Motivations for play in online games.

An empirical model of player motivations in online games provides the foundation to understand and assess how players differ from one another and how motivations of play relate to age, gender, usage patterns, and in-game behaviors. In the current study, a factor analytic approach was used to create an empirical model of player motivations. The analysis revealed 10 motivation subcomponents that grouped into three overarching components (achievement, social, and immersion). Relationships between motivations and demographic variables (age, gender, and usage patterns) are also presented.     

Two paradigms for depth of strategic reasoning in games. Response to Colman

We contrast two approaches to probing the depth of theory-of-mind (ToM) reasoning by adults in matrix game settings: our own and that of Stahl and Wilson.     

Effect of action video games on the spatial distribution of visuospatial attention

The authors investigated the effect of action gaming on the spatial distribution of attention. The authors used the flanker compatibility effect to separately assess center and peripheral attentional resources in gamers versus nongamers. Gamers exhibited an enhancement in attentional resources compared with nongamers, not only in the periphery but also in central vision. The authors then used a target localization task to unambiguously establish that gaming enhances the spatial distribution of visual attention over a wide field of view. Gamers were more accurate than nongamers at all eccentricities tested, and the advantage held even when a concurrent center task was added, ruling out a trade-off between central and peripheral attention. By establishing the causal role of gaming through training studies, the authors demonstrate that action gaming enhances visuospatial attention throughout the visual field.     

Logic for dialogue games

The purpose of this paper is to work toward an explicit logic and semantics for a game theoretically inspired theory of action. The purpose of the logic is to explicate the conceptual machinery implicit in the dialogue-game model of rational discourse developed in Carlson (1983).A variety of ideas and techniques of modal and philosophical logic are used to define a model structure that generalizes the game theoretical notion of a game in extensive form (von Neumann and Morgenstern, 1944). Relative to this model structure, semantic characterizations are given to the action-theoretic notions oftime, possibility, belief, preference, ability, intention, action, andrationality. The unification of these characterizations under the game-theoretical paradigm leads to insights about the logical interdependences between these concepts.The resulting theory of rational interaction is applied to the explication of rational dialogue. The main benefit of the enterprise for a theory of rational dialogue is that concepts and results of game theory become accessible to the explication of dialogue. In particular, the task of proving the logical coherence of a discourse is reduced to the task of showing the rationality of strategy choices made in an associated dialogue game.     

Personality and self-reported use of mobile phones for games.

Mobile phones are popular devices that may generate problems for a section of the community. A previous study using the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire found that extraverts with low self-esteem reported more problems with their mobile phone use. The present study used the NEO FI and Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory to predict the self reported mobile phone use of 112 participants. Multiple regression found that people low on agreeableness were more likely to use their mobile phones to play games. The findings imply an interplay between personality traits and excessive or problematic use on mobile phones that is relevant to proposed innovations such as gambling on mobile phones.     

Games for health conference 2004: issues, trends, and needs unique to games for health.

The first-ever Games for Health Conference (Madison, WI, September 16-17, 2004) identified issues, trends, and needs unique to games for healthcare. More than 130 doctors, educators, therapists, and game makers gathered to share experiences particular to the health industry, health practitioners, and patient treatment. Co-sponsored by Games for Health, Project of the Serious Games Initiative, the Academic ADL Co-Lab, and the Federation of American Scientists, the conference highlighted applications for direct patient care and therapy, as well as health education, policy, and management ideas. This paper presents key concepts from the conference's panel discussions and summarizes successful projects demonstrated at the conference that can serve as models for the field.     

Not so fast: Rethinking the effects of action video games on attentional capacity

Considerable excitement has been generated by recent studies showing that video gaming alters fundamental aspects of attention. We tested the claim that people who frequently play action video games (video game players (VGPs)) have a greater capacity of attention than those who rarely play video games (non‐video game players (NVGPs)). We first attempted to replicate previous findings by comparing VGPs and NVGPs on a flanker compatibility task (Experiment 1). In contrast with previous studies, VGPs did not demonstrate greater intrusion from distractors, calling into question the reliability of previous findings. In Experiment 2, we manipulated the eccentricity of flankers in an Eriksen flanker task to examine the extent to which VGPs and NVGPs processed irrelevant peripheral stimuli. No attentional differences emerged in the conditions tested, with both groups displaying compatibility effects at all eccentricities. Together these results raise doubts that video game playing increases attentional capacity.     

Factors influencing player preferences for heroic roles in role-playing games.

Two studies were conducted to investigate whether player personality or social cognition influence preferences for heroic roles in role-playing games (RPG). In Study 1, 149 teenager subjects were categorized into five groups according to the Guilford Personality Inventory. Heroes were clustered into three types based on their attributes. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) results indicated that each personality group did not display distinctive preference for any particular heroic type. However, of the three heroic types teenagers most strongly preferred, Justice Warrior was followed, in order of preference, by Visionary Leader and Saint. In Study 2, the influence of three player social cognition factors (similarity, proximity, and familiarity) on player preference for heroic roles was studied. Multiple regression analysis results indicated that similarity and familiarity predicted player preferences for heroic roles.     

The politics of homelessness. A call to action.

This article reviews the problem of homelessness from the perspective of an advocate who has been working to change national policy. The Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act, an important initial step supported by advocates and (now) political leaders, is described as providing too few resources and limited programs. An agenda for policy change is proposed to deal with the dual problems of rapidly dwindling low-cost housing and inadequate income among the poor and homeless. It is hoped that psychologists and other professionals will get actively involved in creating such policy change.     

