Gaming motivations,avatar-self identification and symptoms of online game addiction

This study conducted a survey of 217 adult game players in Hong Kong to explore the effects of gaming motivations and avatar-self identification on symptoms of online game addiction. Results show that avatar-self identification is positively associated with the problems and salience dimension as well as the uncontrollable game-play dimension of game addiction. The motivation to relax is positively related to perceived avatar-self identification and uncontrollable play; the motivation to socialize in online games is positively linked with the avatar-self identification and both symptoms of online game addiction. The motivation to escape is positively related to the symptom of problems and salience. The drive to achieve virtual accomplishment in online games is negatively associated with the problem caused by gameplay and the salience of online games.     

Crafting Courses as Game Spaces: Examining Video Games Classes in Communication

The sudden rise in the number of games courses in Communication departments necessitates examination about how those courses operate, not only to define best practices but also to describe the phenomenon as grounded in communication. Through a series of interviews with games professors primarily located in Communication departments at various institutions, the study delineates the commonalities between game courses and discusses issues of course design, materials, and classroom facilities. The article examines these courses as game spaces to identify how games courses operate in fundamentally different ways than other courses in Communication. The article then outlines how games classes might improve by capitalizing on the strengths—as well as mitigating the weaknesses—of game spaces.     

博物馆APP中游戏元素与教育学、传播学的结合

博物馆APP是新媒体时代博物馆教育的新载体,具有广阔应用前景,但其设计规律尚有待探讨。本文通过对故宫博物院《皇帝的一天》APP中沉浸元素、扮演元素、任务元素、动作元素、益智元素等游戏元素的分析,总结出博物馆APP设计中情境导入、角色扮演、任务驱动、激发动机、问题导向等方法的应用,提出游戏元素与教育学、传播学方法相结合的设计思路,为博物馆开发科普APP提供借鉴。     

The gamework

This article outlines the gamework, a neologism designed to help scholars attend to the various kinds of work involved in computer game development, play and analysis. This work is integral to computer game artifactuality yet tends to be obscured by the aesthetic, narratological, mechanical, and economic aspects of games and gaming. We offer the gamework as a means for theorizing computer games as a form of culture that motivates work as much as (if not more than) play. Specifically, we point to how computer games participate in (1) labor culture; (2) an emergent culture determined by a work/labor/play dialectic; (3) artistic culture; and (4) cultural criticism.     

美国图书馆数字游戏服务案例研究及启示

通过对美国图书馆数字游戏服务现状和具体案例进行调研, 并就所调研图书馆数字游戏进行亲身体验,得出当前美国图书馆数字游戏服务的整体现状与特点:提供数字游戏服务的图书馆以高校图书馆为主, 以信息素养教育为目的游戏所占比例较大, 游戏难度相对较低, 成功率通关率较高.并且, 将图书馆数字游戏服务划分为5种类型:在线问答类型游戏、情景模拟类型游戏、角色扮演类型游戏、虚拟现实类型游戏以及社交类型游戏, 并就每种类型游戏的特点进行阐述.最后, 给出图书馆开展数字游戏服务所应注意的方面与建议, 包括保证游戏界面简单易操作, 对游戏中嵌入重要概念的环节关卡进行过关控制, 保证游戏的趣味性, 加强游戏过程中的操作反馈以及注重前期测试反馈和后期评估.     

数字时代网络游戏出版管理的现实问题与困境突破

为实现网络游戏产业的高质量发展,助力数字经济建设,文章通过对我国网络游戏出版管理现状的分析,指出我国的网络游戏出版管理尚存在管理体系不清晰、法律规制滞后、审批程序繁琐、属地化进展缓慢等现实问题。提出完善网络游戏出版管理的对策建议：设立网络游戏出版管理双层审核制度;完善法律规定,建立分级制度;探索出海发行,传播中华文化;拓宽发展形式,探索影游结合。     

Structure and competition in the U.S. home video game industry

Abstract

The video game industry has continued to grow dramatically over the past decade, cutting into mainstream media in participation and revenues as it becomes part of mainstream media culture. Following the industrial organization model, this paper conceptualizes and systematically analyzes five vertical stages and the key market segments of consoles, handheld and PC‐based games. Genre‐based measures of content show that the different game platforms have varying levels of product diversity, driven by differing levels of risk and rewards. Comparisons in production and distribution are made with other major media. The main conclusion is that the industry is reaching a mature phase with concentration and integration beginning to be found in its stages. A mainstreaming of content is partially countered by a vibrant community of developers, mostly for PC games. As a standard‐based industry, non‐interoperability and network effects continue to play a key role in preserving competition in a field with a shrinking number of firms.     

