Language-GAME-Players: Articulating the pleasures of ‘violent’ game texts

Young peoples’ voices have been considered irrelevant or unreliable when it comes to discussing the influence and impact of their engagement with screen-mediated depictions of violence. Historically, such viewpoints have been derived from the controlled experimentation of modernist psychology, which constitutes the most sustained and prominent enquiries into the consequences of individual participation in, and viewing of, simulated violence. In espousing an impersonal approach, psychological research has opted not to demonstrate any understanding of the properties of the particular games or the medium its findings have been used to denigrate. Neither does its research possess broader awareness of the social dimensions of play or the productivity inherent in the practices of its surrounding cultures. This paper introduces findings taken from a two-year project that attempted to draw together what have essentially remained separate lines of inquiry – the critical and analytical scrutiny of Game Studies applied to understanding the pleasures of engagement with game violence. The aim of this research was to achieve a more contextual understanding of texts that utilise violence from the perspective of young people that opt to experience them as an entertainment form. In doing so, a range of qualitative methods were employed to encourage game players to present their viewpoints and offer a voice that is all too often absent from the ‘one-way debate’ attached to the representation of violence within games

Leveraging Asymmetry and Interdependence to Enhance Social Connectedness in Cooperative Digital Games

Play is a fundamental component of human development and is an important means of forming healthy relationships throughout life. Research has shown that the types of digital games people play, how they play them, and who they play them with can have significant impacts on players' social and psychological well-being. Playing games with preexisting social relations, such as family and friends, has been shown to help strengthen relationships, but it can be difficult to find games that provide both enriching social interactions and are able to accommodate the wide variety of player types, ability levels, genre preferences, and social roles that each player brings to the group dynamic. Asymmetric cooperative games---games that present their players with sharply contrasting aesthetic experiences in the same shared play space---are a unique but relatively understudied style of game that is well-positioned to tackle this multi-faceted problem by providing different players with different interfaces, challenges, abilities, and information while tightly coupling their interactions through shared goals and feedback. My research focuses on better understanding the design of asymmetric cooperative games and how they can leverage interdependence to enhance players' perceptions of social connectedness. Based on a review of existing asymmetric cooperative games and related literature, I developed an initial conceptual framework that identified several mechanical forms of asymmetry common to these games. I adopted a ``research through design'' approach to then apply several forms of mechanical asymmetry to the iterative design of two prototype asymmetric cooperative games, “Goombagrams” and “Beam Me ‘Round, Scotty!” (BMRS). I then conducted a series of focused player experience studies examining and refining different aspects of the conceptual framework using the most promising of those prototypes, BMRS. The first study established several characteristic dynamics of asymmetric cooperative play including considerations of directional dependence, synchronicity, necessity, leadership and primacy. These insights were used to evolve the BMRS prototype and mount a second study demonstrating that, even when controlling for visual and narrative aesthetic details, asymmetric cooperative play is perceived as more socially engaging than symmetric cooperative play. My third and final study closed the theoretical loop between the mechanical design elements identified in my framework and the socially enriching effects of interdependence by demonstrating how deliberately increasing the mechanical coupling between players could generate corresponding increases in perceptions of social connectedness. Collectively, my research contributions can help both game developers and researchers to design more effective asymmetric cooperative experiences through a better understanding of this uniquely social style of game

USE OF VIDEO GAMES IN A CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRIC UNIT

Background: Video game has become the preferred form of play among youth. Substantial research has mainly examined problems related to potential negative effects of video games ranging from sedentary screen time, exposure to violence, and excessive or problematic gaming. However, over the past two decades, the use of video games in psychotherapy has become increasingly popular with a lot of applications. Subjects and methods: After a review of the use and the effectiveness of commercial video games in the psychotherapy framework, we will share our experience in the use of video games in a child and adolescent psychiatric unit. We will illustrate it with the presentation of specific case reports. Result: As video games are highly popular among children and adolescents, they are also interesting tools in the psychotherapeutic work with them. It’s a new kind of play therapy, considering the setting, the psychological material that expresses during the game, the interpersonal relationships between gamers, the projective representation within the avatars, the cognitive strategies within the game. Conclusions: Video games represent an essential tool in taking care of child psychiatric patients because of their popularity. They contribute greatly to build the patient/psychotherapist relationship. They help to approach cognitive, emotional and social patient’s functioning, and also psychopathologic understanding and then psychiatric diagnosis

Nilai-nilai Terapiutik Permainan Tradisional Engklek Pada Anak Usia Sekolah Dasar

