Social Genomics of Healthy and Disordered Internet Gaming

Objectives: To combine social genomics with cultural approaches to expand understandings of the somatic health dynamics of online gaming, including in the controversial nosological construct of internet gaming disorder (IGD). Methods: In blood samples from 56 U.S. gamers, we examined expression of the conserved transcriptional response to adversity (CTRA), a leukocyte gene expression profile activated by chronic stress. We compared positively engaged and problem gamers, as identified by an ethnographically developed measure, the Positive and Negative Gaming Experiences Scale (PNGE-42), and also by a clinically derived IGD scale (IGDS-SF9). Results: CTRA profiles showed a clear relationship with PNGE-42, with a substantial linkage to offline social support, but were not meaningfully associated with disordered play as measured by IGDS-SF9. Conclusions: Our study advances understanding of the psychobiology of play, demonstrating via novel transcriptomic methods the association of negatively experienced internet play with biological measures of chronic threat, uncertainty, and distress. Our findings are consistent with the view that problematic patterns of online gaming are a proxy for broader patterns of biopsychosocial stress and distress such as loneliness, rather than a psychiatric disorder sui generis, which might exist apart from gamers ’ other life problems. By confirming the biological correlates of certain patterns of internet gaming, culturally-sensitive genomics approaches such as this can inform both evolutionary theorizing regarding the nature of play, as well as current psychiatric debates about the appropriateness of modeling distressful gaming on substance addiction and problem gambling

How User Personality and Social Value Orientation Influence Avatar Mediated Friendship

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the influence of user personality and vlaues on the number of connections users make, the number of requests for connections that users give out, and the number of connections invitations users receive. Design/methodology/approach – This is a field study of 179 participants interacting in a novel virtual world. The world’s server logs are used to capture sociometrics about the users and their interaction. Findings – Findings suggest that personality and values influence the number of friends users make and the number of friendship requests users give out, but not the number of friendship invitations users receive. Only one personality trait – conscientiousness – exhibits homophily. Originality/value – Personality and social value orientation have rarely been studied together in information systems (IS) research, despite research showing the two have an impact on IS relevant constructs. The use of server logs for data capture is novel. Avatar friendship is an under-researched concept in IS

(Don’t) stand by me: How trait psychopathy and NPC emotion influence player perceptions, verbal responses, and movement behaviours in a gaming task

Social interactions are an essential part of many digital games, and provide benefts to players; however, problematic social interactions also lead to harm. To inform our understanding of the origins of harmful social behaviours in gaming contexts, we examine how trait psychopathy infuences player perceptions and behaviours within a gaming task. After measuring participants’ (n=385) traitlevel boldness, meanness, and disinhibition, we expose them to neutral and angry social interactions with a non-player character (NPC) in a gaming task and assess their perceptions, verbal responses, and movement behaviours. Our fndings demonstrate that the traits signifcantly infuence interpretation of NPC emotion, verbal responses to the NPC, and movement behaviours around the NPC. These insights can inform the design of social games and communities and can help designers and researchers better understand how social functioning translates into gaming contexts

Social Playfulness—Memorable Family Co-play Experiences with Pokémon GO

Pokémon GO, a very popular location-based augmented reality game, has appealed to a wide range of age groups and encouraged entire families to play. This chapter examines family social interactions in the context of digital gaming through an exploratory qualitative survey study (n = 263) of Pokémon GO players’ memorable experiences. We studied siblings and partners in addition to children and parents to chart the many forms of family interaction around Pokémon GO. Our results suggest that playing digital games in a family context can facilitate diverse positive experiences and interactions and support family bonding, but this is contingent on a variety of gameplay features. In the case of Pokémon GO, a key element was the playful mindset elicited by the game, in turn encouraged by its location-based gameplay. Pokémon GO can augment everyday interactions by adding a playful layer to them, since it is easily embedded in and combined with other activities.acceptedVersionPeer reviewe

Recognizing Affiliation: Using Behavioural Traces to Predict the Quality of Social Interactions in Online Games

Online social interactions in multiplayer games can be supportive and positive or toxic and harmful; however, few methods can easily assess interpersonal interaction quality in games. We use behavioural traces to predict affiliation between dyadic strangers, facilitated through their social interactions in an online gaming setting. We collected audio, video, in-game, and self-report data from 23 dyads, extracted 75 features, trained Random Forest and Support Vector Machine models, and evaluated their performance predicting binary (high/low) as well as continuous affiliation toward a partner. The models can predict both binary and continuous affiliation with up to 79.1% accuracy (F1) and 20.1% explained variance (R2) on unseen data, with features based on verbal communication demonstrating the highest potential. Our findings can inform the design of multiplayer games and game communities, and guide the development of systems for matchmaking and mitigating toxic behaviour in online games.Comment: CHI '2

