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127 excellent video game research topics for 2023.

Are you looking for the best video game research topics for 2023? We are proud to say that you have arrived at the right place. Our experienced ENL writers and professional editors have just finished creating our brand new list of 127 awesome video game topics for high school and college students. You can use any of our ideas for free – no credits required.

Best Way To Write A Video Game Essay

Before we get to the list of topics, we want to make sure you know how to write a great essay. After all, finding a great topic is just part of the writing process of any custom term papers . Here are some pointers that should help you do a better job on your research paper:

• Structure your paper properly and always start with an outline. We recommend you use the 5 paragraph essay structure, as it’s extremely versatile.
• Make sure your grammar and vocabulary are spot-on. Edit your work and polish your writing to make sure you get a top grade.
• Be careful with quotes and citations. Remember to include all your sources in the References chapter.
• Always start your paper with a great thesis statement. Dedicate some time to crafting the best one possible.
• Keep in mind that each body paragraph should start with a clear statement and then support it. Don’t tackle more than one important idea in a paragraph.
• Make sure you research the topic thoroughly and get accurate data from reputable sources. This is, after all, a research paper.
• Last, but not least, write in a clean and concise manner. Express your ideas clearly and avoid unnecessary information that would just confuse or bore your readers.

Now that you know what to do and what to avoid when writing the video game research paper, it’s time to take a look at our list of original video game research topics:

Easy Video Game Topics

We will start our list with a selection of easy video game topics that are perfect for students who don’t want to spend too much time on their papers:

• Talk about your favorite video game
• What do you like about modern video games?
• The process behind the creation of a new game
• Why do you want to become a video game developer?
• What is a MMORPG video game?
• Differences between FPS and RPG games
• Analyze the gaming industry in a country of your choice
• An in-depth look at cyber sports and video game championships
• Can playing video games be considered a sport?
• What makes League of Legends so popular?
• Research gun violence in modern video games
• Are the games you play bad for you?
• Talk about the impact of video games on small children
• Do video games have any positive effects on you?

Video Games Topic For Every Student

Below, you will find a selection of topics for every student from high school to college. Check out our video games topic for every student list:

• The psychology behind modern video games
• Analyze the launch of a popular game
• How are video games priced?
• The history of online gaming
• Games as learning tools
• Controlling video game addiction
• Shooters or strategy games?
• Why you shouldn’t play video games
• Physical benefits of games

Interesting Video Game Topics To Write About

We know; you want a topic that is both interesting and easy to write about. Take a look at these interesting video game topics to write about:

• Do violent video games make teens violent?
• What is the effect of video games on children?
• What changed my view on video games?
• Skills that can be improved by playing games
• Do adults play video games?
• Research the increase in demand for video games
• Compare video games in the US and the UK
• Ethical responsibility in the gaming industry
• How addictive are role playing video games?

Fun Gaming Topics

Yes, writing a research paper can be fun – if you choose a great topic. Pick any of our fun gaming topics and start writing your paper right away:

• The entire history of video games
• Positive effects of video games
• Android games vs iOS games
• The Candy Crush popularity
• Gaming industry careers
• Genres of video games
• The technology behind the Xbox 4
• What causes addiction when it comes to video games?
• How do games improve learning skills?

Latest News On Video Games

If you want to write about something new, we recommend you take a look at the latest news in video games:

• Talk about the use of augmented reality in video games in 2023
• What are incremental console upgrades?
• An in-depth look at inclusivity in video games
• Which games are trending in 2023?
• Most anticipated video games of 2023
• Latest advances in 3D and SFX effects
• Talk about the remastered cinematics of Diablo 2 Resurrected
• Halo Infinite: everything we know so far
• The clan system in Call of Duty: Vanguard

Informative Gaming Topics To Talk About

Do you want to write an informative paper? No problem, we have a long list of informative gaming topics to talk about right here:

• Why do people love video games so much?
• Can video game addiction be treated like substance addiction?
• Case study: The Elder Scrolls of Oblivion
• Discuss government regulation of video games in the US
• Compare and contrast the Xbox and the PlayStation
• A closer look at the Japanese gaming industry
• What does it take to become a video game creator?
• The rise of Android video games
• Do we really need computer games nowadays?

Video Game Research Paper Topics For High School

Our list of video game research paper topics for high school is unique, so you can safely pick any one of our ideas and write your essay on it:

• What do modern video games promote?
• How much time should you spend playing video games?
• Are video games good or bad for our youth?
• Talk about how gaming will look 20 years from now
• Does playing video games make you think more strategic?
• How important are video games for our society?
• The importance of video games in treating depression
• Are games a good way to treat anxiety?
• Why do people spend so much money on video games?

Best Video Game Research Questions

A question is usually enough to spark your creativity. This is why we have an entire list of the best video game research questions right here:

• Are video games good for teens?
• How does video game violence affect children?
• How will games look 50 years from now?
• How do games improve our collaborative skills?
• Why do we love looking at other play video games?
• How damaging is piracy for the video game industry?
• Which are more popular, RPGs or FPSs?

Video Games Debate Topics

Are you preparing for a debate and need a great topic? Don’t worry about it; we’ve got your back. Check out these great video games debate topics:

• Discuss sexism in modern video games
• Talk about social problems related to video games
• Virtual reality in future games
• The important of augmented reality
• Can a game be educational?
• What makes games so fun and addictive?
• Gaming in the classroom in 2023
• Interesting online gaming experiences
• Important of games in special education settings

Good Video Game Writing Prompts

Are you looking for some good video game writing prompts that can help you write an intriguing research paper? Here are some of our best ideas:

• Compare and contrast the top 3 games in the United Kingdom in 2023
• What are some problems with modern video games?
• An in-depth look at advanced SFX effects
• 3D game rendering technologies
• Discuss online piracy related to video games
• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: Modern video games
• How realistic are modern games in 2023?
• Tackle the violence theme in video games
• Sony vs. Microsoft: gaming giants battle
• The link between gaming and violence in teenagers
• Discuss the addictiveness of video games

Video Games Research Paper Topics For College

Of course, we have a list of video games research paper topics for college students. These are a bit more difficult than the others in our list:

• Linking video game addiction to substance abuse
• The use of first person shooter games in military training programs
• Flight simulation games and their real world applications
• Games that improve critical thinking skills
• The minimum age for playing video games
• Games that improve reaction times
• Pros and cons of playing assassin video games
• Debunking the most popular myths about video games
• Should parents prevent their children from playing video games?
• The link between video games and cognitive skill improvements

Engaging Video Games Topics

Want to engage your audience right from the start? If you are looking to impress your professor, you might want to give these engaging video games topics a try:

• The role of a developer in the video game industry
• How is testing being carried out on video games?
• Talk about the latest and most advanced video game effects
• An analysis of the video game industry in 2023
• Compare the 3 most popular games in the United States in 2023
• Are online video games more addictive than single-player ones?
• Discuss about the psychological effects of video games
• Compare and contrast 3 first person shooter games
• Improving reaction time in FPS games
• The effect of video games on education

Video Games Of The Future

Last, but not least, we have a nice compilation of ideas related to video games of the future. Take a look at our innovative ideas and pick the one you like:

• A closer look at Battlefield 2042
• Talk about how rendering graphics works in games
• Advances in graphics planned for games to be released in 2023
• Innovative graphics in Halo Infinite
• Discuss 3D game rendering technologies of the future
• What makes Pragmata a game of the future?
• The use of artificial intelligence in games in 2023
• Research the use of virtual reality in future games
• Discuss real-time rendering in future 3D games
• An in-depth look at Hytale (to be released in 2023)

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110 Video Game Topic Ideas for Essays & Examples

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Looking for video game topics for your project? Look no further! Here, we’ve collected excellent essay topics for true gaming enthusiasts. Whether you’re looking for argumentative essay ideas on video games, research topics, or questions for debate, you will find them here.

• History of Video Game Consoles
• Myths of Video Game Violence
• The Global Phenomenon of Esports
• VR Gaming and Its Future Possibilities
• How Video Games Influence Cognitive Skills
• Therapeutic Mental Health Benefits of Video Games
• Diversity and Gender Representation in Video Games
• How Multiplayer Games Impact Social Interaction
• Healthy Gaming Habits Against Video Game Addiction
• Aesthetic and Narrative Qualities of Artistic Video Games
• Product Life Cycle & Marketing of Video Game Industry One of the most important advantages of the concept of life cycle can be seen in the sphere of marketing, where if used as a tool it allows adjusting the strategies, including marketing, based on […]
• Video Game Effects: Good or Bad? Given the fact that there is indeed a logically sound rationale to such a suggestion, throughout the course of conducting my study, I remained thoroughly observant of the article’s classification-related suggestions, in regards to the […]
• Video Game Delivery Project: Strategic Marketing To initiate strategies in marketing of Video Game, the company will decide to develop a web based application by ABC CORP and this application is customized to meet the requirements of the project. The purpose […]
• The Monopoly Tycoon Video Game Review The game is stylistically similar to the board game Monopoly, and it can be played both online and offline. It is important to note that the game has a multiplayer feature, which can be played […]
• The Video Game Industry Evolution The first mention of the creation of such games dates back to the 1940s, but it was in 1952 that Alexander Shafto “Sandy” Douglas officially presented his dissertation at the University of Cambridge. One of […]
• The NASCAR Video Game Project Management Plan The plan attempts to draw the features and gameplay mechanics by replicating the thought process of a potential player. At this stage, the game should be well-advertised and ready for release.
• The Motivation of the Video Game Player For instance, the project gave its players the dynamic and fast pace of the game, a vast and detailed map, various locations, several different weapons, and character skins, and this is not all the possibilities.
• The “Medal of Honor” Video Game Analysis The game is set to depict the Afghanistan invention in 2002 and the battle between the U.S.military and the Taliban. Due to the close resemblance of the game to the Afghanistan war, the game has […]
• Human Life: Video Game, Simulation, or Reality? Drawing parallels between the real and the virtual world, one can admit the unreality of the existence of the planet and people and compare everything that happens with the simulation in which we are.
• Does Video Game Violence Lead to Aggression in Children? Among the gaming community, children participate vigorously in absorbing the plethora of entertaining content, including age-restricted ones where the scenes of violence are abundant.
• A Role-Playing Video Game Ayiti: The Cost of Life This strategy worked but not to the topmost level simply because the burden of the living cost was gradually weighing down the overall income of my family.
• BioWare Video Game Project Management For example, Dragon Age: Inquisition, the third installment of the company’s flagship series, switched to the Frostbite engine used by most of the EA games and succeeded in delivering the product despite the technical difficulties […]
• Video Game History: Overview From the 1990s to Nowadays In addition to arcade car behavior, the game was also famous for its beautiful graphics at the time, with each game in the series being a launch title showing the capabilities of the console.
• FIFA 10 Football Simulation Video Game A lack of consistency is evident in the various versions of this game as FIFA 10 played on a PC lacks the realism that is exhibited when the game is played on XBOX 360 and […]
• A Video Game Store’s Business Plan The projected cash flow of the cash in the balance sheet will appear positive for the next five years and will show that the company’s profitability in will be good enough pay for operating expenses […]
• The U.S. Video Game Industry This was also based on the views of the company’s developers who assumed that the technological advantages of the the16-bit system were extremely less than that of the 8-bit system.
• Video Game Company Against Online Piracy The purpose of the said DRM software is to protect the intellectual rights of the company. The fourth major issue is the encompassing goal of the VGC to end all types of piracy.
• Video Game Addiction and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs As to me, I was interested in video games when I was a child because this industry was at its beginning and almost every pupil was involved in it.
• Sony and Nintendo in the Video Game Industry The firm has manufactured several generations of the home console since the 1980s, beginning with the Nintendo Entertainment System, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System released in the early 1990s, and the Nintendo 64 that was […]
• Twitch.tv and Video Game Streaming Career From this point, in spite of the fact that the Twitch.tv platform can be viewed as belonging to the live-streaming industry, the careers of streamers develop according to the traditional principles of the entertainment business.
• Nintendo in the Video Game Industry Previously, Atari was a major power to reckon with in the industry but was later toppled by Nintendo. Part of Yamauchi’s vision was to introduce new and cheaper video games in the market than the […]
• Video Game Industry Analysis In 1950, Yamauchi assumed the position of the president in the firm and got on a variety of strategies with the purpose of rationalizing and modernizing the way the firm was controlled.
• Game designers have the responsibility to design less video game Secondly, the outcome of the video game is unpredictable as compared to movie in which the audience can predict the point at which the story would end thus making the video games more interesting to […]
• Striving for the Ultimate Knowledge: Eli’s Mission. Video Game Owing to the peculiarities of the movie plot, the game can be shaped in a most intriguing way, with a lot of turns of the plot which lead to the most effective denouement.
• Analysis of the Counter-Strike Video Game Phenomenon in Computer Gaming
• Comparison of Three Companies in Video Game Industry; Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft
• Analysis of Free Will in The Stanley Parable Video Game
• Analysis of the Effects of Playing a Video Game Used in Computer Science
• Analysis of the Characteristics and Player Statistics of Bungie’s Video Game Destiny
• Are Video Games Truly a Game or a Reality?
• Analysis of the Topic of the Releases in the Video-Game Industry and the Issues of the Violence
• Analysis of the Rise of the Video Game Empire in Modern Society
• Two Aspects of Creating a Video Game
• Analysis of the Third-Person, Console-Based Video Game, The Last of Us
• Are Users The Next Entrepreneurs? A Case Study On The Video Game Industry
• Combating Video Game Addiction : A Global Problem
• Does Playing Video Game Consoles Bring About Plenty of Advantages?
• Analysis of the Field Work Project and the Topic of a Video Game Community
• Does Video Game Violence Affect Children?
• Do Video Games Contribute For Video Game Violence?
• Is The Video Game Industry an Oligopoly?
• Is Video Game Violence the Cause of Juvenile Delinquency?
• Psychological Effects of Video Game Violence on Children
• What Is the Defining Business and Economic Characteristics of the Video Game Console Industry?
• Why Play Station 4 and the Xbox One Are the Kings of the Next Generation Video Game Console?
• What Makes A Video Game Addictive?
• Competition Among 3 Main Video Game Companies: Nintendo, Sega, And Sony
• Brief Note On Video Gaming And The Video Game Industry
• Effects of Television and Video Game Violence on Children and Teenagers
• Analysis of the Different Genres of Video Game Systems for Children
• Overview of the Process and Career in Video Game Design
• Development of the Elder Scrolls Video Game Series
• Breaking Gender Stereotypes in Traditionally Masculine Sports: The Inclusion of Women in FIFA 16 Video Game
• Cancer: Video Game and Playing Violent Video
• Fighting the Online Video Game Wars in China
• Government Regulation Of Video Game Violence Is Unconstitutional And Unnecessary
• Japanese video game industry
• History of the Video Game Industry
• Microsoft Xbox Entering the World of Video Game
• The Merchant of Video Games: Adapting the Merchant of Venice into an Adventure Game
• What Are Some Revolutionary Breakthroughs in the Video Game Industry?
• What Does It Take To Make It in the Video Games Industry?
• Why Has the Video Game Industry Exploded Recently?
• What Is Wrong With the Video Game Industry in This Generation?
• Is the Video Game Industry Going Downhill?
• Who Is the Best Voice Actor in the Video Game Industry?
• What Will Be the Next Breakthrough or “Big Thing” in the Video Game Industry?
• Is the Video Game Industry in Trouble Right Now?
• Who Makes More Money: Hollywood or the Video Game Industry?
• How Has the Coronavirus Impacted the Video Game Industry?
• What Is the Biggest Missed Opportunity Yet in the Video Game Industry?
• Does Video Game Violence Induce Negative Affects on Our Youth?
• What Are the Changes the Video Game Industry Needs?
• How Large Is the Video Game Industry?
• Why Is the Video Game Industry in China Dominated by MMOs?
• Is There a Bubble Forming in the Video Game Industry?
• What Do Video Game Players Understand That Most People Don’t?
• How Easy Is It to Make a Video Game?
• What’s the Best Advice You’ve Received From a Video Game?
• What Was the First Video Game?
• What Is the Most Inappropriate Video Game You Know?
• What Are the Elements of a Good Video Game?
• How Much Does It Cost to Develop a Video Game?
• What Can Video Game Consoles Offer You?
• Why Video Game Addiction Is One of the Urgent Problems Today?
• How Does Science Create Video Game?
• How the 1970s Sparked the Video Game Industry?
• Why Do Video Game Movies Always Fail?
• What’s the Most Popular Video Game Genre?
• The Science Behind Brain-Boosting Games
• How Gaming Reflects and Influences Society
• How Video Games Participate in Social Justice
• Pros and Cons of Gamified Fitness and Wellness Apps
• Gamification, Its Benefits, and Learning Outcomes
• Virtual Goods in Video Games and Their Real-World Value
• What Factors Influence Immersion and Player Engagement?
• Cloud Gaming and the Potential of Streaming Technology
• Market Trends and Revenue Models of the Video Game Industry
• Violence, Microtransactions, and Other Ethical Issues in Video Game Development
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

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117 Original Video Game Research Topics That Are Very Cool

Stop wasting your time searching all over the Internet for unique video game research topics! You can find 117 original video game topic ideas right here on this page. And yes, you can use these topics for free without even having to give us any credit. In fact, we have just finished updating the list of topics for 2023. This means that you will be able to find dozens of unique topic ideas that will give you an advantage over your classmates. In addition to the interesting topics, we also have 7 helpful tips, tricks and advice on how to write a video game essay or research paper faster. Let’s get started!

Finishing Your Video Game Essay On Time

However, finding excellent video game topics quickly is not enough, especially when you are on a tight deadline. There are many other things you can do to finish your paper on time. To make sure you complete the assignment on time, you should follow our tips, tricks and advice.

Start early. Give yourself enough time to research and write your essay. Don’t wait until the last possible minute to start writing the paper. Make sure you understand the requirements and scope of your essay topic. Stay focused and avoid wasting your limited time. Break down the task. Divide the essay into smaller parts, such as researching, outlining, writing, and editing. This will help you manage your time better and avoid being overwhelmed. Create a timeline. Develop a timeline that includes all the various things you need to do to write the paper and set a deadline for each one. Prioritize. Determine which parts of the paper are most important and work on them first. Make effective use of your energy. Use credible (primary) sources. This way you won’t have to go back and correct various parts of the paper due to problems with your sources. Create an outline of your essay before you start. This will help you organize your thoughts and save time by avoiding the need to revise and rearrange your work later.

Now that you know how to be more efficient, it’s time to give you some topics that will help you write an exceptional paper in no time:

Easy Video Games Topics

Don’t want to spend too much time writing the essay? No problem, just choose one of our easy video games topics:

• The history and evolution of video games.
• The positive effects of video games on children.
• The impact of video game violence on society.
• The benefits of playing video games for cognitive development.
• The use of video games in education and training.
• The role of video games in promoting physical activity.
• The psychology of video game addiction and its effects.
• The influence of video games on culture and society.
• The future of virtual reality in video games.
• The use of video games as a treatment for mental health issues.
• The ethical considerations of video game development and production.

Interesting Video Game Topics To Write About

Our experts have put together a list of the most interesting video game topics to write about. Check out the list below:

• Gender representation and diversity in video games.
• The impact of esports on the gaming industry.
• The relationship between video games and storytelling.
• Cultural significance of popular video game franchises.
• The role of video games in socialization and relationships.
• The effects of streaming on the gaming culture.
• The potential negative effects of excessive video game playing.
• The use of video games in medical treatment.
• The evolution of game design and mechanics in video games.
• The impact of the video game industry on local economies.

Current Gaming Topics

If you want to talk about topics that are relevant today, you can simply select one of our current gaming topics. You can find them right here:

• The rise of esports and professional gaming leagues
• The ongoing debate around video game addiction
• The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the gaming industry
• Loot boxes and micro transactions: controversies
• The increasing popularity of mobile gaming
• The emergence of cloud gaming platforms
• The debate around video game violence and its effects
• The role of gaming in learning
• The rise of indie game developers and their impact
• Talk about augmented reality in gaming in 2023
• The importance of inclusivity in gaming

Video Game Research Paper Topics

Writing a research paper on a topic related to video games doesn’t have to be difficult. Here are some simple video game research paper topics:

• The impact of video games on problem-solving skills
• Violent video games and aggressive behavior
• Using video games for teaching in the classroom in 2023
• The influence of video game design on player engagement
• The impact of online gaming communities on social interaction
• The role of video games in promoting physical activity
• The potential for video games to enhance mental health
• The effects of video games on attention span
• The use of video games in therapy
• Video game addiction and compulsive behavior

Video Game Research Questions

We have some of the most thought-provoking video game research questions on the Internet right here for you:

• How do different game design elements impact player attitude?
• What is the role of video games in shaping cultural identity?
• How do different types of video games affect spatial reasoning skills?
• What is the relationship between video games and creativity?
• How do video games impact risk-taking behavior?
• What is the impact of video games on academic performance?
• How do video games affect emotional intelligence?
• How can video games be used to promote sustainability?
• What is the impact of video game marketing on consumer behavior?
• How do video games impact racial stereotypes in society?
• What ethical considerations should be taken into account when designing video games?

Video Game Writing Prompts

Don’t know what to write the essay about? Don’t worry about it; we’ve got your back. Check out these video game writing prompts:

• Write a short story based on the world of “The Elder Scrolls. Skyrim.”
• Imagine a new planet for the “Mass Effect” series and describe it.
• Write a fanfiction piece that explores the backstory of “Overwatch” hero, Soldier. 76.
• Create a character in “Fallout 4” and write a journal entry from their perspective.
• Write a screenplay for a movie based on “The Last of Us.”
• Develop a new quest line for “World of Warcraft” and outline the story.
• Write a short story that takes place in the universe of “Halo.”
• Imagine an alternate ending to “BioShock Infinite” and write it out.
• Create a poem inspired by the themes and imagery of “Journey.”
• Write a story set in the post-apocalyptic world of “Horizon Zero Dawn.”
• Develop a backstory for the character of Clementine in “The Walking Dead” game series.

