The virtual census: gender and ethnic representation in internet casual videogames (Wohn, 2011)

Flo (Diner Dash, a casual videogame)

People who only play casual videogames do not necessarily and sufficiently have the gaming capital to call themselves gamers, I call them casual gamers. But, the label is to strictly differentiate from the proper gamer. I play casual videogames, mostly on Kongregate and the specials on Steam. However, I have some gaming capital that makes me a gamer: I can hold a discussion about videogames’ processes, mechanics, narrative, literary and artistic merit. I read videogame blogs, I know names of some videogame designers, I have some expectations of upcoming videogames, I have opinions about videogame companies and I can talk at length about videogame characters, like why Tali of Mass Effect is my favourite character or the fine points of strategy in many sort of videogames.

Donghee Yvette Wohn (Michigan State University) has published a content analysis of casual videogame characters in Sex Roles. I would point to the preceding paragraphs for the uninitiated why Wohn would conduct such analysis.

Abstract

This paper examines gender and race representation in casual games through content analysis. Study 1 looks at gender and race representation in a random sample (N = 200) of casual games retrieved from the websites of the largest five casual game distributors. Study 2 looks at the most popular games on websites of the same five multinational distributors (N = 54) and analyzes how primary characters are portrayed in terms of appearance and personality. Females are overly represented as primary characters but chi-square analyses indicate no significant differences between sexes in terms of how they are portrayed: of note, neither males nor females are depicted in a sexual manner. These results conflict with previous studies of gender representation in game characters: this paper suggests that sampling methodology and the relatively new trend of casual games excluded this subset of games from prior research. Implications are discussed using a social cognitive framework.

I must say that her paper was the catalyst for my current content analysis project.

Gotta catch ‘em all: videogame studies of 2011

According to my citeulike search, I have picked up 205 videogames articles published online in 2011, an astonishing increase from last year’s 133 articles. There are many explanations for this growth: better search algorithms, increasing academic attention to videogames, indiscriminate tagging where some may not be actually about videogames, expanding inclusion of certain publications, some are slated for 2012 in physical form, or possibly some are not even peer-reviewed articles (e.g. theses dissertations, conference papers, etc.). In any case, there are more papers that I could possibly read in my hectic schedule and it is a shame a small fraction of these studies are ever known to the public and gamers in particular.

On my side of videogame science, I have some projects that jumped and tripped over many hurdles and I ran across recent studies that just might explain why running participants with two versions of the same game might not generate any significant results. I have a content analysis project that once in a while doubted its importance or its methodology and yet the fuel is still going, thanks to a penguin living in Michigan. A cultural comparative content analysis of Western and Japanese characters from the top 100 selling videogames of 2010, using youtube videos as my “unitizing data”, wikis as my “recording data” and coding schemes adapted from papers I read of which I have little confidence beyond demographics. I once considered using tvtropes.org as part of my project looking at stereotypic behaviours of videogames characters, somewhat “more reliable” to have crowd-sourced data than the four-or-less team of coders. I even downloaded videogame covers (US, Europe and Japan version covers) because Melinda Burgess and colleagues did that and why can’t I or they? There are obvious and subtle differences between the cover versions and those subtle ones are quite interesting to talk about, but they can just be exceptional cases as far I can tell. Perhaps the common perception that Americans are attracted to masculinity and the Japanese to cuteness might be a reflection of cultural preferences or a normative one perpetuated by the gatekeepers called marketers, producers, executives and localizers.

It's pretty much what I've been doing for the whole year.

I can only recall one highlight for this year, as I am currently traveling away from Montreal, where Walter Boot (Florida State University) contacted me back in September to blog on an article reviewing the methodological problems in cognitive videogame research. The post appeared as if I dramatically improved my writing skills, alas he and his colleagues edited it. My posting attracted modest attention, but it was not until the university press release did it generate the expected sort of nonsensical and sensationalist journalism.

I am well on my way to accumulate data that its mass will collapse itself into a brilliant or, worse, a dark master’s thesis and hopefully by that time be offered a place in a PhD program.

That is all.

Longitudinal study on Canadian adolescents’ videogame play and aggression (Willoughby et al., 2011)

Just last week, I came back home to Montreal and went into a long hibernation.

On the subject of Canada, the Adolescent Development lab (Teena Willoughby, Brock University) have an in-press paper in Developmental Psychology on data from their longitudinal-sequential survey of Canadian adolescents. As far as I remember, this is the first Canadian longitudinal videogames study.