Previous research found that Engklek Traditional Game has a lot of forms, complex procedures,and the most populaire game compared to other games for children in Indonesia. This researchaimed to know the therapeutic values of this game for school-aged children. This research used aqualitative approach. Subject in this study were 30 elementary school children in the third andfourth grade. Data were obtained through observation and interview to children who played 11kinds of Engklek game in Malang, a town in East Java Province. Data were analysed using qualitativeinterpretative method. The result showed that therapeutic values of Engklek Traditional Game were:(1) detection tool to identify children with psychological problems; (2) improving physical develompent,mental health, problem solving ability, and social-skill ability

"No Girls on the Internet": The Experience of Female Gamers in the Masculine Space of Violent Gaming

The experience of female gamers in the masculine space of violent videogame playing was explored. Hypotheses concerned identity management strategies used online as well as offline. The study adopts a mixed methods approach. 291 women aged 18-48 were recruited via advertisements on social media. An online questionnaire addressed gaming habits, while a focus group with three women explored the pleasures they take from playing violent games. It was found that those who do play violent games, play video games for significantly more hours than those who don't play games which are violent. In turn, the more hours they play, the more likely it is they will discuss their gamer identity socially. Focus group findings however, showed that, by default, women players stay away from the topic of gaming. Regarding their gaming habits, the results support previous research that choice of games depend on the time gamers have available. Investigating female gamers’ reactions to harassment based on their gender identity during online gaming, it was found that those exposed to toxic behaviour probably stopped playing online because of its impact on their psychological well-being. Additionally, the focus group showed participants strategically express their gender identity when they have won. The impact for women to succeed in a male-dominated activity is discussed

A psychology and game theory approach to human–robot cooperation

Social robots have great practical potentials to be applied to, for example, education, autism therapy, and commercial settings. However, currently, few commercially available social robots meet our expectations of ‘social agents’ due to their limited social skills and the abilities to maintain smooth and sophisticated rea-life social interactions. Psychological and human-centred perspectives are therefore crucial to be incorporated in for better understanding and development of social robots that can be deployed as assistants and companions to enhance human life quality. In this thesis, I present a research approach that draws together psychological literature, Open Science initiatives, and game theory paradigms, aiming to systemically and structurally investigate the cooperative and social aspects of human–robot interactions. In Chapter 1, the three components of this research approach are illustrated, with the main focus on their relevance and value in more rigorously researching human–robot interactions. Chapter 2 to 4 describe the three empirical studies that I adopted this research approach to examine the roles of contextual factors, personal factors, and robotic factors in human–robot interactions. Specifically, findings in Chapter 2 revealed that people’s cooperative decisions in prisoner’s dilemma games played with the embodied Cozmo robot were not influenced by the incentive structures of the games, contrary to the evidence from interpersonal prisoner’s dilemma games, but their decisions demonstrated a reciprocal (tit-for-tat) pattern in response to the robot opponent. In Chapter 3, we verified that this Cozmo robotic platform can displays highly recognisable emotional expressions to people, and people’s affective empathic might be counterintuitively associated with the emotion contagion effects of Cozmo’s emotional displays. Chapter 4 presents a study that examined the effects of Cozmo’s negative emotional displays on shaping people’s cooperative tendencies in prisoner’s dilemma games. We did not find evidence supporting an interaction between the effects of the robots’ emotions and people’s cooperative predispositions, which was inconsistent with our predictions informed by psychological emotion theories. However, exploratory analyses suggested that people who correctly recognised the Cozmo robots’ sad and angry expressions were less cooperative to the robots in games. Throughout the two studies on prisoner’s dilemma games played with the embodied Cozmo robots, we revealed consistent cooperative tendencies by people that cooperative willingness was the highest at the start of games and gradually decreased as more game rounds were played. In Chapter 5, I summarised the current findings and identified some limitations of these studies. Also, I outlined the future directions in relation to these topics, including further investigations into the generalisability of different robotic platforms and incorporating neurocognitive and qualitative methods for in-depth understanding of mechanisms supporting people’s cooperative willingness towards social robots. Social interactions with robots are highly dynamic and complex, which have brought about some unique challenges to robotic designers and researchers in the relevant fields. The thesis provides a point of departure for understanding cooperative willingness towards small-size social robots at a behavioural level. The research approach and empirical findings presented in the thesis could help enhance reproducibility in human–robot interaction research and more importantly, have practical implications of real-life human–robot cooperation

Dialogue, New Media and Children's Intellectual Development: Re-Thinking Malaysian Teaching and Learning Approaches