Video Games Debate Topics

Preparing for a heated debate? You need a good topic, of course. Check out these interesting video games debate topics:

• Are video games really a form of art?
• Is the portrayal of violence in video games harmful?
• Are loot boxes and micro transactions in video games ethical?
• Is it fair for video games to include difficulty levels in 2023?
• Are video games responsible for addiction and compulsive behavior?
• Should video games be used as a tool for educational purposes?
• Is it appropriate to censor or ban video games?
• Should video game companies be held accountable for their content?
• Is the portrayal of women in video games sexist?
• Are remastered video games worth the investment?
• Is streaming video games on platforms like Twitch a viable career?

Informative Gaming Topics To Talk About

If you’re looking for some informative gaming topics to talk about, you’re in luck. We have some for you:

• The evolution of gaming technology and graphics
• The rise of esports and competitive gaming
• The history and influence of classic video game franchises
• The future of virtual and augmented reality gaming
• The psychology of video game addiction and how to combat it
• The cultural significance and representation in video games
• The intersection of music and gaming, including video game soundtracks
• The rise of mobile gaming and its influence on the gaming market
• The history and impact of multiplayer gaming and online communities
• The design and development process of creating a video game

Engaging Topic Ideas Related To Video Games

These unique, engaging topic ideas related to video games will surely win you some bonus points from you professor:

• Write a script for a TV show set in the world of “Assassin’s Creed.”
• Create a new playable character for “Street Fighter” and describe their moves and backstory.
• Write a novella that explores the mystery of “Firewatch.”
• Develop a plot for a new “Red Dead Redemption” DLC.
• Write a short story inspired by the characters of “Life is Strange.”
• Imagine a 2023 sequel to “Breath of the Wild” and outline the plot.
• Write a screenplay for a movie based on “Half-Life.”
• Create a new creature for the world of “Monster Hunter” and describe its behavior and habitat.
• Write a story that takes place in the world of “Dark Souls.”
• Develop a new puzzle game concept and describe its gameplay and mechanics.
• Write a fanfiction piece that explores the relationship between Ellie and Dina in “The Last of Us Part II.”

Fun Video Game Topic Ideas

Writing a paper on a fun topic is a sure way to get noticed. Take a look at some of these fun video game topic ideas:

• Rank the best video game soundtracks in games from 2020 to 2023
• Discuss the funniest video game glitches and bugs
• Explore the history of video game consoles and their evolution
• Create the ultimate video game character (talk about their abilities)
• Choose the most iconic video game weapons and discuss their uses
• Debate the best video game crossover events
• Examine the most impressive speedruns in video game history
• Identify the most challenging video game bosses and discuss strategies to beat them
• Rank the most immersive video game worlds and environments
• Celebrate the most memorable moments in video game history.

Best Video Games Topic Ideas

Want to write your paper on an original topic idea? Below you can find what we consider to be some of the best video games topic ideas:

• The use of video games in advertising and marketing in 2023
• The history and impact of gaming consoles on the industry
• The role of video games in fostering creativity and imagination
• The history and impact of speedrunning on the gaming community and industry
• The ethics of video game content and censorship
• The history and impact of arcade games on gaming culture
• The impact of video games on spatial reasoning and navigation skills
• The psychology of character development and player identification in video games
• The role of video games in exploring and experiencing new cultures and worlds
• The impact of video games on decision-making abilities
• The history and impact of gaming conventions on the industry and community

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What are some gaming topics? Some more interesting gaming topics could be ideas like: psychological affect of games on young children (can also work for psychology term paper writing), developments in gaming software and design, the impact early video games have had on the gaming world today, or a look over important personalities in gaming. Can I get help writing my video games paper? Yes! It is always advisable to ask for help if you are struggling. Even a seemingly fun and interesting topic like video gaming can become overwhelming and a challenge to write about. So you can definitely get online paper writing help while you yourself enjoy playing games instead of writing about them! What is the biggest problem in the gaming industry? There are a few major problems in the gaming industry, however the most current and important one at the moment is labor conditions and economic compensation for gaming industry workers. Gaming is a difficult industry where professionals are constantly working over average hours.

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SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article

Video games for well-being: a systematic review on the application of computer games for cognitive and emotional training in the adult population.

• Riccardo Massa Department of Human Sciences for Education, University of Milan Bicocca, Milan, Italy

Background: Although several excellent reviews and meta-analyses have investigated the effect of video game trainings as tools to enhance well-being, most of them specifically focused on the effects of digital games on brain plasticity or cognitive decline in children and seniors. On the contrary, only one meta-analysis results to be focused on the adult population, and it is restricted to examining the effects of training with a particular genre of games (action video games) on cognitive skills of healthy adults.

Objectives: This systematic review was aimed to identify research evidences about the impact on cognitive [i.e., processing and reaction times (RTs), memory, task-switching/multitasking, and mental spatial rotation] and emotional skills of video games training in the healthy adult population.

Methods: A multi-component analysis of variables related to the study, the video games, and the outcomes of the training was made on the basis of important previous works. Databases used in the search were PsycINFO, Web of Science (Web of Knowledge), PubMed, and Scopus. The search string was: [(“Video Games” OR “Computer Games” OR “Interactive Gaming”)] AND [(“Cognition”) OR (“Cognitive”) OR (“Emotion”) OR (“Emotion Regulation”)] AND [“Training”].

Results: Thirty-five studies met the inclusion criteria and were further classified into the different analysis' variables. The majority of the retrieved studies used commercial video games, and action games in particular, which resulted to be the most commonly used, closely followed by puzzle games. Effect sizes for training with video games on cognitive skills in general ranged from 0.06 to 3.43: from 0.141 to 3.43 for processing and RTs, 0.06 to 1.82 for memory, 0.54 to 1.91 for task switching/multitasking, and 0.3 to 3.2 for mental spatial rotation; regarding video games for the training of emotional skills, effect sizes ranged from 0.201 to 3.01.

Conclusion: Overall, findings give evidences of benefits of video games training on cognitive and emotional skills in relation to the healthy adult population, especially on young adults. Efficacy has been demonstrated not only for non-commercial video games or commercial brain-training programs, but for commercial video games as well.

Introduction

Over the last 40 years, video games have increasingly had a transformational impact on how people play and enjoy themselves, as well as on many more aspects of their lives ( Yeh et al., 2001 ; Zyda, 2005 ; Boyle et al., 2012 ). Contrary to popular belief, which sees male children or teenagers as main targets of the gaming industry, the average player is instead 30 years old, and the entire gaming population is roughly equally divided into male and female players, therefore representing a daily activity for a consistent percentage of the adult population ( Entertainment Software Assotiation, 2015 ). Thanks to the wide availability on the market, the affordable cost and the massive popularity, video games already represent crucial tools as a source of entertainment, and are soon expected to become critical also in another fields, including the mental health panorama ( Granic et al., 2014 ; Jones et al., 2014 ).

While much of the early research on computer games focused on the negative impacts of playing digital games, particularly on the impact of playing violent entertainment games on aggression (e.g., Ferguson, 2007 ), and addiction (e.g., Gentile, 2009 ), gradually, scientific studies have also recognized the potential positive impact of video games on people's health (e.g., Anderson et al., 2010 ; Jones et al., 2014 ).

In recent decades, the field of computer gaming has increasingly developed toward serious purposes, and both commercial and non-commercial video games (i.e., developed ad hoc by researchers for the training of specific individuals' skills) have been tested by several studies. As early as in 1987, it was for the first time observed that famous commercial video games (i.e., Donkey Kong e Pac-Man ) can have a positive effect on cognitive skills, improving the RTs of older adults ( Clark et al., 1987 ). A few years later, in 1989, Space Fortress , the first non-commercial computer game designed by cognitive psychologists as a training and research tool ( Donchin, 1989 ) was considered so successful that it was added to the training program of the Israeli Air Force. From that moment on, numerous video games have been developed with the specific purpose of changing patterns of behavior, and are often defined in literature as “serious games” ( Zyda, 2005 ) as they use gaming features as the primary medium for serious purposes ( Fleming et al., 2016 ).

Since these pioneering studies, numerous researches have investigated the potentiality of various video games, both commercial and non-commercial, mainly in relation with cognitive skills of seniors. For instance, it has been observed that the use of complex strategy video games can enhance cognitive flexibility, particularly in older adults ( Stern et al., 2011 ). Furthermore, playing a commercial computer cognitive training program results in significant improvement in visuospatial working memory, visuospatial learning, and focused attention in healthy older adults ( Peretz et al., 2011 ).

Besides being useful tools for the training of cognitive processes, various studies have demonstrated that video games offer a variety of positive emotion-triggering situations (e.g., Ryan et al., 2006 ; Russoniello et al., 2009 ; McGonigal, 2011 ), that may be of benefit during training of emotional skills, including self-regulation habits ( Gabbiadini and Greitemeyer, 2017 ). For instance, puzzle video games such as Tetris , characterized by low cognitive loads and generally short time demands, are capable of positive effects on the players' mood, generating positive emotions and relaxation ( Russoniello et al., 2009 ). Furthermore, by continuously providing new challenges, either it is switching from one level to another (e.g., Portal 2 ) or between different avatars (e.g., World of Warcraft ), video games demand players to “unlearn” their previous strategies and flexibly adapt to new systems without experiencing frustration and anxiety ( Granic et al., 2014 ).

Although several excellent reviews and meta-analyses have investigated the effect of video games training as tools for enhancing individuals well-being, in particular regarding cognitive and emotive enhancement (e.g., Boyle et al., 2016 ; Lumsden et al., 2016 ), most of them specifically focused on the effects of digital games on brain plasticity or cognitive decline in children and seniors (e.g., Lu et al., 2012 ; Lampit et al., 2014 ). Consonant findings regarding the positive relationship between video game training and benefits on various cognitive skills have been demonstrated by both behavioral studies (e.g., Baniqued et al., 2014 ) and meta-analytic studies ( Toril et al., 2014 ) regarding both the aforementioned populations. On the contrary, only one meta-analysis focused on the adult population and it is restricted to examining the effects of training with a particular genre of games (action video games) on cognitive skills on healthy adults ( Wang et al., 2016 ).

Despite this scarcity of focus on the adult population, the latter represents an extremely interesting and unique group, with very peculiar characteristics from a neurological and psychological point of view if compared to children and elders. As stated by Finch, the adult age, including both young adults (18–35 years old) and middle age adults (35–55 years old), plays an important role in the life-span development, and therefore very well deserves to be studied thoroughly ( Finch, 2009 ). On the one hand, the effects of the so-called inverted U curve of neuroplasticity and cognitive performance starts to be evident during the adult age, especially the middle-age ( Cao et al., 2014 ; Zhao et al., 2015 ). On the other, it is well known that the level of psychological stress perceived by adults is rather high, and it can result in important mental and health disorders ( Kudielkaa et al., 2004 ).

Moreover, as the literature states, baseline individual differences regarding age can determine variations in training effectiveness ( Jaeggi et al., 2011 ; Valkanova et al., 2014 ), and if it is safe to say that video games can have beneficial effects when included in a training (e.g., Baniqued et al., 2014 ; Toril et al., 2014 ), such effects might indeed vary based on age-specific aspects which therefore cannot be overlooked ( Wang, 2017 ).

Consequently, in the current review, we will describe experimental studies that have been conducted between 2012 and 2017, with the aim to identify research evidences about the impact on cognitive and emotional skills of video games training in the adult population. Specifically, a multi-component analysis of variables related to the study, video games, and outcomes of training was made on the basis on important previous works ( Connolly et al., 2012 ; Kueider et al., 2012 ; Boyle et al., 2016 ), which provide a useful framework for organizing the research along key variables.

We followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines ( Moher et al., 2009 ).

Search Strategy

With the objective of providing an overview of the experimental studies that have been conducted to test the benefits of different categories of video games used as training tools of cognitive or emotional domains for the adult population, a computer-based search for relevant publications was performed in several databases. Databases used in the search were PsycINFO, Web of Science (Web of Knowledge), PubMed, and Scopus. The search string was: [(“Video Games” OR “Computer Games” OR “Interactive Gaming”)] AND [(“Cognition”) OR (“Cognitive”) OR (“Emotion”) OR (“Emotion Regulation”)] AND [”Training"].

Selection of Articles for Inclusion in the Review

To avoid the risk of bias, PRISMA recommendations for systematic literature analysis have been strictly followed ( Moher et al., 2009 ). Two authors (Federica Pallavicini, Ambra Ferrari) independently selected paper abstracts and titles, analyzed the full papers that met the inclusion criteria, and resolved any disagreements through consensus. Selected papers have to: (a) include empirical evidences on the impact and outcomes of video game based training; (b) have been published during the last 5 years (namely from January 2012 to August 2017), in analogy with several other relevant previous works (i.e., Connolly et al., 2012 ; Boyle et al., 2016 ); (c) include participants within an age range of 18–59 years old; (d) only include samples of healthy participants, i.e., not suffering from any neurological disorder (e.g., traumatic brain injury), or psychiatric disorders according to DSM-5 Axis I ( American Psychiatric Association, 2013 ); (e) be published on peer-reviewed journals.

Coding of Selected Studies, Video Games, and Training Outcomes

The papers selected on the basis of the inclusion criteria were coded from the data extraction pro-forma that was developed by Connolly ( Connolly et al., 2012 ), and subsequently modified by Boyle et al. (2016) , adapting it to the specificity of this review and its area of interest. In particular, in this systematic review papers were coded with respect to:

• Video Game Variables: The game category ( whether the game was commercial or non-commercial); the game genre (action games; driving-racing games; puzzle games; strategy games; simulation games; exergames; horror games; commercial brain training programs; arcade games; adventure games); the platform for the game (console, PC/laptop, or mobile gaming). First of all, the category of the game has been included to explore the effectiveness of several commercial titles, used “as-is” (without modifications), which in previous studies resulted to be effective for the cognitive training (e.g., Green and Bavelier, 2006 ; Dye et al., 2009 ). Furthermore, the categorization was included in order to analyze the efficacy of ad hoc developed games, about which an ongoing debate about their effectiveness still persists (e.g., Owen et al., 2010 ). Secondly, the classification of video game genres was considered because of the fact that, under many points of view, not all video games are equal and their effects strongly depend on specific characteristics of the game itself ( Achtman et al., 2008 ; van Muijden et al., 2012 ). In addition, it has been reported that combinations between the neurological stage of the participants and the precise features of each video game produce unique results in a matter of benefits on mental skills ( Ball et al., 2002 ; van Muijden et al., 2012 ). There is no standard accepted taxonomy of genre, although one of the most adopted is the Herz's system ( Herz, 1997 ), while others studies seem to simply divide action games from any other kind, often defined as casual games as a whole (e.g., Baniqued et al., 2013 , 2014 ). Here, we propose the above categorization, which resembles the present commercial classification as much as possible, defining ten different genres of commercial video games. Thirdly, new technologies such as mobile devices and online games have recently expanded the ways in which games have traditionally been played, their medium of delivery and the different platforms available. Platforms of delivery represent important information about video game training, primarily because they are the way in which the training itself can be accessed ( Aker et al., 2016 ).

• Variables Related to the Study: The sample included in the study (sample size, mean age, or age range); the research design used (categorized as a Randomized Controlled Trial or Quasi Experimental); the measures used for the assessment of outcomes (self-report questionnaires, cognitive tests, fMRI, physiological data, etc.); the duration of training (duration, intensity, and the total amount of sessions); the effects size of each training outcome , reporting partial-eta squared (η 2 ), with values closer to 1.0 indicating a stronger effect size, and Cohen's d; the calculation of range and mean value of effect sizes for each training outcome has been expressed as Cohen's d , applying the conversion formula when reported by the study in terms of partial-eta squared (η 2 ) ( Cohen, 1998 ); where not reported in the study, standardized Cohen's d effect sizes were derived following a computation formula: the one described in Dunlap et al. (1996) in order to calculate d from dependent t -tests; the computation formula by Thalheimer and Cook (2002) for ANOVAs with two distinct groups ( df = 1); the calculation formula by Rosenthal and DiMatteo (2001) from χ 2 (with one degree of freedom); otherwise, in cases where effect sizes could not be calculated because not reported in the study or because the necessary data to derive them through formulas were not present, p -value was reported instead ( e.g., Oei and Patterson, 2013 ; Wang et al., 2014 ; Chandra et al., 2016 ). The sample, study design, and measures of training outcomes have been included as relevant variables in analogy to what has been done in previous reviews ( Boyle et al., 2012 ; Connolly et al., 2012 ), to facilitate the access to easily classified and comparable studies among the literature. An indication of mean age or age range has been provided in order to identify studies conducted on young vs. middle-aged adults. Training-related factors have also been considered, including the duration, intensity, and total amount of training sessions, as well as the effect sizes of the training outcomes, since they represent useful information about the characteristics and feasibility of the training itself ( Hempel et al., 2004 ).

• Video Game-Based Training Outcome Variables: The selected papers have been divided into two macro-categories : cognition and emotion. Regarding cognition, authors identified five domain-specific subcategories , following the classification proposed by Kueider et al. (2012) , partially adapted to the specificity of the results that emerged from the review, specifically: (1) multiple domain , namely trainings focused on more than one cognitive skill, such as trainings including reasoning, episodic memory, and perceptual speed as target skills at the same time; (2) processing speed and reaction times (RTs), i.e., respectively, the ability to quickly process information ( Shanahan et al., 2006 ), and the amount of time needed to process and respond to a stimulus and is critical for handling information ( Garrett, 2009 ) ; (3) memory , defined as the ability to retain, store, and recall information ( Baddeley and Hitch, 1974 ), including many different types of memory, such as episodic, short-term, visual and spatial working memory; (4) task-switching/multitasking , defined as a whole as attributes of control processes while switching from one task to another ( Dove et al., 2000 ); (5) mental spatial rotation , that is the ability to mentally rotate an object ( Shepard and Metzler, 1971 ). Such categorization has been chosen among many others proposed by literature (e.g., Sala and Gobet, 2016 ; Stanmore et al., 2017 ; Bediou et al., 2018 ), because of its particular adaptability to the search results at hand, and because of its effectiveness in defining precise sub-categories of cognitive skills.

Papers Identified by Search Terms

A large number of papers (1,423) published in the time period between January 2012 and August 2017 was identified. As discussed in section Papers Selected Using our Inclusion Criteria, this set of papers was further screened, obtaining a set of 35 relevant papers (see Figure 1 ).

Figure 1 . The flow chart of the systematic review.

Papers Selected Using Our Inclusion Criteria

Applying the four inclusion criteria to these papers, 35 papers were identified (see Table 1 ). The largest number of papers was found in Scopus, followed by PsycINFO, Pubmed, and Web of Science (Web of Knowledge).

Table 1 . Information about the video games variables of the selected studies.

Analysis of Game Variables

Video games category.

Considering the entirety of the studies, 42 commercial video games and 7 non-commercial video games have been tested as training tools for cognitive or emotional skills. As for video games used for cognitive enhancement specifically, a total of 38 commercial video games and 6 non-commercial video games have been adopted; concerning emotional enhancement, instead, 4 commercial games and 1 non-commercial game have been used as training tools in the studies included in this review.

Video Games Genres

Among the studies included in this systematic review, the genre of commercial games was very varied, with action games (15) being the most used, followed by puzzle games (8), brain training games (5), exergames, and driving-racing games (3 for each category), simulation, driving racing games and exergames (3 games each), adventure games (2 games for each genre), and, finally, strategy games, arcade games, and horror games (1 game for each genre). Regarding training of cognitive skills specifically, among commercial games, the genre was very varied, with action games (14) and puzzle games (7) being the most used, followed by brain training games (5), simulation and driving-racing games (3 games), exergames and adventure games (2 games each), and, finally, strategy games and arcade games (1 game for each genre). As for emotional training, only 1 study adopted a non-commercial video games, while a variety of commercial video games were used (1 horror game, 1 action game, 1 puzzle game, and 1 exergame).

Platform/Delivery

Considering the retrieved studies, games delivered via PC or laptop were the most popular in all categories (20 studies), followed by mobile (8 studies) and console (7 studies). Regarding cognitive training, 18 video games delivered via PC were used, 6 via console, 6 via mobile. As for emotional training, 2 video games were delivered via PC, 2 via console, and 1 via mobile.

Analysis of Variables Related to the Study

The mean number of participants included in the emerged studies was 54.4 (cognition: M = 56.1; emotion: M = 42.8), ranging between 5 ( Chandra et al., 2016 ) and 209 ( Baniqued et al., 2013 ). The samples' mean age, instead, was 24.2 (cognition: M = 23.8; emotion: M = 27.7).

Study Design

In general, 28 studies included in the review have use a randomized control trial (RCT), while 7 studies have used a quasi-experimental design. The RCT was the design of choice of 24 studies related to cognitive training (e.g., Hutchinson et al., 2016 ; Looi et al., 2016 ). A quasi-experimental design was instead adopted in six studies directed at the evaluation of cognitive trainings based on video games ( Mathewson et al., 2012 ; Montani et al., 2014 ). As for emotional training, four studies followed a RCT design (e.g., Bouchard et al., 2012 ), while 1 a quasi-experimental design ( Naugle et al., 2014 ).

Duration of the Training

The length of the trainings proposed by studies included in this systematic review resulted to be rather heterogeneous, both in the number of sessions and in the number of weeks. In particular, the mean number of sessions was 10.1, ranging from 1 to 60 sessions, while the mean number of hours played was 13.5, ranging between 10 min and 50 h. As for cognitive training, a minimum of one session (e.g., Colzato et al., 2013 ; Cherney et al., 2014 ), and a maximum of 60 sessions ( Kühn et al., 2014 ). The number of hours spent playing the different video games differed from study to study as well: from several minutes ( Stroud and Whitbourne, 2015 ) to up to 50 h ( Green et al., 2012 ; Chandra et al., 2016 ). As for emotional training, the minimum number of sessions was 1 as well, while the maximum was 10 ( Bailey and West, 2013 ); the minimum time spent playing was of 25 min ( Dennis and O'Toole, 2014 ; Dennis-Tiwary et al., 2016 ), and the maximum was 10 h ( Bailey and West, 2013 ).

