Population Of Players Research Articles

Are Esports Players Inactive? A Systematic Review

Abstract As esports grow, public authorities have many concerns about the potential negative health effects of this “sedentary” practice. This work proposes a systematic review on the links between esports and physical activity (PA). The research questions guiding this review are as follows: (1) What is the PA level of esports players? (2) Do data exist regarding the influence of participation in esports on players’ PA? (3) Based on these findings, what future research questions should be asked and what studies should be conducted? Eighteen studies met the inclusion criteria. The analysis revealed that esports players appeared to be active, exceeding World Health Organization recommendations, in 13 studies and inactive or low-active in four studies. The different populations of players do not appear to have the same degree of PA. High-level, professional, and/or supervised players appear to be more physically active. However, some data are inconsistent, and our review highlights several biases and methodological limitations. Additionally, while we have found no studies providing data on the influence of esports on PA, five studies highlight several factors that could push players to engage in PA. Finally, further research is needed using objective measurement tools and characterizing and accurately distinguishing between players’ levels of expertise and the type of game played. The nature and modalities of the PA also need to be clarified. We encourage supplementing these quantitative data with qualitative data obtained through interviews to provide a description and understanding of the influence of esports on PA engagement, re-engagement, retention, and withdrawal.

“I Ain’t No Girl”: Exploring Gender Stereotypes in the Video Game Community

Despite the steadily expanding woman player population, women face many barriers to entering the video game industry and player community, including historical design and advertising practices, gendered behavioral expectations, assumed lack of skill or interest, and harassment. Offline progress in understanding gender and gender identity, combined with unique multi-user online battle arenas (MOBAs) features, may create the needed catalyst for challenging these barriers and gender stereotypes. Through 55 interviews, this study identifies gendered stereotypes familiar to League of Legends players, examines implications of those stereotypes for both men and women, and discusses insights offered to challenging stereotypes within the gaming community.

Adopting An Affordability Approach to Responsible Gambling and Harm Reduction: Considerations for Implementation in a North American Context

The proliferation of gambling opportunities worldwide, including continuous online gambling, has generated concern over how to protect individuals and families from harm caused by excessive spending. In response, researchers and operators have worked with big data to develop risk-identification models to identify indicators of problem gambling. Such models are generally proprietary, non-transparent, and non-generalizable across games, jurisdictions, or player populations, rendering them impractical as regulatory tools. In North America, responsible gambling efforts largely place the onus on players to control their behavior; however, in the UK and elsewhere, regulations have shifted to a model of shared responsibility that targets ‘affordability,’ the amount individual players can afford to lose, instead of indicators of problem gambling. This affordability approach avoids the need for regulators and operators to be clinicians, attempting to identify disorder. Rather, it builds on existing systems to determine creditworthiness and player risk levels. Using affordability as the key benchmark for responsible gambling, we discuss approaches to operationalizing affordability guidelines in a North American context. Such guidelines will aid in promoting the objective identification of players who are spending beyond their means and facilitate the necessary transition to a shared responsibility model for harm reduction.

Disassortative Mixing and Systemic Rational Behaviour: How System Rationality Is Influenced by Topology and Placement in Networked Systems

Interdependent decisionmaking of individuals in social systems can be modelled by games played on complex networks. Players in such systems have bounded rationality, which influences the computation of equilibrium solutions. It has been shown that the ‘system rationality’, which indicates the overall rationality of a network of players, may play a key role in the emergence of scale-free or core-periphery topologies in real-world networks. In this work, we identify optimal topologies and mixing patterns of players which can maximise system rationality. Based on simulation results, we show that irrespective of the placement of nodes with higher rationality, it is the disassortative mixing of node rationality that helps to maximize system rationality in a population. In other words, the findings of this work indicate that the overall rationality of a population may improve when more players with non-similar individual rationality levels interact with each other. We identify particular topologies such as the core-periphery topology, which facilitates the optimisation of system rationality. The findings presented in this work may have useful interpretations and applications in socio-economic systems for maximizing the utility of interactions in a population of strategic players.