Player one,playing with others virtually: what’s next in game and player studies

This essay describes current research in player studies, focusing on how play is a social activity, and how sociality is mediated and performed in a variety of settings. It starts by explaining the concept of tandem play and then moves to an exploration of gameplay that is performed for differently sized audiences via the Twitch.tv platform. Our research finds that even single-player gameplay can very often be a social activity. Additionally, how we perform gameplay is contingent on multiple factors, including where we and others are physically located, whether play is professional or amateur, and how particular play platforms shape our expectations for play and spectatorship actions.     

A Socio-Cognitive Model of Video Game Usage

This study proposed and tested a theoretical model of video game consumption that integrated Bandura's (1991) social cognitive theory of self-regulation and Csikszentmihalyi's (1975) theory of flow experience. By investigating the linkage between flow experience and self-regulation in decision-making processes in media usage, this study sought to explicate socio-cognitive mechanisms of video game consumption behavior. Significant impacts of flow experience on self-reactive outcome expectations, deficient self-regulation, and habit strength in video game play were found among 388 college undergraduate students. However, no direct impact of flow experience on playing video games was evident.     

Ready,Aim, Fire! Violent Video Game Play and Gun Controller Use: Effects on Behavioral Aggression and Social Norms Concerning Violence

In addition to individual risk factors, recent findings surrounding the effects of violent video game play have provided compelling evidence that the contextual features of games also contribute to increased outcome aggression. The current study focuses on the relationship between violent video game play and the use of gun controllers on both social norms related to aggression and real-life behavioral aggression. As predicted, both violent video game play and gun controller use were positively related to behavioral aggression. The implications of these findings are discussed along with their influence on future research in this area.     

Game as Book: Selecting Video Games for Academic Libraries based on Discipline Specific Knowledge

In response to the increased use and study of video games in academic work, academic libraries have started building or have expanded their video game collections. Collection development practices, however, have focused on collecting video games based on their format and not on their subject and disciplinary content. The authors of this article suggest that video games, while “read” differently than monographs, can communicate knowledge in unambiguous and discipline specific ways. Using the discipline of history as an example, the authors examined four World War II commercial video games to see how well these games communicated discipline-specific knowledge. Although none of the four video games evaluated would be identified as scholarly, two of the video games could be considered as sources of historical knowledge. As scholars begin to explore the creation and use of video games as secondary or tertiary sources in addition to primary sources or objects of study, academic libraries should include video games in their collections based on the video games' disciplinary content and the scholarly arguments that they present. The authors recommend a process for evaluating video games that could be used for most academic disciplines.     

Effects of Immersive,Sexually Objectifying,and Violent Video Games on Hostile Sexism in Males

Research suggests that media images depicting aggression against sexually objectified women may promote hostile sexism in men. We empirically tested if such effects might occur when men commit simulated acts of aggression against sexualized female opponents in video games, and if such effects might be heightened by psychological immersion (i.e,. the sensation of “presence” while gaming). In two studies, male participants played a first-person-shooter game, with the sex and sexualization of opponents experimentally manipulated. Results indicated that game play increased hostile sexism, to the extent that players reported feeling present in the virtual environment and provided that opponents were depicted as sexualized females, not males or nonsexualized females. No effects on benevolent sexism were observed. These results suggest that the increasingly immersive nature of modern video games might amplify their influence on players, including effects that promote hostility and aggression towards women.     

数字人文视角下历史档案解谜书游戏开发路径研究——以《谜宫·金榜题名》为例

数字人文为档案学界和业界提供了新的理论范式和应用方法。游戏作为新媒体时代的传播媒介和数字人文的重要应用之一,在文化资源开发、宣传等方面有着全新的应用。清宫档案在故宫博物院解谜书游戏《谜宫·金榜题名》中发挥了重要作用,该游戏对于档案的运用得失兼有,档案部门开发解谜书不能完全仿照故宫。基于数字人文视角下档案研究的“三原语”模式,历史档案解谜书游戏开发的路径可以分为档案数据库构建、数据处理和故事讲述三步,同时档案部门在开发解谜书游戏时应加快认知转型与行为调整,谨慎选择历史档案资源,基于档案全宗关联设计系列故事。     