Measures Used for the Assessment of Outcomes

The measures of the training outcome adopted in the studies included in this systematic review predictably have largely been constituted by cognitive tests, for a total of 33 studies, 30 related to cognitive training (e.g., Baniqued et al., 2014 ), and 3 to emotional training (e.g., Bailey and West, 2013 ). Nonetheless, numerous studies (19) have included self-administered psychological questionnaires: 14 aimed at cognitive training (e.g., Chandra et al., 2016 ), and 5 to emotional training (e.g., Dennis and O'Toole, 2014 ), while physiological measures were used in a total of 2 studies, both emotional trainings (e.g., Bouchard et al., 2012 ). fMRI-based assessments were instead used to measure the outcomes of cognitive trainings in two studies (e.g., Nikolaidis et al., 2014 ) and EEG assessments were used in a total of three studies (1) related to cognitive training (i.e., Mathewson et al., 2012 ), and (2) to emotional training (e.g., Bailey and West, 2013 ).

Analysis of Video Game Training Outcomes

Thirty studies used cognitive domain-specific training programs including memory, task-switching/multitasking and mental spatial rotation. Across all cognitive trainings, the effect sizes' (Cohen's d) range was 0.141–3.43 for processing and RTs ( M = 1.18), 0.06–1.82 for memory ( M = 0.667), 0.54–1.91 for task-switching/multitasking ( M = 1.11), and 0.3–3.2 for mental spatial rotation ( M = 1.5).

• Multiple domains (13 studies): Because of the wide literature consensus about the little to non-transferability of cognitive training effects to untrained skills ( Rebok et al., 2007 ), a rather high number of retrieved studies aimed at the enhancement of multiple cognitive domains with a single training, with the objective of deepening our knowledge about generalizability across domains. Training with action video games has been reported to enhance processing speed and RTs ( Oei and Patterson, 2013 , 2015 ; Schubert et al., 2015 ; Chandra et al., 2016 ), but no effect on spatial ( Oei and Patterson, 2015 ) nor visual ( Schubert et al., 2015 ; Chandra et al., 2016 ) working memory has been reported. Concerning other categories of commercial video games, training with puzzle games was shown to improve task switching skills and inhibitory control, but not visual and spatial working memory, episodic memory or perceptual speed ( Baniqued et al., 2014 ). Spatial working memory, as well as RTs, improved after training with a simulation game ( Rolle et al., 2017 ). Better RTs have also been reported after training with FPS games (i.e., first person shooter games, in which the player shoots at targets while witnessing the scene as through the eyes of the character they are controlling), which also seemed to have positive effects on processing speed, but not on mental spatial rotation skills ( Choi and Lane, 2013 ). Moreover, it was reported that video game training with an adventure game can augment gray matter in brain areas crucial for spatial navigation and visual working memory, along with evidence for behavioral changes of navigation strategy ( Kühn et al., 2014 ). As far as brain training games are concerned, studies confirmed that this genre of video games can improve task-switching, short-term memory, RTs and processing speed more heavily compared to a puzzle game ( Nouchi et al., 2013 ). Nonetheless, two different studies did not highlight any advantage of puzzle games over other video game genres in enhancing cognitive skills such as mental spatial rotation ( Shute et al., 2015 ), nor for cognitive performance on other domains (e.g., task-switching, visual, and spatial working memory) ( Kable et al., 2017 ). Lastly, a non-commercial game, Space Fortress , was proven to be effective as a training for visual working memory ( Lee et al., 2012 ), and alpha and delta EEG oscillations during game play of this particular video game were shown to predict learning and improvements in such cognitive skill, while no similar effects were found on task-switching/multitasking skills ( Mathewson et al., 2012 ).

• Processing speed and reaction times (8 studies): Studies reported that action games ( Green et al., 2012 ; Wang et al., 2014 ), FPS games ( Colzato et al., 2013 ; Hutchinson et al., 2016 ), adventure ( Li et al., 2016 ), and puzzle games ( Stroud and Whitbourne, 2015 ) can be considered effective training tools for processing speed and RTs. Moreover, in a study comparing the effectiveness of various genres of commercial video games, action and driving-racing games were proven to decrease RTs and processing speed more effectively than a puzzle game ( Wu and Spence, 2013 ). Only one study did not report any benefit of commercial video games over these particular skills ( van Ravenzwaaij et al., 2014 ).

• Memory (4 studies): Effective trainings of visual working memory have been carried out with an action game ( Blacker et al., 2014 ) as well as with an adventure game ( Clemenson and Stark, 2015 ). Concerning non-commercial video games, a mathematics video game training was shown to be effective on short-term and visual working memory ( Looi et al., 2016 ). Furthermore, individual differences in the post-minus-pre changes in activation of regions implicated in visual working memory during gameplay of an ad hoc developed game ( Space Fortress ) have been reported to predict performance changes in an untrained working memory task ( Nikolaidis et al., 2014 ).

• Task-switching/multitasking (3 studies): The cost of dual tasking, as well as the cost of task switching, decreased after training with a custom-made video game ( Montani et al., 2014 ). Moreover, a training based on an ad hoc developed game lead to significantly better performance on cognitive shifting tests after playing for 2 h over four sessions (i.e., reaching a high level in the game) ( Parong et al., 2017 ). The same results, in fact, were not obtained if participants were asked to play for only 1 h over two sessions ( Parong et al., 2017 ). Furthermore, playing commercial puzzle games improved task-switching ability ( Oei and Patterson, 2014 ).

• Mental spatial rotation (2 studies): Enhancement of mental spatial rotation abilities was reported after training with commercial exergames and driving-racing games, with a greater advance for women ( Cherney et al., 2014 ). In contrast, no improvement was observed after training with other commercial games (one exergame and several action games), probably because of the limited number of participants ( Dominiak and Wiemeyer, 2016 ).

Five studies tested video games as tools for training emotional skills (Table 2 ). Across all these training programs, the effect sizes' range (Cohen's d ) was 0.201–3.01 ( M = 0.897). First of all, playing a commercial action game resulted in brain changes related to the emotion processing of facial expressions, with a reduction in the allocation of attention to happy faces, suggesting that caution should be exercised when using action video games to modify visual processing ( Bailey and West, 2013 ). Moreover, playing exergames at a self-selected intensity has been reported to positively influence emotional responses (enjoyment, changes in positive and negative affects) ( Naugle et al., 2014 ). Interestingly, commercial video games have also been tested as a tool to provide interactive Stress Management Training (SMT) programs, mainly used for decreasing levels of perceived stress and negative effects. In particular, training with a commercial horror video game combined with arousal reduction strategies (e.g., exposure to stressful scenarios, traditional biofeedback techniques) has shown efficacy in increasing resilience to stress in soldiers, as observed through analyses of salivary cortisol level conducted along the training ( Bouchard et al., 2012 ). Regarding non-commercial video games, training with an ad hoc non-commercial video game has been shown to help trait-anxious adult people handle emotional and physiological responses to stressors ( Dennis and O'Toole, 2014 ), as well as improve behavioral performance in an anxiety-related stress task among female participants ( Dennis-Tiwary et al., 2016 ).

Table 2 . Information about the selected studies on video games for emotional training.

In the present systematic review, we examine experimental studies that have been conducted with the aim to identify research evidences about the impact on cognitive and emotional skills of video games training in the healthy adult population. The large number of papers (1,423) identified using our search terms confirmed that there has been a surge of interest in the use of games for the aforementioned specific population, following the tendency already registered about elders (e.g., Lampit et al., 2014 ), and young people (e.g., Gomes et al., 2015 ). After the application of the inclusion criteria, 35 papers were finally included and described on the basis of important previous works, which provide a useful framework for organizing the research along key variables ( Connolly et al., 2012 ; Kueider et al., 2012 ; Boyle et al., 2016 ).

With respect to video game variables , starting from the games' category , efficacy was demonstrated not only for non-commercial video games or commercial brain-training programs, but for commercial off-the-shelf video games as well. Interesting cases regard Tetris, which resulted to be more effective than a commercial brain training program (i.e., Brain Age ) in improving cognitive skills such as short-term memory and processing speed ( Nouchi et al., 2013 ), and Portal 2 , that has proven to be effective in improving skills such as problem solving even more effectively than a brain training program specifically developed for this purpose (i.e., Lumosity) ( Shute et al., 2015 ). The fact that not only ad hoc non-commercial games, but also commercial video games can be useful for training cognitive and emotional capacities, if confirmed, appears to be very interesting, as it opens the possibility to use commercial titles for the training of cognitive and emotional abilities in the adult population. This could mean increasing adherence to training, keeping the trainee engaged with an effective feedback system ( Cowley et al., 2008 ), and enhancing the accessibility of training programs in terms of costs and ease of access to treatment, since it would be sufficient to simply have a console or another gaming device.

As for the distribution of game genre , considering only commercial games, in the emotional training sector no genre prevalence is recorded, while in cognitive training action games are the most commonly used, followed by puzzle games, and by brain training games. Such result should not be considered surprising, as previous literature indicates action games as the class of video games which has been scientifically assessed for the longest time (e.g., Adachi and Willoughby, 2011 ), similarly to puzzle games (e.g., Carvalho et al., 2012 ), and brain training games (e.g., Owen et al., 2010 ).

Results showed that the delivery platform of choice for more than half of the included studies was the PC, distantly followed by games delivered via consoles or via mobile. This distribution is valid for both commercial and non-commercial games, which seems to be a rather interesting fact and various reasons behind this consistency of distribution can be hypothesized. Future studies should better investigate especially mobile training, which, because of its potential ubiquity, its low costs, and its potentially real-time use, could offer unique advantages over traditional tools such as PCs.

Regarding the variables related to the studies , namely the sample characteristics , the results of this systematic review showed that the majority of studies have been conducted on young adults (18–35 years) rather than middle-aged adults (35–55 years). A possible explanation of this tendency could be linked to the fact that many studies have enlisted college students as participants, for a matter of simplicity of recruitment. However, it is important to note that the differentiation between young and middle-aged adults can be particularly relevant. As it is reported by scientific literature, in fact, the effects of the so-called inverted U curve of neuroplasticity and cognitive performance and of the perceived stress starts to be evident during the middle-age ( Cao et al., 2014 ; Zhao et al., 2015 ). Moreover, strong differences in terms of knowledge and use of video games characterize these two age ranges. For these reasons, future studies should better investigate differences and analogies between young and middle-aged adults, for instance to identify in which life-span moment a game-based cognitive or emotional treatment would potentially be more effective.

Secondly, regarding the experimental design adopted in the studies, results show that in the majority of cases studies were conducted using a RCT design. This seems to be linked to the need for evidences of well-controlled studies, differently from previous studies in which less strong methods (e.g., survey, correlational design) were used. It will be important for future studies to continue using this type of experimental design, which is considered as the most reliable empirical design in order to prove a treatment's effectiveness, minimizing the impact of confounding variables ( Levin, 2007 ).

The measures of outcome of the training adopted in the studies included in this systematic review predictably have largely been constituted by cognitive tests (e.g., Blacker et al., 2014 ). Nonetheless, numerous studies have included self-administered psychological questionnaires (e.g., Nouchi et al., 2013 ), physiological measures (e.g., Naugle et al., 2014 ), EEG-based assessment measures (e.g., Dennis-Tiwary et al., 2016 ), and fMRI-based assessments measures (e.g., Kable et al., 2017 ), which seem to be more reliable in assessing change over time, therefore an openness to such ways of assessment is desirable in a perspective of empirical evidence.

The length of the training programs proposed by studies included in this systematic review resulted to be rather heterogeneous, both in the number of sessions and in the number of weeks: from a minimum of one session (e.g., Colzato et al., 2013 ; Cherney et al., 2014 ) to a maximum of 60 sessions ( Kühn et al., 2014 ), and with gameplay time ranging from 10 min to 50 h ( Green et al., 2012 ; Chandra et al., 2016 ). Since the duration and intensity of training has been reported to be a relevant variable, as it has a rather important impact on the accessibility and feasibility of the training itself ( Hempel et al., 2004 ), future studies should address in detail such aspects of the training, for instance comparing the effectiveness of shorter trainings to longer ones in order to identify the minimum number of sessions to obtain an effective program.

Finally, regarding the training outcome , based on this review, video games appear to hold promise for improving both cognitive and emotional skills in the healthy adult population. Empirical evidences were identified for all the training outcomes (i.e., cognition: multiple domain, processing speed and RTs, memory, task-switching/multitasking, mental spatial rotation; emotion).

Effect sizes (Cohen's d ) for cognitive training, in general, ranged from 0.06 to 3.43: in particular from 0.141 to 3.43 for processing and RTs, 0.06 to 1.82 for memory, 0.54 to 1.91 for task-switching/multitasking, and 0.3 to 3.2 for mental spatial rotation (Table S1 ). Effect sizes reported in this systematic review are comparable to those reported for video game interventions aimed at enhancing cognitive skills of senior populations ( Kueider et al., 2012 ; Lampit et al., 2014 ). For instance, a systematic review of a computerized cognitive training with older adults reported a range standardized pre-post training gain from 0.09 to 1.70 after the video game intervention, which appears to be similar to the values emerged from the traditional (0.06–6.32) or computerized (0.19–7.14) trainings ( Kueider et al., 2012 ).

Based on the studies reviewed, the largest impact of video game trainings for cognitive skills was found on processing speed and RTs, as these cognitive domains presented the larger effect sizes. In particular, it has been observed that training with action games ( Green et al., 2012 ; Wang et al., 2014 ), FPS games ( Colzato et al., 2013 ; Hutchinson et al., 2016 ), adventure ( Li et al., 2016 ), and puzzle games ( Stroud and Whitbourne, 2015 ) can enhance these skills in healthy adults. In only one case no benefits have been reported over these particular skills after training with commercial video games ( van Ravenzwaaij et al., 2014 ). The possibility to train processing speed and RTs with video games, especially with action video games, represents one of the largest interests of video game and cognitive training literature in spite of mixed results about its effectiveness (e.g., Dye et al., 2009 ; Wang et al., 2016 ), therefore further investigation is surely needed. For instance, action video game novices assigned to action video game training show faster visual information processing according to one study ( Castel et al., 2005 ), while no improvement has been reported for seniors involved in a brief training ( Seçer and Satyen, 2014 ).

Results were generally positive across studies on training of memory as well. In particular, improvements in visual and spatial working memory have been observed after training with an action game (e.g., Blacker et al., 2014 ), an adventure game ( Clemenson and Stark, 2015 ), and a non-commercial game ( Looi et al., 2016 ). Concerning other forms of memory, a positive effect of an adventure game-based training on mnemonic discrimination was reported in one study ( Clemenson and Stark, 2015 ), while improvements in short term memory skills have been noticed after a brain training program ( Nouchi et al., 2013 ). On the contrary, no positive effects on episodic memory nor on visual and spatial working memory have been reported after training with puzzle games ( Baniqued et al., 2014 ). What emerged from the studies included in this review appears to be in line with previous evidences concerning the possibility to effectively use video games to enhance the memory skills of young and older populations, in particular regarding visual and spatial working memory (e.g., Wilms et al., 2013 ; Toril et al., 2014 ). It is nonetheless important to highlight the fact that, in this systematic review and in previous literature, the efficacy (or the ineffectiveness) of each training seems to differ on the basis of the specific game genre, as well as of the sample characteristics (e.g., Baniqued et al., 2013 ; Oei and Patterson, 2015 ; Chandra et al., 2016 ). Future studies are therefore necessary in order to better investigate the role of video games in such sense.

Regarding mental spatial rotation, even though the effect sizes are averagely high, only two studies have been included in this review, therefore results should be considered in the context of such numerical limitation. From what emerged from this systematic review, an enhancement of mental spatial rotation abilities was reported after training with commercial exergames and driving-racing games, with a greater advance for women ( Cherney et al., 2014 ), while no improvement was observed after training with other commercial games (one exergame and several action games) ( Dominiak and Wiemeyer, 2016 ). Since early findings in this research field have reported evidences supporting an enhanced performance in spatial relations after video game training in elders (e.g., Maillot et al., 2012 ) and children ( Subrahmanyam and Greenfield, 1994 ), future studies should deeply verify the possible usefulness of video games as training of such cognitive skill in adults specifically.

As for task-switching/multitasking, in spite of high effect sizes suggesting the effectiveness of video game trainings in such sense, it is once again important to underline the limited number of considered studies (three). According to the included studies, the cost of dual tasking and the cost of task-switching decreased after training with a commercial puzzle game ( Oei and Patterson, 2014 ), as well as with a custom-made video game ( Montani et al., 2014 ; Parong et al., 2017 ). The use of video games for such purpose, because of their own nature of requiring complex planning and strategizing, appears to be rather significant, as it could potentially allow training or rehabilitation of these cognitive skills (e.g., Boot et al., 2008 ). Literature, nonetheless, still presents mixed results, not always positive (e.g., Green et al., 2012 ), and for this reason future studies providing an in-depth analysis are still necessary.

Finally, regarding video games for the training of emotional skills, effect sizes ranged from 0.201 to 3.01. Despite the generally high values, it is currently impossible to compare them with results emerged from other systematic reviews or meta-analyses concerning the same topic, as the few works around the subject do not provide any information about effect sizes (e.g., Villani et al., 2018 ). The studies included in this review provide evidences suggesting that non-commercial video games ( Dennis and O'Toole, 2014 ; Dennis-Tiwary et al., 2016 ) and commercial video games (exergames and horror games) can be effective in inducing positive emotions and in reducing individual levels of stress in healthy adults ( Bouchard et al., 2012 ; Naugle et al., 2014 ). From this review, it appears that the number of studies conducted about this kind of training is smaller than the amount of studies related to cognitive training. This fact is rather curious, because the video games' intrinsic characteristics of being motivating, engaging, and easily accessible ( Granic et al., 2014 ), make computer games potentially useful tools in order to better the individuals' emotion regulation. Future studies will be fundamental in order to explore the potentiality of video games as emotional training tools, and to identify the most effective game genres for this purpose, examining potentially interesting genres that have not been investigated yet (e.g., affective gaming, virtual reality-based gaming).

Limitations

As with all literature reviews, the current review does not claim to be comprehensive, but summarizes the current research on video games for the cognitive and the emotional training in the adult population based on specific key words used in the search string, the database included and the time period of the review. Moreover, in this review we based our choice of categories on a specific model ( Connolly et al., 2012 ; Kueider et al., 2012 ; Boyle et al., 2016 ), however the level of specificity and distinctiveness of different categories is an ongoing discussion in the scientific world, both in relation with the outcomes of cognitive and emotive trainings, and with analyzing video games. Finally, the follow-up effect of video games training was not specifically addressed in this review, since a very limited number of studies provided follow-up tests.

Future Directions

The present systematic review provides several directions for future studies in this research field. First of all, further studies are needed to better examine the video games effects on cognitive and emotional skills, especially in middle age adults, population which has been investigated in a limited number of studies. Secondly, one of the biggest unresolved issues appears to be the generalizability of improvements: up to now, only short-term effects and specific improvements have been recorded in most studies (e.g., Hardy et al., 2015 ; Tárrega et al., 2015 ). In addition, video game characteristics (e.g., genre, platform) in relation with trained skills should be further investigated in the future, in order to create specific and effective training programs.

To summarize, the present systematic review gives evidences of benefits of video game trainings on cognitive and emotional skills in relation to the healthy adult population, especially on young adults. Efficacy has been demonstrated not only for non-commercial video games or commercial brain-training programs, but for commercial video games as well. As for the distribution of game genre, action games are the most commonly used, followed by puzzle games. Finally, in this review, empirical evidences were identified for all the training outcomes, showing the potential effectiveness of video games for the training of both cognitive (i.e., multiple domain, processing speed and RTs, memory, task-switching/multitasking, mental spatial rotation), and emotional skills.

Author Contributions

FP, AF, and FM conceived the idea of this systematic review. FP and AF examined and write the description of the studies included. FM supervised the scientific asset. FP and AF write the first draft of the paper. All the authors read and approve the final version of the manuscript.

Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Supplementary Material

The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02127/full#supplementary-material

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Keywords: video games, computer games, cognitive training, emotional training, well-being

Citation: Pallavicini F, Ferrari A and Mantovani F (2018) Video Games for Well-Being: A Systematic Review on the Application of Computer Games for Cognitive and Emotional Training in the Adult Population. Front. Psychol. 9:2127. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02127

Received: 13 June 2018; Accepted: 15 October 2018; Published: 07 November 2018.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2018 Pallavicini, Ferrari and Mantovani. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Federica Pallavicini, [email protected]

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Library Resources for Doing Scholarly Research on Video Games

So you are writing a research paper about video games but aren't sure where to begin? Since video games are a new medium of art that requires an interdisciplinary approach to conducting research, databases that draw on many different publications can equip students and scholars with the tools they need to succeed.

Before you begin exploring databases, here are a few useful tips:

• For quick, targeted results,  search by abstract instead of by keyword or by title. In an academic paper, the abstract is a brief summary of what the paper or study is about. Searching by abstract will give you a list of all the articles that discuss video games in the summary, so it will help you narrow down more quickly whether or not the article will be useful to you.
• Use full-text filters to only get results where the entire article is available for you to read.
• For the most scholarly results, use peer-reviewed filters to find only articles vetted by experts in the field.

Recommended Databases

Note that some of these databases are accessible from home with a library card while others can only be used onsite at an NYPL location.