Antropometric Characteristics Structure of “VC Jahorina” Pale Volleyball Players

Background: Morphological dimensions represent the functioning of the growth and development of the musculoskeletal system and also play a role in specific volleyball activities. In the sphere of volleyball, it is imperative to identify the anthropometric constitution, generated by exogenous and endogenous factors. Aim study: The main goal of the research was to determine the factor structure of isolated latent dimensions of the population of female volleyball players of VC "Jahorina" Pale, a member of the volleyball Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Methods: The study involved 18 active players of the women's volleyball club Jahorina (BH=173±8.77cm; BW=66.04±9.09kg; BMI=22.03±2.19kg/m2, age=19.11±2.63 years old) members of the volleyball Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina. A set of 15 anthropometric variables was measured in the morphological space with the aim of determining correlations between anthropometric characteristics and identifying the latent morphological structure of volleyball players. Result: Statistical processing of the data was performed by Pearson correlation coefficients and Hoteling principal components analysis (PCA). The results of the correlation analysis showed statistically significant linear correlations between most anthropometric variables (pConclusion: It was structured by hypothetical factors with characteristic roots (Eig.>1), which were interpreted as Factor of volume and longitudinal dimensionality of the skeleton (F1=42.45%; Eig. 6.37>1), Factor of skin folds of the trunk (F2=28. 96; Eig. 4.08>1) and Subcutaneous adipose tissue factor of the lower extremities (F3=10.04; Eig.2.12>1). The correlation of the factors confirmed the inverse relationship of the factors (F1-F2=-0.85; F1-F3=-0.81). It can be concluded that the increased volume of volleyball players is not accompanied by higher values of skin folds, but is a consequence of increased muscle mass.

Low prevalence of relative age effects in Luxembourg's male and female youth football.

The relative age effect (RAE) is a well-established phenomenon in football. However, while the majority of previous studies focussed on established football nations, it remains unclear if the constraint of a limited population of soccer players in smaller countries associated with less strict selection procedures may reduce the risk of RAE. This study aims to investigate the RAE in Luxembourg that follows an 'open-door' selection policy in youth football due to the limited pool of players. Birthdates from all licensed and actively playing Luxembourgish youth footballers including all players of the youth national teams (396 girls and 10981 boys) competing in the season 2018/2019 were analysed and categorised into birth quarters and semesters. To further investigate a performance dependence of the RAE in amateur leagues, success was determined based on the teams' rankings at the end of the season. Differences between observed and expected birthdate distributions were calculated across all licensed players and age groups, within the national teams, and for the top- and bottom-tier football teams using chi-square statistics. While a RAE was absent across all age groups (except U7), significant RAEs with high effect sizes were observed in the top-level and national teams. These findings contrast the substantial RAE effects in large football nations and suggest that open selection systems might reflect an environmental constraint that limit the prevalence of RAE in football. Further, this study indicates that a performance dependence of the RAE is not limited to high level football but already occurs on an amateur level.

Mean-Field Game for Collective Decision-Making in Honeybees via Switched Systems

In this article, we study the optimal control problem arising from the mean-field game formulation of the collective decision-making in honeybee swarms. A population of homogeneous players (the honeybees) has to reach consensus on one of two options. We consider three states: the first two represent the available options (or strategies), and the third one represents the uncommitted state. We formulate the continuous-time discrete-state mean-field game model. The contributions of this article are the following: 1) we propose an optimal control model where players have to control their transition rates to minimize a running cost and a terminal cost, in the presence of an adversarial disturbance; 2) we develop a formulation of the micro–macro model in the form of an initial-terminal value problem with switched dynamics; 3) we study the existence of stationary solutions and the mean-field Nash equilibrium for the resulting switched system; 4) we show that under certain assumptions on the parameters, the game may admit periodic solutions; and 5) we analyze the resulting microscopic dynamics in a structured environment where a finite number of players interact through a network topology.

