Understanding School Counselors' Perceptions of Esports and Igaming as a Career Choice

Over the past 20 years, there has been a steady increase in the popularity of online gaming in the United States culture. There are many factors that have contributed to this spike in popularity, but the most significant are advancements in technology, televised competitions, social media, lucrative cash prizes, product endorsements, and scholarships (Morgan & Cole, 2023). From electronic sports (esports) to internet gaming (igaming), many of today's children, adolescents, and young adults perceive the virtual world of game play as both psychologically and financially rewarding. This has resulted in many young people pursuing professional gaming as a viable career choice. Undoubtedly, as more young people pursue esports and igaming as potential careers, high school counselors will find themselves interacting more with these students and providing them guidance into the world of professional esports and igaming. These studies examined the high school counselors’ perceptions of esports and igaming as potential career choices for their students. The first study examined how high school counselors experience the phenomenon of esports as a career choice. The second study examined how high school counselors experience igaming as a career choice. Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was chosen as the qualitative design for both studies. IPA is a hermeneutic circle of research where the researcher is involved in making sense of the experience while the participant reflects on the experience (Smith & Osborn, 2003). Participants were recruited from message board posts on high school counseling social media pages (e.g. Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter), personal emails, and through the following professional counseling and gaming organizations’ websites: American School Counselor Association (ASCA), the National Career Development Association (NCDA), and National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE). Six participants met the criteria of the study and were interviewed utilizing online video conferencing software (i.e. Zoom). Semi-structured interviews were conducted lasting between 45 and 80 minutes. Upon conclusion, the interviews were transcribed verbatim and the transcripts analyzed identifying major themes, along with similarities and differences in the experiences of the six participants. Following step-by-step analysis presented by Smith, Flowers, and Larkin (2009), a master table was created of the discovered themes. Additionally, strategies were used to increase trustworthiness, including peer debriefing, research positionality reflection, and member checking (Morrow, 2005). The first manuscript examined how the participants (N=6) experienced esports as a career choice. The following five themes emerged from the data: (a) sense of limited job-specific knowledge, (b) marginalization of students due to stigma, (c) being guided by one’s professional identity and values of career counseling, (d) sense of determination to validate esports as a career choice, and (e) addressing feelings associated with navigating the professional relationship with students. The second manuscript examined how the high school counselors (N=6) experienced igaming as a career choice. The following five themes emerged from the data: (a) underlying absence of knowledge about igaming as a career, (b) anticipatory navigation of student marginalization based on school counselors’ biases, (c) countering personal bias with professional values and identity as they ponder working with students, (d) struggling to see igaming as a viable career and emerging realization of igaming career awareness, and (e) anticipating a professional relationship with students pursuing igaming as a career choice. The findings of both studies identified the need for more education, information and understanding of opportunities associated with esports and igaming as a career choice. The findings have multiple implications for research that are directed at the overall growth of knowledge in the experience of high school counselors working with students pursuing careers in these two phenomen

“There’s no good excuse for the kind of shit I’ve made up” : a Narratological-empiric investigation into actual readers’ perceptions of unreliability in digital app-novella Pry (2014/2016)