.css-1t84354{transition-property:var(--nypl-transition-property-common);transition-duration:var(--nypl-transition-duration-fast);transition-timing-function:var(--nypl-transition-easing-ease-out);cursor:pointer;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;outline:2px solid transparent;outline-offset:2px;color:var(--nypl-colors-ui-link-primary);text-decoration-style:dotted;text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-underline-offset:2px;}.css-1t84354:hover,.css-1t84354[data-hover]{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;color:var(--nypl-colors-ui-link-secondary);text-decoration-style:dotted;text-decoration-thickness:1px;}.chakra-ui-dark .css-1t84354:hover:not([data-theme]),.chakra-ui-dark .css-1t84354[data-hover]:not([data-theme]),[data-theme=dark] .css-1t84354:hover:not([data-theme]),[data-theme=dark] .css-1t84354[data-hover]:not([data-theme]),.css-1t84354:hover[data-theme=dark],.css-1t84354[data-hover][data-theme=dark]{color:var(--nypl-colors-dark-ui-link-secondary);}.css-1t84354:focus,.css-1t84354[data-focus]{box-shadow:var(--nypl-shadows-outline);}.chakra-ui-dark .css-1t84354:not([data-theme]),[data-theme=dark] .css-1t84354:not([data-theme]),.css-1t84354[data-theme=dark]{color:var(--nypl-colors-dark-ui-link-primary);}.css-1t84354:visited{color:var(--nypl-colors-ui-link-tertiary);}.chakra-ui-dark .css-1t84354:visited:not([data-theme]),[data-theme=dark] .css-1t84354:visited:not([data-theme]),.css-1t84354:visited[data-theme=dark]{color:var(--nypl-colors-dark-ui-link-tertiary);}.css-1t84354 a:hover,.css-1t84354 a[data-hover]{color:var(--nypl-colors-ui-link-secondary);}.css-1t84354 screenreaderOnly{clip:rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);height:1px;overflow:hidden;position:absolute!important;width:1px;word-wrap:normal;} Academic Search Premier

For those new to academia/scholarly research, EBSCO's Academic Search is a staple in libraries nearly everywhere to conduct general research. It is a good starting point to see the current literature out there for any paper, in this case, gaming scholarship. However, just typing in "video games" alone in the search will lead you to over 300,000 results; how do you narrow it down? As mentioned above, use limiters such as peer-reviewed/full text enabled for high-quality articles that you can read fully. Other available search limiters are "magazines" (think video game magazines) and "company" (e.g. if you want to research a specific video game company such as Capcom or Square Enix). Academic Search is good if you want to study video games in terms of education, how to utilize them in a teaching setting, in the workplace, and more. 

Business Source Complete

If you are interested in researching video games from a business point of view, then EBSCO's Business Source Complete is the database for you. Here you will find SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats) analyses of gaming companies, research about NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens), virtual and augmented reality, video games, and more. 

JSTOR (accessible from home with a library card)

Similar to Academic Search, JSTOR is a staple in many libraries and is a good area to conduct initial research while trying to figure out what you want your paper to be about. Typing "video games" alone in the search bar will net you more than 50,000+ scholarly articles about the popular entertainment medium. You can narrow your research to video games in Military Studies, Library Science, Political Science, and much more. 

"Can video games help alleviate seasonal depression?"

"Do violent video games cause behavioral problems in adolescents?" 

"Does Cognitive Dissonance explain the Console Wars?" 

"Does causing chaos in Grand Theft Auto correlate to causing chaos in real life?"

EBSCO's PsycINFO is useful if you are interested in studying video games in terms of the realm of psychology, and have ever pondered one of the above questions. You can find articles about video game addiction, aggression in players, mental health, personality development, and more.

Project Muse

This resource is a general favorite for anything art or media related, with tons of scholarly, peer-reviewed articles about video games including articles on diversity in video games, video games and the ecosystem, video games and civic development, and more. When starting research on video games, this database is highly recommended to be your number one starting point when trying to figure out what your paper is going to be about.  

Sage Knowledge

Sage is a good starting point if you want to read reference/textbook material about video games and gamification. In Sage you will find authoritative encyclopedias and handbooks that will help any gaming scholar in the beginning stages of their research. Some interesting encyclopedias that feature a chapter in video games are Death and the Human Experience, Out-of-School Learning, Communication Research Methods, and many more. 

Additional resources:

• Our  LibGuides page will point you to themed research guides of Library resources. For example, if you wanted to create a video game about a time-traveling librarian that takes place in New York City in the 1800s, looking at local history and newspapers may be something you want to do. If you know the research you want to do requires in-depth assistance, it's encouraged to make an appointment with a librarian . 
• This list of Fellowships around the city and at NYPL may be of interest to scholars. 
• Our Interlibrary Services and Documents is also a service for scholars to utilize if you need an article or not owned by the Library. You can also use interlibrary loan for video games as well. 
• Flipster  is a magazine database accessible with your library card that includes video game magazines.
• Finally, an external resource, the Internet Archive , has all kinds of old-school video games you can play, as well as gaming manuals and much more. Anyone who needs primary sources will find this very useful. 

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• Open access
• Published: 13 March 2018

Does playing violent video games cause aggression? A longitudinal intervention study

• Simone Kühn 1 , 2 ,
• Dimitrij Tycho Kugler 2 ,
• Katharina Schmalen 1 ,
• Markus Weichenberger 1 ,
• Charlotte Witt 1 &
• Jürgen Gallinat 2  

Molecular Psychiatry volume  24 ,  pages 1220–1234 ( 2019 ) Cite this article

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• Neuroscience

It is a widespread concern that violent video games promote aggression, reduce pro-social behaviour, increase impulsivity and interfere with cognition as well as mood in its players. Previous experimental studies have focussed on short-term effects of violent video gameplay on aggression, yet there are reasons to believe that these effects are mostly the result of priming. In contrast, the present study is the first to investigate the effects of long-term violent video gameplay using a large battery of tests spanning questionnaires, behavioural measures of aggression, sexist attitudes, empathy and interpersonal competencies, impulsivity-related constructs (such as sensation seeking, boredom proneness, risk taking, delay discounting), mental health (depressivity, anxiety) as well as executive control functions, before and after 2 months of gameplay. Our participants played the violent video game Grand Theft Auto V, the non-violent video game The Sims 3 or no game at all for 2 months on a daily basis. No significant changes were observed, neither when comparing the group playing a violent video game to a group playing a non-violent game, nor to a passive control group. Also, no effects were observed between baseline and posttest directly after the intervention, nor between baseline and a follow-up assessment 2 months after the intervention period had ended. The present results thus provide strong evidence against the frequently debated negative effects of playing violent video games in adults and will therefore help to communicate a more realistic scientific perspective on the effects of violent video gaming.

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The concern that violent video games may promote aggression or reduce empathy in its players is pervasive and given the popularity of these games their psychological impact is an urgent issue for society at large. Contrary to the custom, this topic has also been passionately debated in the scientific literature. One research camp has strongly argued that violent video games increase aggression in its players [ 1 , 2 ], whereas the other camp [ 3 , 4 ] repeatedly concluded that the effects are minimal at best, if not absent. Importantly, it appears that these fundamental inconsistencies cannot be attributed to differences in research methodology since even meta-analyses, with the goal to integrate the results of all prior studies on the topic of aggression caused by video games led to disparate conclusions [ 2 , 3 ]. These meta-analyses had a strong focus on children, and one of them [ 2 ] reported a marginal age effect suggesting that children might be even more susceptible to violent video game effects.

To unravel this topic of research, we designed a randomised controlled trial on adults to draw causal conclusions on the influence of video games on aggression. At present, almost all experimental studies targeting the effects of violent video games on aggression and/or empathy focussed on the effects of short-term video gameplay. In these studies the duration for which participants were instructed to play the games ranged from 4 min to maximally 2 h (mean = 22 min, median = 15 min, when considering all experimental studies reviewed in two of the recent major meta-analyses in the field [ 3 , 5 ]) and most frequently the effects of video gaming have been tested directly after gameplay.

It has been suggested that the effects of studies focussing on consequences of short-term video gameplay (mostly conducted on college student populations) are mainly the result of priming effects, meaning that exposure to violent content increases the accessibility of aggressive thoughts and affect when participants are in the immediate situation [ 6 ]. However, above and beyond this the General Aggression Model (GAM, [ 7 ]) assumes that repeatedly primed thoughts and feelings influence the perception of ongoing events and therewith elicits aggressive behaviour as a long-term effect. We think that priming effects are interesting and worthwhile exploring, but in contrast to the notion of the GAM our reading of the literature is that priming effects are short-lived (suggested to only last for <5 min and may potentially reverse after that time [ 8 ]). Priming effects should therefore only play a role in very close temporal proximity to gameplay. Moreover, there are a multitude of studies on college students that have failed to replicate priming effects [ 9 , 10 , 11 ] and associated predictions of the so-called GAM such as a desensitisation against violent content [ 12 , 13 , 14 ] in adolescents and college students or a decrease of empathy [ 15 ] and pro-social behaviour [ 16 , 17 ] as a result of playing violent video games.

However, in our view the question that society is actually interested in is not: “Are people more aggressive after having played violent video games for a few minutes? And are these people more aggressive minutes after gameplay ended?”, but rather “What are the effects of frequent, habitual violent video game playing? And for how long do these effects persist (not in the range of minutes but rather weeks and months)?” For this reason studies are needed in which participants are trained over longer periods of time, tested after a longer delay after acute playing and tested with broader batteries assessing aggression but also other relevant domains such as empathy as well as mood and cognition. Moreover, long-term follow-up assessments are needed to demonstrate long-term effects of frequent violent video gameplay. To fill this gap, we set out to expose adult participants to two different types of video games for a period of 2 months and investigate changes in measures of various constructs of interest at least one day after the last gaming session and test them once more 2 months after the end of the gameplay intervention. In contrast to the GAM, we hypothesised no increases of aggression or decreases in pro-social behaviour even after long-term exposure to a violent video game due to our reasoning that priming effects of violent video games are short-lived and should therefore not influence measures of aggression if they are not measured directly after acute gaming. In the present study, we assessed potential changes in the following domains: behavioural as well as questionnaire measures of aggression, empathy and interpersonal competencies, impulsivity-related constructs (such as sensation seeking, boredom proneness, risk taking, delay discounting), and depressivity and anxiety as well as executive control functions. As the effects on aggression and pro-social behaviour were the core targets of the present study, we implemented multiple tests for these domains. This broad range of domains with its wide coverage and the longitudinal nature of the study design enabled us to draw more general conclusions regarding the causal effects of violent video games.

Materials and methods

Participants.

Ninety healthy participants (mean age = 28 years, SD = 7.3, range: 18–45, 48 females) were recruited by means of flyers and internet advertisements. The sample consisted of college students as well as of participants from the general community. The advertisement mentioned that we were recruiting for a longitudinal study on video gaming, but did not mention that we would offer an intervention or that we were expecting training effects. Participants were randomly assigned to the three groups ruling out self-selection effects. The sample size was based on estimates from a previous study with a similar design [ 18 ]. After complete description of the study, the participants’ informed written consent was obtained. The local ethics committee of the Charité University Clinic, Germany, approved of the study. We included participants that reported little, preferably no video game usage in the past 6 months (none of the participants ever played the game Grand Theft Auto V (GTA) or Sims 3 in any of its versions before). We excluded participants with psychological or neurological problems. The participants received financial compensation for the testing sessions (200 Euros) and performance-dependent additional payment for two behavioural tasks detailed below, but received no money for the training itself.

Training procedure

The violent video game group (5 participants dropped out between pre- and posttest, resulting in a group of n  = 25, mean age = 26.6 years, SD = 6.0, 14 females) played the game Grand Theft Auto V on a Playstation 3 console over a period of 8 weeks. The active control group played the non-violent video game Sims 3 on the same console (6 participants dropped out, resulting in a group of n  = 24, mean age = 25.8 years, SD = 6.8, 12 females). The passive control group (2 participants dropped out, resulting in a group of n  = 28, mean age = 30.9 years, SD = 8.4, 12 females) was not given a gaming console and had no task but underwent the same testing procedure as the two other groups. The passive control group was not aware of the fact that they were part of a control group to prevent self-training attempts. The experimenters testing the participants were blind to group membership, but we were unable to prevent participants from talking about the game during testing, which in some cases lead to an unblinding of experimental condition. Both training groups were instructed to play the game for at least 30 min a day. Participants were only reimbursed for the sessions in which they came to the lab. Our previous research suggests that the perceived fun in gaming was positively associated with training outcome [ 18 ] and we speculated that enforcing training sessions through payment would impair motivation and thus diminish the potential effect of the intervention. Participants underwent a testing session before (baseline) and after the training period of 2 months (posttest 1) as well as a follow-up testing sessions 2 months after the training period (posttest 2).

Grand Theft Auto V (GTA)

GTA is an action-adventure video game situated in a fictional highly violent game world in which players are rewarded for their use of violence as a means to advance in the game. The single-player story follows three criminals and their efforts to commit heists while under pressure from a government agency. The gameplay focuses on an open world (sandbox game) where the player can choose between different behaviours. The game also allows the player to engage in various side activities, such as action-adventure, driving, third-person shooting, occasional role-playing, stealth and racing elements. The open world design lets players freely roam around the fictional world so that gamers could in principle decide not to commit violent acts.

The Sims 3 (Sims)

Sims is a life simulation game and also classified as a sandbox game because it lacks clearly defined goals. The player creates virtual individuals called “Sims”, and customises their appearance, their personalities and places them in a home, directs their moods, satisfies their desires and accompanies them in their daily activities and by becoming part of a social network. It offers opportunities, which the player may choose to pursue or to refuse, similar as GTA but is generally considered as a pro-social and clearly non-violent game.

Assessment battery

To assess aggression and associated constructs we used the following questionnaires: Buss–Perry Aggression Questionnaire [ 19 ], State Hostility Scale [ 20 ], Updated Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale [ 21 , 22 ], Moral Disengagement Scale [ 23 , 24 ], the Rosenzweig Picture Frustration Test [ 25 , 26 ] and a so-called World View Measure [ 27 ]. All of these measures have previously been used in research investigating the effects of violent video gameplay, however, the first two most prominently. Additionally, behavioural measures of aggression were used: a Word Completion Task, a Lexical Decision Task [ 28 ] and the Delay frustration task [ 29 ] (an inter-correlation matrix is depicted in Supplementary Figure 1 1). From these behavioural measures, the first two were previously used in research on the effects of violent video gameplay. To assess variables that have been related to the construct of impulsivity, we used the Brief Sensation Seeking Scale [ 30 ] and the Boredom Propensity Scale [ 31 ] as well as tasks assessing risk taking and delay discounting behaviourally, namely the Balloon Analogue Risk Task [ 32 ] and a Delay-Discounting Task [ 33 ]. To quantify pro-social behaviour, we employed: Interpersonal Reactivity Index [ 34 ] (frequently used in research on the effects of violent video gameplay), Balanced Emotional Empathy Scale [ 35 ], Reading the Mind in the Eyes test [ 36 ], Interpersonal Competence Questionnaire [ 37 ] and Richardson Conflict Response Questionnaire [ 38 ]. To assess depressivity and anxiety, which has previously been associated with intense video game playing [ 39 ], we used Beck Depression Inventory [ 40 ] and State Trait Anxiety Inventory [ 41 ]. To characterise executive control function, we used a Stop Signal Task [ 42 ], a Multi-Source Interference Task [ 43 ] and a Task Switching Task [ 44 ] which have all been previously used to assess effects of video gameplay. More details on all instruments used can be found in the Supplementary Material.

Data analysis

On the basis of the research question whether violent video game playing enhances aggression and reduces empathy, the focus of the present analysis was on time by group interactions. We conducted these interaction analyses separately, comparing the violent video game group against the active control group (GTA vs. Sims) and separately against the passive control group (GTA vs. Controls) that did not receive any intervention and separately for the potential changes during the intervention period (baseline vs. posttest 1) and to test for potential long-term changes (baseline vs. posttest 2). We employed classical frequentist statistics running a repeated-measures ANOVA controlling for the covariates sex and age.

Since we collected 52 separate outcome variables and conduced four different tests with each (GTA vs. Sims, GTA vs. Controls, crossed with baseline vs. posttest 1, baseline vs. posttest 2), we had to conduct 52 × 4 = 208 frequentist statistical tests. Setting the alpha value to 0.05 means that by pure chance about 10.4 analyses should become significant. To account for this multiple testing problem and the associated alpha inflation, we conducted a Bonferroni correction. According to Bonferroni, the critical value for the entire set of n tests is set to an alpha value of 0.05 by taking alpha/ n  = 0.00024.

Since the Bonferroni correction has sometimes been criticised as overly conservative, we conducted false discovery rate (FDR) correction [ 45 ]. FDR correction also determines adjusted p -values for each test, however, it controls only for the number of false discoveries in those tests that result in a discovery (namely a significant result).

Moreover, we tested for group differences at the baseline assessment using independent t -tests, since those may hamper the interpretation of significant interactions between group and time that we were primarily interested in.

Since the frequentist framework does not enable to evaluate whether the observed null effect of the hypothesised interaction is indicative of the absence of a relation between violent video gaming and our dependent variables, the amount of evidence in favour of the null hypothesis has been tested using a Bayesian framework. Within the Bayesian framework both the evidence in favour of the null and the alternative hypothesis are directly computed based on the observed data, giving rise to the possibility of comparing the two. We conducted Bayesian repeated-measures ANOVAs comparing the model in favour of the null and the model in favour of the alternative hypothesis resulting in a Bayes factor (BF) using Bayesian Information criteria [ 46 ]. The BF 01 suggests how much more likely the data is to occur under the null hypothesis. All analyses were performed using the JASP software package ( https://jasp-stats.org ).

Sex distribution in the present study did not differ across the groups ( χ 2 p -value > 0.414). However, due to the fact that differences between males and females have been observed in terms of aggression and empathy [ 47 ], we present analyses controlling for sex. Since our random assignment to the three groups did result in significant age differences between groups, with the passive control group being significantly older than the GTA ( t (51) = −2.10, p  = 0.041) and the Sims group ( t (50) = −2.38, p  = 0.021), we also controlled for age.

The participants in the violent video game group played on average 35 h and the non-violent video game group 32 h spread out across the 8 weeks interval (with no significant group difference p  = 0.48).

To test whether participants assigned to the violent GTA game show emotional, cognitive and behavioural changes, we present the results of repeated-measure ANOVA time x group interaction analyses separately for GTA vs. Sims and GTA vs. Controls (Tables  1 – 3 ). Moreover, we split the analyses according to the time domain into effects from baseline assessment to posttest 1 (Table  2 ) and effects from baseline assessment to posttest 2 (Table  3 ) to capture more long-lasting or evolving effects. In addition to the statistical test values, we report partial omega squared ( ω 2 ) as an effect size measure. Next to the classical frequentist statistics, we report the results of a Bayesian statistical approach, namely BF 01 , the likelihood with which the data is to occur under the null hypothesis that there is no significant time × group interaction. In Table  2 , we report the presence of significant group differences at baseline in the right most column.

Since we conducted 208 separate frequentist tests we expected 10.4 significant effects simply by chance when setting the alpha value to 0.05. In fact we found only eight significant time × group interactions (these are marked with an asterisk in Tables  2 and 3 ).

When applying a conservative Bonferroni correction, none of those tests survive the corrected threshold of p  < 0.00024. Neither does any test survive the more lenient FDR correction. The arithmetic mean of the frequentist test statistics likewise shows that on average no significant effect was found (bottom rows in Tables  2 and 3 ).

In line with the findings from a frequentist approach, the harmonic mean of the Bayesian factor BF 01 is consistently above one but not very far from one. This likewise suggests that there is very likely no interaction between group × time and therewith no detrimental effects of the violent video game GTA in the domains tested. The evidence in favour of the null hypothesis based on the Bayes factor is not massive, but clearly above 1. Some of the harmonic means are above 1.6 and constitute substantial evidence [ 48 ]. However, the harmonic mean has been criticised as unstable. Owing to the fact that the sum is dominated by occasional small terms in the likelihood, one may underestimate the actual evidence in favour of the null hypothesis [ 49 ].

To test the sensitivity of the present study to detect relevant effects we computed the effect size that we would have been able to detect. The information we used consisted of alpha error probability = 0.05, power = 0.95, our sample size, number of groups and of measurement occasions and correlation between the repeated measures at posttest 1 and posttest 2 (average r  = 0.68). According to G*Power [ 50 ], we could detect small effect sizes of f  = 0.16 (equals η 2  = 0.025 and r  = 0.16) in each separate test. When accounting for the conservative Bonferroni-corrected p -value of 0.00024, still a medium effect size of f  = 0.23 (equals η 2  = 0.05 and r  = 0.22) would have been detectable. A meta-analysis by Anderson [ 2 ] reported an average effects size of r  = 0.18 for experimental studies testing for aggressive behaviour and another by Greitmeyer [ 5 ] reported average effect sizes of r  = 0.19, 0.25 and 0.17 for effects of violent games on aggressive behaviour, cognition and affect, all of which should have been detectable at least before multiple test correction.

Within the scope of the present study we tested the potential effects of playing the violent video game GTA V for 2 months against an active control group that played the non-violent, rather pro-social life simulation game The Sims 3 and a passive control group. Participants were tested before and after the long-term intervention and at a follow-up appointment 2 months later. Although we used a comprehensive test battery consisting of questionnaires and computerised behavioural tests assessing aggression, impulsivity-related constructs, mood, anxiety, empathy, interpersonal competencies and executive control functions, we did not find relevant negative effects in response to violent video game playing. In fact, only three tests of the 208 statistical tests performed showed a significant interaction pattern that would be in line with this hypothesis. Since at least ten significant effects would be expected purely by chance, we conclude that there were no detrimental effects of violent video gameplay.

This finding stands in contrast to some experimental studies, in which short-term effects of violent video game exposure have been investigated and where increases in aggressive thoughts and affect as well as decreases in helping behaviour have been observed [ 1 ]. However, these effects of violent video gaming on aggressiveness—if present at all (see above)—seem to be rather short-lived, potentially lasting <15 min [ 8 , 51 ]. In addition, these short-term effects of video gaming are far from consistent as multiple studies fail to demonstrate or replicate them [ 16 , 17 ]. This may in part be due to problems, that are very prominent in this field of research, namely that the outcome measures of aggression and pro-social behaviour, are poorly standardised, do not easily generalise to real-life behaviour and may have lead to selective reporting of the results [ 3 ]. We tried to address these concerns by including a large set of outcome measures that were mostly inspired by previous studies demonstrating effects of short-term violent video gameplay on aggressive behaviour and thoughts, that we report exhaustively.