A-24 Neurorehabilitation Improves Neuropsychological Symptoms in Active and Retired NFL Players

Abstract Purpose: The prevalence of concussions in the NFL have decreased since 2017, however, they still occur frequently with about 177 concussions occurring per season. Neuropsychological symptoms continue to persist long after these players are cleared to return to play. This could be because the underlying cause of these symptoms may have not fully been addressed through neurorehabilitation. Methods: A neurorehabilitation clinic treated 4 active or retired NFL players with symptoms relating to head injury obtained during participation in their sport. A 5-day, multi-modal neurorehabilitation program was administered in 10 one-hour treatment sessions. Each session consisted of a combination of photobiomodulation, repetitive peripheral somatosensory stimulation, neuromuscular reeducation, vestibular rehabilitation, orthoptic exercises, cognitive exercises, and/or off-vertical axis rotation utilizing a multi-axis rotational chair. Results: On intake, a SCAT5 graded symptom checklist was performed with symptoms falling into four domains: somatic, emotional, cognitive, and sleep. The average overall symptom severity score was 57.75, and the average severity of emotional domain symptoms (Nervousness/Anxiety, Irritability, Sadness, More Emotional) was 14.5. On average, emotional domain symptom severity score decreased by 82.76% compared to the 72.73% decrease in total symptom severity. Conclusions: This neurorehabilitation program has shown to be beneficial at decreasing the severity in both overall symptoms and emotional domain symptoms in NFL players with persistent post-concussion symptoms. The authors suggest further research be performed over larger player populations and in other contact sports.

Effect of Recreational Futsal on Body Composition in Passive Football Players

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of recreational futsal on passive middle-aged footballers in body composition. 
 Materials and methods. The research was conducted on a sample of 58 men aged from 30 to 40, average age 35.88 ± 2.39. The sample was divided into two groups. The first group included 29 passive football players (average age 35.58 ± 2.36) who were engaged in recreational futsal 2-3 times a week, and the second group included 29 passive football players (average age 36.17 ± 2.42) who weren’t engaged in recreational physical activity. The body composition was assessed by TANITA BC-601, the method of bioelectrical impedance, which became a reference method in research studies in the body composition analysis. The variables obtained were: body height (cm), body weight (kg), fat mass (%), muscle mass (kg), bone mass (kg), body mass index (kg/m2), calorie consumption – daily calorie intake (kcal), vitality of the body, quantity of water in the body (%), visceral fat (%).
 Results. Groups are not distinguished in the variables body height (HBH), calorie consumption – daily calorie intake (DCI), vitality of the body (BMR), and quantity of water in the body (TBV) because p > 0.05. In the variables where body mass, body fat tissue and muscle mass were assed, namely body weight (BWT), fat mass (BFP), muscle mass (TBM), bone mass (BMD), body mass index (BMI) and visceral fat (AVF), a statistically significant difference was gained p < 0.05 in favor of the group of passive football players who were involved in recreational futsal.
 Conclusions. It can be said that the recreational futsal as physical activity is an effective tool to improve body composition not only in passive football players but in all persons of all ages regardless of gender. Intensity and duration in recreational futsal is an effective way to reduce body fat in the population of passive middle-aged football players.

Normalizing player surveillance through video game infographics

As video game production is becoming increasingly data-driven, player surveillance shapes the everyday realities of users and developers. Remote online tracking and the resulting optimization and governance of in-game activity subscribe to the Big Data methodology as a way of accounting for entire player populations. By design, player surveillance serves the interests of developers and publishers, who have exclusive access to this proprietary data. Yet, discursively, these parties attempt to present surveillance as a mutually beneficial endeavor aimed at improving video games. A part of this strategy is the video game industry’s selective information disclosure, which I explore empirically on the example of telemetry infographics. Based on a thematic analysis of 200 infographics from 127 games, I show how publicly disseminated infographics contribute to the normalization of player surveillance by presenting it as a source of harmless trivia to be collected and shared by fans and the specialized press.

