Gender and player characteristics in video game play of preadolescents (original) (raw)

Orientations to video games among gender and age groups

Simulation & Gaming, 2010

Questionnaires were completed by 5th-, 8th-, and 11th-grade public schools students in rural and suburban school districts and by undergraduates at two universities in the United States (n = 1,242). They were asked about their orientation to video games—the amount of time they played, their motives for doing so, and the game types they preferred—to better understand the context in which effects research might be organized. The conceptual schema for this research was the uses-and-gratifications perspective. The males in the sample played video games at twice the weekly average of the females, were consistently stronger in all measured motives than the females, and preferred physically oriented video games over the females’ preference for more traditional, thoughtful games. Younger players opted for the fantasy motive in their playing and older players more so for competition. Preference for physical games declined among the older males, and generally motives were stronger in the middle years of playing for both males and females than in the youngest and oldest age groups. Regression analyses explained considerably more variance in game playing for males than for females.

Examination of Children’ Playing Game Tendencies and Digital Game Preferences Based on Gender

Academia Eğitim Araştırmaları Dergisi, 2022

This study reports on a survey of 4-8th grade students' (N=10139) playing game tendencies and digital game preferences based on gender. Descriptive statistics were used to determine the children's playing game tendencies and digital game preferences. And also, frequent pattern mining was used to discover which digital games are played frequently and together by children. The findings showed that children have an increased time spent playing games on weekends and boys tend to playing game more than girls. On the other hand, action games stood out as the most common choice among the children both girls and boys. In terms of game language, Turkish and English games were preferred almost equally. In addition, children mostly preferred digital games that can be played online, offering in-app purchases, and played on mobile devices. According to the frequency of playing, it was found that the children mostly preferred to play Minecraft, followed by Subway Surfers and Hay Day, respectively. In terms of gender, it was concluded that girls mostly preferred Subway Surfers, while boys played Hay Day. When the games were considered according to the frequency of playing together, Temple Run and Subway Surfers games among girls, and FIFA and Piano Tiles games among boys can be played together. The research reveals more detailed information about children's game preferences in terms of gender.

Sex differences in video game play

Communication Research, 2004

In this study, we examined gender differences in video game use by focusing on interpersonal needs for inclusion, affection, and control, as well as socially constructed perceptions of gendered game play. Results of a large-scale survey (n = 534) of young adults' reasons for video game use, preferred game genres, and amount of game play are reported. Female respondents report less frequent play, less motivation to play in social situations, and less orientation to game genres featuring competition and three-dimensional rotation. Implications for game design are discussed.

Sex differences in video game play: A communication-based explanation

Communication Research, 2004

In this study,we examined gender differences in video game use by focusing on interpersonal needs for inclusion, affection, and control, as well as socially constructed perceptions of gendered game play. Results of a large-scale survey (n = 534) of young adults’ reasons for video game use, preferred game genres, and amount of game play are reported. Female respondents report less frequent play, less motivation to play in social situations, and less orientation to game genres featuring competition and three-dimensional rotation. Implications for game design are discussed.

Children’s electronic gaming content preferences and psychosocial factors : is there a connection?

2009

The gaming industry has dramatically increased the range of choices for different game genres and content. Despite this, research on psychosocial factors in children and electronic gaming has primarily focused on time spent on games rather than on content preferences. The present study goes beyond the traditional focus on electronic game frequency by investigating whether children’s personal gaming content preferences are associated with psychosocial factors (self-concept, social competence and parental monitoring). This is accomplished by surveying 825 schoolchildren between ten and twelve years of age (5th, 6th and 7th grade) in Norway. A preference for violent games was moderately associated with low social acceptance among peers. Preference for pedagogical games was associ- ated with high scholastic and athletic competence as well as perceived levels of parental monitoring. A preference for fantasy gaming was positively related to scholastic compe- tence. Finally, preference for competitive games was strongly associated with experienced athletic competence.