Since effects observed only for a few minutes after short sessions of video gaming are not representative of what society at large is actually interested in, namely how habitual violent video gameplay affects behaviour on a more long-term basis, studies employing longer training intervals are highly relevant. Two previous studies have employed longer training intervals. In an online study, participants with a broad age range (14–68 years) have been trained in a violent video game for 4 weeks [ 52 ]. In comparison to a passive control group no changes were observed, neither in aggression-related beliefs, nor in aggressive social interactions assessed by means of two questions. In a more recent study, participants played a previous version of GTA for 12 h spread across 3 weeks [ 53 ]. Participants were compared to a passive control group using the Buss–Perry aggression questionnaire, a questionnaire assessing impulsive or reactive aggression, attitude towards violence, and empathy. The authors only report a limited increase in pro-violent attitude. Unfortunately, this study only assessed posttest measures, which precludes the assessment of actual changes caused by the game intervention.

The present study goes beyond these studies by showing that 2 months of violent video gameplay does neither lead to any significant negative effects in a broad assessment battery administered directly after the intervention nor at a follow-up assessment 2 months after the intervention. The fact that we assessed multiple domains, not finding an effect in any of them, makes the present study the most comprehensive in the field. Our battery included self-report instruments on aggression (Buss–Perry aggression questionnaire, State Hostility scale, Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance scale, Moral Disengagement scale, World View Measure and Rosenzweig Picture Frustration test) as well as computer-based tests measuring aggressive behaviour such as the delay frustration task and measuring the availability of aggressive words using the word completion test and a lexical decision task. Moreover, we assessed impulse-related concepts such as sensation seeking, boredom proneness and associated behavioural measures such as the computerised Balloon analogue risk task, and delay discounting. Four scales assessing empathy and interpersonal competence scales, including the reading the mind in the eyes test revealed no effects of violent video gameplay. Neither did we find any effects on depressivity (Becks depression inventory) nor anxiety measured as a state as well as a trait. This is an important point, since several studies reported higher rates of depressivity and anxiety in populations of habitual video gamers [ 54 , 55 ]. Last but not least, our results revealed also no substantial changes in executive control tasks performance, neither in the Stop signal task, the Multi-source interference task or a Task switching task. Previous studies have shown higher performance of habitual action video gamers in executive tasks such as task switching [ 56 , 57 , 58 ] and another study suggests that training with action video games improves task performance that relates to executive functions [ 59 ], however, these associations were not confirmed by a meta-analysis in the field [ 60 ]. The absence of changes in the stop signal task fits well with previous studies that likewise revealed no difference between in habitual action video gamers and controls in terms of action inhibition [ 61 , 62 ]. Although GTA does not qualify as a classical first-person shooter as most of the previously tested action video games, it is classified as an action-adventure game and shares multiple features with those action video games previously related to increases in executive function, including the need for hand–eye coordination and fast reaction times.

Taken together, the findings of the present study show that an extensive game intervention over the course of 2 months did not reveal any specific changes in aggression, empathy, interpersonal competencies, impulsivity-related constructs, depressivity, anxiety or executive control functions; neither in comparison to an active control group that played a non-violent video game nor to a passive control group. We observed no effects when comparing a baseline and a post-training assessment, nor when focussing on more long-term effects between baseline and a follow-up interval 2 months after the participants stopped training. To our knowledge, the present study employed the most comprehensive test battery spanning a multitude of domains in which changes due to violent video games may have been expected. Therefore the present results provide strong evidence against the frequently debated negative effects of playing violent video games. This debate has mostly been informed by studies showing short-term effects of violent video games when tests were administered immediately after a short playtime of a few minutes; effects that may in large be caused by short-lived priming effects that vanish after minutes. The presented results will therefore help to communicate a more realistic scientific perspective of the real-life effects of violent video gaming. However, future research is needed to demonstrate the absence of effects of violent video gameplay in children.

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SK has been funded by a Heisenberg grant from the German Science Foundation (DFG KU 3322/1-1, SFB 936/C7), the European Union (ERC-2016-StG-Self-Control-677804) and a Fellowship from the Jacobs Foundation (JRF 2016–2018).

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Kühn, S., Kugler, D., Schmalen, K. et al. Does playing violent video games cause aggression? A longitudinal intervention study. Mol Psychiatry 24 , 1220–1234 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-018-0031-7

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College & Research Libraries ( C&RL ) is the official, bi-monthly, online-only scholarly research journal of the Association of College & Research Libraries, a division of the American Library Association.

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Shannon L. Farrell is Natural Resources Librarian in the Natural Resources Library at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities; e-mail: [email protected] . Amy E. Neeser is Assistant Librarian, Library Research—Science and Engineering in the University Library at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; e-mail: [email protected] . Carolyn Bishoff is Physics, Astronomy, and Earth Sciences Librarian in the Walter Library at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities; e-mail: [email protected] ).

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Academic Uses of Video Games: A Qualitative Assessment of Research and Teaching Needs at a Large Research University

Shannon L. Farrell, Amy E. Neeser, and Carolyn Bishoff *

Academic libraries develop collections and services for scholars who use video games in teaching and research. However, there are no assessments of related information and technology needs. The authors conducted 30 semistructured interviews to gather data about these needs and understand how the University of Minnesota Libraries can facilitate access to games and technology. A total of 28 interviewees used games in research, and 23 used games in teaching. We identified a variety of information and technology needs; many showed strong disciplinary trends. The findings can inform needs-based multidisciplinary strategies to develop video game services and collections relevant to unique academic communities.

Introduction

Recent studies show that video games are ingrained in American culture and, increasingly, higher education. A 2015 Pew Research Center survey found that 49 percent of American adults and 67 percent of adults ages 18–29 play video games. 1 The New Media Consortium reported that games and gamification have several applications in higher education, as educational technology and components of blended learning. 2 A search for “video games” in major article indices finds game technology used in diverse research areas.

College and research libraries share a vision of exceptional services to motivate and facilitate cutting-edge research and student learning 3 and have proactively supported scholars using and experimenting with video games. Librarians frequently collaborate with faculty and students to create game collections and interactive spaces for research, teaching, game development, and play. Despite this, there are currently no multidisciplinary assessments that provide an overview of the information and technology needs required by scholars working with video games. Some disciplinary-specific needs are understood, such as the needs of game design programs and curricula, but most information on needs is based on anecdotal evidence.

The University of Minnesota (UMN) is a large, doctoral-granting research university. The Twin Cities campus includes more than 4,000 faculty and 52,000 students, 16 colleges, and more than 300 research, education, and outreach centers and institutes. There is no video game design program or department, but there are a number of research faculty, teaching faculty, and students who use video games for academic purposes. To understand the diverse uses of video games across disciplines, we conducted semistructured narrative interviews of faculty, staff, and graduate students who use games or gaming technology in their work. This paper explores the information and technology needs of scholars who use video games on the UMN campus, similarities and differences by discipline, and how college and research libraries can incorporate disciplinary needs into a strategic approach to video game services and collections.

Literature Review

Many academic libraries recognize that scholars using video games for research and instruction have unique information and technology needs. In 2008, Smith 4 called for a better understanding of game scholars’ information needs, research methods, and types of materials they require, but there are three challenges to understanding those needs on a large scale: lack of information on conducting a comprehensive needs assessment of academic video game users, scarce information about research and teaching needs related to video games, and little information about how unique disciplinary or institutional needs affect a game-related collection or service.

Most library literature on games focuses on recommended genres and equipment 5 or the specifics of acquiring, cataloging, and circulating games. 6 Descriptions of video game collections and services often include a process to gather input; but none of these articles go into detail about the methods or findings, nor do they share a specific plan for how faculty and students would be consulted as technology, research, and classroom needs change.

Laskowski and Ward provide the most thorough overview of classroom and research needs and areas the library can support. 7 They note three primary needs for game-related classes at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC): access to labs with high-powered PCs, availability of course reserves, and access to discontinued games. They propose a variety of needs for game design classes and surmise that those classes would benefit from close liaison partnerships. The research needs they identify all relate to analyses of gameplay, and they propose archiving gameplay videos with player commentary. Since then, game technology has evolved and these recommendations are worth updating.

Many academic libraries have new game collections since the publication of these foundational articles, and descriptions of these collections provide the most up-to-date understanding of the evolving academic uses of video games. It is well recognized that researchers and instructors who use games come from many different disciplines, including education, economics, and the humanities. 8 Some libraries developed partnerships with one department or discipline, such as education 9 or the arts. 10 Librarians managing the game collection at the University of Chicago (UChicago) intend to serve a wide population, from music to media studies to computer science. 11 UChicago also has strong faculty advocates who identified many potential users on campus. 12 Game collections at the University of Michigan 13 and Carleton University 14 likewise support a range of courses and research interests from the sciences to the humanities.

Despite the variety of potential users, there is less documentation about how a library game collection reflects the disciplinary or departmental information and technology needs at a particular institution. The information available shows a surprising amount of consistency across academic game collections: most libraries collect commercially successful games to play on consoles, such as the Playstation 3 or XBox 360. UIUC, 15 the University of Michigan, 16 and the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC) 17 have vintage games and game systems available. Though personal computer (PC) games are recognized as an important genre to collect, 18 it was difficult to determine if any academic libraries collected PC games or provided hardware to play them. Carleton University is one of the few that does. 19

There are similarities among the themes of many game collections. Collections at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), 20 UChicago, 21 and the University of Michigan 22 all represent the history of video game development and the evolution of games through time. Many academic game collections also focus on acquiring current releases. 23

Some libraries have unique aspects to their collections. For example, VCU collects games specifically for users in the arts. The arts librarian looks for “games that have certain aesthetics … have significant artistic direction, unique narrative or cerebral gameplay.” 24 Some libraries plan to expand beyond console games, including UChicago; a faculty member from English hopes that “computer and mobile games” are eventually added to the collection. 25 At least two libraries make game development software available: the University of Calgary game resources include “six high performance (liquid cooled) gaming PCs” with software packages including Unity and several Autodesk products; 26 and Carleton University had requests for software including Poser Pro. 27

As affordable game technology evolves, libraries take steps to stay up-to-date with new research and teaching applications. Commonly, academic libraries rely on subject librarians to stay aware of research and instruction trends, and that is no different when video games are involved. 28 Another strategy involves direct faculty and student input, which often happens during the initial development of video game collections. 29 However, some collections are built from donations and gifts like at the University of Calgary; 30 a for those, the relationship between the collection and local research and teaching needs is less clear. Some collections accept donations for a particular purpose: the University of Michigan Computer and Video Game Archive (CVGA) accepts donations and purchases games to create the most comprehensive collection possible, while also collecting in targeted ways to support faculty and student activities. 31

No literature to date provides a comprehensive overview of the information and technology needs of academic video game users. Many universities rely on a handful of faculty advisors to understand needs on campus; UIUC consulted a faculty member and hosted a game night for students to gather input; 32 Carleton University similarly “crowd-sourced” input for their game collection from faculty, students, and library staff, though they did not describe their methods. 33 At UChicago, faculty advocates assisted directly with the development of the collection. 34 The University of Michigan LibGuide for the CVGA provides the most comprehensive list of courses, research, and faculty who have used the CVGA on their campus, but the list is intended to inform students and potential users, not provide an overview of trends about research and teaching needs or inform collection and service development. 35

This paper explores the information and technology needs of games scholars at UMN Twin Cities and how libraries can accommodate disciplinary needs and help overcome barriers to academic work related to video games.

We formulated the following research questions:

• Which disciplines are represented among UMN scholars who use video games?
• Do UMN scholars who use video games collaborate outside their disciplines?
• What are the information and technology needs for game-related research and teaching at UMN?
• Are there similarities in the information and technology needs of researchers and instructors using video games, despite disciplinary differences?
• If obstacles are identified, how can libraries help researchers and instructors overcome them and enhance their work?

To answer these questions, we identified scholars at UMN who work with video games or video game technology. This was defined broadly and ranged from using games as an object of study to using the technology to study a separate problem. We excluded researchers studying “game theory” (a mathematical concept) or studying analog games such as board games or logic puzzles because our interest was in needs related to video game technology.

We used a number of methods to identify a population of faculty, staff, and students. SciVal Experts, a research profile system used at UMN, identified 62 people who had published on video games. The SciVal Experts system does not include all UMN scholars, and the database best represents disciplines that use journal articles as their primary means of scholarly communication, so we also conducted searches of the UMN website to find mentions of video games in biographies, research statements, or classes. Word-of-mouth also played an important role: we asked librarians at the UMN for recommendations and used snowball sampling to find additional names from those we interviewed. Through these combined methods, we obtained 92 total names, which we considered an exhaustive list.

A qualitative approach was most appropriate, as opposed to a survey, since it allowed participants to drive the conversation and focus on topics important to them. Since we did not have personal connections to those doing video game–related work at UMN, interviews had the additional advantage of building new relationships. We sent invitations to conduct hour-long, semistructured interviews to our sample of faculty, staff, and graduate students. Those who responded were interviewed at a location of their choice. Those who did not respond were sent a follow-up invitation two weeks later. Of the 92 names in the original population, 30 people agreed to be interviewed, 20 declined, and 42 did not respond.

Each interview was attended by two members of the research team and was audio recorded with the interviewee’s permission. We asked guiding questions, but the interviewee led the conversation. Instead of transcribing each interview, we used a Google form to code data from the audio (see appendix for codes and definitions). We used a controlled vocabulary to code most topics and captured quotes and observations with free-text responses. To make sure that different coders maintained a level of consistency, we reviewed the audio from the first 15 interviews in tandem and resolved disputes with the codes and analysis methodology. We then assigned a single reviewer to the final 15 subjects.

We took measures to ensure participants’ anonymity by assigning each participant a random number, coding participants by discipline instead of department, and using generic titles (such as untenured faculty) in place of official positions. These methods were approved by the UMN Institutional Review Board on October 17, 2014.

We identified 92 people from four broad disciplinary groups: arts and humanities, social sciences, science/technology/engineering/math (STEM), and health sciences (see table 1). We interviewed 30 people from this population, an overall response rate of 33 percent. The interview sample overrepresented the STEM population, which had a 52 percent response rate, and underrepresented health sciences, which had a 19 percent response rate (see figure 1). It also overrepresented graduate students, who had a 46 percent response rate overall. Participants were split almost evenly between graduate students (13) and faculty/staff (17). It was also noteworthy that the largest number of interviewed graduate students (in both frequency and percentage of total) occurred in arts and humanities (5).

Interdepartmental collaboration was defined as a relationship, formal or informal, between an interview participant and a member of another department. Both formal and informal collaboration were considered: formal collaboration was defined as a relationship based on an externally recognized partnership, such as a project, grant, coauthorship on a manuscript, or serving as an academic advisor or dissertation committee member; informal collaboration was defined as unofficial or casual partnerships based on consultations, conversations, and friendships that contribute to academic work. These data were used to determine whether an interviewee’s work was confined to a single department or discipline or whether he or she had potential connections outside the interviewee’s home department. We found high levels of interdepartmental collaboration in all disciplines (see figure 2). One third of interview participants (10) reported three or more interdepartmental relationships, including an untenured instructor in arts and humanities who collaborated with faculty and students across five different departments in arts and humanities, STEM, and social sciences. A total of 20 percent of participants (6) reported no collaboration or no collaboration outside their departments, including an untenured instructor in STEM who only collaborated with graduate teaching assistants in his department. Interviewees from arts and humanities were the only group where all interviewees reported collaborative partnerships.

The majority (21/30) of interview participants used video games in both research and teaching (see figure 3). Most participants conducted research with video games (28/30). About a quarter of interviewees (7), most from STEM and health sciences, used games solely in research, including a graduate student in STEM who received funding for research and did not teach. Five categories of game-related research emerged from the interviews (see figure 4). Interviewees who conducted research on the development of games or technology typically produced software or algorithms that could be used in games or developed games based on existing technology. Researchers who used games as instrumentation modified game technology to collect quantitative data or used video games as a cheaper alternative to another analogous instrument they could have purchased. When games were used as an object of study, researchers often applied critical analysis or theory to a video game as they would another text or primary source. When games were used to study influences on people or society, the researcher typically used qualitative methods to examine some societal impact of games. Finally, games were studied by some for their educational applications and impact on student outcomes. Some interviewees used games in more than one way, such as a graduate student in arts and humanities who studied video games as both a cultural object and a cultural influence. Similarly, an untenured faculty in STEM researched video games as an educational technology while also examining their social influence. Each discipline was represented in 3–4 research application categories. At the same time, strong disciplinary research trends were present and each category was dominated by a single discipline, with the exception of educational technology. Educational technology applications primarily included testing games and game-based learning principles in the classroom.

Fewer people used video games in teaching (23/30) than in research, but interviewees who taught with games most often used them in research as well. For example, a tenured faculty researched the effectiveness of a mobile game to create and grade assignments and used the same game in several of his courses. Only two individuals used video games solely in a teaching capacity, including an instructor in STEM who had no research responsibilities. Four categories of teaching applications emerged from the interviews (see figure 5). Some instructors designed games from scratch for students to use in the classroom. Other instructors taught game design principles sometimes using commercial games and sometimes requiring students to create their own games. Games were also used as course material, analogous to texts or other primary sources: instructors assigned games in the syllabus or had students watch videos of others playing through a game. Finally, instructors discussed games, game mechanics, or their own research on games in the classroom but may not have assigned games to students to play in the course. Similar to research applications, some interviewees used games in the classroom multiple ways, like an untenured faculty in STEM who taught game design and also used video games as course material. Every disciplinary group used video games as course material and as a discussion piece in class. Some teaching applications were more common in particular disciplines; 4 of 8 STEM interviewees designed a game for their classes and 5 of 6 from the social sciences used games as course material. Overall, disciplinary trends were far less distinct. Table 2 summarizes the data from figures 3–5.

Among the interviewees, 18 types of information were used (see table 3). Arts and humanities participants used the most information sources (13), while STEM participants used the least (6). Video games were used as primary sources by interviewees in arts and humanities and social sciences, including a tenured faculty in the social sciences who studies game symbology. Interviewees from all disciplines used colleagues, web sources, journals and Google Scholar. Dominant information sources emerged from each discipline: arts and humanities, journals and web sources (see figure 6); social sciences, journals (see figure 7); STEM, colleagues, journals, and Google Scholar (see figure 8); and health sciences, colleagues (see figure 9).

Participants identified 17 unique technology needs (see table 4). The following technology categories emerged: equipment, games, programming languages, servers, software, and web applications. Equipment included any type of hardware, from game consoles like Xbox or PlayStations, to mobile phones or personal computers (PCs). PCs were the most common piece of equipment identified as required by the whole sample, but peripherals (accessories such as game controllers) were the predominant type of equipment mentioned by participants in the health sciences. For example, a Wii balance board was used to study involuntary bodily movements. Only five interviewees used console system equipment (see figure 10).

Games referred to all types of playable software, and four categories of video games emerged: PC games, played on a computer and often accessed through a platform like Steam, were the most common, followed by console games (played on a console) and web games (played through an Internet browser); mobile games (played on a phone) were the least common. Arts and humanities and social sciences participants had the strongest need for games, and they use the widest variety of platforms. For example, a graduate student in arts and humanities uses PC, console, and mobile games to study music, and a graduate student in the social sciences uses web, PC, and console games to study representations of bodies. Social sciences have the largest use of web-based games, used by 3 of 4 interviewees. Only 1 of 11 STEM participants used video games in his or her academic activities (see figure 11), a graduate student studying a prominent massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG).

Software as a category excluded video games but included almost any other type of digital application that a researcher or instructor identified as necessary to his or her work. The subcategories were chosen with collection development needs in mind; proprietary software would likely come at a cost and include access restrictions, while open source software would be more accessible for any library or user to install. Other categories of interest included custom software, which was usually designed by the researcher or instructor and might not be widely shared or available, and game design software. Game design software might overlap with one of the other categories: some interviewees used Unity, an open source game design software; some used the Unreal engine, which at the time of the interviews cost money to download and was not open source; and some built custom game design software of their own. STEM participants had the most software needs overall; and, as a group, both STEM and health sciences interviewees reported using some type of software from every category (see figure 12). However, the needs were diverse among individuals: a graduate student in STEM used proprietary robotics software and a tenured faculty member in STEM used open source software to teach programming. Arts and humanities interviewees overall did not report many software needs; only 1 of 7 interviewees described any software needs at all. However, members of every disciplinary grouping did report a need for proprietary software.

Some technology used by the interviewees in this study was free or provided by the university, like a personal computer, but many technology needs required some financial resources to fulfill. To determine how interviewees currently met their technology needs, we asked about the specific methods they used to acquire technology. We split the results on technology acquisition into two categories: graduate students and faculty/staff (see figures 13 and 14). Tenured and untenured faculty and staff were combined because the methods of technology acquisition were very similar for both groups. Graduate students used many strategies to acquire technology, including borrowing from others or using their own personal property. For example, one graduate student in the social sciences used free technology, borrowed games from others, made purchases, and still did not have all the technology he needed. On the other hand, faculty and staff primarily purchase technology. One faculty member in health sciences said, “I usually have a couple thousand bucks in my ICR [indirect cost recovery] account… that’s more than enough to pay for the kinds of things we’ve been talking about [plasma screen, Xbox 360, games].” This trend holds true regardless of tenure status. Faculty and staff in STEM are using more freely available technology when compared to the other disciplinary groups. If the faculty, staff, or students had not yet acquired the technology they planned to use, those responses appear as “other.” Faculty planned to either create the technology themselves or hire someone to create it, while graduate students were still considering their options.

Funding sources differed significantly by status, and untenured faculty and staff are shown separately from tenured faculty and graduate students (see figures 15–17). In general, graduate students and untenured faculty and staff relied on a variety of methods for funding compared to tenured faculty. In arts and humanities and social sciences, many graduate students paid out-of-pocket, such as a graduate student in arts and humanities who was unable to get funding for game skins (armor, clothing, and the like), which were required for his dissertation research. In STEM, graduate students received some funding from grants, but that was not the case for graduate students from other disciplines (see figure 15). Tenured faculty mostly got their funding from grants (10 out of 11 in our sample), with some additional support from ICR funds, departmental funds (funding providing by a researcher’s or instructor’s department), and new technology funds (funds provided by the department, college, or university to acquire technology) (see figure 16). Unlike graduate students, tenured faculty did not pay out-of-pocket costs. Health sciences’ tenured faculty illustrated a depth of funding sources. Although there were only three participants in our sample, they had six sources of funding. One example is a tenured faculty member who had both an external grant and used department funding. Untenured faculty and staff appear to be seeking multiple sources of funding (see figure 17). For example, in arts and humanities, an untenured instructor was funding his work with a grant, departmental funds, and his own money. Figures 18–21 summarize the data from figures 13–17 and organize it by discipline.

