Aims
Playing digital games has been associated with forms of addictive behavior. Past research on the subject has often been criticized on theoretical and empirical grounds, due mainly to measurement ...or sampling issues. The present study aims to overcome these two limitations, and presents data from a representative study in Germany using an already established instrument for measuring problematic game use.
Design
Large‐scale, representative study using a computer‐assisted telephone survey.
Setting
Germany.
Participants
A total of 580 adolescents between 14 and 18 years of age, 1866 younger adults between 19–39 years and 1936 older adults aged 40 years and older (overall n = 4382).
Measurements
Problematic game use was measured with the Gaming Addiction Short Scale (GAS), which covers seven criteria including salience, withdrawal and conflicts. Additionally, differential aspects of personality, as well as gaming behaviour, were measured.
Findings
Only seven respondents 0.2%, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.1, 0.3 met all criteria of the GAS Scale. In contrast, 3.7% (95% CI: 3.1, 4.3) of the respondents can be considered problematic users, meeting at least half these conditions. The percentage of problematic gamers among adolescents is above average (7.6%, 95% CI: 5.6, 10.1). High GAS scores are associated with aggression, low sociability and self‐efficacy and lower satisfaction with life. Additionally, these scores correspond with intensive use and preferences for certain gaming genres across all age groups.
Conclusions
Following Gaming Addiction Short Scale criteria, gaming addiction is currently not a widespread phenomenon among adolescents and adults in Germany. Gaming Addiction Short Scale scores are associated with intensive use, as well as certain problematic aspects of individuals' personalities and social lives.
While the complicated scheme of the philosophical sublime may at first hand seem mere platitude when brought to life in computer games, this article claims that the action/adventure game World of ...Warcraft wedges open a space in which to operate the sublime and navigate radically “other” subjectivities. The hypothesis is that the assembly of fantastic elements in World of Warcraft duplicates the Kantian sublime while at the same time commenting upon and even radicalizing it. The Romantic tradition of the sublime as it unfolds in Immanuel Kant's third Critique is outlined followed by an attempt to topologize elements of the fantastic in Blizzard's game design philosophy leading to a clarification of what we call “the knotted point of play” where game object, game interaction, and game subject intervene. Finally, we explore how the notion of the technological sublime relates to World of Warcraft and beyond.
The signs of dyslexia can appear as early as preschool. Teachers need effective and efficient programmes to overcome the difficulties these children face, making use of the available resources. The ...purpose of this study was to design an educational software that would enable effective intervention to improve the early difficulties of children at risk of dyslexia, and that a preschool teacher could apply in the classroom in an inclusive manner. Hence, the software named Berni was designed as an early intervention measure to overcome difficulties in phonological awareness, verbal memory, alphabetic awareness, receptive language and print awareness. The sample included 43 preschoolers aged 4 and 5 years old from 7 schools in the Basque Country (Spain), who showed warning signs of dyslexia. To evaluate the software, half of the participants used the Berni software in their regular classroom and a pre-test/intervention/post-test design was used with a control group. The results showed that multimedia training with the Berni programme helped to overcome difficulties in the variables that better predict dyslexia: phonological awareness, rapid automatised naming and verbal memory. Furthermore, teachers and children consider the Berni software to be perceptible, operable and adequately developed. Teachers consider it to be appropriate to the curriculum, effective and conducive to learning. However, autonomous use, feedback and adaptation possibilities could be improved.
An objective behavioral test for motivational traits has been developed taking as a reference the structure of the Motivational Trait Questionnaire, which is a validated self-report questionnaire to ...measure motivational traits in the population. The objective test consists of a computer game, which makes it possible to evaluate a person’s motivational traits and to display them on the same scale as the Motivational Trait Questionnaire. To evaluate the validity of the results obtained in the measurement of motivational traits using the objective behavioral test, a study was carried out with 31 participants whose motivational traits were evaluated using the two methods, and the results obtained were compared to find out whether the two forms of assessment can be considered equivalent. Statistical tests support the high degree of similarity of the results, concluding that the objective behavioral test can be a useful instrument to assess motivational traits as an alternative to the self-report questionnaire. Despite the increasing popularity of game-based assessment of personality traits, this is the first time a game has been designed for the assessment of motivational traits. Being able to obtain a model of the user’s motivational traits without having to rely on a questionnaire opens the possibility to build software applications that adapt to the user’s motivational profile, providing them with the kind of motivational support that best fits their needs.
Background and Aim: Computer games are a kind of growing and attractive new communication technology. This has prompted researchers to study the effects of these games on users. This study was ...performed aimed to determine the prevalence of computer game addiction and related factors in male adolescent boys of Gonabad in 2018. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study, 507 male students of the first-grade in Gonabad were examined by multi-stage sampling method. Data collection tools were included in two sections: Demographic information and the Lummens Computer Games addiction questionnaire. The data were analyzed by using SPSS software (Version 19) with the help of the Chi-square and Fisher's exact test. Results: The average age of the students in this study was 13.5 ±1 years. The most popular feature of computer games is a lot of excitement (42%), competitive games (29%) and the most common types of computer games were football (48.9%) and violent games (21.7%). 28.4% of students went to Game Center to play computer games. The prevalence of dependence on computer games was moderate to high (73.2%) It showed a significant relationship with the level of education of the mother (P=0.03), playing computer games by the parents (P <0.001) and the educational level of the students (P=0.04). Conclusion: The results showed that the highest level of dependence of students was at the intermediate level, which indicates the importance of the problem and the need for the authorities to intervene in this field.
