The Effects of the Video Game "Flappy Bird" on Adolescents

Abstract

Ovaj diplomski rad nastoji predstaviti uvid u učinke videoigre Flappy Bird na adolescente, fokusirajući se pritom na to potiče li ona nasilno ponašanje te nastoji odgovoriti na pitanje koliko je ta videoigra bila popularna među adolescentima u Hrvatskoj te po čemu je smatraju posebnom, tj. specifičnom. U tu svrhu provedeno je anketno istraživanje, a isti anketni upitnik proveden je na terenu i putem interneta te su uspoređeni rezultati. Anketni upitnik konstruiran je na način da se prvi dio upitnika odnosio na općenita pitanja o videoigrama gdje je cilj bio doznati koliko adolescenti vremena i pažnje posvećuju igranju videoigara te kakve to učinke ima na njih i njihove vršnjake. Drugi dio upitnika odnosio se isključivo na videoigru Flappy Bird gdje se nastojao dati uvid u upoznatost adolescenata s tom videoigrom, po čemu ju ispitanici smatraju specifičnom te kakve ona učinke ima na njih – prije svega primarno pitanje bilo je potiče li ona nasilno ponašanje ili ovisnost. Rezultati istraživanja pokazali su da većina adolescenata ne pokazuje veliku sklonost igranju videoigara. Prema rezultatima istraživanja videoigre ne potiču nasilno ponašanje i ne utječu na vrijeme koje ispitanici provode s prijateljima ili na ispunjavanje obaveza. Također, gotovi svi ispitanici upoznati su s Flappy Birdom i igrali su navedenu igru. Prema rezultatima istraživanja na većinu ispitanika ta videoigra nije imala negativan učinak te nije poticala nasilno ponašanje. Kao specifičnost, većina ispitanika istaknula je kako je težina videoigre iritantna te da upravo to potiče ponovno igranje i obaranje rekorda.This graduate thesis aims to present an insight into the effects of the videogame Flappy Bird on the adolescents, focusing on the question if this videogame provides agressive behaviour on adolescentes. One of the main question in this thesis is how much is this videogame popular between adolescents in Croatia and why is it considered as special or specific. To give answers on all these questions, I made survey – one through the Internet as web survey and one field survey in the school – Privatna klasicna gimnazija Zagreb. The both surveys contained the same questions and results of both surveys were compared to see posibble diferences between. The surveys were constructed in two parts . The first part of the questions referred to general situation about popularity of videogames in teenagers life. In this part teenagers needed to answer questions connected with this how many they usually play videogames and if that has an effect on their behaviour in general. The second part of the surveys was referenced on the effect of the videogame Flappy Bird on adolecents trying to get answers how much time teenagers were playing Flappy Bird, what they think about this videogame and if they know about possible effect of this videogame. Also one of the question was if they liked Flappy Bird and if they agree with the fact that Flappy Bird was banned because of negative effect on the people. One of the most important question was connected with the fact if this videogame had negative effect on the adolescents – if they spent more time playing this videogame than spending time with friends or if they had problem with school obligations or parents because of playing Flappy Bird too much. According to results, the most adolescents are not addicted to video games and also they don't show violent behavior because of playing videogames. Research results showed that playing videogames don't affect to their time which they spend with friends or fulfilling their obligations. Also, all the adolescents knew for Flappy Bird and played this videogame, but not that much that it would affect on their behaviour and their habits, or life in general. According to survey results, Flappy Bird didn't have negative effect on adolecentes and also didn't induce violent behavior. As a specific feature, most respondents pointed out that the weight of the videogame is so irritating that it just encourages re-playing and scoring the bigger record