Dynamics of Social Play

Digital games have become a social medium. Players are often socially motivated to play games and actively seek out games that offer social interactions. Early studies on games such as World of Warcraft demonstrate that players can form meaningful bonds within the game. Catering to this trend, most game titles now include multiplayer experiences in their gameplay. Despite the growing popularity of social elements within play, we still have little empirically-founded guidance on how to effectively design for social experiences. If we want to design for social play, we have to understand what makes games social. What are the properties of play that are responsible for facilitating social ties between players? We address this question by synthesizing the exiting literature on design recommendations for social play into identify overarching properties of play that we think are the most prolific in literature: cooperation and interdependence. We perform two experimental studies demonstrating how games facilitate trust between players and how cooperation and interdependence are crucial properties of social play. Furthermore, we validate our framework in a field study, investigating the experiences within games that predict in-game social capital. We demonstrate that interdependence and toxicity are strongly linked to the social capital our participants experience in their gaming communities. We also illustrate how in-game social capital is negatively associated with feelings of loneliness and positively associated with need satisfaction of relatedness outside of the context of play. Overall, our findings emphasize how strongly the experiences within the game affect the social ties that emerge from play, suggesting that informed design choices are crucial for the success of social games. This dissertation also contributes to the ongoing debate about the effects that in-game relationships have on the player’s mental health—we show a strong positive link between in-game social capital and markers for psychological well-being. It is easy to disregard in-game relationships, as they are fundamentally distinct from the in-person ones we think of as natural. Yet we cannot ignore the emergence of digital games as a social medium. The more we understand the underlying elements of social play, the better we can design games that bring people closer together

Performative identity and the embodied avatar : an online ethnography of Final Fantasy XIV

This thesis explores the performative enactment of identity and embodiment through an online ethnography of the online game Final Fantasy XIV. It is argued that online identity must be viewed as performative, that is, enacted through speech and action, and embodied via the avatar, which acts as a body project for the player. The avatar identity is also constrained by the notion of authentic identity, which denotes how a single body is expected to hold a single identity. The thesis makes contributions to three areas. Firstly, in substantive terms, the thesis contributes original sociological knowledge of online social interaction, drawn from an online game and its related spaces, which remain under-researched sociologically. Secondly, the thesis makes a theoretical contribution through a theoretical framing of how online, embodied identity is achieved in an online game in a performative fashion, which is centred on the body of the avatar, coupled with the speech and actions of the player. Finally, the thesis also offers a methodological contribution through its original use of photo elicitation in online interviews, and furthers the debates around (online) ethnography. An 11 month programme of fieldwork was undertaken, comprising 36 asynchronous, image elicitation interviews, extensive participant observation of the game over the 11 months, and observation of the official forum lasting nearly six months. The thesis concludes that online identity and embodiment in these spaces are heavily constrained by norms drawn from everyday life, such as heteronormativity, and racism. The game design is also influenced by the developers‟ norms and values, such as the avatar appearance. The possibilities for performative identity and embodiment are severely constrained by the community, who reify the game space as separate from “real” life and reject the inclusion of non-normative avatars

Relational popularity and social status in secondary school

This research is based on a study of the relationships and interactional processes which construct and maintain ‘popularity’ in secondary school. The study adopts an ethnographic approach, including group discussions, observations, and visual methods, in a secondary school in central England. The core argument is that ‘popularity’ is socially constructed within relationships, and this thesis develops a notion of ‘relational popularity’. In doing so, this study addresses three questions. Firstly, given the postmodern abandonment of the fixed self and critiques of the individualist focus of research, how can ‘popularity’ be understood from the framework of ‘relational beings’, and what impact does this have on the idea of ‘popularity’? Secondly, what micro-level ‘popularity’ work do students engage in to both construct and position themselves and others as ‘popular’? Finally, how does this conception of ‘popularity’ alter understandings of what the day-to-day experiences of ‘popularity’ in secondary school may be like? These questions are addressed through the analysis of rich interactional data produced through group discussions with year 9 students (aged 13-14). After discussing an analysis of popular and unpopular social groups, meanings and usages of ‘popularity’, the dominance of ‘the popular girls’, and in-group control and dominance processes, the notion of ‘relational popularity’ is seen to open avenues for more nuanced understandings of ‘popularity’. As such, the thesis argues for the need for more micro analyses of interaction in relation to ‘popularity’ in schools, to support key research which writes about the role of societal discourses in ‘popularity’. The thesis concludes that ‘popularity’ is not the achievement of popular individuals, but a collective achievement through ‘relational being’. Since ‘popularity’ is not something that anyone can achieve alone, this thesis argues that ‘popularity’ is not something that you are, or something that you do, ‘popularity’ is something that relationships do. The thesis demonstrates that within the schooling context multiple understandings of ‘popularity’ exist, and claims to ‘popularity’ are continually challenged and contested, which can alter understandings of ‘popular’ students and allow a consideration of areas of difficulty and vulnerability for students considered ‘popular’ (and ‘unpopular’). The conclusion draws together the theoretical, methodological and practical significance of this more nuanced understanding of popularity for further research and practice