Children’s Electronic Gaming Content Preferences and Psychosocial Factors

Nordicom Review, 2009

The gaming industry has dramatically increased the range of choices for different game genres and content. Despite this, research on psychosocial factors in children and electronic gaming has primarily focused on time spent on games rather than on content preferences. The present study goes beyond the traditional focus on electronic game frequency by investigating whether children’s personal gaming content preferences are associated with psychosocial factors (self-concept, social competence and parental monitoring). This is accomplished by surveying 825 schoolchildren between ten and twelve years of age (5

Trends in Video Game Play through Childhood, Adolescence, and Emerging Adulthood

Psychiatry Journal, 2013

This study explored the relationship between video gaming and age during childhood, adolescence, and emerging adulthood. It also examined whether "role incompatibility, " the theory that normative levels of substance use decrease through young adulthood as newly acquired adult roles create competing demands, generalizes to video gaming. Emerging adult video gamers ( = 702) recruited from video gaming contexts in New York City completed a computer-assisted personal interview and life-history calendar. All four video gaming indicators-days/week played, school/work day play, nonschool/work day play, and problem play-had significant curvilinear relationships with age. The "shape" of video gaming's relationship with age is, therefore, similar to that of substance use, but video gaming appears to peak earlier in life than substance use, that is, in late adolescence rather than emerging adulthood. Of the four video gaming indicators, role incompatibility only significantly affected school/work day play, the dimension with the clearest potential to interfere with life obligations.

Re-Examining Gender Differences in Video Game Play: Time Spent and Feelings of Success

Journal of Educational Computing Research, 2010

Research has shown that, among children, boys tend to play video games more than girls do. There are several theories addressing this phenomenon, including that stereotypes and lack of opportunity leave girls feeling inadequate with certain types of technology. No research has yet examined the interactive relationships between time spent playing and feelings of success in video games. The current study shows that, when accounting for this endogenous relationship, girls actually feel just as competent as boys at video games, but choose not to play as frequently. For boys, the increased play time leads to increased feelings of success and achievement, which then prompts more time playing. Links to other research offer the hypothesis that there may be biological bases in the increased sense of reward from achievement among boys; suggestions and implications are discussed in relation to the ongoing gender gap in technology-related fields.

Investigating the impact of gaming habits, gender, and age on the effectiveness of an educational video game: An exploratory study

IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies, 2016

This study examines the influence of players' age, gender and gaming preferences and habits (from now on, "gaming preferences") on the effectiveness of a specific videogame that has been designed to increase the interest towards classical theater among teenagers. Using a validated instrument, participants were divided into four groups based on their gaming preferences: (1) Well-rounded gamers, who play all types of games often; (2) Hardcore players, who frequently tend to play first-person shooter (FPS) and sports games; (3) Casual players, who play moderately and tend to play music, social, and puzzle games; and (4) Non-gamers, who barely play videogames at all. Among all of the participants' personal factors (age, gender and type of player) that were measured, only gaming preferences seemed to have a significant (p<.05) positive influence on students' interest in theater-going. Neither age nor gender seemed to affect the outcomes. Casual and Wellrounded (WR) gamers scored higher in the game than Non-gamers and Hardcore players. Due to these results, we also explored whether the gaming profile affected traditional educational approaches. Traditional education worked better than videogames only for students who do not usually play videogames. This study suggests that gaming preferences may influence the effectiveness of different educational approaches. Knowing students' gaming preferences in advance may help educators find the best educational approach for each student.

Online computer gaming: a comparison of adolescent and adult gamers

Journal of adolescence, 2004

Despite the growing popularity of online game playing, there have been no surveys comparing adolescent and adult players. Therefore, an online questionnaire survey was used to examine various factors of online computer game players (n ¼ 540) who played the most popular online game Everquest. The survey examined basic demographic information, playing frequency (i.e. amount of time spent playing the game a week), playing history (i.e. how long they had been playing the game, who they played the game with, whether they had ever gender swapped their game character, the favourite and least favourite aspects of playing the game, and what they sacrifice (if anything) to play the game. Results showed that adolescent gamers were significantly more likely to be male, significantly less likely to gender swap their characters, and significantly more likely to sacrifice their education or work. In relation to favourite aspects of game play, the biggest difference between the groups was that significantly more adolescents than adults claimed their favourite aspect of playing was violence. Results also showed that in general, the younger the player, the longer they spent each week playing. r