Tässä empiiristä tutkimusotetta ja kirjallisuustieteellistä teoriaa yhdistävässä tutkielmassa tarkastellaan epäluotettavan kerronnan toteutumista Samantha Gormanin ja Danny Cannizzaron digitaalisessa iOS-kirjasovelluksessa Pry. Tutkielmassa argumentoidaan, että puhtaasti teoreettinen kirjallisuustiede tarvitsee välttämättä tuekseen empiiristä lukijatutkimusta, mikäli tavoitteena on tuottaa tietoa kerronnallisten rakenteiden todellisista toteutuvista toiminnan muodoista. Tutkielman kolme päätavoitetta ovat (1) kerronnallisen epäluotettavuuden tarkastelu teoksessa, (2) empiirisen lukijatutkimuksen merkittävyyden osoittaminen sekä (3) tutkielmassa käytettyjen menetelmien kriittinen arviointi ja kehittäminen. Tutkielman teoreettisena viitekehyksenä käytetään kertomusten rakenteiden systemaattiseen tarkasteluun perustuvaa narratologiaa. Tutkielmassa hyödynnetään erityisesti Wayne C. Boothin ja James Phelanin kerronnan epäluotettavuutta kuvaavia teorioita, joita kehitetään edelleen empiiriseen tarkasteluun sopiviksi. Lisäksi tutkielmassa tarkastellaan 64 kirjoittajan tuottamia analyyseja multimodaalisesta Prysta sekä laadullisin että määrällisin menetelmin. Suuri osa aineistosta koostuu yhdysvaltalaisten, kanadalaisten ja uusiseelantilaisten yliopisto-opiskelijoiden kurssisuorituksina julkaistuista blogiteksteistä, mutta aineistoon kuuluu myös ammattimaisten kirjoittajien sekä harrastajien tuottamia analyyseja. Lukijatulkintojen rinnalle tarjotaan tutkielman kirjoittajan oma luenta, jossa Pry tulkitaan kriittisenä, moniäänisyyden mahdollistavana tarkasteluna erinäisten kollektiivien suhteista erityisesti Persianlahden sodassa ja Irakin sodassa, joihin teos kerronnassaan viittaa. Kirjoittajan oman luennan ja muiden lukijatulkintojen väliin muodostuvan jännitteen kautta tutkielma pyrkii osoittamaan, että yksittäisen lukijan valitsema tulkintakehys voi muokata voimakkaasti luennan pohjalta kehitettävää analyysia ja siten kirjallisuustieteellistä teoretisointia. Tutkielmassa havaitaan, että Pryn kerronnalliset elementit voivat tuottaa toisistaan poikkeavia luentoja, minkä vuoksi kerronnan epäluotettavuus näyttäytyy eri lukijoille eri muodossa. Tulkinnat eivät kuitenkaan ole sattumanvaraisia, vaan ne vaikuttavat asettuvan tiettyjen raamien sisään. Tutkielman lopputulema on, että näihin tulkinnallisiin rajapisteisiin tulisi kiinnittää huomiota jatkotutkimuksessa sekä kerronnallisten rakenteiden tarkastelussa ylipäätään

The BG News September 25, 1991

The BGSU campus student newspaper September 25, 1991. Volume 74 - Issue 21https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/bg-news/6256/thumbnail.jp

Reviewing the Critics: Examining Popular Video Game Reviews Through a Comparative Content Analysis

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the current critical climate in popular online video game reviews (i.e., video game criticism written for a general audience). So far, most of the research published in this area focuses on how the reviews reflect the games themselves, rather than strictly examining the content of the reviews in this growing body of literature. This study uses computer-aided text analysis (CATA) supplemented with human coding to identify typological differences between film and video game reviews, as well as differences in theory usage and critical thought and style. Video game reviews are more concerned with the price of the work being reviewed, supporting the notion for a utility theory of video games. Game reviewers also tend to find redeeming qualities even in very flawed games, suggesting they are either overly passionate and/or concerned about keeping advertisers happy. Although not at the exceedingly high levels as previous studies, the author finds support for using usability heuristics (e.g., responsiveness of controls, use of in-game tutorials) to review games. Neither body of popular criticism examined delves deeply into theoretical frameworks for auteur or feminist theories, but discussion is provided as to how the reviewers could address these issues should they choose to do s

Reviewing the Critics: Examining Popular Video Game Reviews Through a Comparative Content Analysis

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the current critical climate in popular online video game reviews (i.e., video game criticism written for a general audience). So far, most of the research published in this area focuses on how the reviews reflect the games themselves, rather than strictly examining the content of the reviews in this growing body of literature. This study uses computer-aided text analysis (CATA) supplemented with human coding to identify typological differences between film and video game reviews, as well as differences in theory usage and critical thought and style. Video game reviews are more concerned with the price of the work being reviewed, supporting the notion for a utility theory of video games. Game reviewers also tend to find redeeming qualities even in very flawed games, suggesting they are either overly passionate and/or concerned about keeping advertisers happy. Although not at the exceedingly high levels as previous studies, the author finds support for using usability heuristics (e.g., responsiveness of controls, use of in-game tutorials) to review games. Neither body of popular criticism examined delves deeply into theoretical frameworks for auteur or feminist theories, but discussion is provided as to how the reviewers could address these issues should they choose to do s