This thesis examines the extent to which ‘Talk or Dialogue’ contributes to children’s cognitive and psychological development when it is experienced through technological devices. The work analyzes some of the sociocultural theories of children’s speech, cognitive learning, psychological functions, sociocultural learning context, dialogic teaching and learning approaches in the classroom, social interaction and the use of social tools. The theory of speech is built on the Vygotskian notion of language as the prime cultural and psychological tool for children’s learning development in a sociocultural environment. Lev S. Vygotsky emphasised that the development of cognitive processes in children includes thinking, reasoning and understanding of a conceptualised social interaction. These processes are core to children’s intellectual learning. Vygotsky and the neo-Vygotskians emphasised the use of Speech, Talk or Dialogue and the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) concept in children’s learning development. In the UK, it was evident that the Talk teaching and learning approach (Mercer & Littleton, 2007) contributed effectively to children’s learning achievements. This approach reinforces Talk or Dialogue collaboratively in the classroom with the ZPD concept. The significance of the Talk teaching approach has encouraged this study to examine further children’s speech and the use of technological devices. Hence, a theoretical discourse methodology on children’s Talk or Dialogue was examined for the research outcomes. The aim is to devise a new teaching and learning approach that contributes to the Malaysian children’s intellectual development inside and outside the classroom through the use of Talk or Dialogue. As a result, a Dialogic framework is articulated based on four existing educational theories of children’s speech and learning. This framework is vital to contribute directly to the Malaysia Education Department Blueprint 2013-2025 in promoting children’s intellectual development. For that reason, two approaches are proposed which emphasise children’s psychological functions of perception, attention, sensory motor-operations and memory through the use of Talk and technological devices. These approaches accentuate the ZPD concept between the teachers and children for learning and activity games. This is the study’s contribution to new knowledge

The Impact and Strategy for Combating the Outbreak Covid-19 in Student

This study aims to find the social impact, morals, and strategies for dealing with COVID-19 among students. Another goal is to find out the social, religious and psychological impact of COVID-19 on students at Ibn Khaldun University, Bogor. The research method approach uses a descriptive qualitative approach. Data were collected by in-depth interviews with the head of the student class. The sample was selected through a purposive technique. The results were carefully examined through triangulation. The results showed that students could not establish social relations between students and did not participate in campus social organizations. Another finding, the Covid-19 outbreak has an impact on student morals because online meetings are more difficult to foster student morals because teachers do not meet students. In addition, students experience various stresses due to piling tasks and online learning does not face various obstacles such as difficulty communicating with lecturers and not understanding the material. Students take various ways to overcome stress such as listening to favourite music, watching YouTube, playing games, getting enough rest, eating favourite foods such as eating meatballs, straightening intentions, and also strengthening worship and getting closer to God

Revisiting the form and function of conflict: Neurobiological, psychological, and cultural mechanisms for attack and defense within and between groups

Conflict can profoundly affect individuals and their groups. Oftentimes, conflict involves a clash between one side seeking change and increased gains through victory and the other side defending the status quo and protecting against loss and defeat. However, theory and empirical research largely neglected these conflicts between attackers and defenders, and the strategic, social, and psychological consequences of attack and defense remain poorly understood. To fill this void, we model (1) the clashing of attack and defense as games of strategy and reveal that (2) attack benefits from mismatching its target's level of defense, whereas defense benefits from matching the attacker's competitiveness. This suggests that (3) attack recruits neuroendocrine pathways underlying behavioral activation and overconfidence, whereas defense invokes neural networks for behavioral inhibition, vigilant scanning, and hostile attributions; and that (4) people invest less in attack than defense, and attack often fails. Finally, we propose that (5) in intergroup conflict, out-group attack needs institutional arrangements that motivate and coordinate collective action, whereas in-group defense benefits from endogenously emerging in-group identification. We discuss how games of attack and defense may have shaped human capacities for prosociality and aggression, and how third parties can regulate such conflicts and reduce their waste. Keywords: behavioral game theory; biobehavioral approach–avoidance; coevolution of prosociality and aggression; conflict; conflict intervention; cultural institutions; intergroup relations; psychological adaptations

Development and User Satisfaction of “Plan-It Commander,” a Serious Game for Children with ADHD

The need for engaging treatment approaches within mental health care has led to the application of gaming approaches to existing behavioral training programs (i.e., gamification). Because children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) tend to have fewer problems with concentration and engagement when playing digital games, applying game technologies and design approaches to complement treatment may be a useful means to engage this population in their treatment. Unfortunately, gamified training programs currently available for ADHD have been limited in their ability to demonstrate in-game behavior skills that generalize to daily life situations. Therefore, we developed a new serious game (called “Plan-It Commander”) that was specifically designed to promote behavioral learning and promotes strategy use in domains of daily life functioning such as time management, planning/organizing, and prosocial skills that are known to be problematic for children with ADHD. An interdisciplinary team contributed to the development of the game. The game's content and approach are based on psychological principles from the Self-Regulation Model, Social Cognitive Theory, and Learning Theory. In this article, game development and the scientific background of the behavioral approach are described, as well as results of a survey (n = 42) to gather user feedback on the first prototype of the game. The findings suggest that participants were satisfied with this game and provided the basis for further development and research to the game. Implications for developing serious games and applying user feedback in game development are discussed