Understanding user experience in gaming

This research examines the effect of virtual reality gaming versus desktop based gaming on spatial presence, social presence, and intention to play. It draws on cognitive theory of presence, social presence theory, and theory of reasoned action to generate the research hypotheses and explain the observed phenomenon. A within-subject experimental design (N=53) was used to evaluate the effects of virtual reality versus desktop based gaming. The results suggest that both spatial presence and social presence were significantly enhanced in the virtual reality gaming environment while intention to play was significantly greater in the desktop based gaming environment --Abstract, page iii

To Play or Not to Play: An Investigation Into The Effect of Video Game Use on Executive Functions

Findings in experimental psychology research suggest that individuals who engage in video game play outperform those who do not play video games on a range of cognitions, in particular visual selective attention. It was predicted that the source of the differences observed in video game players (VGP) compared to non-video game players (NVGP) is the result of additional executive function resources. Findings suggest that only when the task is sufficiently demanding are the additional attentional and executive function resources in VGP observable compared to NVGP. Across three experimental paradigms, the executive functions of VGP were compared to those of NVGP. In Experiments One and Two, a hybrid response inhibition task was used to assess the response inhibition performance in the subcomponents of action cancellation, action withholding, and interference resolution in VGP compared to NVGP. In Experiment Two, measures of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), glutamate, and glutamine were recorded using magnetic resonance spectroscopy. In Experiment One, VGP significantly outperformed NVGP in measures of action cancellation and interference resolution, but the HRIT failed to measure action withholding. In Experiment Two, the results of Experiment One were not replicated, and there was no significant difference between VGP and NVGP in the subcomponents of response inhibition. A combined analysis of participants in Experiments One and Two replicated the effects observed in Experiment One, VGP outperformed NVGP on measures of interference resolution and action withholding. In Experiment Three, the ability to sustain attention was assessed using a continuous performance task with manipulations of cognitive load. The aim was to elucidate the inconsistent results observed in Experiments One and Two by manipulating cognitive load to allow observation of the increased executive function resources in VGP. The results of Experiment Three showed no significant difference between VGP and NVGP in metrics of sustained attention performance. Moreover, there was no difference between groups in their ability to sustain attention regardless of cognitive load. This thesis emphasises the potential for video game use to train and improve executive function capabilities, but that findings and directions for future research are constrained by methodological and theoretical limitations

Something is Rotten in the State of Aggression Research: Novel Methodological and Theoretical Approaches to Research on Digital Games and Human Aggression

This dissertation offers a comprehensive critique of the current state of research on violent game playing and aggressive outcomes. It discusses twenty-five years of research on violence in digital games and aggression, including empirical evidence, theoretical perspectives, and the heated debates in both the public and academia. The main focus here is on methodological issues limiting the conclusiveness of the research, particularly experiments conducted in psychological laboratories. By suggesting methodological advancements in the study of game violence effects, the thesis wants to offer new perspectives on digital games and aggression to move forward the field and the ideological debates that surround it. The thesis comprises a total of 5 peer-reviewed journal articles (of which 3 are published, one is accepted and in press, and one is under review) that include data from one original study and a secondary analyses of 3 further studies. The first part of the thesis consists of a detailed review of the current scientific literature on violent game effects with a focus on the theories that have been developed to explain the relationship between the use of digital games and aggression. Important theoretical shortcomings and fallacies of social-cognitive perspectives on how aggression is acquired through violent media contents are identified and discussed. The second part is a methodological critique of laboratory experiments in research on the effect of violent games. First, common problems and pitfalls in the manipulation of violence as an independent variable and improper control of relevant confounding factors are discussed. The modification of game content (“modding”) is suggested as a novel method to meet the requirements of rigorous internal validity and sufficient external validity in psychological laboratory experiments. The advantages of this method are illustrated by the results of an experiment in which it was used. This is followed by an examination of one of the most popular laboratory measures of aggressive behavior (the Competitive Reaction Time Task), providing evidence from three studies that the unstandardized use in the scholarly literature poses a threat to its interpretability and generalizability. The dissertation concludes with an analysis of the scientific discourse on the game violence-aggression link, and the ways in which it is shaped by ideological convictions that affect both the theoretical assumptions and the methodological procedures. This duality of ideologies present in theory and methods constitutes a threat to violent game effects research, as it causes the field to stagnate. It is argued that this stagnancy can only be resolved through methodological rigor that will, ultimately, advance inadequate theories of media effects

Seven-year-olds’ imaginative engagement with play in non-virtual and virtual contexts