Research Limitations

This research had several limitations. If an eligible participant did not mention his or her work with video games on a staff profile page or in publications, or if the participant was not located through recommendations or snowball sampling, he or she was not included among the population of 92 UMN game scholars. The interview data was more limited in scope because some eligible participants were away on sabbatical, did not respond to invitations, or declined an interview.

The exploratory nature of this study limits the generalizability of the findings. However, despite being limited to this one research context, the size of the institution and broad range of disciplines and activities covered in this study provide a rich starting point for future research and the development of library services aimed at these types of researchers. Librarians serving game design or game development programs may observe different needs from those identified in this study because UMN does not have a dedicated game design program.

The open-ended, semistructured nature of the interviews resulted in rich and diverse data that posed some problems when categorizing findings and ensuring anonymity. We used broad codes and categories to capture as much data as possible while also maintaining anonymity, resulting in some loss in the granularity of the data. Additionally, determining how to assign disciplines to interviewees to maintain anonymity was challenging. For example, depending on the context, History can be considered a social science or part of the humanities as it is “multifaceted and diffuse.” 36 We chose to place it in arts and humanities because the researchers interviewed were primarily studying video games as cultural objects instead of the impact on society or human behavior.

Finally, some of the subjects discussed were sensitive (for example, institutional barriers to completing work or acquisition of funding) and some participants felt apprehensive about sharing information. Therefore, the data only represents what interviewees shared “on the record.” Occasionally, the interview location could have inhibited participants (for example, one interview occurred in a public location and two interviews occurred where interviewees’ colleagues were present). However, we have no reason to believe that interviewees concealed information or provided untruthful answers; in the cases where subjects spoke “off the record,” they were candid and honest about challenges with their work.

Demographics and Collaboration

Four disciplines were represented in both the larger population of game scholars and our sample of 30 interviewees. All but one interviewee identified strongly with a single area of study, usually the person’s department or area of research. No single department or discipline dominated; video games were used institutionwide.

Most interviewees had strong disciplinary ties and also had strong patterns of collaboration outside their departments. Collaboration was common for those we interviewed regardless of discipline. We anticipated a higher frequency of collaboration in STEM and health sciences because previous studies showed high levels of formal collaboration in these disciplines, 37 but this did not bear out in the interview sample. Collaborative partnerships took the form of coauthorships, collaborative conference presentations, and participation on doctoral committees, as well as many informal collaborations. Informal collaborations were also commonly described by interviewees and included professional friendships, relationships with advisors and committee members, pilot projects, and interest groups.

These data on collaboration are useful to keep in mind while discussing disciplinary trends around information and technology needs. Widespread collaboration on game-related projects and other projects suggests a need for cross-departmental and cross-disciplinary collaboration among librarians on collection development and the creation of services. Some libraries that invested in game technology do serve a range of users and disciplines, 38 but other prominent collections of games and game technology in academic libraries were driven by the needs of only one or two departments. 39 Awareness of the collaborative partnerships that exist could help libraries go beyond serving one student, class, or researcher at a time, and investments in game technology have the potential to support the work of whole networks of researchers and instructors. Explicit library support of collaborative work with video games could even give fringe projects and new collaborations a space to intersect and thrive. At UMN there is the potential for many departments and subject librarians to guide the development of a possible video game collection, and this would require a very collaborative approach to collection development.

Academic Use of Video Games: Research and Teaching

Video games were commonly used in research across all four disciplines represented in our sample. This confirmed a need for the collection development practices of universities such as UChicago, 40 University of Michigan, 41 and Carleton University, 42 which accommodated users from multiple disciplines.

We did not anticipate how common video games are in classrooms, since published information about game-related courses only identified a handful of classes at any comparable institution, unless they were focused on game design. Additionally, very few course descriptions in the UMN course catalog mentioned video games, and, of the game-related courses we found during our initial searching, most were in the social sciences or arts and humanities. We did not expect so many STEM and health science classes to integrate games as well. In fact, the use of video games in classes was present within all the disciplines, especially in introductory undergraduate courses and upper level seminars. The course descriptions were often vague enough to give the instructor leeway in how to develop his or her individual section, and those who wished to incorporate games could do so. Some departments even encouraged game-related classes due to consistently high enrollment.

Most people in our sample incorporated games into both their research and teaching. We suspect that having a research interest in games may make it more likely for them to incorporate video games into the classroom as well. This may explain why only two people in our sample were using video games exclusively in the classroom.

Overall, knowing how scholars are using video games and gaming technology on campus formed the backbone of this needs assessment. Any effort to provide library support for video game–related work will impact both research and classroom/student needs. Since we know that most scholars are using games in both research and teaching capacities, the support of this work may have double the impact.

Role of Video Games in Research and Teaching

There were clear disciplinary trends in the types of research done with video game technology. The development of video games primarily occurred in STEM, while video games were most often used as a text or an object of study in arts and humanities research. There were also some strong similarities among the disciplinary groups. At least one interviewee in every discipline conducted research that studies “educational technology” or “the influences on people and society.” Since video games were used by different disciplines in different ways, the type of support the library offers should not be done through the lens of a single department or discipline, and a variety of materials need to be available for many different applications including development, study, and experimental design.

Disciplinary differences were more difficult to discern when examining the role of games in teaching. Many classes were new or were only offered once; even so, teaching game design or designing games from scratch occurred not only in STEM but also in social science and arts and humanities classrooms. Incorporating game technology as course material was common, and interviewees identified a number of different ways in which games were used: readings, storytelling devices, and technology in labs. Students were impacted by these course requirements as well. Many interviewees described accommodations for students who did not own a console or a computer equipped to run graphics-intensive games, but some required students to figure out how to access the games on their own (such as via a personal account on the Steam game distribution system). 43

Game design was taught in four classes from three disciplines, which was unexpected because there is no game design program or certificate at UMN. Supporting classes that incorporate game design would be easier if they were all in one area of study, but a subject liaison might only be aware of the one class in his or her discipline. Regular environmental scans might be needed to uncover common technology and material requirements for classes across disciplines for courses that use video games and other emerging technologies.

Information Needs

The most commonly used information sources were Google Scholar, journals, and web sources. The interviewees in the social sciences and arts and humanities were the strongest users of “traditional” library materials such as books and journals. Several interviewees described having to acquire the majority of their texts through interlibrary loan (ILL) because their library did not have the journals or books they needed. Libraries need to review collections in this and other emerging areas to minimize the need for backchannels and shortcuts.

Colleagues were the single most common source of information for interviewees, especially in STEM and health sciences. In one case, a project in health sciences was developed entirely with information and skills contributed from existing relationships. The frequency with which interviewees in this sample collaborate outside their department emphasizes the importance of colleague networks in new and emerging areas. Libraries cross departmental and disciplinary borders and can cultivate a role as a connector for scholars doing similar work in different subject areas with events, experimental technology space, or other strategies.

Libraries should pursue partnerships with existing video game archives and other libraries or investigate shared collection development efforts to help researchers and the public overcome barriers to accessing game-related information sources. Interview participants identified video games as both a kind of technology and a type of information. Games are available in some academic libraries and public libraries, but it is unclear how accessible they are outside their immediate communities or institutions through ILL. Game manuals and trade magazines like Nintendo Power were also used by several interviewees. Public libraries typically collect trade magazines but, according to Worldcat, many often only keep the last 1–2 years. Locating game manuals is even more difficult, as they typically lie only in the hands of hobbyists and collectors. A search on Worldcat shows that relatively few libraries have holdings for either game magazines or manuals, raising the question of how libraries can facilitate access to these materials.

The depth and variety of sources used makes it clear that libraries cannot be the sole gatekeepers of information on this subject. The people in our sample used subscription journals but also ephemeral, noncurated materials (such as game manuals, gaming websites, and streaming games). Other library resources like subscription databases were not as valuable for most interviewees, possibly because they are too narrow in scope or interviewees are simply not aware of them. Rather than collect all of the sources scholars need, libraries can create guides to help scholars locate these materials elsewhere, akin to the University of Michigan CVGA LibGuide. 44

Technology Needs

Interviewees’ needs for devices, displays, and peripherals show no disciplinary trends. Investing in a range of equipment would benefit the largest range of users at UMN. Arts and humanities and social science scholars had a greater need for video games, while those in STEM and health sciences had more software needs. In fact, only one person in STEM identified games as a need, and only one interviewee in arts and humanities used software of any kind.

Disciplinary trends ought to factor into decisions related to purchasing and marketing game technology. For example, at UMN, subject librarians and users in the arts and humanities and social sciences disciplines might be primarily responsible for selecting game titles. Subject librarians for STEM and health sciences should weigh in on video game software selection, since usage would be most expected from STEM and health sciences disciplines.

Among our interviewees, the PC was the most common technology necessary to research and teaching. PCs are necessary to academic work, but there was some nuance to how interviewees used them. PC games are used almost as much as nearly all other types of games combined (console, mobile, and web-based). Mobile games are a growing industry, 45 but they are not used heavily on this campus for academic purposes. Other technology needs are tied to PC games as well; PC accessories, most often graphics cards, were the third highest need in the equipment category. PC games do not require much additional technology besides a computer (unless a powerful game requires faster processing or graphics cards), so they may be more attractive to the researchers and instructors from arts and humanities and social science, who make up the majority of game users. Guidance on collecting PC games is limited, since few academic libraries currently collect them. Most libraries with game collections and services collect console games almost exclusively, likely because console games do not have restrictive digital rights management (DRM) or require an account to play and are easier to collect and lend.

Peripherals were a common technology need, especially in health sciences. Interviewees shared a diverse range of applications for peripherals that have nothing to do with consoles: to control robotics, play PC games, and modify to use as instrumentation. Interviewees also preferred them for their low cost and ability to interface with a number of technologies. Since they are flexible and relatively cheap, libraries and makerspaces could provide a variety of peripherals (with or without consoles) for on-site use or rental.

Acquisition of and Funding for Games and Gaming Technology

In general, interviewees found they could purchase games or technology at stores or online but did not always have funding to do so. The acquisition of games and video game technology was intrinsically tied to funding, which was mentioned as the largest barrier to acquiring technology.

Graduate students used a variety of creative strategies to acquire technology (such as using their personal game collection, borrowing from friends, and other means), whereas faculty and staff simply purchased technology with grants or other funds as needed or used freely available games and technologies, such as online emulators. Graduate students may have less funding available, or they do not know how to access existing funding. The majority of graduate students, all from the social sciences and arts and humanities, were paying out-of-pocket.

Graduate students had the same technology needs as faculty and staff and conduct their own research, often independent of their faculty advisors and any associated funding. STEM graduate students were the only ones receiving grants or new technology funds. We argue that graduate students would be the primary beneficiaries of having video games and technology available, as this would break down disciplinary acquisition and funding barriers. Underfunded graduate students are probably not unique to UMN; and, if libraries made these games and technologies available, graduate students would have much more flexibility in their research. The arts and humanities students who purchased video games out-of-pocket likely used the games as primary research materials, analogous to texts. Since many libraries purchase books for research, it should be easy to purchase games for analogous reasons.

Libraries can also help connect graduate students with funding. Many academic units at UMN provide grants to fund graduate research, and the UMN Libraries subscribe to grant databases and offer workshops on locating grant funding. Since graduate student research is highly valued, it makes sense to assist them in their efforts to acquire game technology by building their grant-seeking skills.

Even though faculty and staff theoretically have the same opportunities for funding, untenured faculty and staff seek more sources of funding to meet their needs, whereas tenured faculty receive most of their funding from grants. Startup packages supported three untenured faculty from STEM and the health sciences, and one staff member reported having to pay out-of-pocket to buy games for classroom use. Faculty and staff for the most part were successful in finding funding to purchase the required technology, but making materials available at the library would put less pressure on faculty and staff to acquire them in other ways and would give them an option to use their funding for other purposes.

Collections in the UMN Libraries are focused primarily on meeting faculty research and teaching needs, as faculty tend to stay at the university longer than students. We recognize that these data could suggest that faculty and staff do not have many barriers to accessing technology and that it is neither necessary nor urgent to include video games and video game technology in library collections. It could also be argued that grants and other funding sources already pay for research and classroom needs and that libraries are not in the business of directly funding research costs like instrumentation, experimental design, or technology development. However, many faculty we spoke to welcomed a chance to collaborate with librarians whether or not the library could directly support their research. Some faculty incorporate games into their outreach service, and many have classes that would benefit from the availability of game materials. We also argue that libraries have a great opportunity to engage with graduate and undergraduate students who want to experiment with games before personally investing in the technology.

By focusing our study on researchers and instructors, we have missed the opportunity to explore implications for students taking classes that incorporate games and gaming technology. What we know came solely from the instructors’ viewpoints; therefore, we do not have a comprehensive picture of how these technologies were made available to students or if they encountered barriers to accessing them. In some classes the game technology was provided, like a health sciences class where Wii balance boards were available to take measurements; but, in another case, students were expected to purchase World of Warcraft and install it on their PCs. Some instructors did note that requiring students to purchase video games may be prohibitive and not directly analogous to purchasing textbooks, as it requires students to own consoles or a high-powered PC that supports gaming. Some attempted to find alternative solutions such as asking the UMN Libraries to install games on library computers and investigating Steam licensing for computer labs. It would be worthwhile to interview students from some of these classes to uncover if they encountered any barriers in attempting to access these technologies.

There is little data available about the information and technology needs of researchers and instructors who use video games in higher education. This study attempted to fill that gap with interviews with faculty, staff, and graduate students from UMN. Scholars from all disciplinary groups were represented and demonstrated both a high level of collaborative activity and use of video games in both research and teaching. As libraries build new video game collections or expand existing collections, they should consider the following findings:

• Information used in game-related research and teaching includes nontraditional material such as trade magazines and game manuals. Journals were the most common source of information identified overall, but some essential titles may not be collected or indexed in library catalogs.
• Video games are most often researched as an influence on society and having a role in educational technology. This research is diverse and may have vastly different needs.
• Video games are commonly used as course material in courses from all disciplines, but console games may not be used as frequently as PC games.
• All of the interviewees needed game-related technology, though there was much variation among the disciplines: arts and humanities and social sciences required video games; STEM required software; health sciences required peripherals.
• Graduate students, especially those from arts and humanities, are at a major funding disadvantage compared to colleagues in the sciences. This impedes access to game technology required for research and teaching and often requires them to pay out-of-pocket.

This study found some consistency in video game applications between disciplines but even more differences, especially in technology and information use. This suggests that the support libraries provide should be done collaboratively through a multidisciplinary lens. We propose a strategic approach to video game services and collections focused on disciplinary needs. For UMN, this would mean building a collection focused on PC games, a few console games, cutting-edge equipment with game design software, and a collection of peripherals with or without consoles, perhaps associated with a makerspace. Each academic game collection should reflect its institution, based on an evaluation of the unique needs of its population.

Since this study was limited to the UMN campus, we would like to see similar studies undertaken at various institutions that look at how students use and acquire games for classroom use, as well as a large-scale multi-institution look at the use of games in higher education. As technology changes and moves away from physical media, academic institutions will benefit from studies looking at the impact of DRM on scholarship and libraries. Very few video game companies have partnerships with higher education, and more exploration of this issue is needed. These studies would provide a more complete understanding of scholarly video games–related work and scholars’ information and technology needs.

APPENDIX. Interview Themes, Codes, and Definitions

• Graduate student: both master’s and doctoral students
• Untenured faculty and staff: assistant professor, instructor, postdoc
• Tenured faculty: associate professor, full professor
• Arts and Humanities: includes any field where the human experience and expressions or explanations thereof are the primary objects of study. History is included here because the interviewees study video games and texts and consider the games as the object of study
• Health Sciences: medical, kinesiology, and related disciplines
• Social Sciences: includes any field where humans are the primary object of study
• STEM: includes disciplines from science, technology, engineering, and mathematics
• Formal collaborations: working on a project, publishing a paper, working on a grant together, serving as an academic advisor or member of a thesis or dissertation committee
• Informal collaborations: talking to/with people, sharing ideas
• Both: a combination of both formal and informal collaborations
• Intradepartmental: work alone or only collaborate within their own department
• Interdepartmental (1–2): between 1–2 collaborations outside their own department
• Interdepartmental (3+): 3+ collaborations outside their own department or split positions between departments
• Development of games/technology: researcher has created the video game or associated technology
• Instrumentation: using video games to gather quantitative data
• Object of study: using critical analysis or thematic study of video games
• Influences on people or society: researcher is examining the societal impact of video games
• Educational technology: using video games to facilitate learning and improve student outcomes
• Undergraduate: lower-level classes, primarily for those pursuing their bachelor’s (1xxx–4xxx)
• Graduate: upper level classes, marketed toward master’s and doctoral students (5xxx–8xxx)
• Instructor designed a game: instructor created a video game for use in the classroom
• Taught game design: instructor taught students how to design their own games
• Used games as course material: video games were studied in the classroom, as primary sources
• Discussed games: video games were used in the classroom as secondary sources
• Other: any other response that did not fall within the above categories
• Borrowed/given: the material was owned by someone else and the researcher or instructor acquired from them
• Purchased: the material had to be purchased by the researcher or instructor either out-of-pocket or with other funds
• Already owned: the instructor or researcher previously owned the material
• Freely available: available at no cost to consumers
• Grant (general): acquired funding via another organization to pursue their research or teaching projects
• New technology funds: funds provided for the explicit purpose of acquiring new technologies
• Seed grant: initial capital to start a project
• Department funds: funding provided by researcher’s or instructor’s department
• Dissertation fund: funding provided by graduate student’s department or graduate school to support dissertation research
• Startup package: new professor was provided with funding to set up a lab
• Indirect cost recovery (ICR) funds: funds that the university collects to cover overhead costs when grants are written. A portion is returned back to departments
• Out-of-pocket: the instructor or researcher had to use personal money to cover the cost
• MNDrive grant: grant allocated via partnership between the UMN and the state of Minnesota that provides funding in areas of interdisciplinary research that align with specific industries
• Not required: no funding was required for this research or teaching
• Equipment, console: consoles, such as Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, Wii, WiiU, or any other
• Equipment, controllers, and peripherals: secondary equipment for the gaming systems listed above, including controllers, Wiimotes, headsets, Xbox Kinects, Wii balance boards, steering wheels, and the like
• Equipment, mobile: smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices, including iPhones, iPads, and such
• Equipment, display: equipment used to view video games, including television screens, computer monitors, or any other display equipment
• Equipment, personal computer: includes Mac, Windows, and Linux systems
• Equipment, personal computer accessories: secondary equipment for PC gaming, including joysticks, controllers, headsets, webcams, and other equipment
• Games, web: games that are available through a browser or browser-based emulator, or for download online
• Games, PC: games purchased to play on personal computers
• Games, console: games purchased to play on consoles
• Games, mobile: games that are available on smartphones or tablets
• Programming languages: computer language used to communicate instructions to a machine, including C, C++, Java, Javascript, Python, and other languages
• Servers: computers or programs that manages access to a network resource
• Software, proprietary: software that must be purchased from the individual or company that developed it; often includes major restrictions for adaptation and use
• Software, free or open source: software that is available for free, typically on the web; often allows users to modify or adapt as needed
• Software, custom: software written by the researcher or instructor from scratch
• Software, game design: software developed for the specific purpose to design video games
• Web applications: software application that is available and runs on the web, such as streaming video
• Archives: historical documents or records
• Books: written or printed works
• Colleagues: talking to people in their discipline
• Conferences: formal meetings for people in related disciplines
• Course readings: resources that were provided while taking a class
• Datasets: collection of related sets of information
• Game manuals: instructions on how to play video games
• Game reviews: evaluations of video games
• Games: console, PC, mobile, or web video games
• Google Scholar: freely accessible web search engine that indexes scholarly literature
• Interviews: information obtained by interviewing appropriate people
• Journals: collections of articles about specific subjects or disciplines
• Library databases: catalog of both full-text resources and indexed citations that are accessible electronically
• Newsletters: bulletins that are issued periodically
• News sources: includes both print and website-based news
• Students: people enrolled in either undergraduate or graduate programs
• Trade magazines: periodicals that contain news and items about a particular topic
• Web sources: materials found on the open web

1. Meave Duggan, “Gaming and Gamers” (Report, Pew Research Center, 2015), available online at www.pewinternet.org/2015/12/15/gaming-and-gamers/ [accessed 18 December 2015].

2. Laurence F. Johnson et al., “NMC Horizon Report: 2015 Higher Education Edition,” Horizon Report (Austin, Tex.: The New Media Consortium, 2015), 22, 35, available online at www.nmc.org/publication/nmc-horizon-report-2015-higher-education-edition/ [accessed 18 December 2015].

3. Association of College and Research Libraries, “ACRL Plan for Excellence,” 2015, available online at www.ala.org/acrl/aboutacrl/strategicplan/stratplan [accessed 11 January 2016].

4. Brena Smith, “Twenty-First Century Game Studies in the Academy: Libraries and an Emerging Discipline,” Reference Services Review 36, no. 2 (2008): 205–20, doi:10.1108/00907320810873066.

5. Examples include Mary Laskowski and David Ward, “Building Next Generation Video Game Collections in Academic Libraries,” Journal of Academic Librarianship 35, no. 3 (May 2009): 267–73, doi: 10.1016/j.acalib.2009.03.005 ; Kristen Mastel and Dave Huston, “Using Video Games to Teach Game Design: A Gaming Collection for Libraries,” Computers in Libraries 29, no. 3 (2009): 41–44, available online at http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ831241 [accessed 18 December 2015]; and Diane Robson and Patrick Durkee, “New Directions for Academic Video Game Collections: Strategies for Acquiring, Supporting, and Managing Online Materials,” Journal of Academic Librarianship 38, no. 2 (Mar. 2012): 79–84, doi: 10.1016/j.acalib.2012.01.003 .