Playing computer and video games is a popular pastime activity for many adolescents worldwide. However, the increasing amount of time spent on these games each day raised fears that this comes at the ...expense of school and, over the long run, impairs academic achievement. Extending prior research, the present study on a sample of N = 3,554 German adolescents (56% girls) adopted a prospective design and examined the effects of the time playing computer games each day on grades and domain-specific competences in mathematics and reading over time. Robust polynomial regressions combined with specification curve analyses showed that longer gaming times predicted worse grades 2 years later. These results could be replicated after controlling for initial grades and reasoning abilities. In contrast, mathematical and reading competences were not affected by gaming times. Thus, playing computer and video games can result in a noticeably, albeit small, loss of educational returns, but it does not affect basic competences.
Public Policy Relevance Statement
Prospective effects of computer gaming on academic achievements were studied in a sample of N = 3,554 German students in Class 9. Gaming times predicted worse grades 2 years later, whereas mathematical and reading competences as measured by objective achievement tests were not affected. Detrimental effects of computer gaming on educational outcomes seem to be small, and vehement warnings regarding potential dangers of computer gaming are exaggerated.
Introduction: In the era of intensive computerization of society, the computer becomes an integral part of the life of a modern teenager. The virtual world contributes to the formation and ...development of those forms of individuality, which are largely designed by computer games developers, which leads to a change in the organization of the teenager's life - the computer player, his communications, the transformation of traditional social ties. According to the results of research, the consequences of enthusiasm for computer games include, among other things, the emergence of cruelty in relations between peers. Of particular concern is the fact that violence is reflected in the interaction of children with classmates, as a result of which is its spread in educational institutions. The problem of studying the relationship between gaming computer enthusiasm and teenage bullying is, in our opinion, an urgent task and requires a multilevel analysis.Results: The article presents an analytical review of research on the problem of enthusiasm for computer games and school bullying in Russia and abroad. Noting the importance of these studies, it should be recognized that the problem of overcoming adolescents' enthusiasm for computer games in the form of reducing and preventing its destructive influence and preventing the formation of deviant behavior requires further analysis and study. Till now it is not enough studied, in what cases the enthusiasm for computer games leads to deviant forms of behavior, which provokes the formation of an associative orientation in adolescents. In this regard, it is relevant to assess the relationship between the enthusiasm for computer games and deviant behavior in adolescents, as well as the search for effective methods and means to prevent computer game enthusiasm, based on a personal-oriented approach to each child.Discussion and Conclusions: At present, there is no single point of view on how the enthusiasm for computer games arises and develops, how computer games influence the child's mental development and personality, whether they can contribute to his emotional development, cause deviations in his behavior, aggressiveness and cruelty. Despite numerous studies of the bullying problem, it remains an open question how computer game enthusiasm is associated with blocking the process of positive personal development of the child and teenage bullying. How the impact of violent computer games on the child's psyche is associated with aggressive forms of harassment.
The study aimed to compare reciprocal behavior during interaction with a virtual-player in a computer game between children with typical development (TD) and children with ...specific-learning-disabilities (SLD) and/or with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and to examine its correlation with social skills. A total of 120 children (43 SLD/ADHD, 77 TD) aged 9-11 years participated. Participants completed self-reported questionnaires focusing on social skills and reciprocity and played a computer game in which such social situations arose. Results indicated no difference between the groups in self-reported social skills or reciprocity. However, the children's actual reciprocal behavior during gameplay revealed different results: the SLD/ADHD group exhibited higher levels of selfish (helping others for personal gain) and lower levels of altruistic reciprocity (helping others for their benefit) compared to the TD group. Furthermore, a correlation was found between self-reported social skills and reciprocity, as well as with the reciprocal-patterns observed in the gameplay.
This study addresses the added value of faded worked examples in a computer game-based learning environment. The faded worked examples were introduced to encourage active selection and processing of ...domain content in the game. The content of the game was proportional reasoning and participants were 12- to 15-year-old students from prevocational education. The study compared two conditions in which students worked with the environment with faded worked examples (n = 49) or without worked examples (n = 44). The students who received the faded worked examples performed better on a posttest measuring their proportional reasoning skills, and this performance was related to the number of times they had interacted with the worked examples. Though already effective, there is still room for improvement which potentially can be found in the level of explanation given in the worked example before this was faded.
•Prevocational students can benefit from a game-based learning environment with faded worked-examples.•Embedded faded worked examples enhanced their knowledge acquisition.•Faded worked examples facilitated in-game and domain knowledge post-test performance.•Interaction with the faded worked examples was a significant predictor of post-test performance.
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