancements associated with action video game play.

JOGOS DE LUTA CORPORAL COMO POSSIBILIDADE DE ENSINO NA EDUCAÇÃO FÍSICA: UM ARTEFATO PEDAGÓGICO NO ENSINO FUNDAMENTAL

This experience report originates from Physical Education classes with a 5th-grade class at a rural school in the Federal District, located in the peripheral Administrative Region of São Sebastião. The experiment aimed to create, implement, and evaluate a Pedagogical Artifact for the fifth grade of elementary school, incorporating elements of body combat, such as conditional principles and classification by approach groups. This provided students with the opportunity to experience the diversity of content and motor actions related to the theme through playful games. The methodology of Educational Design was used, resulting in a pedagogical artifact for teaching body combat. The application was monitored through participant observation, as described by Gil (2002), along with field notebook entries and photographic records. The results showed that teaching and learning occurred through playful experiences in body combat games, as well as reflections in discussion circles, enabling students to initiate into the world of body combat before specialization.

Transgressive play or playful transgressions? Dynamic interpretations of toxic behaviour in multiplayer online games

ABSTRACT Toxic behaviour in the gaming sphere is variably and inconsistently defined even though it is frequently used in gaming-related literature. It also tends to be used interchangeably with tangential terms (e.g., trolling, griefing) that aren’t conceptually equivalent. Thus, although toxic behaviour has been flagged as a prevalent and problematic issue in online gaming, there remain challenges for effectively assessing its impact on gaming experience and player well-being due to definitional uncertainties. The present study is an attempt to reconcile these uncertainties through an exploration of how players define and recognize toxic behaviour in multiplayer online games. Through semi-structured interviews with 30 online gamers, we propose that toxic behaviour in MOGs can be defined by highlighting the socially undesirable nature of an action, its detrimental effects on victims, and the perpetrator’s intentionality in executing an action. Interestingly, there is a paradoxical disconnect between how players conceptually define toxic behaviour, and how they practically recognize it in actual gameplay. The latter can often be impulsive, or otherwise involve a dynamic evaluation influenced by their attitudinal and emotional dispositions, the people that they are playing with, and the gameplay setting. These interpretations sometimes deviate from the understood definition in a decontextualized setting. Findings from this study have strengthened our understanding of how players dynamically navigate social encounters in games, and how they distinguish between toxic and benign gameplay interactions. An emergent typology of toxic behaviour is also proposed along with some recommendations for future research directions.

ε-Nash Equilibrium of Pursuer–Evader–Defender Missile Navigation Dynamic Games

This research is dedicated to developing a min–max robust control strategy for a dynamic game involving pursuers, evaders, and defenders in a multiple-missile scenario. The approach employs neural dynamic programming, utilizing multiple continuous differential neural networks (DNNs). The competitive controller devised addresses the robust optimization of a joint cost function that relies on the trajectories of the pursuer–evader–defender system, accommodating an uncertain mathematical model while adhering to control restrictions. The dynamic programming min–max formulation facilitates robust control by accounting for bounded modeling uncertainties and external disturbances for each game component. The value function of the Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman (HJB) equation is approximated by a DNN, enabling the estimation of the closed-loop formulation for the joint dynamic game with state restrictions. The controller’s design is grounded in estimating the state trajectory under the worst possible uncertainties and perturbations, providing a robustness factor through the robust neural controller. The learning law class for the time-varying weights in the DNN is generated by studying the HJB partial differential equation for the missile motion for each player in the dynamic game. The controller incorporates the solution of the obtained learning laws and a time-varying Riccati equation, offering an online solution to the control implementation. A recurrent algorithm, based on the Kiefer–Wolfowitz method, adjusts the initial conditions for the weights to satisfy the final condition of the given cost function for the dynamic game. A numerical example is presented to validate the proposed robust control methodology, confirming the optimization solution based on the DNN approximation for Bellman’s value function.

PUBG Game Addiction, Social Connectedness and Aggression in Young Adults

In today’s technological era, millions of young adults worldwide engage in violent video s. This study explored how addiction to PUBG game affects aggression, with social connectedness serving as a mediator. Involving 293 PUBG game players (158 men and 135 women) between age of 18 to 25 years (M = 22.21, SD = 1.89), the research used the Gaming Addiction Scale, a revised Social Connectedness Scale, the Buss and Perry Aggression Questionnaire, and a demographic questionnaire. Finding depicts that PUBG game addiction significantly and positively correlates with aggression. However, while the relationship between PUBG game addiction and social connectedness was positive, it was not significant. Social connectedness, on the other hand, was significantly positively related to aggression. Mediation analysis revealed a partial mediation effect of social connectedness on the link between PUBG game addiction and aggression; the indirect path through social connectedness was not significant, though both direct and total effects of addiction on aggression were significant. Independent samples t-tests found significant gender differences in PUBG game addiction, with men scoring higher than women, but no significant differences in social connectedness or aggression. Employment status showed significant differences, with unemployed participants scoring higher in both PUBG game addiction and social connectedness compared to employed participants. However, no significant differences were found in aggression based on employment status, despite unemployed individuals having higher average aggression scores. The findings were compared with existing literature, and recommendations for future research were made, highlighting important implications for young adults’ welfare.