6. Examples include Natalie Gick, “Making Book: Gaming in the Library: A Case Study,” in Gaming in Academic Libraries: Collections, Marketing, and Information Literacy (Chicago: American Library Association, 2008), 1–25; David Baker et al., “Lessons Learned from Starting a Circulating Videogame Collection at an Academic Library,” in Gaming in Academic Libraries: Collections, Marketing, and Information Literacy (Chicago: American Library Association, 2008), 26–38; Danielle Kane, Catherine Soehner, and Wei Wei, “Building a Collection of Video Games in Support of a Newly Created Degree Program at the University of California, Santa Cruz,” Science & Technology Libraries 27, no. 4 (Aug. 20, 2007): 77–87, doi:10.1300/J122v27n04_06; and Emma Cross, David Mould, and Robert Smith, “The Protean Challenge of Game Collections at Academic Libraries,” New Review of Academic Librarianship 21, no. 2 (May 4, 2015): 129–45, doi:10.1080/13614533.2015.1043467.

7. Mary Laskowski and David Ward, “Building Next Generation Video Game Collections in Academic Libraries,” Journal of Academic Librarianship 35, no. 3 (May 2009): 267–73, doi: 10.1016/j.acalib.2009.03.005 .

8. Andy Burkhardt, “Taking Games in Libraries Seriously,” The Academic Commons (blog), available online at www.academiccommons.org/2014/07/24/taking-games-in-libraries-seriously/ [accessed 5 November 2015].

9. Chris Nelson, “Gaming Reaches into Far Corners of Academic World as U of C Builds Huge Collection,” Calgary Herald (Mar. 16, 2015), available online at http://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/gaming-reaches-into-far-corners-of-academic-world-as-u-of-c-builds-huge-collection [accessed 4 November 2015].

10. Brian McNeill, “VCU Libraries Launches Collection of Critically Acclaimed Video Games,” VCU News (blog) (Nov. 6, 2014), available online at http://news.vcu.edu/article/VCU_Libraries_launches_collection_of_critically_acclaimed_video [accessed 4 November 2015].

11. Sarah G. Wenzel, “New Library Videogame Collection,” The University of Chicago Library News (blog) (May 25, 2012), available online at http://news.lib.uchicago.edu/blog/2012/05/25/new-library-videogame-collection/ [accessed 30 November 2015].

12. Patrick Jagoda, “Videogame Collection Supports Scholarly Study,” The University of Chicago Library News (blog) (May 25, 2012), available online at http://news.lib.uchicago.edu/blog/2012/05/25/videogame -collection-supports-scholarly-study/ [accessed 30 November 2015].

13. An overview of classes and disciplinary uses is discussed in Mary Claire Morris, “Computer & Video Game Archive Celebrating Five Years of Growth,” The University Record (blog) (Nov. 5, 2013), available online at http://record.umich.edu //articles/computer-video-game-archive-celebrating-five-years-growth [accessed 2 December 2015]. A list of classes and research applications can be found in Valerie Waldron, “Computer & Video Game Archive: CVGA,” University of Michigan Research Guides (2015), available online at http://guides.lib.umich.edu/c.php?g=282987 [accessed 2 December 2015].

14. Emma Cross, David Mould, and Robert Smith, “The Protean Challenge of Game Collections at Academic Libraries,” New Review of Academic Librarianship 21, no. 2 (May 4, 2015): 135–37, doi: 10.1080/13614533.2015.1043467 .

15. David Ward, “Vintage Gaming Collection Development Policy and Description” (Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2014), available online at www.library.illinois.edu/gaming/gamearchives.html [accessed 20 December 2015].

16. Valerie Waldron, “Computer & Video Game Archive: CVGA,” University of Michigan Research Guides (2015), available online at http://guides.lib.umich.edu/c.php?g=282987 [accessed 2 December 2015]

17. University of California Santa Cruz Library, “Video Games” (2015), available online at https://library.ucsc.edu/collections/video-games [accessed 18 December 2015].

18. Diane Robson and Patrick Durkee, “New Directions for Academic Video Game Collections: Strategies for Acquiring, Supporting, and Managing Online Materials,” Journal of Academic Librarianship 38, no. 2 (Mar. 2012): 82, doi: 10.1016/j.acalib.2012.01.003 .

19. Cross, Mould, and Smith, “The Protean Challenge of Game Collections,” 134.

20. McNeill, “VCU Libraries Launches Collection.”

21. Jagoda, “Videogame Collection Supports Scholarly Study.”

22. Adam DePollo, “Play On: Changing Gamer Culture at the ‘U,’” Michigan Daily (Oct. 22, 2014), available online at https://www.michigandaily.com/arts/10computer-video-game-archive22 [accessed 2 December 2015].

23. Laskowski and Ward, “Building next Generation Video Game Collections,” 268.

24. McNeill, “VCU Libraries Launches Collection.”

25. Jagoda, “Videogame Collection Supports Scholarly Study.”

26. University of Calgary Libraries and Cultural Resources, “Video Games,” available online at http://library.ucalgary.ca/dmc/video-games [accessed 4 November 2015].

27. Emma Cross and Robert Smith, “The Evolution of Gaming at Academic Libraries,” Canadian Library Association Conference (Winnepeg, Manitoba, 2013), available online at https://prezi.com/supsungb2uil/the-evolution-of-gaming-at-academic-libraries/ [accessed 4 November 2015].

28. Burkhardt, “Taking Games in Libraries Seriously.”

29. Three examples of soliciting direct feedback from faculty and students are found in Kane, Soehner, and Wei, “Building a Collection of Video Games”; Laskowski and Ward, “Building Next Generation Video Game Collections”; and Cross, Mould, and Smith, “The Protean Challenge of Game Collections.”

30. Nelson, “Gaming Reaches into Far Corners of Academic World.”

31. DePollo, “Play On: Changing Gamer Culture at the ‘U.’”

32. Laskowski and Ward, “Building Next Generation Video Game Collections,” 268.

33. Cross, Mould, and Smith, “The Protean Challenge of Game Collections,” 133.

34. Jagoda, “Videogame Collection Supports Scholarly Study.”

35. Waldron, “Computer & Video Game Archive.”

36. Mark T. Gilderhus, History and Historians : A Historiographical Introduction , 7th ed. (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2010), 41.

37. Vincent Larivière, Yves Gingras, and Éric Archambault, “Canadian Collaboration Networks: A Comparative Analysis of the Natural Sciences, Social Sciences and the Humanities,” Scientometrics 68, no. 3 (2006): 519–33, doi:10.1007/s11192-006-0127-8.

38. Nelson, “Gaming Reaches into Far Corners of Academic World.”

39. Kane, Soehner, and Wei, “Building a Collection of Video Games.”

40. Wenzel, “New Library Videogame Collection.”

41. Mary Claire Morris, “Computer & Video Game Archive Celebrating Five Years of Growth,” The University Record (blog) (Nov. 5, 2013), available online at http://record.umich.edu //articles/computer-video-game-archive-celebrating-five-years-growth [accessed 2 December 2015].

42. Cross, Mould, and Smith, “The Protean Challenge of Game Collections,” 144.

43. For more information, see http://store.steampowered.com/about /.

44. Waldron, “Computer & Video Game Archive.”

45. John Gaudiosi, “Mobile Game Revenues Set to Overtake Console Games in 2015,” Fortune , (Jan. 15, 2015), available online at http://fortune.com/2015/01/15/mobile -console-game-revenues-2015/ [accessed 15 January 2016].

* Shannon L. Farrell is Natural Resources Librarian in the Natural Resources Library at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities; e-mail: [email protected] . Amy E. Neeser is Assistant Librarian, Library Research—Science and Engineering in the University Library at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; e-mail: [email protected] . Carolyn Bishoff is Physics, Astronomy, and Earth Sciences Librarian in the Walter Library at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities; e-mail: [email protected] ). ©2017 Shannon L. Farrell, Amy E. Neeser, and Carolyn Bishoff, Attribution-NonCommercial ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ ) CC BY-NC.

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Print ISSN: 0010-0870 | Online ISSN: 2150-6701

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ISSN: 2150-6701

• Open access
• Published: 09 February 2022

Learning in digital play: a dual case study of video gamers’ independent play

• Weimin Toh   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6468-227X 1 &
• Fei Victor Lim   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-3046-1011 2  

Research and Practice in Technology Enhanced Learning volume  17 , Article number:  6 ( 2022 ) Cite this article

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This paper explores the implications of youths’ out-of-school gaming practices for teaching and learning in formal and informal learning contexts. We report on a study where we examined the video game play of two youths using a case study approach. User experience approaches, e.g. the think-aloud protocol and interviews, were grounded in the theoretical framework of social semiotics to analyse the gameplay videos and to discuss the implications for the youths’ learning. The paper contends that youths are demonstrating critical thinking, empathy, and multimodal literacy through their gameplay. We offer suggestions for how adults can use video games for youths’ learning.

Introduction

People learn as they play (Oliver & Carr, 2009 ). Digital play involves the use of technology, including computers and laptops, tablets, smartphones, electronic toys, and console games for playing and learning activities (Marsh et al., 2016 ). The boundaries between online and offline spaces have become blurred in digital play as communication and play move across physical and virtual domains and integrate material and immaterial practices (Garcia, 2020 ; Giddings, 2014 ; Marsh et al., 2016 ). Digital play is rooted in children’s everyday experiences and can promote cognitive and imaginative development (Edwards, 2011 ). Engagement with video games is a type of digital play that can bring about learning (Toh & Lim, 2021 ; Squire, 2011 ) as they incorporate sound learning principles, such as “just in time learning” that can be used for teaching various subjects in schools (Gee, 2003 ).

Digital play motivates learning because it engages with the students’ “lifeworld” (New London Group, 1996 ). Digital play can be integrated into schools to intrinsically motivate students for their self-directed (Karakas & Manisaligil, 2012 ) and peer-to-peer learning (Butler, 2017 ). For example, Beavis et al. ( 2015 ) reported that teachers were able to improve students’ learning and engagement by connecting teaching to students’ lifeworlds and redesigning their English and literacy curriculum to leverage the joy of gameplay to build students’ literacy proficiency over time. Digital play can also be an effective way for students to demonstrate new literacies needed for the future workforce (Apperley & Walsh, 2012 ). Playing video games is a common pastime of many people, especially amongst males (Jansz, 2005 ). Video game play has also been described as a literacy practice (Steinkuehler, 2010 ; Steinkuehler & King, 2009 ). When video games are used in the school curriculum, it can motivate students (Deng et al., 2016 ) and draw on their funds of knowledge (Risko & Walker‐Dalhouse, 2007 ) for the learning activities. Digital play has been integrated into formal educational contexts for STEM learning (e.g. Ibáñez & Delgado-Kloos, 2018 ) and to motivate L2 vocabulary learning (e.g. Butler, 2017 ), argumentation and persuasion writing (e.g. Dickey, 2011 ), as well as social skills (e.g. Craig et al., 2015 ), creativity (e.g. Ott & Pozzi, 2012 ), critical thinking (e.g. Barab et al., 2012 ), ethical thinking (e.g. Schrier, 2015 ), and mathematical thinking and problem-solving skills (e.g. Kiili et al., 2015 ).

Video games incorporate a whole set of fundamentally sound learning principles that can be used for teaching and learning activities in schools (Gee, 2003 ). Gee ( 2005 ) also explicated the principles of learning that are built into successful games. These include empowering players as active agents who can co-design the learning experience as well as learning through well-ordered problems in which learners are scaffolded to learn how to proceed when they face harder problems later in the game. Squire ( 2002 ) also argued that examining how gameplay can be used to support learning in formal learning environments can be productive. Games like SimCity and Civilisation can mediate our understandings of other phenomena, and they can be used to support learning in formal and informal learning contexts. Pedagogical activities can be integrated into the game design or teachers can adapt the game to engage students in meaningful practices and critical thinking by using scaffolding questions for students to think about how games can be used as a tool for answering historical questions.

Shaffer et al. ( 2005 ) posited that video games are powerful contexts for learning because they make it possible to create virtual worlds and acting in such worlds help to develop the situated understandings, effective social practices, powerful identities, shared values, and ways of thinking of important communities of practice. For instance, Railroad Tycoon can help players to learn economic and geographic issues faced by railroad engineers in the 1800s by allowing them to engage in design activities when playing the game. However, the authors also highlighted that it was challenging to integrate game-based learning into institutional education because games encourage exploration, personalised meaning-making, individual expression, and playful experimentation with social boundaries, factors which conflict with institutional modes of teaching and learning that emphasise conformity, one size fits all curriculum, and standardised testing and assessment practices.

A game-based curriculum informed by the theoretical framework of digital play has been designed and integrated into classrooms to teach persuasion writing to seventh grade students (Barab et al., 2012 ). The results indicated statistically significant differences in learning and engagement between the control and experimental groups where the students in the game-based curriculum demonstrated significant improvements in their learning gains. The authors explained that the technological affordances of well-designed videogame play supported the students’ engagement and learning by allowing them to play out new possible selves, such as scientists, historians, or investigative reporters in the virtual world to enact disciplinary expertise.

Studies have also shown that commercial video games, such as The Walking Dead can be integrated into classrooms for teaching domain-specific content, such as ethical theories when teachers are able to orchestrate the learning activities with appropriate teaching approaches to support student learning and engagement (de Sousa et al., 2018 ). Playing commercial video games has been found to improve the desirable skills and competencies sometimes referred to as “graduate attributes” in higher education students. Using a laboratory-based randomised controlled trial, Barr ( 2017 ) reported that students in the gameplaying group obtained highly significant positive changes in their adaptability, resourcefulness, and communication skill.

The studies on digital play described here have been conducted in formal pedagogical contexts. However, there is a knowledge gap in terms of our understanding of youths’ gameplaying activities and the types of learning that are demonstrated in their gameplaying process in the informal space. As such, the goal of this study is to identify the types of learning, such as critical thinking, empathy, and multimodal literacy, that can be demonstrated from the players’ gameplaying activities. In our previous study (Toh & Kirschner, 2020 ), we have investigated how Participant 1 adopted an inquiry-based learning approach to progress the same game segment examined in this paper. The inquiry-based learning approach has been integrated into a self-directed learning framework in video games for that study. In an upcoming paper (Toh & Kirschner, 2022 ), we examine how Participant 2 exhibited resilience in his learning of the stealth option to progress the same game segment analysed in this paper. Resilience has been integrated into a social-emotional learning model in that paper. In this study, we adopt a case study approach through a multimodal discourse analysis of the gameplay videos to surface the types of learning that can be identified in two youths’ gameplay recordings. Our paper aims to answer the following research question: What is the learning that can be demonstrated through video gameplay?

The theoretical orientation of social semiotics informs our lenses on youths’ gaming practices (Kress, 2010 ; Kress & van Leeuwen, 2001 ). The participants’ gameplay interactions are described using social semiotic theory, which models meanings according to the sociocultural contexts where the interactions took place. Bezemer and Kress ( 2016 , p. 4) argue it is important to respond “theoretically to the social”, recognise the ways for making meaning, and describe the “semiotic work done”. From this argument, the tenets of multimodal social semiotics have been adopted in the analysis and interpretation of the data to understand youths’ gaming practices.

The first tenet recognises that youths communicate with multimodal ensembles, drawing from language, visual, and the verbal modes to constitute interactivity. The second tenet recognises signs of learning (Kress & Selander, 2012 ). Making meaning is guided by interest, and learning occurs as the learners’ entire set of resources is augmented and transformed when they integrate new ways of conceiving the world. The third tenet focuses on how semiotic modes and digital technologies facilitate different pedagogic relations in human–computer interaction and offer learning opportunities. From the participants’ gameplay interaction, we discuss the learning demonstrated by the participants in their gameplay, the affordances of the video games that supported their expression of these literacies, and pedagogical implications of digital play and learning.

Research design overview

This paper adopts a qualitative case study approach method (Creswell, 2013 ) through a multimodal discourse analysis of the gameplay videos produced by two youths. The qualitative case study approach involves the exploration of case(s) over time through detailed, in-depth data collection involving multiple sources of data. The rationale for a qualitative case study approach is that it allows for a holistic understanding of a phenomenon within real-life contexts from the perspective of those involved (Merriam, 1988 ; Stake, 1995 , 2005 ; Yin, 2009 ) and allows the researcher to grasp the intricacies of a phenomenon (Stake, 2005 ).

The think-aloud protocol (Hu & Gao, 2017 ; Li et al., 2012 ) was adapted for use in the study by asking participants to verbalise their gameplay experience. Participants were asked to explain how and why (Gillern, 2016 ) they made a specific choice or perform an action during and after gameplay. They were also instructed to record their natural reactions and comments in the game recordings. When they verbalised their experience as they played the game, the method used was concurrent think-aloud protocol (Kelley et al., 2015 ) that involved the participants thinking-aloud while simultaneously performing an activity in usability studies. When the participants discussed their experience after gameplay, retrospective think-aloud (Ji & Rau, 2019 ) was used to reflect on their game experience. The think-aloud protocol is an effective method to elicit the participants’ demonstration of their learning because of the prompt response of the participants when a problem is experienced (Ericsson & Simon, 1993 ), which shows how they overcome the problem to progress the game. As the participants were able to refer to their gameplay recordings during the interviews, stimulated recall (Dempsey, 2010 ) was also used to review their gameplay recordings.

The framework of multimodal discourse analysis (O’Halloran & Lim, 2014 ; Kress, 2012 ; O’Halloran, 2004 ) was adopted to analyse the video recordings of the participants. The multimodal discourse analysis approach integrates the tenets from social semiotics, discourse analysis, think-aloud protocol, and the interviews to examine the player experience in their video recordings. The multimodal combination of language, visual, verbal, and action semiotic modes in the gameplay recordings are combined to form the ludonarrative frame for video games, which conceptualises the gameplay, the narrative, and the player as a whole (Toh, 2018 ). A semiotic mode can be understood as a distinct way for meaning-making (Jewitt, 2009 ) and the multimodal discourse analysis approach to examining the gameplay recordings is relevant because video games are highly multimodal artefacts. A central tenet of multimodal discourse analysis is that a text is embedded within the sociocultural context (Guo, 2017 ) in which it is produced and the text’s meaning is never fixed but contingent on different external factors, such as the cultural background and prior gaming experience of the participants (Toh, 2018 ).

Data collection

Multiple sources of data were used to interpret the lived experience of the participants through the method of data triangulation and method triangulation. Data triangulation (Denzin, 2009 ) has been used to gather data from different players, and method triangulation (Bauwens, 2010 ) has been used for data gathering and analysis. The different methods of data collection include the interviews of the participants, the observation of the participants’ gameplay in the laboratory, and the gameplay recordings. Member checking has been adopted during the qualitative interviews to validate the interpretations of the participants’ gameplay recordings (Iivari, 2018 ).

Prior to the start of the study, the participants filled up a written survey to provide demographic information and gaming habits. During the first gameplay session, the participants played their selected game from the start for one to three hours in a computer laboratory. Their gameplay was streamed and recorded using Fraps (computer) and a PS3 recorder on a nearby computer whereby the researcher was using to observe their gameplay. At the end of the first gameplay session, the first author conducted a one-to-two-hour interview with the participants. The interview questions asked during the first gameplay session were more general and open-ended. Some of the questions that the interviewer asked the participants included whether they liked the scripted game sequences, whether they were clearly able to see a divide between narrative and gameplay in the game, and whether the information provided by the characters helped them to make decisions to progress the game.

The first author then instructed the participants to record their subsequent gameplay sessions at home. The participants incorporated their natural reactions with their think-aloud verbalisations in their gameplay recordings. A total of 15 and 14.8 h of think-aloud video recordings were collected and analysed for Participants 1 and 2, respectively. After they have completed the game, the first author arranged a final interview to review their gameplay recordings together with them and discuss their gaming experiences. A total of 7 and 6.7 h of interview recordings were collected for Participants 1 and 2, respectively. More specific interview questions were asked during the final session with the participants. For instance, the researcher asked Participant 1 to explain whether specific objects in the game world such as the spark plug and the pillow helped him to progress the game and how he figured out the sequential order to progress the game. For Participant 2, an example of a specific question the researcher asked him was whether playing as Joel after Ellie caused him to feel worried for Ellie’s safety and motivated him to progress the game to find out the story.

Participants

The data were obtained from the first author’s study on the player experience. The research aim for the study was to propose an original theoretical framework, the ludonarrative model for studying video games, and this model was grounded on the empirical data of a group of players in Singapore. For the study, participants were recruited through convenience and snowball sampling via advertisements posted on the university’s website. Consent was obtained from the participants to share their video recordings, which included their voices, for research purposes. This study was approved by the university’s Institutional Review Board.

The data from two of the participants were selected for analysis. The two participants were selected because they were experienced players (Soylu & Bruning, 2016 ). Participant 1 is a 22-year-old male undergraduate student with 11–15 years of gaming experience. He mentioned that he played a variety of games such as shooters, puzzle games, action games, and so on a few times a week. The game he chose for the study was The Walking Dead Season 1, Episodes 1–5. Participant 2 was a 24-year-old male undergraduate student with 11–15 years of gaming experience. He mentioned that he played a variety of games such as role-playing games, strategy games, shooters, and so on a few times a week. He chose The Last of Us .

Description and rationale of game choices

The Walking Dead (PC game) is set in a fictional world in which a zombie apocalypse has occurred. The player controls Lee Everett to explore the story world and is accompanied by several survivors, including Clementine, a young girl. The Last of Us (PS3 game) is set in a post-apocalyptic world in which a mutated strain of the Cordyceps fungus has infected humans and transformed them into zombie-like creatures. The player controls Joel to explore the story world and is accompanied by Ellie, a young girl.

Data analysis

The thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006 ) has been used to code the types of learning of Participants 1 and 2. Theoretical thematic analysis involves the use of theoretical frames in a deductive way to search across the data set in the form of the think-aloud verbalisations and players’ reflections in the gameplay recordings and the interviews to discover repeated patterns of meaning. The coding categories were developed a priori from relevant literature (e.g. Toh & Lim, 2021 ) and included the three main types of learning, namely, critical thinking, empathy, and multimodal literacy. During the thematic analysis, the researchers familiarised themselves with the data by watching the gameplay recordings and listening to the interviews multiple times. During each review of the data, the researchers generated initial codes and then collated these codes into themes. The themes were then reviewed and defined to arrive at the final analytic scheme (Braun & Clarke, 2006 ). The two authors of the paper coded the data, and they have received prior training to conduct the analysis. The data were independently coded by the two authors, and disagreements were discussed to reach a consensus.

