More than skin deep: About the influence of self-relevant avatars on inhibitory control

AbstractOne important aspect of cognitive control is the ability to stop a response in progress and motivational aspects, such as self-relevance, which may be able to influence this ability. We test the influence of self-relevance on stopping specifically if increased self-relevance enhances reactive response inhibition. We measured stopping capabilities using a gamified version of the stop-signal paradigm. Self-relevance was manipulated by allowing participants to customize their game avatar (Experiment 1) or by introducing a premade, self-referential avatar (Experiment 2). Both methods create a motivational pull that has been shown to increase motivation and identification. Each participant completed one block of trials with enhanced self-relevance and one block without enhanced self-relevance, with block order counterbalanced. In both experiments, the manipulation of self-relevance was effective in a majority of participants as indicated by self-report on the Player-Identification-Scale, and the effect was strongest in participants that completed the self-relevance block first. In those participants, the degree of subjectively experienced that self-relevance was associated with improvement in stopping performance over the course of the experiment. These results indicate that increasing the degree to which people identify with a cognitive task may induce them to exert greater, reactive inhibitory control. Consequently, self-relevant avatars may be used when an increase in commitment is desirable such as in therapeutic or training settings

Are They Really Just Cosmetic? the Impact of Cosmetic Items on Fortnite\u27s Gameplay and Game Design

Cosmetic microtransactions, the act of paying for virtual items that customize certain parts of video games and virtual worlds such as skins that change the appearance of the avatar, are looked upon more favorably in the gaming community than performance-enhancing microtransactions, where one pays for virtual items that enhance the abilities of avatars or speed up the progression of the game. Video game industry spokespeople have adapted this rhetoric and emphasized that the microtransactions in their games are for cosmetic items only with no bearing on gameplay. However, the way players use cosmetic items in games and the way cosmetic items inspire certain game mechanics suggest that their function in games isn’t purely ornamental. Using Fortnite as a case study, I argue that cosmetic items can influence gameplay and that the lucrative aspects of cosmetic microtransactions influence game design. Players use cosmetic items not only to be fashionable, but as tools to fashion their own metagames - games within, around, and outside of games. Game companies know that players care about cosmetic items and avatar customization, and they design their games to make cosmetic items as desirable as possible. Cosmetic microtransactions help us understand that visual design is one of the biggest influences on gameplay and the business of games

Videopelien kosmeettisista virtuaalihyödykkeistä koettu arvo

Videopeleistä on tullut vakiintunut osa viihdeteollisuutta ja kulutuskulttuuria sekä yleinen osa ihmisten päivittäistä elämää. Tänä päivänä virtuaalihyödykkeiden kuluttaminen on merkittävä videopelaamisen osa-alue. Virtuaalihyödykkeistä on tullut yksi suurimmista online-kulutuksen kohteista pelaajille ja niiden myymisestä tärkein ansaintamalli pelikehittäjille. Virtuaalihyödykkeiden myynnin räjähtänyt kasvu on osoittanut, että pelaajilla on tarve kerätä, luoda, esitellä ja erottautua sekä menestyä pelimaailmojen sisällä. Yksi merkittävimmistä virtuaalihyödykkeiden kategorioista on kosmeettinen virtuaalihyödyke, joka on esteettinen attribuutti, kuten pelihahmoon tai pelihahmon esineen ulkonäköön kohdistuva muutos, pelihahmon titteli tai uusi animaatio. Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on analysoida kosmeettisten virtuaalihyödykkeiden ostamisesta ja käyttämisestä koettua arvoa. Markkinoinnin aiempaan tutkimukseen pohjautuen koettua arvoa tarkasteltiin hyödyistä ja uhrauksista muodostuvana. Koettujen hyötyjen ja uhrausten tunnistamiseen käytettiin taloudellisen, toiminnallisen, emotionaalisen ja symbolisen arvon ulottuvuuksien viitekehystä. Tutkimuksessa kosmeettisten virtuaalihyödykkeiden kuluttamiseen tunnistettiin liitettävän useita erilaisia hyötyjä, joiden avulla kosmeettisten virtuaalihyödykkeiden merkityksiä ja käyttötarkoituksia voidaan ymmärtää aiempaa tarkemmin. Tutkimus toteutettiin välineellisenä tapaustutkimuksena. Tapaustutkimuksen kohteeksi valittiin Counter-Strike: Global Offensive -videopeli, jossa myytävien ja käytettävien kosmeettisten virtuaalihyödykkeiden määrä lasketaan tuhansissa. Tutkimus toteutettiin laadullisena tutkimuksena, jossa aineisto muodostamiseen käytettiin puolistrukturoituja haastatteluita ja sisällönanalyysiä. Haastateltaviksi valittiin pelaajia, jotka ovat ostaneet ja käyttäneet virtuaalihyödykkeitä tapaustutkimuksen kohteena olevassa pelissä. Kosmeettisista virtuaalihyödykkeistä merkittävimmiksi koetut hyödyt liittyivät arvon emotionaalisiin ja symbolisiin ulottuvuuksiin, kun taas taloudellisen ja toiminnallisen arvon ulottuvuuksiin liittyvät hyödyt koettiin vähemmän tärkeiksi. Merkittävimmiksi hyödyiksi nousivat ostotapahtuman luoma jännitys, käyttämisestä koetun viihtymisen kasvu, oman statuksen korostaminen sekä sosiaalisten suhteiden vahvistaminen

Transgressive Positivity in Four Online Multiplayer Games

Online games have a reputation for toxicity. Forms of play that have been theorized as transgressive from the perspective of idealized play have become highly normalized within the toxic space of online gaming. In this context, positivity in online gaming takes on a transgressive quality that challenges the common behaviours, the norms of communication, and their underlying ideologies found within online gaming communities. Through an ethnography of four massively multiplayer online game spaces - DOTA 2, Lost Ark, Destiny 2, and World of Warcraft - this project examines the effects of positivity in play on others who share these game worlds to consider ways that positivity might be leveraged to impact gaming’s toxic culture. Positivity is approached through different scales, from smaller individual actions like friendly greetings and helpful gestures not often seen in these particular games, to larger community formations that promote positivity and inclusivity within these gaming communities. This study finds that positivity across these scales produces substantial and proportional resistance to positive deviations from the toxic norms within these games and their linked community sites. Players actively trying to resist toxicity through positivity add varying levels of labor to their leisure and are frequent targets for harassment, leading to burnout or self-exclusion from these online games. Transgressive positivity in online play can produce alternatives to self-exclusion from gaming by producing ephemeral connections and networks of support between players. Enclaves built on positivity can form, but they are always under threat when they intersect with the mainstream culture across each of these four games. Ultimately, there are severe systemic issues within these communities - reinforced by trends within the games industry and in online game design - that undercut player-led positivity initiatives. While positivity can be a useful strategy for some to connect with others and to persist in spite of these toxic environments, positivity’s transgressive quality in online play produces substantial vulnerability for those who actively pursue it as a strategy of resistance or cultural intervention