Gambling disorder risk factors in a population of online sports betting players in Sfax

IntroductionOnline sports betting (OSB) is frequently associated with gambling disorder (GD). In Tunisia, no study on this has been done so far.ObjectivesTo detect GD in a population of Tunisian OSB players, and to identify its risk factors.MethodsThis was a cross-sectional study of 58 male OSB players in the city of Sfax. The GD was assessed by a questionnaire relating to the DSM-V criteria. Depression, anxiety and stress were assessed using the DASS scale, gambling motivations using the GMQ-F scale, and impulsivity using the UPPS-P scale.ResultsThe mean age was 37.4 ± 8.29 years. The prevalence of JAP was 53.4%. On univariate analysis, the factors associated with GD were university level of education, the practice of other gambling, daily gambling, gambling spending > 300 Dinars / month , gambling duration > 3 years, the frequency of winning >1 win /6months , the occurrence of a Big Win, total GMQ-F score, coping motivation , and financial motivation. In the multivariate study, GD risk factors were gambling spending > 300 Dinars / month (p = 0.011; ORa = 223.16), financial motivation (p = 0.022; ORa = 3.967), pathological stress (p = 0.036; ORa = 224.388) and inversely associated with the age at onset of gambling (p = 0.026; ORa = 0.751) and the UPPS score (p = 0.011; ORa = 0.6).ConclusionsOur results push us to deepen our knowledge and our studies concerning this problem in our country and to reflect on the management and prevention measures.DisclosureNo significant relationships.

Genetics and Sport Injuries: New Perspectives for Athletic Excellence in an Italian Court of Rugby Union Players.

Several genes are involved in sport performance, especially in injuries incidence. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of ACE, ACTN3, COL1A1, and MCT1 genotypes and injuries in rugby players in order to find a genotype/phenotype correlation and provide useful information improving athletic performance. One-hundred male professional and semiprofessional rugby players were selected. Analysis was performed genotyping the genes ACE, ACTN3, COL1A1, and MCT1 as candidate gene of interest involved in athletic performance. A control group of non-athletic Italian male participants was analyzed to compare the results. We found statistical significance of MCT1 rs1049434 AA for total injuries (χ2 = 0.115; p = 0.003) and bone injuries (χ2 = 0.603; p = 0.007) in the rugby athlete population. No statistical significance was found between injury incidence and ACE, ACTN3, COL1A1 genotypes. The MCT1 AA genotype is associated with the incidence of total and bone injuries in the rugby player population. Although environmental factors such as lifestyle, diet, training, and stress can influence athletic performance, our data demonstrated the importance of genetic study in sport aimed at developing personalized training and achieving the best possible athletic excellence.

Incidence and Clinical Relevance of COVID-19 in a Population of Young Competitive and Elite Football Players: A Retrospective Observational Study

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic dramatically changed lifestyle worldwide, including sport. A comprehensive evaluation of the prevalence of cardiac involvement in COVID-19 is essential to finalize a safe protocol for resuming elite sport. The aim of this study is to evaluate incidence of cardiac involvement and COVID-19 impact on athletic performance.Materials and methodsThis retrospective observational study analysed the data collected from consecutive competitive athletes who performed medical-sports examinations at the J Medical Center from March 2020 to March 2021. All athletes periodically performed a molecular test using a nasopharyngeal swab to detect COVID-19 infection. Positive athletes performed laboratory (cardiac troponin T—cTnT) and instrumental (echocardiography, stress test, Holter ECG) investigations following recovery to identify any cardiac involvement. Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed in case of abnormal findings at first-level evaluation.ResultsAmong 238 athletes (median age 20 years), 77 contracted COVID-19, mainly males (79%) with a median age of 16 years. Fifty-one athletes (66%) presented mild symptoms, and none required hospitalization. Evaluation for resuming sport was performed after a median of 30 days from the first positive test. Abnormal findings were obtained in 13 cases (5 athletes [6%] with elevated cTnT values; 13 athletes [17%] with arrhythmias on Holter ECG and/or during stress test; 2 athletes [3%] anomalies at echocardiography). Cardiac MRI discovered abnormalities in 9 cases, but none of these was clearly related to COVID-19 and none fulfilled acute myocarditis criteria. No negative impact on athletic performance was observed, and none of the athletes developed persistent COVID-related symptoms.ConclusionsOur registry confirms the predominantly self-limiting illness in young athlete population. The incidence of clear COVID-19-related structural myocardial injury was very low, but transient exertional ventricular arrhythmias or pericardial effusion was observed without significant impact on athletic performance. Implemented screening for return to activity is likely reasonable only in moderate-to-severe symptomatic athletes.

