Putting the "Fun Factor" Into Gaming: The Influence of Social Contexts on Experiences of Playing Videogames

The increasingly social nature of gaming suggests the importance of understanding its associated experiences and potential outcomes. This study examined the influence of social processes in gameplay and different gaming contexts on the experience of individual and group flow when engaged in the activity. It also examined the affective experiences associated with different types of social gaming. The research consisted of a series of focus groups with regular gamers. The results of the thematic analysis revealed the importance of social belonging, opportunities for social networking and the promotion of social integration for game enjoyment. However, social experiences could also facilitate feelings of frustration in gameplay as a result of poor social dynamics and competitiveness. The analysis furthermore suggested that group flow occurs in social gaming contexts, particularly in cooperative gameplay. A number of antecedents of this shared experience were identified (e.g., collective competence, collaboration, task-relevant skills). Taken together, the findings suggest social gaming contexts enhance the emotional experiences of gaming. The study demonstrates the importance of examining social gaming processes and experiences to further understand their potential influence on associated affective outcomes. Areas of further empirical research are discussed in reference to the study’s findings

Comparing the potential of commercial off-the-shelf and educational games video games for adult foreign language education: an experimental study

The goal of this paper is to explore the experiences evoked by playing a commercial and two digital language learning games. More particularly, it deals with the differences in the playing and learning experiences of adult foreign language learners ( N=62). While results of the experimental design suggest that the commercial game evokes better playing and learning experiences, these findings are partly neutralized by the attitude of the participants towards learning through video games and by being a gamer or not. This raises questions as to how video games should look to appeal to a public of learners that is not familiar with gaming in general and with digital game-based learning in specific

Playing in school or at home? An exploration of the effects of context on educational game experience

The goal of this paper is to gain insight into the effects of context on the educational game experience. More particularly, it deals with the differences in the playing and learning experiences of adolescent players in a domestic (N=135) compared to a classroom (N=121) context. It is hypothesized that the playing and learning experiences will differ significantly between contexts. Results of the quasi-experimental design suggest that game and learning experiences are higher in a domestic compared to an educational context. These experiences, however, are influenced by the time spent playing and by technical performance. Moreover, the effect of experiences such as enjoyment and identification on learning experiences have a more substantial impact on perceived learning than differing contexts

TOWARD AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE INFLUENCES OF MEANINGFUL FRAMING ON USER PARTICIPATION IN A GAMIFIED INFORMATION SYSTEM

Gamification with meaningful framing is a diegetic gamification approach that goes beyond points, badges, and leaderboards. Diegesis – the notion of connecting elements of the game, including tasks, narratives and stories – can help to imbue even very work-centric games with fantasy and a meaning-ful framing. This study proposes to investigate the influences of such meaningful framing, including meaningful framing of the game and the meaningful framing of the task, on users’ participation in a gamified information system. We apply the S-O-R framework to construct interrelationships among a story-based game environment, user engagement, and player behaviors and propose a research model with hypotheses. We aim to uncover the role of story-based gamification in information systems re-search and encourage more research investigations in this direction

The Impact of Communication on a Human-Agent Shared Mental Model and Team Performance (Extended Abstract)

ABSTRACT There is a growing interest in the use of heterogeneous teams comprised of humans and Intelligent Virtual Agents (IVAs). Human teamwork studies have provided cumulative knowledge about team features and performance; however, transfer of this knowledge to human-IVA teams is challenging. Novelly, this paper investigates the impact of multiple communication channels on the development and maintenance of a Shared Mental Model (SMM) between humans and IVAs. The results from two studies involving a collaborative activity show a significant positive relationship between the IVA's verbal and non-verbal communication and the development of a SMM related to taskwork and teamwork as perceived by the human teammate. Moreover, the results indicate that a SMM tends to improve overall team performance

Playing in school or at home?

The goal of this study is to gain insight into the effects of context on educational game experience. Using a quasi-experimental setup, it compares the playing and learning experiences of adolescent players of the awareness-raising game PING in a domestic (N=135) and a school (N=121) context. Results indicate that both gaming (identification, enjoyment) and learning experiences are more intense in a home compared to a school context. However, all of the variance in gaming and part of that in learning experience are caused by longer playing times and better computer equipment. Moreover, the overall impact of context on perceived learning is significantly smaller than that of other experiential factors such as identification and enjoyment. Thus context should be considered as a significant yet relatively small determinant of learning experience

Are parents responsible for the rise of perfectionism? Comment on Curran and Hill (2019)

In a cross-temporal meta-analysis, Curran and Hill (2019) demonstrated significant increases in college students' perfectionism over the last 27 years. One possible explanation for this historical trend offered by the authors is that parents became increasingly controlling during the same period. We are critical about this explanation for 2 reasons. First, in the development of their explanation, Curran and Hill do not differentiate clearly between 2 meanings of the concept of parental control, that is, control as structure and control as pressure. This distinction is important because past research found only control as pressure to be implied directly in the development of perfectionism. Second, the few studies on historical changes in parenting available do not point to an increase in controlling parenting (understood as control as pressure), on the contrary. In our view, it is premature to hold parents responsible for the rise of perfectionism. Systematic cohort-sequential studies are needed to directly address the role of parents in historical changes in perfectionism