Computer game playing and social skills: a pilot study

Computer game playing is a popular leisure activity. However, there is little known about the longer-term effects that regular computer game playing could have on social development. A questionnaire study was conducted with 144 undergraduate students examining frequency of computer game playing behaviour against scores on the Social Situations Questionnaire designed to identify social inadequacy. Results showed that high frequency computer game players exhibited more social anxiety than low frequency game players. Possible explanations for this relationship are linked to high frequency computer game playing compromising the attainment of social skills during childhood and adolescence

Excessive computer game playing : evidence for addiction and aggression?

Computer games have become an ever-increasing part of many adolescents’ day-to-day lives. Coupled with this phenomenon, reports of excessive gaming (computer game playing) denominated as “computer/video game addiction” have been discussed in the popular press as well as in recent scientific research. The aim of the present study was the investigation of the addictive potential of gaming as well as the relationship between excessive gaming and aggressive attitudes and behavior. A sample comprising of 7069 gamers answered two questionnaires online. Data revealed that 11.9% of participants (840 gamers) fulfilled diagnostic criteria of addiction concerning their gaming behavior, while there is only weak evidence for the assumption that aggressive behavior is interrelated with excessive gaming in general. Results of this study contribute to the assumption that also playing games without monetary reward meets criteria of addiction. Hence, an addictive potential of gaming should be taken into consideration regarding prevention and intervention

Computer game playing: the game of Twixt

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Skilled like a Person: A Comparison of Human and Computer Game Playing

The subject of this paper is the role of transferable commonsense principles in the acquisition of gameplaying expertise. W e argue that individuals skilled in a domain develop expertise because they know and apply these principles, and that most game-playing programs do not play like people. The paper describes Hoyle, a model of an expert game player that relies on the use of commonsense principles, limited memory, and useful knowledge to learn to play two-person, perfect information finite-board games expertly. W e then describe an experiment in which human subjects played three such games against a computer expert. After playing these games, the subjects evaluated Hoyle's game-playing principles in the context of their own behavior Verbal protocols and subjects' evaluations revealed considerable overlap between the principles preferred by our subjects and those preferred by Hoyle. Using learning time as a measure of difficulty, the subjects' performance and Hoyle's performance ordered the three games identically. This experiment also revealed differences in the use of gameplaying principles between skilled and unskilled players: skilled players judged the game-playing principles to be more effective than did unskilled players, skilled players used several different principles while unskilled players relied on one principle, and skilled players anticipated their opponent's moves while unskilled players merely reacted

A behavioural analysis of computer game playing competence, experience and related physiological processes

The current research programme represents a rst step in the psychological analysis of on-line game playing. In the literature review presented in Chapter 1, Network Latency and 'game challenge' were identied as two important variables affecting participants' enjoyment of on-line games. The experiments presented in Chapter 2 define 'game challenge' in terms of levels of derived relational responding, and found that participants were able to consistently respond in accordance with both one and three-node derived relations in the context of a computer game. The presence of Network Latency in a game was found to be detrimental to the game playing experience, but increasing the length of those delays was not. The experiments presented in Chapter 3 defined 'game challenge' in terms of more complex forms of derived relational responding and found that participants were able to consistently respond in accordance with derived 'Same' and 'Opposite'relations in the context of a computer game. As in Chapter 2, the presence of Network Latency in a game was found to be detrimental to the game playing experience, but increasing the length of those delays was not. Participants were more successful at and preferred the simpler levels of the games examined in Chapter 3. Experiments in both Chapters 2 and 3 successfully modeled on-line game playing in terms of derived relational responding. The experiments reported in Chapter 4 were conducted in order to develop novel behavioural and physiological measures of enjoyment in game playing. It was found that participants' preference for games of varying diculty was dependent on their experience with those games. In addition, a novel methodology was developed for analyzing electro-dermal activity, which successfully differentiated games on the basis of the preference shown for them by participants. Finally, Chapter 5 reviewed the relevance of the research findings to the research literature

A behavioural analysis of computer game playing competence, experience and related physiological processes

The current research programme represents a rst step in the psychological analysis of on-line game playing. In the literature review presented in Chapter 1, Network Latency and 'game challenge' were identied as two important variables affecting participants' enjoyment of on-line games. The experiments presented in Chapter 2 define 'game challenge' in terms of levels of derived relational responding, and found that participants were able to consistently respond in accordance with both one and three-node derived relations in the context of a computer game. The presence of Network Latency in a game was found to be detrimental to the game playing experience, but increasing the length of those delays was not. The experiments presented in Chapter 3 defined 'game challenge' in terms of more complex forms of derived relational responding and found that participants were able to consistently respond in accordance with derived 'Same' and 'Opposite'relations in the context of a computer game. As in Chapter 2, the presence of Network Latency in a game was found to be detrimental to the game playing experience, but increasing the length of those delays was not. Participants were more successful at and preferred the simpler levels of the games examined in Chapter 3. Experiments in both Chapters 2 and 3 successfully modeled on-line game playing in terms of derived relational responding. The experiments reported in Chapter 4 were conducted in order to develop novel behavioural and physiological measures of enjoyment in game playing. It was found that participants' preference for games of varying diculty was dependent on their experience with those games. In addition, a novel methodology was developed for analyzing electro-dermal activity, which successfully differentiated games on the basis of the preference shown for them by participants. Finally, Chapter 5 reviewed the relevance of the research findings to the research literature

Computer games: A double-edged sword?

Excessive computer game playing (ECGP) has already become a serious social problem. However, limited data from experimental lab studies are available about the negative consequences of ECGP on players' cognitive characteristics. In the present study, we compared three groups of participants (current ECGP participants, previous ECGP participants, and control participants) on a Multiple Object Tracking (MOT) task. The previous ECGP participants performed significantly better than the control participants, which suggested a facilitation effect of computer games on visuospatial abilities. Moreover, the current ECGP participants performed significantly worse than the previous ECGP participants. This more important finding indicates that ECGP may be related to cognitive deficits. Implications of this study are discussed. © 2008 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.published_or_final_versio

Breaking the stereotype: the case of online gaming

Despite the rise of computer games as a leisure phenomenon, there has been relatively little research into this area. Furthermore, almost all of the research to date has concentrated on arcade or console games. More recently, the Internet has become a new medium in which players can play videogames. Since there is no published research in this area, some “benchmark” data on which future research can build was collected from two online gaming fan sites. Sociodemographics showed that the majority of players were male (approximately 85%). Over 60% of players were older than 19 years. The data provide clear evidence that the game clientele is very much an adult profile and suggest a different picture to the stereotypical image of an adolescent online gamer. The stereotype of the typical online player being a socially withdrawn young male with limited sex role identity appears to be misplaced

An Empirical Judgment of Computer Simulated Ayo Game for Decision Making

Decision making plays an important role in the life of every living creature. Virtually on daily basis, people must make one or more decision. A faulty decision can lead to defeat in any competition. This paper presents the process of making decisions on the basis of knowledge of game playing as a major key in defining human characteristics. We simulated Ayo game playing on a digital computer and empirically evaluated the behavior of the prototype simulation. Empirical judgment was carried out on how experts play Ayo game as a means of evaluating the performance of the heuristics used to evolve the Ayo player in the simulation. A paper-based questionnaire was designed and administered to the Ayo game players which were used for the assessments of players’ perceptions of the prototype simulation, which gives room for statistical interpretation. This projects a novel means of solving the problem of decision making in move selections in computer game-playing of Ayo game