Towards being gaming literate : Youth digital gaming and adverse consequences as a parenting issue

Digital gaming has become an important pastime and phenomenon especially among adolescents and young adults, and the growth of the phenomenon has brought with it new challenges for parenting. The study looks at the requirements that Finnish youth’s (aged 13–30) gaming motives, experiences of adverse effects, and gaming-related parenting place on game education. The concept of pelisivistys (being gaming literate) is presented and serves as a lens through which key issues in game education are examined. The three substudies of the study explored young people’s experiences of their gaming: why they spent time gaming, what adverse consequences they had encountered and how they viewed gaming-related parenting. The results revealed a broad range of different game players, gaming experiences, and ways of gaming. While games provided important experiences of autonomy, relatedness, and competence, they also helped kill time and alleviate boredom. Respondents who spent the most time gaming reported more adverse consequences than other respondents, but the connection between time spent gaming and adverse consequences was not linear. Time spent gaming was not a reliable predictor of adverse consequences, as gaming motives and experiences of excessive gaming were related to experiencing gaming-related harm. Young game players were aware of risks related to gaming and sought to prevent them. Based on the results, gaming does not appear to pose a significant threat to the well-being of Finnish youth on a population level, but on an individual level the effects can be considerable, especially if gaming ties in with existing problems. Experiences of gaming-related parenting varied. Parents’ attitudes towards gaming ranged from very negative to highly positive, which was reflected in parenting practices. The need for parents to both understand gaming and prevent harm was prominent in respondents’ views on gaming-related parenting. The results of the study are examined in the light of previous research and public discourse. Based on the results, suggestions are presented for game education that acknowledges the diversity of both young game players and gaming and promotes youth agency.Digitaalinen pelaaminen on noussut merkittäväksi harrastukseksi ja ilmiöksi etenkin nuorten ja nuorten aikuisten parissa, ja tuonut mukanaan uudenlaisia kasvatuksellisia haasteita. Tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan, millaisia vaatimuksia suomalaisten nuorten (13–30-vuotiaat) pelaamismotiivit, kokemukset pelihaitoista ja pelaamiseen liittyvästä kasvatuksesta asettavat kotien pelikasvatukselle. Tutkimuksessa esitellään pelisivistyksen käsite ja tarkastellaan sen näkökulmasta pelikasvatuksen keskeisiä kysymyksiä. Tutkimuksen kolmessa osatutkimuksessa tarkasteltiin pelaavien nuorten kokemuksia pelaamisestaan: miksi nuoret pelasivat, mitä haittoja nuoret olivat pelaamisen yhteydessä kokeneet ja miten nuoret olivat kokeneet pelaamisen käsittelyn kotikasvatuksessa. Tulokset paljastivat laajan kirjon erilaisia pelaajia, pelikokemuksia ja pelaamisen tapoja. Peleistä saatiin tärkeitä omaehtoisuuden, yhteenkuuluvuuden ja osaamisen kokemuksia, mutta ne olivat myös ajantappamista tylsinä hetkinä. Runsaasti pelaavilla nuorilla esiintyi muita nuoria enemmän pelihaittoja. Pelaamisen määrä ei kuitenkaan ollut luotettava haitallisuuden mittari, vaan pelaamisen motiivit ja vastaajien omat kokemukset liikaa pelaamisesta olivat yhteydessä haittojen esiintymiseen. Nuoret olivat tietoisia pelaamiseen liittyvistä riskeistä ja pyrkivät ehkäisemään niitä. Tulosten perusteella pelaaminen ei vaikuta olevan suomalaisille nuorille merkittävä riski ikäluokkatasolla, mutta yksilötasolla vaikutukset voivat olla hyvinkin suuria, etenkin mikäli pelaaminen kytkeytyy muihin ongelmiin. Nuorten kertomuksissa vanhempien asenteet pelaamista kohtaan vaihtelivat hyvin kielteisistä voimakkaan myönteisiin, mikä näkyi myös kasvatusvalinnoissa. Nuorten pelikasvatusnäkemyksissä korostuivat sekä pelaamisen ymmärtämisen ja myönteisen käsittelyn että haittojen ehkäisyn näkökulmat. Tuloksia peilataan nuorten pelaamisen aiempaan tutkimukseen ja julkiseen keskusteluun. Tulosten perusteella annetaan suosituksia pelisivistykselliseen pelikasvatukseen, jossa huomioidaan sekä nuorten pelaajien että pelaamisen monimuotoisuus ja korostetaan nuorten toimijuutta