title: to play, or to be?" the psychology of video games
DESCRIPTION
Abstract: The unquestioned popularity of video games as a pre-eminent source of entertainment has brought with it a renewed focus on the medium from the political and scholarly arenas. Games are an robust economic force, yet research tends to focus on their content as being "good" or "bad" rather than the experiences of the players themselves, which leaves our understanding of the phenomenology of the video game experience incomplete (at best) and inaccurate (at worst). To this end, Dr. Bowman's presentation will briefly review the current state of gaming research before suggesting ways in which scholars can pursue gaming research that compliments rather than replicates what has already been gleaned from more media effects-oriented studies, citing four exemplar studies. Bio: Nick Bowman (Ph.D., Michigan State University) is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Studies at West Virginia University where he specializes in digital and social media technology - in particular, the motivations and uses of interactive media for entertainment, relational, informational and persuasive purposes. He has published nearly two dozen research articles in journals such as Computers in Human Behavior, Media Psychology, New Media and Society, and Journal of Communication and currently serves on the editorial board of Media Psychology and Journal of Media Psychology. He is an active member of National Communication Association and International Communication Association, and is an avid gamer of third- and fourth-generation video game consoles.TRANSCRIPT
WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES
“TO PLAY, OR TO BE?”: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF VIDEO GAMES
Nicholas David Bowman, Ph.D.
WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES
GAMES: MORE THAN GAMES?
• Unquestioned popularity– $74B industry; rakes in $17B on a “down” year– Dominate sales of both packaged & online media– Played across demographics (age, gender, etc.)– Jones (2004) suggests that a childhood without
games is “detrimental to development”
WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES
GAMES: MORE THAN GAMES?
• Questioned phenomenology– Brunt of research rooted squarely in S R ( O)– Valuable, but misses the point of the “phenomenology
of the game experience” (Grodal, 2000) – Translated: We study effects, but do we really
study gaming?
WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES
STUDYING VIDEO, OR STUDYING GAMES? • Moving parallel to S R ( O)
– What do gamers bring to the experience?– What do we desire from the experience?– How do we interact with the experience? – What (else) can we experience from games?
WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES
MORALITY AND GAMING
Joeckel, S., Bowman, N. D., & Dogruel, L. (in press).Gut or game: The influence of moral intuitions on decisions in virtual environments. Manuscript forthcoming in Media Psychology, 15(4).
WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES
PREMISE
• Many popular video games feature (encourage) anti-social acts
• Player See Player Do• ASSUMPTION: Player accepts premise,
regardless of their own (moral) code
WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES
STUDY QUESTIONS
• [in an non-biased environment]– How do moral intuitions drive
in-game decisions?– How does this process drive
enjoyment?
WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES
RESULTSA) Sig. ∆ High vs. Low
B) Non-random(highest salience)
C) Random (lowest salience)
Digital Natives
German Adolescents Yes (.002) Yes (21%) Yes (47%)
US Adolescents No (.118) No (54%) Yes (41%)
Digital Immigrants
German Elderly Yes (<.001) Yes (24%) No (77%)
US Elderly Yes (<.001) Yes (12%) Yes* (39%)
WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES
WHAT NEXT?
• What does it mean for digital media?– “game” reaction then “gut” is primed– real world moral orientations drive decisions
in the virtual world– How might continued “game” reactions
sculpt our “gut”?
WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES
GAMING AS NEED SATISFACTION
Tamborini, R., Bowman, N. D., Eden, A., Grizzard, M., & Organ, A. (2010). Defining media enjoyment as the satisfaction of intrinsic needs. Journal of Communication, 60(4), 758-777.
WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES
PREMISE
• Games are played for fun, but what is the functional role of fun?
• Positive psychology suggests that leisure is part of our intrinsic motivation and reward system
• Psychological well-being
WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES
STUDY QUESTIONS
WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES
RESULTS
WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES
WHAT NEXT?
• 51% of variance explained, leaving 49% of variance unaccounted for
• Eudianomia and appreciation (Oliver)– Early data suggests insight to be an
orthogonal predictor
WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES
ATTACHMENT TO OURSELVES; OUR CHARACTERS
Bowman, N. D., Schultheiss, D., Schumann, C. (2012)."I’m Attached, And I’m A Good Guy/Gal!": How Character Attachment Influences Pro- and Anti-Social Motivations To Play MMORPGs. CyberPsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 15(3), 169-174.
WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES
PREMISE
• Media entertainment is rife with evidence of parasocial interactions
• But in video games, is this parasocial or reified?
My people, my character.
WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES
STUDY QUESTIONS
• Character attachment is the “psychological melding of player and character”
• Do dimensions of CA predict:– Pro-social behavior?– Anti-social behavior?
WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES
RESULTS
• Pro-social motivations– Sense of control
• Anti-social motivations– Suspension of
disbelief– Sense of
responsibility
WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES
WHAT NEXT?
• Differential types and levels of attachment seem to be driving how we behave virtually
• As the lines between the virtual and actual blur, what does this do to the fourth wall?
WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES
ANTI-SOCIAL CONTENT PRO-SOCIAL EFFECT?
Limperos, A., Downs, E., Ivory, J, & Bowman, N. D. (in press). Leveling Up: A Review of Current and Emerging Areas of Interest in Video Games and Future Research Directions. Manuscript forthcoming in Communication Yearbook.
WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES
PREMISE
• The focus on media effects tends to stilt our opinions of gaming as bad…
• …yet this bad content can be decidedly good for us!
WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES
APPRECIATION
• Video games are fun, but can they be meaningful?
WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES
DISGUST AND DISINTEREST
• “Profane game is profane” …
• …and Bogost (2012) argues that this is exactly the point!
WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES
CONCLUSION“Research = Mesearch”
WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES
FINDINGS, AND PARALLELS
• We bring ourselves to the game– (what do we bring back?)
• We game to satisfy our needs– (do games create new needs?)
• We place ourselves in the game– (can we separate the virtual and the actual?)
• We learn good from bad– (does bad ever become bad?)
WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES
FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Nicholas David Bowman, Ph.D.
onmediatheory.blogspot.com
@bowmanspartan