Abstract

In the past 2 decades, correlational and experimental studies have found a positive association between violent video game play and aggression. There is less evidence, however, to support a long-term relation between these behaviors. This study examined sustained violent video game play and adolescent aggressive behavior across the high school years and directly assessed the socialization (violent video game play predicts aggression over time) versus selection hypotheses (aggression predicts violent video game play over time). Adolescents (N = 1,492, 50.8% female) were surveyed annually from Grade 9 to Grade 12 about their video game play and aggressive behaviors. Nonviolent video game play, frequency of overall video game play, and a comprehensive set of potential 3rd variables were included as covariates in each analysis. Sustained violent video game play was significantly related to steeper increases in adolescents’ trajectory of aggressive behavior over time. Moreover, greater violent video game play predicted higher levels of aggression over time, after controlling for previous levels of aggression, supporting the socialization hypothesis. In contrast, no support was found for the selection hypothesis. Nonviolent video game play also did not predict higher levels of aggressive behavior over time. Our findings, and the fact that many adolescents play video games for several hours every day, underscore the need for a greater understanding of the long-term relation between violent video games and aggression, as well as the specific game characteristics (e.g., violent content, competition, pace of action) that may be responsible for this association.

I was asked what my career goals are. Simple, we need Canadian representatives in the videogames effects research forum and someone to point out the academic importance of cultural differences in videogames (i.e. Canada, Quebec, Japan, U.S.A, Europe), starting with a content analysis.

The effects of violent video games. Do they affect our behavior? (Bushman, 2011)

Brad Bushman (Ohio State University) wrote up an article at the International Human Press about violent videogames effects citing well-known research studies and the 1972 Surgeon General’s warning of the adverse effects of violent television. Well, the writing is straightforward and addressed many common questions and retorts that many often see (e.g. I play violent video games, I don’t feel violent, etc.).

Christopher J. Ferguson’s words for Christmas (Ferguson, 2011)

This is what happens after the quarter ends

So I have an inbox overflowing with potential articles waiting to be skimmed over and tagged away in my library. I came across a recent piece in the Times by Christopher J. Ferguson (Texas A&M International University) about his most recent research for the Holiday season. Whilst he cited studies that showed no effects between violent video game play and aggression and expressed his criticisms (the usual for us media researchers). Just a reminder to take a look at the other studies on that subject as well (see my library).

 

Protecting Children From Dangerous “Free” Speech – Video games and the teenage brain (Pollard-Sacks, 2011)

Brad Bushman (Ohio State University, this blogger’s advisor) sent me a Pacifica radio podcast (KPFT-FM, Houston, TX) about the effects of violent videogame effects and the recent Supreme court case (Brown vs EMA). It’s 30 minutes long. The host is Prof. Deana Pollard-Sacks, the other radio guest is Erwin Chemerinsky (University of California – Irwin).

(I’m not dead…yet, I’ll get a regular post as soon as the quarter ends)

The Videogame industry in Canada

An infographic by Techvibes Media (found in reddit).

Now, if only I could count the number of video game social scientists, apart from people I remember: Paul Adachi (Brock University), Bart Simon (Concordia University; sociologist), Robert Biddle and colleagues at Carleton University, Amanda Bolton (somewhere in the Atlantic provinces) and some people from the West Coast that I met at a CPA conference. But there are so few who are doing media effects research in Canada, let alone in Quebec. I sense a lot of insight and dynamism that we can gain from Quebec in terms of mass media and cross-cultural research. More importantly, add a Canadian perspective to this line of research. I heard from the Americans, Australians, English, and the rarely heard Canadian voice aside from Paul Adachi.  There’s a whole of stuff I’m learning in the Communication field that I would love to pass around in Canada.

Three studies on attention bias and its relation to online videogame addiction

Several months ago, I posted a study on videogame addiction and its relation to cognitive bias towards videogame words. Following Decker & Gay’s publication, two similar studies were published during the past summer of which they made references to Decker & Gay (2011). Not wanting to leave out those two studies, I decided to review all three in one post.

Abstract (Metcalf & Pammer, 2011; Computers in Human Behavior)

There is considerable dispute regarding the nature of excessive or problematic Internet-related behaviour and whether it constitutes a clinical addiction. Classification of excessive gaming is hindered by a lack of experimental research investigating behavioural responses from gamers and comparing these patterns to those found in established addictions. We investigated whether an attentional bias for gaming-related words existed for addicted Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Gamers (MMORPGers) identified using the Addiction–Engagement Questionnaire. Forty frequent MMORPGers (15 female) and 19 non-MMORPGers (eight female) completed a computerised modified Stroop task comprised of game-related, negative and neutral word lists, Addiction–Engagement Questionnaire, Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale 21, gaming-related variables. The results indicated that addicted MMORPGers had significantly longer reaction times to negative and MMORPG words compared to neutral words, whereas highly engaged and non-MMORPG participants showed no such bias. The presence of an attentional bias in addicted MMORPGers is comparable with research investigating this behavioural response in established addictions.

