in control or in their shoes? how character attachment differentially influences video game...
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ABSTRACT: Emerging perspectives in media psychology have begun to focus on enjoyment and appreciation as unique reactions to entertaining media fare. As two types of media effects, one might expect the constituent elements of each to be rooted in satisfaction of different sets of psychological needs –such as autonomy and competence needs explaining enjoyment experiences (pleasures associated with gameplay and challenge) while relatedness and insight needs explain appreciation experiences (pleasures associated with narrative experiences). The current study expands this logic by suggesting that elements of one’s attachment to their game character might explain unique enjoyment and appreciation experiences. Indeed, increased sense of control over character actions was significantly associated with enjoyment experiences while increased feelings of responsibility for a character’s well-being was significantly associated with meaningfulness experiences. CITATION: Bowman, N. D., Rogers, R., & Sherrick, B. I. (2013, April). “In control or in their shoes”: How character attachment differentially influences video game enjoyment and appreciation. Top paper in “Media and the Self” research category, Broadcast Education Association Research Symposium “Media and Social Life: The Self, Relationships, and Society.” [Download for Audio Narrative Overlay]TRANSCRIPT
- 1. IN CONTROL ORIN THEIR SHOES?HOW CHARACTER ATTACHMENTDIFFERENTIALLY INFLUENCES VIDEOGAME ENJOYMENT AND APPRECIATIONBowman, Rogers, Sherrick**Assist by Woolley, Chung
2. VIDEO GAMES Games are fun, but what is a videogame? Video: medium of content/message delivery Game: bounded rationality, challenge and skill system We play games, we process content 3. ENJOYMENT IN GAMES Fun! 4. APPRECIATION IN GAMES Insightful! 5. 2/df = 2.07, p = .02;CFI = .99; RMSEA = .05.36*** .24***R2 = .35.12** .25***.19***.25*** .19***.05*.12** .27*** R2 = .75 .51***.13***.11** .30***.59*** 6. CHARACTER ATTACHMENT A psychological merging of playerand character in a video game Identification Suspension of Disbelief Control Responsibility 7. CENTRAL QUESTIONS RQ1: Do dimensions of character attachmentexplain unique variance in game enjoyment? RQ2: Do dimensions of character attachmentexplain unique variance in gameappreciation? 8. METHOD Online survey (N = 512), randomly assigned totell us about: Your most enjoyable gaming experience (n = 249) Your most meaningful gaming experience (n =263) Snowball sampling, 10 participants given $50USD Amazon.com card 9. DESCRIPTIVES Enjoyment: M = 6.68, SD = .56, = ,82 Appreciation: M = 4.48, S = 1.72, = .84 CA: Identification: M = 2.79, SD = 1.28, = .85 Suspension: M = 4.02, SD = 1.36, = .75 Control: M = 5.20, SD = .82, = .73 Responsibility: M = 4.22, SD = 1.39, = .81 10. CA & ENJOYMENT/APPRECIATIONEnjoyment Appreciation Step 1: ControlsGender-.05 -.22***Age -.09-.10+R2.01 .06*** Step 2: Intrinsic NeedsCompetence.47***-.02Autonomy .13*.02Relatedness .01.36***Insight-.05.58***R2 .28*** .69*** Step 3: CAIdentification-.08-.01Suspension of Disbelief.00 .03Control .12* -.06+Responsibility-.08 .10**R2 .02+.01+ 11. DISCUSSION CA dimensions explain uniquevariance in enjoyment andappreciation + control + enjoymentPleasure of Control + responsibility +appreciationPleasure of Cognition 12. DISCUSSION Small contribution to unique variance Multicollinearity? No needs = +8% enjoyment, +26% appreciation Data despite lack of discrete referentcharacter Need for temporal causal ordering 13. TO READ Enjoyment Tamborini R, Bowman N D, Eden A, Grizzard M, Organ A. Defining media enjoyment as the satisfaction of intrinsic needs. Journal of Communication 2010; 60.4: 758-77. Appreciation Oliver MB, Raney AA. Entertainment as pleasurable and meaningful: Identifying hedonic and eudaimonic motivations for entertainment consumption. Journal of Communication 2011; 61: 984-1004. Character Attachment Lewis ML, Weber R, Bowman ND. They may be pixels, but theyre MY Pixels: Developing a metric of character attachment in role-playing video games. CyberPsychology and Behavior 2008; 11.4: 515-8. 14. FOR MORE INFORMATIONPLEASE CONTACT:Nicholas David Bowman, [email protected]://nmediatheory.blogspot.comhttp://ndbowman.info@bowmanspartan