This thesis focuses on the imaginative activities that are present in middle childhood, and how children engage in the fictional worlds created during play in non-virtual and virtual activities. This was investigated in the context of the Cardiff Child Development Study, a UK-based prospective longitudinal study of first-born children. In Chapter 3, I analysed questionnaire data on children’s play activities. The children were reported by caregivers’ as enjoying a variety of playful and imaginative activities, including activities previously considered to be absent at this age, or neglected in previous research. Gender differences were reported for some activities, supporting those found in existing literature. In Chapters 4 and 5, I developed coding schemes of children’s engagement with the fictional world (play frame) created when children played with Playmobil figures, and their immersion in the virtual world of a bespoke video game. Children’s engagement with the play frame was considered to be in the role of an actor, manager, or narrator of the play. Children’s engagement with the video game was considered to reflect their immersive engagement with the virtual world or functional engagement with the mechanics of the game. Boys were more engaged in the role of an actor in the play frame and more immersed with the virtual world than girls. In Chapter 6, I examined links between the virtual and non-virtual tasks. Positive associations were found between children’s engagement as an actor and their immersion, even when controlling for gender. Children’s references to the internal states of the fictional characters were also compared as an indication of their engagement with the fictional worlds, and were associated across contexts when controlling for receptive vocabulary and gender. These findings add to knowledge regarding imagination in childhood, in supporting that children’s engagement in fictional worlds represents an expression of an imaginative characteristic

Seven-year-olds’ imaginative engagement with play in non-virtual and virtual contexts

This thesis focuses on the imaginative activities that are present in middle childhood, and how children engage in the fictional worlds created during play in non-virtual and virtual activities. This was investigated in the context of the Cardiff Child Development Study, a UK-based prospective longitudinal study of first-born children. In Chapter 3, I analysed questionnaire data on children’s play activities. The children were reported by caregivers’ as enjoying a variety of playful and imaginative activities, including activities previously considered to be absent at this age, or neglected in previous research. Gender differences were reported for some activities, supporting those found in existing literature. In Chapters 4 and 5, I developed coding schemes of children’s engagement with the fictional world (play frame) created when children played with Playmobil figures, and their immersion in the virtual world of a bespoke video game. Children’s engagement with the play frame was considered to be in the role of an actor, manager, or narrator of the play. Children’s engagement with the video game was considered to reflect their immersive engagement with the virtual world or functional engagement with the mechanics of the game. Boys were more engaged in the role of an actor in the play frame and more immersed with the virtual world than girls. In Chapter 6, I examined links between the virtual and non-virtual tasks. Positive associations were found between children’s engagement as an actor and their immersion, even when controlling for gender. Children’s references to the internal states of the fictional characters were also compared as an indication of their engagement with the fictional worlds, and were associated across contexts when controlling for receptive vocabulary and gender. These findings add to knowledge regarding imagination in childhood, in supporting that children’s engagement in fictional worlds represents an expression of an imaginative characteristic

Aztec Human Sacrifice as Entertainment? The Physio-Psycho-Social Rewards of Aztec Sacrificial Celebrations

Human sacrifice in the sixteenth-century Aztec Empire, as recorded by Spanish chroniclers, was conducted on a large scale and was usually the climactic ritual act culminating elaborate multi-day festivals. Scholars have advanced a wide range of theories explaining the underlying motivations and purposes of these abundant and regulated ritual massacres. Recent scholarship on human sacrifice in ancient Mexico has observed far more complexity, nuance, and fluidity in the nature of these rituals than earlier mono-causal explanations. Several recent examinations have concentrated their analysis on the use of sacred space, architecture, movement, and embodiment in these festivals. As an extension of these efforts, this dissertation uses a phenomenological approach to examine the experience of sacrificial rituals. It explores the sensory-emotive and physiological responses to the celebrations and the violence associated with human sacrifice. Using modern bio-social-psychological theory, this study reveals that the brutal treatment of captive enemy bodies in human sacrificial rituals provided physiological, psychological, and social rewards that turned these spectacular events into a form of enthralling entertainment. Several other recompenses for officiants and other spectator-participants included a sense of security, management of anxiety, and social bonding. In addition, this dissertation reveals that these ceremonies incorporated different shamanic elements that fostered communally experienced altered states of consciousness which further contributed to physiological rewards, the reduction of social anxieties, and an increase in social solidarity. The significance of this research is that it offers additional explanations for the massive scale and longevity of the practice of human sacrifice amongst the ancient Aztec. It also offers other reasons why the lower echelons of society supported these celebrations despite the possibilities that they could be demoted to slave status and become sacrificial victims themselves. This study also presents possible future explorations of ritual violence in other ancient and modern cultures