EmPATHs - A serious board game to raise awareness and empathy towards vulnerable-to-exclusion groups in mobility

IntroductionSocial inequalities are a day-to-day problem experienced by the most vulnerable populations. In mobility, a basic human need, these inequalities can translate into lower accessibility to basic needs and social exclusion. The mobility barriers and needs of vulnerable-to-exclusion (v2e) groups have been documented in the literature, however, issues on accessibility, empathy and awareness strategies and people's attitudes remain. Serious games —fun teaching tools— have been successfully applied in urban/transport planning and have also been used to increase empathy and prosocial behavior. Despite the application of serious games in multiple fields pertinent to this study, the pressing mobility and accessibility issues faced by vulnerable populations have not been addressed in any serious game to date. This study focuses on creating and evaluating a serious board game (EmPATHs) to raise awareness and empathy towards v2e groups among various stakeholders while being fun at the same time. MethodIn this case, the goal of the game is to reach as many destinations as possible by playing different v2e personas. The winner of the game is the player who has reached the most destinations at the end with different v2e personas. EmPATHs targets university students from mobility-related programs, the general public, practitioners and decision makers from related fields. The game was created following a four-step iterative design process involving four categories of participants' groups, namely, frequent board game players (gamers) and experts on accessibility, mobility justice, and serious games. The game's evaluation was based on the answers of 26 players and focused on characteristics of serious games and the main goal of the game. The evaluation methodology included close-ended questions to assign a score from 1 to 5 to the established criteria and open-ended questions to complement with the quantitative results. Results & conclusionsThe participants considered EmPATHs to be a fun (4.4/5 score) and engaging (4.5/5 score) game, with a medium difficulty level (2.5/5 score) and which does not evoke frustrating feelings (2.0/5 score). The participants acknowledged learning more in-depth about barriers of v2e people (4.5/5 score) and recognized the game's capacity to raise awareness (4.5/5 score). They also felt more likely to empathize with v2e groups after the game (4.5/5 score). Future applications of the game can be expected to be in teaching contexts, public mobility-related events, and workshops with stakeholders from the planning and designing field.

Gaming lounges in India afford socially productive gambling: The moral economy and foundations of play in Udaipur, Rajasthan

AbstractWe use ethnographic observations, interviews, and surveys to illuminate video game‐related gambling in India, where players use as currency decorative in‐game weapon covers referred to as skins. We focus on gaming and gambling related to virtual items acquired in the popular shooter game Counter‐Strike: Global Offensive, and our study unfolds among young adults who play in face‐to‐face centers called gaming lounges or zones. We consider how networks of video game players, themselves influenced by familial and societal demands, form moral economies that regulate why video game items are exchanged and how they are evaluated. Further, we use moral foundations theory to clarify ethical plurality in these settings, with tensions between moral demands shaping how and whether skins exchanges are judged to be socially productive or harmful. We show how gaming lounge owners’ personal values, some religiously informed, render emerging adults who play in these settings less at risk of excessive gambling, which is not tolerated either within close‐knit gaming groups or broader society. Overall, our analysis points to the utility of bringing into dialogue moral economy and moral foundations perspectives to uncover the cultural meanings of linked gaming and gambling in this context.

A prospective epidemiologic study of injuries and illnesses in the football matches of the 14th National Student Games of China

ABSTRACT The aim of this study is to determine the incidence and characteristics of football player injuries and illnesses during the 14th National Student Games of China. The results indicate that 32 illnesses were reported, with 17 (53%) involving the gastrointestinal system, primarily caused by environmental factors (24, 69%). The illness incidence rate was 4.3 cases per 100 players or 10.2 cases per 1,000 player-days. Regarding injuries, 122 cases were reported, yielding an overall injury incidence rate was 38.9 per 1,000 game hours, or 1.14 per game. Most injuries resulted from collisions with other players, occurring predominantly 15 minutes before the end of the first half, and 30 minutes before the end of the game. Most of the injuries were in the ankle, thigh, knee joint, and groin. In conclusion, the injury incidence of football players in the 14th National Student Games of China is high, occurring from a variety of mechanisms. Physical contact should be emphasized during training, core strength, and stability training should be enhanced alongside comprehensive injury management and prevention strategies.

Towards an automated approach for understanding problematic gaming.

