Playing for better or for worse? Health and Social outcomes with electronic gaming

Of the many of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) products, electronic games are considered as having great potential for improving health and social outcomes. This chapter considers the factors that may be involved in facilitating health and social outcomes and also those factors that might be considered risk factors by reviewing studies that have shown both positive and detrimental effects on people’s physical and mental health. The authors also debate some research questions that remain unanswered and suggest guidelines for practitioners, researchers, and game designers.This work was supported by the Portuguese Foundation of Science and Technology (FCT) under the grant PTDC/PSI-PSO/099985/2008

Gender-based Engagement Model for Serious Games

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has an important impact on the economy globally and in many regions. However, there is a lack of female involvement in ICT fields in many countries, thus motivating female students to take up ICT studies should be made a priority. ICT also improves learning quality and increases outcomes while allowing for easier control of learning systems. Serious Games can be used effectively for learning, and to encourage females to study Computer Science. However, engagement and motivation to play certain types of digital games are affected by gender preference factors, but few studies have looked into digital game design for females. Furthermore, most serious games with Computer Science content do not interest young adult females and the effect of social and cultural content in relation to female players’ gaming experience has not been fully explained. Hence this study identified effective serious game elements - motivational elements that influence a player to engage with digital games, effective educational game elements, female preference elements and elements that influence players to engage with the game. The result is a conceptual model for female engagement with serious games. The proposed model will be implemented in a game prototype design to increase the engagement of undergraduate females studying Computer Science

DIGITAL GAME-BASED LEARNING MODEL AS AN EDUCATIONAL APPROACH

Today, the rapid development of technology has also affected the existing learning processes. In addition, this development has made it necessary for children to develop skills by the needs of the 21st century.  In this research, an alternative to the question of how we can support and update learning activities suitable for our age is presented. Digital game-based learning concepts are explained in the light of the literature and suggestions on how to use them from early childhood are presented.  Game is the most important supportive activity for development areas in early childhood. It also similarly affects learning processes. Learning with play makes the child more active and makes him excited about learning. This increases the motivation to learn. According to the research, when DGBL is used effectively, it has been seen that children support many 21st century skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving, and cooperative learning. This review demonstrated the importance of combining learning and game of digital technology used as an education model. In addition, Practical recommendations are presented for using technology in preschool children

Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) Player Profiles: Exploring Player’s Motives Predicting Internet Addiction Disorder

open3noBackground: Due to the increasing spread of massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) and their addictive potential, scholars assert that understanding the factors underpinning Internet gaming disorder (IGD) is crucial, considering the psychopathological classification. Objectives: This study aimed to explore the motives predicting IGD in MMORPG players with different personality risk profiles. Materials and Methods: An online survey was conducted among 202 MMORPG players (mean age = 27.85 years, SD = 6.49). A cluster analysis was performed to classify the samples, according to the substance use risk profile scale (SURPS), distinguishing a sensation seeking (SS) group from a group prone to negative emotions (PNE), including anxiety, hopelessness, and impulsivity. Also, the gaming motives, which were determined using the Motives for Online Gaming Questionnaire (MOGQ), were considered as independent variables in analyses. The regression analyses indicated different combinations of gaming motives, predisposing the two groups to IGD. Results: The escapism motive and male gender were the main risk factors for SS players, whereas the sociability motive predicted addiction tendencies in the PNE group. Also, the competition motive was a strong predictor of IGD in both groups; this motive was found to be associated with the male gender and the specific game genre. Moreover, the PNE players were significantly more addicted to MMORPGs and were less satisfied with their life, compared to the SS group. Conclusions: Based on the present results, clustering gamers in terms of personality traits allowed us to understand the mechanisms underlying IGD for overcoming a reductive approach, which considers MMORPG players as a uniform group.openBiolcati R.; Pupi V.; Mancini G.Biolcati R.; Pupi V.; Mancini G

Video gaming in adolescence : factors associated with leisure time use

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis Group in Journal of Youth Studies on 14 July 2015, available online at: https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2015.1048200The geographies of the current generation of young people are markedly distinct from previous generations by virtue of their access to a virtual playground. The vast majority of young people now engage in video gaming as a leisure activity. Drawing on findings from the 2009/2010 WHO Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study this paper set out to investigate the factors that might be associated with higher levels of video gaming. Information was collected from 4404 school students aged 11, 13 and 15 years, using anonymised self-completed questionnaires. Higher usage was defined as game play exceeding two hours a day. Separate analyses were conducted for boys and girls. For both genders higher levels of game playing was associated with early adolescence, opposite sex friends and minimal parental mediation. Bullying and going to bed hungry were associated with higher usage for boys only, while life satisfaction and family activities were linked to girls’ game playing only. Parents were identified as effective mediators of young people’s video game usage. The study identified gendered motivations for higher levels of game play, suggesting different interventions for boys and girls may be required in order for young people to create a balanced approach to video gamingPeer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Neural network to investigate gaming addiction and its impact on health effects during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The Playing games become a serious issue and may have adverse effects on the quality of life of children. The research aims at identify in the factors and degree of influence which lead to gaming addiction and its impact on the quality of life of world children employing a comprehensive. Our method collects 2,526 children and adults’ data for five significant regions globally contain schools and universities in municipal and non-municipal areas. The research also aims to investigate the effect that gaming addiction has on the quality of life of children. Structural equation test and the (NNM) were uutilized to analyze the data. The results indicate some differences between boys and girls as to what factors lead to gaming addiction. The average Root Means Square Error (RMSE) of the neural network model is relatively low (.0103 for male training data and .0113 for male examining data, while for females it was .0103 for exercising data and .0104 for examining data), But gaming addiction was found to harm the life for both genders. Discussions comprising both academic as well as practical perspectives are also presented

An Italian Study

The literature provides some evidence that the use of violent video games increases the risk for young people to develop aggressive cognitions and even behaviors. We aimed to verify whether exposure to violent video games is linked to problems of aggression in a sample of Italian children. Four questionnaires were administered to 346 children between 7 and 14 years of age, attending primary and secondary schools in Northern Italy. Variables measured were externalization, quality of interpersonal relationships, aggression, quality of coping strategies, and parental stress. Participants who preferred violent games showed higher scores for externalization and aggression. The use of violent video games and age were linked to higher levels of aggression, coping strategies, and the habitual video game weekly consumption of participants. Our data confirm the role of violent video games as risk factors for problems of aggressive behavior and of externalization in childhood and early adolescence