Detection of female volleyball player body composition uzing bioelectric impedanse analysis: cross-sectional study

Purpose: In today's sport, and especially in high-performance sports where volleyball also belongs, continuous monitoring of Body Composition (BC) can significantly regulate the training process, which has a positive effect on the top form of athletes. Aim of the current study was to assess and analyze the body composition of a female volleyball players VC "Jahorina", by Bioelectric Impedance Analysis (BIA). Material and methods: In study the participants consist 18 female volleyball players, the members of the Volleyball Club ''Jahorina'' from Pale, East Sarajevo City (Body height = 173 ± 8.77 cm; Body weight = 66.04 ± 9.09kg; BMI = 22.03 ± 2.19 kg/m², decimal age 19.11 ± 2.63 years old) who competes in the Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H). Results: of the study showed that the body composition is within the healthy (allowed) values recommended for this population of volleyball players (Body Fat = 24.82%; Body Fat=11.44kg; Body Water = 53.68%; Body Muscle = 47.09 kg, BMR = 1538.08; DCI = 6435.38, etc.). Conclusion: Compared to the results of other authors, that Jahorina volleyball players do not lag far behind European clubs in terms of weaker BC (BF%, BFkg, BW%, BMkg, BMR, DCI, BMI, etc.). The only place where they are inferior is the body height of the volleyball player (height = 173 ± 8.77 cm), while the relative value of Body weight = 66.04 ± 9.09 kg is evident.

Physical and Physiological Stresses on Footballers at Different Playing Positions: A Narrative Review

Introduction: Football is a physically demanding sport that calls for significant amount of fitness, technical and tactical expertise.Interestingly, team positioning is one of most crucial components because it exhibits shared decision-making and player interaction inconformity with team principles of gameplay. Football training guidelines should be based on the unique necessities of distinguishableplaying positions. The goal of this article was to confirm inconsistencies and consolidate existing research.Materials and methods: Searched databases included PubMed, Google Scholar and Medline. Inclusion criteria was published articlebetween 1991 and 2021, human subjects, being available in English, including population relating to football and have the outcomeof interest.Results: Based on relevance, 22 studies met the inclusion criteria for qualitative syntheses.Discussion: Research suggests that activities during football game are directly influenced by playing position, and athletes tend todevelop physical characteristics following the demands of their specific position. Physiological, physical and behavioral monitoringtechniques are utilized to assess the changes occurring during a competitive game.Conclusion: Patterns and level of work rate observed during game play vary from individual to individual and cannot be generalizedthroughout even players playing at a similar position, let alone the entire population of football players.

Subduing always defecting mutants by multiplayer reactive strategies: non-reciprocity versus generosity

A completely non-generous and reciprocal population of players can create a robust cooperating state that cannot be invaded by always defecting free riders if the interactions among players are repeated for long enough. However, strict non-generosity and strict reciprocity are ideal concepts, and may not even be desirable sometimes. Therefore, to what extent generosity or non-reciprocity can be allowed while still not be swamped by the mutants, is a natural question. In this paper, we not only ask this question but furthermore ask how generosity comparatively fares against non-reciprocity in this context. For mathematical concreteness, we work within the framework of multiplayer repeated prisoner’s dilemma game with reactive strategies in a finite and an infinite population; and explore the aforementioned questions through the effects of the benefit to cost ratio, the interaction group size, and the population size.