Designing Games to Teach Ethics

This paper describes a teaching methodology whereby students can gain practical experience of ethical decision-making in the engineering design process. We first argue for the necessity to teach a 'practical' understanding of ethical issues in engineering education along with the usual theoretical or hypothetical approaches. We then show how this practical understanding can be achieved by using a collaborative design game, describing how, for example, the concept of responsibility can be explored from this practical basis. We conclude that the use of games in design education can provide an excellent basis for discussing practical and ethical reasoning during the process of design.     

Privileged access to action for objects relative to words

We compared action (pour or twist?) and contextual/semantic (found in kitchen?) decisions made to pictures of objects, nonobjects, and words. Although there was no advantage for objects over words in contextual/semantic decisions, there was an advantage for objects over words and nonobjects in action decisions. For objects, both action and contextual/semantic decisions were faster than naming; for words, the opposite occurred. These results extend the early results of Potter and Faulconer (1975) that there is privileged access to semantic memory for objects relative to that for words and privileged access to phonology for words. Our data suggest that, for objects, there is privileged access to action knowledge rather than to all forms of semantic knowledge and that this is contingent on learned associations between objects and actions.     

Computer games for the teaching of reading

The development and implementation of programs of computer-based instruction for reading are discussed.     

动作视频游戏对发展性阅读障碍者阅读技能的影响及其内在机制

发展性阅读障碍是一种在获得阅读技能方面的特殊困难, 这种障碍会严重影响个体的发展, 如何帮助发展性阅读障碍者改善其阅读技能是近年来研究的焦点。传统的干预方法主要针对发展性阅读障碍者的语音缺陷, 这类方法存在一些问题, 如费时费力、给阅读障碍者带来阅读压力等。近年来, 大部分研究表明通过趣味性的动作视频游戏训练可以显著地提高发展性阅读障碍者的阅读技能, 但是其背后的机制尚不明确。基于大细胞通路缺陷理论框架, 从视觉空间注意、注意跨通道转换、视觉运动加工等方面来梳理动作视频游戏与阅读之间的关系, 揭示了动作视频游戏训练对阅读效率影响的可能内在机制。未来的研究可以在大细胞通路缺陷理论的框架下, 深入分析动作视频游戏改善阅读的神经机制, 并尝试开发更适合发展性阅读障碍者的干预程序。     

From Assigning to Designing Technological Agency

In What Things Do, Verbeek (What things do: philosophical reflections on technology, agency and design. Penn State University Press, University Park, 2005a) develops a vocabulary for understanding the social role of technological artifacts in our culture and in our daily lives. He understands this role in terms of the technological mediation of human behavior and perception. To explain mediation, he levels out the modernist separation of subjects and objects by decreasing the autonomy of humans and increasing the activity of things. His approach consists primarily within a clever integration of the theories of Latour and Ihde, which provides a comprehensive understanding of the social role of technological artifacts. Despite the fact that Verbeek’s book is carefully thought out and already quite influential in the field of philosophy of technology, his approach raises some conceptual and pragmatic questions. The conceptual questions concern (a) the precise meaning of the concept of mediation and the possibility of distinguishing between different forms of mediation, and (b) the differences and similarities between human and technological agency and intentionality. The pragmatic questions concern the application of his theory to the realm of engineering ethics. Particularly pressing is the question of how to assign (moral) responsibility to humans when technological artifacts are mediating the outcomes of human actions. With this article, I will raise these issues, and look forward to Verbeek’s reply.

How to know and choose online games: differences between current and potential players.

This study investigated how different adolescent players acquire game information and the criteria they use in choosing online games and found that (1) current players generally use comprehensive information sources more than potential players do; (2) current players rely on free trials and smooth display of motion graphics as choice criteria more than potential players do; (3) potential players rely on the look of advertisements more than current players do; (4) both current and potential players most likely use word-of-mouth and gaming programs on TV as information sources; and (5) endorser attractiveness is ranked the least important among six choice criteria by both current and potential players.     

Designing work environments to influence productivity

Features of the work environment can be designed to contain cues for performance standards, thereby influencing productivity on the job. This paper explores the importance of normative information for motivation and how it can be designed into the workplace in order to promote more efficient job behaviors.The author gratefully acknowledges the helpful comments of Terence R. Mitchell and J.H. Kerr Inkson on an earlier draft of this paper.     

Playing for the thrill and skill. Quiz games as means for mood and competence repair

ABSTRACT

Recent studies have found that digital games can be used to improve the players’ mood, especially after emotionally unpleasant experiences. We introduce competence repair as an extension of previous work on mood repair. To investigate the effects of digital games on both mood and competence repair, we conducted 3 studies using quiz games. In the quasi-experimental Study 1 (N = 143), we manipulated the necessity for repair via a false feedback task (positive vs. negative), and looked at the impact of in-game success (victory vs. defeat). In the experimental Studies 2 (N = 91) and 3 (N = 109), we aimed at conceptually replicating and extending the findings on the impact of in-game success by varying participants’ success over a series of 4 matches (Study 2: close game outcomes, Study 3: clear victory/defeat). The results of these studies indicate that the efficacy of digital games for mood repair, as well as competence repair, depends on the necessity for repair, as well as success in the game. However, competence repair occurred even after participants were defeated repeatedly in a series of close matches. These results are discussed in light of the potential of digital games for fulfilling (previously thwarted) psychological needs.     

The effects of violent video games on aggression.

Violent content video games such as Mortal Kombat and Doom have become very popular among children and adolescents, causing great concern for parents, teachers, and policy makers. This study cumulates findings across existing empirical research on the effects of violent video games to estimate overall effect size and discern important trends and moderating variables. Results suggest there is a smaller effect of violent video games on aggression than has been found with television violence on aggression. This effect is positively associated with type of game violence and negatively related to time spent playing the games. Directions for future programmatic research on video games are outlined.