Video games have become increasingly popular worldwide, attracting billions of gamers across diverse demographics. While studies have highlighted their potential benefits, concerns about problematic gaming behaviors have also emerged. Conditions such as Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) have been recognized by major health organizations, necessitating accurate diagnostic tools. However, existing methods, primarily reliant on self-report questionnaires, face challenges in accuracy and consistency. This paper proposes a novel technological approach to provide gaming behavior indicators, aiming to offer precise insights into gamer behavior and emotion regulation. To attain this objective, we investigate quantifiable gaming behavior metrics using automated, unobtrusive, and easily accessible methods. Our approach encompasses the analysis of behavioral telemetry data collected from online gaming platforms and incorporates automated extraction of gamer emotional states from face video recordings during gameplay. To illustrate the metrics and visualizations and demonstrate our method's application we collected data from two amateur and two professional gamers, all of whom played Counter-Strike2 on PC. Our approach offers objective insights into in-game gamer behavior, helping health professionals in the identification of patterns that may be difficult to discern through traditional assessment methods. Preliminary assessments of the proposed methodology demonstrate its potential usefulness in providing valuable insights about gaming behavior and emotion regulation. By leveraging automated data collection and visualization analysis techniques, our approach offers a more comprehensive understanding of gamer behavior, which could enhance diagnostic accuracy and inform interventions for individuals at risk of problematic gaming behaviors. Our findings demonstrate the valuable insights obtainable from a tool that collects telemetry data, emotion regulation metrics, and gaming patterns. This tool, utilizing specific indicators, can support healthcare professionals in diagnosing IGD and tracking therapeutic progress, potentially addressing challenges linked to conventional IGD assessment methods. Furthermore, this initial data can provide therapists with detailed information on each player's problematic behaviors and gaming habits, enabling the development of personalized treatments tailored to individual needs. Future research endeavors will focus on refining the methodology and extending its application in clinical settings to facilitate more comprehensive diagnostic practices and tailored interventions for individuals at risk of problematic gaming behaviors.

HUBUNGAN PARENTAL-PEER ATTACHMENT DENGAN SELF-ESTEEM PADA PEMAIN INTERNET GAMING

There are many internet-based activities, one of which is internet gaming, which, at a certain level of frequency, can lead individuals to internet addiction. This research, conducted with meticulous attention to detail, aims to determine the relationship between parental-peer attachment and self-esteem as two factors that are closely related to internet addiction behavior. The study was meticulously conducted on 38 young adult male and female internet gaming players using the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment-Revised (IPPA-R) and the Self-Esteem Scale (SES). Data were rigorously analyzed using one-tailed Spearman statistical analysis. The results show a positive relationship between Parental-Peer Attachment and Self-Esteem in internet gaming players. The alienation dimension in Mother, Father, and Peer Attachment has the most significant relationship. Self-competence and Self-liking dimensions have a negative relationship, so that these two dimensions will decrease or increase if one dimension experiences a decrease or increase. Further studies on the other psychological factors that underly internet gaming behavior potentially support the prevention of addiction.

Cognitive expertise in esport experts: a three-level model meta-analysis.

The cognitive expertise of experts has been an intriguing theme; there has been rapid growth in cognitive research related to esports. Given the close association between esports activities and cognition, esports holds promise in offering new perspectives for understanding cognitive expertise. This meta-analysis aims at quantitatively delineating the cognitive disparities between esports experts and amateurs. The expert group comprised professional video game players and high-ranking players (top 1%), while amateurs were assigned to the control group. Research studies published between January 2000 and December 2023 were systematically searched in databases. A three-level model with cluster-robust variance estimation was used to calculate the overall effect size. The moderating variables included professional level, cognitive abilities, dependent variable type, game genre, gender and age. A total of 15 studies containing 142 effect sizes and 1085 participants were included in this meta-analysis. The results indicated that, compared to amateurs, video game experts demonstrated superior cognitive abilities with a small effect size (Hedges' g = 0.373, 95% CI [0.055-0.691], p=.012). The differences between experts and amateur players mainly manifest in spatial cognition and attention. Sensitivity analysis, risk of bias, and publication bias results indicated the reliability of these findings. This meta-analysis confirms that esports experts possess superior cognitive abilities compared to amateurs, particularly in aspects of spatial cognition and attention. These can provide an effective reference for future selection and training in esports.

Effects of the Regular Use of Virtual Environments on Spatial Navigation and Memory.