信息素质教育游戏的教育性与游戏性融合模型

[目的/意义]构建信息素质教育游戏的教育性与游戏性融合模型,用于指导设计有效的信息素质教育游戏。[方法/过程]在文献研究的基础上,结合多个成功案例,分析融合的关键要素和途径,构建信息素质教育游戏教育性与游戏性融合模型。依据此模型设计以10个常用中外文全文期刊数据库为学习内容的信息素质教育游戏"智慧小镇",通过游戏试玩和问卷调查收集数据测试模型。[结果/结论]游戏开发过程顺利,设计的游戏产生了良好的游戏学习效果,给玩家充分的游戏体验,融合效果也得到玩家充分肯定。构成模型的5个关键要素是:选择合适的游戏类型;学习目标与游戏目标结合;学习单元与游戏故事情节结合;学习活动与游戏活动结合;学习支架与游戏支架结合。     

试论少儿读者阅读指导中注意规律的运用

本文从心理学注意规律原理出发,系统阐述了无意注意与有意注意的基本理论及在儿童图书馆的运用,强调儿童图书馆工作者应在阅读指导实践中,经过自身的努力,变无意注意为有意注意,以激发儿童的读书热情,提高儿童的读书效益,真正发挥儿童图书馆寓教于乐、以书育人的作用,对于社会变革时期进一步做好儿童图书馆阅读指导工作具有一定参考价值。     

The Effects of Frustration,Violence, and Trait Hostility After Playing a Video Game

An experiment was conducted with 150 male college undergraduates playing different video games to investigate the impact of violent content, frustration with gameplay, and the interaction of those factors with aggressive personality (trait hostility). Results indicate that both violent content and frustration individually leads to greater scores on a state hostility scale, and the interaction of violent content and frustration leads to the highest scores on that scale. Results are discussed in terms of the Frustration-Aggression hypothesis and the General Aggression Model.     

The Virtual Worlds Exploratorium: Using Large-Scale Data and Computational Techniques for Communication Research

The Virtual Worlds Exploratorium is a multidisciplinary project dedicated to the study of communication-related behaviors using data from massively multiplayer online games (MMOs). In a partnership with a corporation that hosts an MMO, a 20-person team of scholars is engaged in the study of behavior within a game and also game activities that parallel those in “real life” (e.g., economic activity, social networking, group processes). A key aspect of our approach is a unique multidisciplinary collaboration of social and computational scientists to help advance the state of the research. This article discusses the methodological, measurement and organizational challenges of the project, the game, the data, and several representative research streams. It also articulates several measurement issues that the research team has faced in order to provide best practices and lessons learned for others considering similar investigations.     

How Violent Video Games Communicate Violence: A Literature Review and Content Analysis of Moral Disengagement Factors

Mechanisms of moral disengagement in violent video game play have recently received considerable attention among communication scholars. To date, however, no study has analyzed the prevalence of moral disengagement factors in violent video games. To fill this research gap, the present approach includes both a systematic literature review and a content analysis of moral disengagement cues embedded in the narratives and actual game play of 17 top-ranked first-person shooters (PC). Findings suggest that moral disengagement factors are frequently embedded in first-person shooters, but their prevalence varies considerably. Most violent video games include justifications of the portrayed violence, a distorted portrayal of consequences, and dehumanization of opponents. Implications of the findings for research on violent games are discussed.     

Media discourse and perception of game regulatory issues

This study examines how the issue of game regulation has been discussed and influenced public perception by exploring ideologically differing media outlets’ distinct uses of frames by analyzing news contents (N = 1,217) and public opinion survey of the national sample of Korean gamers (N = 1,362), who play games currently. The analyses include the influence of media on attitudes toward game regulation, perception of games, and frame adoption, based on the results of news content analysis. The study found that (a) mainstream media was ambivalent about game issues and tended to define gaming and gamers in sensationalistic ways; (b) while the dynamics of media effects on public attitudes toward game regulation are complex, exposure to game-related news content significantly impacted public attitudes; mass media that highlight the negative aspects of games have strong impacts on public perception toward games, which may ultimately affect attitudes toward game regulation.     

信息素质教育游戏中的学习支架研究

在分析总结支架理论、应用及典型教育游戏案例的基础上, 结合信息素质自身特点, 认为信息素质教育游戏中的学习支架具有传递知识、指导、反馈、交流4个基本功能, 可以划分为情境支架、目标与任务支架、资源支架、交流支架、评价支架5种类型, 具体表现为NPC(非玩家角色)、学习资源、游戏动画、游戏漫画、游戏音乐、交流工具、游戏道具、测试任务8种基本形式.以此为基础, 选择信息素质教育中的知识分类问题, 设计一款图书分类小游戏.经过测试发现, 信息素质教育游戏能够激发学生的兴趣和主动学习热情, 并有效实现知识传授;学习支架在帮助学生主动学习、扩充知识、提高技能方面具有重要的辅助和促进作用.这表明, 在信息素质教育游戏中设置合适的支架, 可以有效提高游戏学习的效果.