Abstract (van Holst et al., 2011; Journal of Adolescent Health)

The aim of this study was to examine whether behavioral tendencies commonly related to addictive behaviors are also related to problematic computer and video game playing in adolescents. The study of attentional bias and response inhibition, characteristic for addictive disorders, is relevant to the ongoing discussion on whether problematic gaming should be classified as an addictive disorder. We tested the relation between self-reported levels of problem gaming and two behavioral domains: attentional bias and response inhibition. Ninety-two male adolescents performed two attentional bias tasks (addiction-Stroop, dot-probe) and a behavioral inhibition task (go/no-go). Self-reported problem gaming was measured by the game addiction scale, based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-fourth edition criteria for pathological gambling and time spent on computer and/or video games. Male adolescents with higher levels of self-reported problem gaming displayed signs of error-related attentional bias to game cues. Higher levels of problem gaming were also related to more errors on response inhibition, but only when game cues were presented. These findings are in line with the findings of attentional bias reported in clinically recognized addictive disorders, such as substance dependence and pathological gambling, and contribute to the discussion on the proposed concept of “Addiction and Related Disorders” (which may include non–substance-related addictive behaviors) in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-fourth edition.

It’s Halloween already?! I just barely got warmed up to my classes and we’re now half-way through the quarter!

Playing to win or to hurt and aggressive behaviours (Adachi & Willoughby, 2011)

Back in late August 2011, news about Paul Adachi and Teen Willoughby’ (Brock University) study went through the media circuits which elated many gamers about the effects of competitiveness and violence in videogames. I was busy with other priorities and since the actual article was publicly available, it lessened my need to expedite a review of the article and push it back into an appropriate blogging time. The article can be downloaded from the APA website

Abstract

Objective: This study is the first to our knowledge to isolate the effect of video game violence and competitiveness on aggressive behavior. Method: In Pilot Study 1, a violent and nonviolent video game were matched on competitiveness, difficulty, and pace of action, and the effect of each game on aggressive behavior was then compared using an unambiguous measure of aggressive behavior (i.e., the Hot Sauce Paradigm) in Experiment 1. In Pilot Study 2, competitiveness was isolated by matching games on difficulty and pace of action, and systematically controlling for violence. The effect of video game competition on aggressive behavior was then examined in Experiment 2. Results: We found that video game violence was not sufficient to elevate aggressive behavior compared with a nonviolent video game, and that more competitive games produced greater levels of aggressive behavior, irrespective of the amount of violence in the games. Conclusion: It appears that competition, not violence, may be the video game characteristic that has the greatest influence on aggressive behavior. Future research is needed to explore the mechanisms through which video game competitiveness influences aggressive behavior, as well as whether this relation holds in the long-term.

This quarter could be the death of me since I have to write for my thesis proposal, apply for PhD programs (I heard you penguin), send out my SSHRC application, write up manuscripts, and while doing all the homework expected of a grad student.

Angel Beats! and attitudes and behaviours towards organ donation

Anime and manga are my second interests and I was meditating on its academic merits in communication science and media studies during my first year of graduate shool. Anime is becoming popular in the West with anime conventions popping up across the States and Canada (there’s one in Montreal) and that had me thinking its cultural impact in the relationship between the West, Japan, East Asia and the world. Furthermore, Japanese videogame companies (e.g. Nintendo, Sony, Square-Enix) have a strong mark in history and continues to have a strong transnational influence in gamer culture.

I stumbled upon a Journal of Communication article by Susan E. Morgan (Purdue University) and colleagues who examined episodes of TV dramas’ depictions of organ donations impacts on viewers. Later at a departmental colloquium, a senior grad student was discussing his findings of a similar nature. I couldn’t help making connections between this line of research and the anime Angel Beats!

Abstract

Drawing on theories of social learning, social representations and the organ donation model, online surveys were used to examine the impact of organ donation storylines of 4 U.S. television dramas (CSI: NY, Numb3rs, House, and Grey’s Anatomy) on viewers’ attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors. Results revealed that viewers acquired knowledge from the content of each drama, despite the fact that some content was inaccurate. Viewers who were not organ donors prior to exposure to the dramas were more likely to decide to donate organs if the drama explicitly encouraged donation, portrayed characters revealing how they had become donors and discussed the merits of donating. Viewers were also more likely to become an organ donor if they were emotionally involved in the narrative. Implications for using dramas to educate and motivate the public were discussed.

I know it is not videogame-related, but since nobody made any sort of connections I mentioned earlier I just had to do it.