Introduction: The cognitive effects of video games have garnered increasing attention due to their potential applications in cognitive rehabilitation and evaluation. However, the underlying mechanisms driving these cognitive modifications remain poorly understood. Objectives: This study investigates the fundamental mnemonic processes of spatial navigation, pattern separation, and recognition memory, closely associated with the hippocampus. Our objective is to elucidate the interaction of these cognitive processes and shed light on rehabilitation mechanisms that could inform the design of video games aimed at stimulating the hippocampus. Method: In this study, we assessed 48 young adults, including both video game players and non-players. We utilized virtual reality and cognitive tasks such as the Lobato Virtual Water Maze and the Mnemonic Similarity Task to evaluate their cognitive abilities. Results: Our key findings highlight that gamers exhibit heightened pattern separation abilities and demonstrate quicker and more accurate spatial learning, attributed to the cognitive stimulation induced by video games. Additionally, we uncovered a significant relationship between spatial memory, guided by environmental cues, and pattern separation, which serves as the foundation for more efficient spatial navigation. Conclusions: These results provide valuable insights into the cognitive impact of video games and offer potential for monitoring changes in rehabilitation processes and early signs of cognitive decline through virtual reality-based assessments. Ultimately, we propose that examining the relationships between cognitive processes represents an effective method for evaluating neurodegenerative conditions, offering new possibilities for early diagnosis and intervention.

Adaptive dynamic programming for containment control with robustness analysis to iterative error: A global Nash equilibrium solution

Global Nash equilibrium is an optimal solution for each player in a graphical game. This paper proposes an iterative adaptive dynamic programming-based algorithm to solve the global Nash equilibrium solution for optimal containment control problem with robustness analysis to the iterative error. The containment control problem is transferred into the graphical game formulation. Sufficient conditions are given to decouple the Hamilton–Jacobi equations, which guarantee the solvability of the global Nash equilibrium solution. The iterative algorithm is designed to obtain the solution without any knowledge of system dynamics. Conditions of iterative error for global stability are given with rigorous proof. Compared with existing works, the design procedures of control gain and coupling strength are separated, which avoids trivial cases in the design procedure. The robustness analysis exactly quantifies the effect of the iterative error caused by various sources in engineering practice. The theoretical results are validated by two numerical examples with marginally stable and unstable dynamics of the leader.

Return to Play After Arthroscopic Management of Rotator Cuff Tears in Professional Athletes of Contact Sports.

Rotator cuff tears are rare injuries in professional athletes who participate in contact sports, and limited data exist to guide players and team physicians regarding outcomes after surgical management. To report the outcomes and return-to-play rates of professional contact sport athletes who underwent arthroscopic management of rotator cuff tears. Case series; Level of evidence, 4. All professional athletes of contact sports who underwent arthroscopic management of a rotator cuff tear between 2002 and 2019 at the institution were identified. Patient information collected were age, sport, position, date of injury, date of surgery, and time to return to play; surgical data included tear size, acuity, pattern, and procedure performed. The primary outcome measure was the ability to return to play and the number of games played after surgery. Overall, 10 rotator cuff tears in 9 professional athletes (8 tears in football players and 2 tears in hockey players) were identified; 9 of the tears were full-thickness tears that underwent arthroscopic single-row repair, while 1 was a partial tear that was debrided. Of the 9 athletes, 8 were able to return to play at the same level, at a mean time of 9.5 ± 4.3 months. The mean playing time after surgery was 32 ± 25 games (2.7 ± 2 seasons) for the football players and 22 games (1 season) for the hockey player who returned. Postoperative imaging was available in 8 of the 10 tears, and 7 of 8 (88%) demonstrated a healed repair. One football player and 1 hockey player with large (>3 cm) full-thickness tears did not return to play. The mean age of these players was 34.5 years and both had >10 years of professional playing experience.≥. The study findings demonstrated that the majority (80%; n = 8) of the professional athletes in contact sports in this series were able to return to play at the same level after arthroscopic management of a symptomatic rotator cuff tear.

Ease of Use or Fun Perception? Factors Affecting Retention of Newly Registered Mobile Game Players Based on Flow Theory and The Technology Acceptance Model

Ease of Use or Fun Perception? Factors Affecting Retention of Newly Registered Mobile Game Players Based on Flow Theory and The Technology Acceptance Model

The Rise of Otome Games in China: Exploring the Social and Psychological Traits of Otome Game Players

In recent times, the popularity of otome games in China has soared, with the genre becoming increasingly mainstream and witnessing the emergence of highly popular otome mobile games. In contrast, otome games have not received the same level of attention in Europe and America. Consequently, there are likely distinctions between Chinese otome game players and those in other countries. Despite this, scholarly research on Chinese otome game players is scarce. Existing studies often rely on singular theories, such as the Uses and Gratifications Theory or the Parasocial Interaction Theory, to analyze this demographic. To address this gap, this paper adopts a comprehensive approach, integrating both the Uses and Gratifications Theory and the Parasocial Interaction Theory. Utilizing a combination of survey and interview methodologies, the study investigates the social and psychological characteristics of Chinese otome game player groups based on media attributes.