Optimal dynamic incentive scheduling for Hawk-Dove evolutionary games.

The Hawk-Dove evolutionary game offers a paradigm of the trade-offs associated with aggressive and passive behaviors. When two (or more) populations of players compete, their success or failure is measured by their frequency in the population, and the system is governed by the replicator dynamics. We develop a time-dependent optimal-adaptive control theory for this dynamical system in which the entries of the payoff matrix are dynamically altered to produce control schedules that minimize and maximize the aggressive population through a finite-time cycle. These schedules provide upper and lower bounds on the outcomes for all possible strategies since they represent two extremizers of the cost function. We then adaptively extend the optimal control schedules over multiple cycles to produce absolute maximizers and minimizers for the system.

Decentralized Control for Urban Drainage Systems Using Replicator Dynamics

This paper proposes a decentralized control scheme that mitigates floods in urban drainage systems (UDSs). First, we develop a partitioning algorithm of the UDS relying on a graph model of the system. Once this is done, we design a local controller for each partition based on the replicator dynamics model (a set of differential equations that describes the evolution of a population of players involved in a strategic game). The decentralized nature of the proposed strategy makes it suitable for applying it in large-scale systems. Stability of the closed-loop system is proved by using Lyapunov theory. Furthermore, we simulate the performance of the decentralized control scheme in two case studies. One of them models part of the Bogotá (Colombia) stormwater UDS. Finally, we compare the proposed technique with two widely used methods for-real time control of UDSs, i.e., constrained linear quadratic regulator (LQR) and model predictive control (MPC).

Systematic Review of Cost-Effectiveness of Injury Prevention Interventions in Soccer-Evidence Why Health Agencies Should Address It.

Soccer injuries are a recognized problem worldwide. Several injury prevention programs have been confirmed to reduce the number of injuries in female and male players. Unfortunately, there is a lack of data about their cost, burden, and benefit for the health care system. In this paper we aim to systematically review the literature and critically evaluate the economic quality of injury prevention interventions implemented across different populations of soccer players. Web of Science, Medline, SPORTDiscus, Ovid, and other databases were searched from January 2011 through July 2021. Research articles were only selected for analysis if they focused on the cost-effectiveness of injury prevention, were experimental papers written in English, and were published following the peer-review process. Three cluster RCT and one retrospective study met the criteria. Cost data on incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) were extracted. The included studies had a good/average quality of economic evaluation. Based on ICERs, injury prevention interventions were cost-effective in three out of the three comparisons. One study did not report the ICER value. However, since economic analyses were reported with varying methodological approaches and results, more data are required to recognize the cost-effectiveness of soccer-specific injury prevention interventions and their benefit for the health care system.

Selected 15-year-old boy and girl football players’ continuation with football and competitive level in young adulthood: the impact of individual and contextual factors

This study investigates players who have been selected to a district team in the Swedish Football Association U15 talent programme. Using register data on all selected 15-year-old boy and girl district team players (3943 boys and 4056 girls born between 1986 and 1996) from Sweden’s 24 football districts, we analysed the relationships between club affiliation at age 15, the player population of the district, date of birth, and continuation with football and competitive level as young adults. The results show that a higher percentage of boys than girls continued playing football into young adulthood and that continuation is related to district size. Belonging to an elite club at age 15 reduces the likelihood of girls playing football at age 21, but it has no effect on the likelihood of boys playing football at age 21. In addition, 15-year-old boys and girls from larger districts who played on an elite club at age 15 were more likely to play elite football at age 21. In sum, the study shows that football district size and club affiliation at age 15 affect whether boys and girls continue to play football and whether they play at an elite level as young adults.