Case 1 Footnote 1 involved Participant 1, who played The Walking Dead Season 1, Episode 1. The selected gameplay segment was set at the Travelier Motel. In a previous scene, Glenn, the non-player character (NPC), had gone searching for supplies and gas at the motel for Lee’s group. He noticed a woman, Irene, in a boarded-up room on the upper level of the motel. When Glenn tried to talk to her, she asked him to leave. Walkers emerged from the forest, and Glenn was forced to hide in an icebox until Lee and Carley arrived to rescue him. The trio then decided to rescue Irene together.

The analysis of this gameplay segment indicated that Participant 1 adopted a problem-solving and inquiry-based approach (Toh & Kirschner, 2020 ; cf. Squire & Jan, 2007 ) to reach Irene. Participant 1 performed the following actions sequentially and iteratively: understand (orientate), plan (conceptualise), act (apply), and reflect (evaluate). First, Participant 1 understood how to proceed by listening to the characters. For example, Lee hinted that stealth was important to proceed by saying that “Noise attracts these things”. At 3:16, Participant 1 demonstrated his understanding of using stealth to reach the objective by repeating that “noise attracts these things”.

At 4:12, the game hinted to Participant 1 that peeking too long will result in a “game over” if the zombies detected him. The linguistic text warned Participant 1: “Peek too long, and you will be seen”. Simultaneously, Participant 1 saw the visual display turning red and heard the heartbeat sound as he peeked over the wall to observe the setting. In his first attempt, Participant 1 peeked too long, so a “game over” occurred. Participant 1 laughed loudly at 4:22 as Lee died comically (Newman, 2016 ). Participant 1’s unsuccessful first attempt demonstrated how he experimented with the game rules to understand and plan his actions to progress the game. After his first failure, he understood that one specific condition that could result in a “game over” for him was his exposure to the zombies beyond a specific time limit.

Participant 1 continued to understand and plan the correct sequential order to reach the objective. As he crossed the road to go towards the recreational vehicle (5:05), the game hinted to him that he needed a weapon to kill the zombies by having Lee verbalise that he was not sure whether he could take out the zombies even if he had a weapon. This was followed by the camera’s zooming in on the zombies who were obstructing Lee. The game also hinted to Participant 1 by having Lee verbalise, while being shown the car and the zombie, that he could use the car to kill the zombies (6:10). However, before Participant 1 can use the car, he must remove the zombie who was lurking near the front of it.

Participant 1 then noticed an awl inside a locked vehicle, which he assumed can be used to kill the zombie lurking near the car (6:25). Participant 1 chose to hit the glass but was unsuccessful (6:33). Glenn hinted to Participant 1 that his action had attracted the zombie’s attention. At 6:50, Participant 1 reflected that the awl was the weapon that he needed and he must find some way to get it quietly. He planned his next action by commenting that he had to kill the zombie with the awl before using the car to kill something else (7:05).

When Participant 1 returned to the brick wall, he found a pillow on the other side of the wall. He planned to use the pillow to smother the zombie and kill him quietly with some other implement. Carley reaffirmed Participant 1’s plan by hinting, “Good luck smothering them to death”. Returning to the front of the vehicle, he killed the zombie quietly by smothering him with the pillow and asking Carley to shoot him with her gun. Participant 1 then reflected that the action will not work in real life because the gun did not have a silencer.

After removing the zombie, Participant 1 opened the car’s door, retrieved a spark plug, unlocked the gear shift, and opted to push the vehicle towards the wall to immobilise a zombie there (10:34). Returning to the car with the awl inside it, Participant 1 used the porcelain on the spark plug to break the car window to retrieve the awl (11:42). Finally, Participant 1 reflected that he can use the awl to kill the other three zombies (12:12). He then killed these zombies with the awl (13:25, 14:00) and retrieved the axe from the wall (14:27). Finally, Participant 1 reflected that he felt safer with the axe (14:32). He easily killed the last two zombies to reach the trapped survivor (15:22).

Case 1 demonstrates how Participant 1 adopted a problem-solving and inquiry-based approach to reach the game goal. Participant 1’s ability to perform his actions in the correct sequential order in an iterative manner enabled him to remove the zombies obstructing him from reaching the woman trapped on the upper level of the house across the street. Our analysis of his think-aloud shows how he safely removed the zombies through critical thinking and reflection before he succeeded in reaching the trapped woman to save her.

Case 2 Footnote 2 involved Participant 2, who played The Last of Us . The segment that we analysed occurred in the winter chapter when Ellie escaped from David, the antagonist, after his failure to recruit her into his group. Joel was searching for Ellie when she escaped from David. This gameplay segment involved Participant 2’s alternating control of Joel and Ellie. This alternating control allowed Participant 2 to demonstrate empathy for both characters, the understanding of their thoughts, feelings, and actions through embodied play and perspective shifting (Toh & Lim, 2021 ; Elliott et al., 2011 ).

Ellie killed James (David’s partner) with the chopper on the table when he was distracted while talking with David. She escaped and grabbed a knife from a nearby table for protection as David attempted to shoot her but missed. The cutscene ended as Ellie escaped into the snow, and Participant 2 was given control of Ellie in the snow outside (19:10). He controlled her to take shelter in a nearby building. Ellie’s verbal utterance and subtitles informed Participant 2 that Ellie needed to find a gun to protect herself (19:28). Inside the building, Participant 2 overheard David ordering his people to find Ellie (20:20). He controlled Ellie to sneak into another building and planned to wait for David’s people to come inside for him to kill them individually (21:17). When the first man came in, Participant 2 stealthily stabbed him and obtained a revolver (21:45). He repeated his action on the other man who entered the building (22:09).

As the game progressed, the video showed that he faced difficulties when Ellie had to fight two or more men simultaneously. This led to Ellie’s being surrounded and killed. In a later gameplay segment, he planned to distract and kill David’s men inside another building (34:20). He succeeded (34:48), but Ellie was killed by a nearby enemy who detected Ellie and shot her (35:05). This heightened Participant 2’s feeling of vulnerability when he played as Ellie. He said that he had to retry the game segment (35:07). When he replayed this segment, he was killed again as he controlled Ellie to fight the two men directly instead of stealthily (36:30). He reflected that he had to sneak into that room (36:40). During the third (37:30), fourth (38:24), and fifth attempts (39:47), he failed again when Ellie was surrounded and killed. He reflected: “The idea was there—the execution (39:50)”. Finally, on the sixth try, he cleared this segment by separating David’s men and stealthily killing them one at a time (40:30).

Participant 2 entered the open area in a restaurant and triggered the fight with David (45:58). During the fight, Participant 2 used Ellie’s stealth ability to track David’s location and planned his attacks. Participant 2’s ability to use Ellie’s ability to track David’s movements by sound was key to performing a stealth attack on him.

After Participant 2 stabbed David thrice, the game changed perspective and allowed him to control Joel to search for Ellie (56:25). When Participant 2 entered a nearby building, he heard David’s men searching for Ellie (57:05). It was easier for Participant 2 to play as Joel because he could choose to engage in close combat and kill enemies with a single blow of the axe (57:29, 57:48) or use stealth attacks. With Ellie, he could only use stealth attacks. As Participant 2 cleared several gameplay segments, he entered the slaughterhouse and found Ellie’s backpack (1:09:04). From Joel’s verbalisation, “What is this? Why is Ellie’s stuff here?”, Participant 2 understood that Joel was worried about Ellie (1:09:19). He picked up a meat ledger note that indicated the amount of meat that David’s men, who were cannibals, had collected for supplies (1:09:30). This note, along with the human corpses in the meat locker (1:09:50) and Joel’s utterance “I gotta find her”, (1:09:55) further underscored Participant 2’s understanding of Joel’s concern for Ellie’s safety. Participant 2 had just played as Ellie and understood the danger Ellie faced as she fought against David and his men.

Case 2 shows how Participant 2’s ability to control 2 characters allowed him to demonstrate empathy by understanding their thoughts, feelings, and actions through embodied play and perspective shifting. Our analysis of his think-loud and observation of his actions during the gameplay shows how Participant 2’s empathetic concern for Ellie motivates him to find her when he played as Joel.

Critical thinking

In the field of education, Bloom’s ( 1956 ) taxonomy is the most widely cited source when it comes to teaching and assessing higher-order thinking skills. Bloom’s ( 1956 ) taxonomy consists of the lower-order thinking skills, such as remember (recall, recognise), understand, and apply as well as the higher-order thinking skills, such as analyse, evaluate, and synthesis, which are frequently said to represent critical thinking (Kennedy et al., 1991 ). The analysis of Participant 1’s gameplay recording showed his ability to select information from the game world, reflect on it (e.g. failure to progress the game), and integrate it into a coherent whole in a mental model to gain a deeper understanding of the story, rules, and mechanics (Toh, 2018 , Buckingham, 2015 ). When he played the game, we observed that he was applying his critical thinking: the selection, evaluation, and integration/synthesis of information provided by digital texts (Salmerón et al., 2018 ) by adopting the inquiry-based learning approach (Toh & Kirschner, 2020 ) to reach the objective.

Participant 1 demonstrated an iterated approach of using a mixture of lower and higher-order critical thinking skills to progress the game. At the start of this gameplay segment, Participant 1 demonstrated lower-order critical thinking skills, such as recognising through his counting of the number of zombies that must be overcome to reach the objective. He demonstrated understanding by explaining what he had to do for this gameplay segment through his think-aloud “Ya, so basically, we are here rescuing Glenn from [the zombies]”. He also demonstrated recall by commenting on what happened previously in the game “He [Glenn] came to top up petrol from the motel but he got into a bit of trouble and now we have to rescue this survivor upstairs over here, yes.”, which is followed by understanding as he explained what he had to do to achieve the gameplay objective “So, we have to kill all the zombies to rescue her. So, let’s find some way to kill them quietly”.

At 4:10, Participant 1 experienced how the losing condition of the game could happen by peeking over the wall at the zombie eating the dead person on the ground. However, he spent too long peeking and Lee ended up being eaten by the zombie. On his second attempt, he demonstrated his understanding (a lower-order critical thinking skill) of the losing condition of the game by commenting that “Oh, it looks like a timed thing” and controlled his character not to long too long over the wall. At 5:36, Participant 1 demonstrated the use of evaluate, a higher-order critical thinking skill as he reflected on how Lee can see over the wall but not when he was running.

At 7:05, from Participant 1’s verbalisation that he had to kill a zombie in front of the vehicle with an awl (“the screwdriver”) before using the car to kill another zombie, he demonstrated planning and analysis, which is a higher-order critical thinking skill. At 8:54, Participant 1 demonstrated the use of the lower-order critical thinking skills when he applied his plan and chose the action in the dialogue option to kill the zombie quietly by covering him with the pillow and asking Carley to shoot him with her gun. Finally, Participant 1 demonstrated a higher-order critical thinking skill, such as evaluation from his verbalisation that the action would not have worked in real life because the gun did not have a silencer.

Likewise, a learning observed from the participants’ gameplay is empathy, that is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others (CASEL, 2015 ). This was observed in Participant 2’s gameplay. For example, when the game allowed Participant 2 alternate control of Ellie and Joel, he used embodied action to gain a better understanding of both characters’ playstyle through situated and just-in-time learning (Gee, 2005 ). Another example observed in the gameplay recordings was when Participant 2 discovered Ellie’s backpack, the meat ledger, and the hanging corpses, and he showed his concern for Ellie’s safety. For instance, in 1:09:19, Participant 2 verbalised that Joel felt worried for Ellie when he found her backpack in the slaughterhouse. He appreciated that Joel’s actions had been driven by his fear for Ellie’s safety. Participant 2 demonstrated his empathy in an interview:

So later on, when you shift to Joel to control him to save Ellie, did you feel an even more urgent need to save her? Because you discovered Ellie’s backpack.

Because you played what Ellie’s going through right? So, you know that she needs help. So, in that sense, you can empathise more with what Joel is feeling, as in Joel doesn’t know what is happening to Ellie, but you know the emergency. So …

When you discover all her objects, huh?

And then the slaughterhouse.

Um-hmm. So, he knows that she’s not in a good place.

In the above interview, Participant 2 explained how his ability to control two different player characters one after the other during the gameplay allowed him to understand both characters’ thoughts, feelings, and actions. Because Participant 2 was given control of Ellie early in the Winter chapter of The Last of Us , he was able to feel Joel’s sense of fear for Ellie’s safety when the game later offered him control of Joel to look for her. As Participant 2 had been able to play as Ellie, he could understand her precarious situation in the game world when she met the antagonist, David with his group of cannibals while searching for supplies to take care of Joel. David appeared to Ellie as a compassionate man who looked out for her needs and he even fought together with Ellie against waves of Infected enemies during their initial encounter.

However, as the chapter progressed, Ellie discovered that David and his group were cannibals. David captured Ellie and offered her a place in his group. When she rejected his offer, David and his man attempted to slaughter Ellie for food, but she managed to escape. The game then switched control to allow Participant 2 to play as Joel after playing as Ellie. He could then feel a greater connection to both player characters because he possessed more information than either of the player characters possessed on their own in the game world. The perspective shift (Toh & Lim, 2021 ) in the game therefore allowed Participant 2 to demonstrate empathy when playing the game.

Multimodal literacy

We also observed that the participants demonstrated multimodal literacy in their engagement with the multimodal orchestration in the game, such as the verbal mode of the NPCs, the linguistic mode of the game hints, the visual representations of the characters, and the characters’ actions and gestures to gain an overall idea of how to progress the game. Multimodal literacy (Jewitt & Kress, 2003 ; van Leeuwen, 2017 ) involves both critical and creative engagement with multimodal representations that reflect a semiotic awareness (Lim, 2021a ; Lim, 2021b ). Multimodal literacy also involves an understanding of the affordances of the different meaning-making resources and how they work together to produce a coherent and cohesive multimodal text (Mills, 2016 ). The player’s multimodal literacy refers to their sensitivity to the design features in the video games, including knowing how to work across different semiotic modes, such as language, visuals, audio, music, and action to perform critical and creative actions in the game.

Participant 1’s multimodal literacy can be observed at the beginning of the gameplay segment. He demonstrated verbal awareness by listening to the characters’ verbal interactions in the cutscene before commenting through his think-aloud to show his understanding that he must rescue the survivor in the house across the street, to achieve the winning condition of this gameplay segment. We see how he showed a visual awareness of the objective, by pointing at the house across the street with the mouse pointer to indicate his understanding that he must reach the objective, the house to progress the game. He showed us his linguistic awareness by following the game hints provided through the linguistic prompts, such as “peek over the wall”, “push car”, “look at truck”, “open door”, “examine window”, amongst others to perform the micro actions of the gameplay so that he can reach the gameplay objective. He also demonstrated an action awareness, which refers to his understanding of the dynamic interplay between game and player (Toh, 2018 ; Apperley & Beavis, 2013 ; Beavis, 2014 ) by selecting the specific actions in the correct sequential manner to interact with the zombies and overcome them to reach the woman in the house across the street. He combined his verbal awareness, visual awareness, linguistic awareness, and action awareness in the gameplay to reach the objective and progress the story.

Participant 1 also demonstrated his multimodal literacy in quickly making sense of the orchestration of multimodal meanings through the semiotic resources. He combined the visual mode of the entire screen turning red, the auditory mode of a pulsating heartbeat, the linguistic mode of a text that warned him not to peek for too long, and the verbal mode of the player character’s announcing that the zombie had discovered him to come to his understanding of the losing condition of this gameplay segment. Participant 1 verbalised his reading of the situation through his think-aloud that “it looks like a timed thing” to reflect his understanding that his peeking over the wall beyond a certain time limit resulted in the losing condition whereby his character was killed when the zombies discovered where he was hiding.

The findings of this study affirm the findings from previous studies that playing video games can allow players to demonstrate critical thinking (e.g. Gumulak & Webber, 2011 ) and empathy (e.g. Hilliard et al., 2018 ). Additionally, our study adds to the field of knowledge by showing that players can demonstrate multimodal literacy (Lim, 2021b ) during gameplay by learning how to combine information from semiotic modes, such as the language, verbal, visual, and aural modes to come to an overall understanding of the game. Their demonstration of their multimodal literacy is evidenced in their think-aloud verbalisations where they articulated how they understood, planned, acted, and reflected on how to progress the game by selecting and integrating information from multiple semiotic modes, such as language and visuals during the gameplay process. From an educational standpoint, we have noted that there is a difference between demonstrating these skills within a game context and having the players transfer skills such as critical thinking in digital play to academic subjects or real-world situations. We recognise that the demonstration of these skills in video gameplay does not mean that players are able to transfer the critical thinking to academic subjects or empathy to real-world situations. With this in mind, we have explored ways in which educators can design for digital play in the classrooms, such as introducing a pedagogic metalanguage for digital play (Toh & Lim, 2021 ; Lim & Toh, 2022 ) which teachers can use to guide players in transferring their critical thinking and empathy through reflection questions during classroom activities.

The affordances of video games that can facilitate the expression of these multiliteracies include immediate feedback from semiotic resources in the game world (Nadolny et al., 2020 ) and a safe space (LaFleur et al., 2017 ) that allows the player to retry again after failing the gameplay segment. Additionally, scaffolded learning in the form of virtual learning companions (Calvert, 2017 ) and multilinear pathways (Roswell & Wohlwend, 2016 ) in the gameplay can allow players to try out different approaches of solving a problem to demonstrate their critical thinking. Finally, the player’s ability to take control of two player characters during gameplay to understand their thoughts, emotions, and actions (Toh & Lim, 2021 ) can support their demonstration of empathy.

In contrast to empirical studies that suggest learning occurs in stages (e.g. Luft & Buitrago, 2005 ), our findings showed that learning is a nonlinear and iterated process where sometimes the learner may experience progress in their learning, but at other times, they may experience failure if they uncritically applied one approach that worked in a previous context on a different context. For instance, Participant 2 failed when he tried to play Ellie using Joel’s direct approach of attacking enemies in the open instead of adopting stealth when fighting multiple enemies.

Digital play is arguably attractive to people from all ages but is especially appealing to children and youths because of design features, such as immediate feedback, social affordances, and the presence of multisensory stimuli when using mobile devices and games to interact with others (Marlatt, 2018 ; Oliver & Carr, 2009 ). Notwithstanding the value of digital games, concerns have also been raised about the risks, such as exposure to sexual (Tompkins & Lynch, 2018 ) and violent content (Elson & Ferguson, 2014 ) as well as potential addiction (Grüsser et al., 2007 ) and health issues (Saunders & Vallance, 2017 ) related to the prolonged screen time with mobile devices. While these concerns are understandable, it is also acknowledged that studies have found no evidence of negative effects that playing violent video games has on youths (e.g. Ferguson & Olson, 2014 ). In addition, to mitigate the concerns on the possible ills of digital play, strategies of integrating digital play and learning into pedagogical context, such as the use of metacognitive scaffolding for inquiry-based learning activities (Ibáñez & Delgado-Kloos, 2018 ) and reflection questions to allow teachers to guide students’ digital play (Toh & Lim, 2021 ) have been proposed.

With the increasing ubiquity of mobile devices and gaming activities amongst youths and children, we argue that adults should not disregard youths’ use of video games. Instead, they can design learning experiences with video games using a series of learning activities and scaffolding questions structured by theoretical frameworks, such as Cope and Kalantzis’ ( 2015 ) learning by design framework or the metalanguage that we have developed for digital play (Toh & Lim, 2021 ; Lim & Toh, 2022 ). The framework allows adults to design learning using guided inquiry techniques, such as reflection and conversational prompts after gameplay for youths’ learning.

Given the resistance typical schools may have towards the use of video games for learning (Bourgonjon et al., 2013 ; Gee, 2005 ), we recognise that the degree of integration of video games into formal learning contexts will depend on the receptiveness and attitude of the educators, parents, and students (Mifsud et al., 2013 ). Nonetheless, video games can be used well in the classrooms for teaching and learning STEM subjects (e.g. Ormsby et al., 2011 ) or content subjects involving ethical thinking (e.g. Schrier, 2015 ), decision-making (Toh, 2021 ), and narrative concepts (Ostenson, 2013 ) in many schools.

In this study, we have explored the digital play of two players using a qualitative case study approach to examine the display of critical thinking, empathy, and multimodal literacy in their gameplay. These are important life skills that overlap with the skills required in school and the workplace. Through this study, we hope to advance the call for educators to harness video games in teaching, given how it can bring about different types of learning in the youths.

We also acknowledge that the limitations of the study include the male gender bias of the subjects recruited for the study due to the snowball and convenience sampling method used. Additionally, the qualitative research methods used, such as interviews, think-aloud protocol, and observations in the laboratory can be complemented with more objective measures in future studies, such as galvanic skin conductance, eye tracking, and brain scans to triangulate the findings. Future studies can also use a broader range of games to elicit the different types of learning that are demonstrated by gameplayers.

Availability of data and materials

The video recordings of the data analysed in the study have been provided in the endnotes of the manuscript for case study 1: https://tinyurl.com/Case00001 and case study 2: https://tinyurl.com/Case000002 .

The analysis of the scene started at 1:10 and ended at 16:40. https://tinyurl.com/Case00001 .

The analysis of the scene started at 17:54 and ended at 1:10:45. https://tinyurl.com/Case000002 .

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This work was supported by the National Youth Council’s National Youth Fund (NYF) grant and the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore’s Planning Grant PG 03/20 VLF “Multimodality and Pedagogy (MaP): A Systematic Review” (2020–2021).

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Idea: FVL and WT; Literature review: WT; Methodology: WT; Data analysis: WT; Case studies: WT; Findings and conclusions: FVL and WT; Writing (original draft): WT and FVL; Final revisions: FVL and WT; Project design and funding agency: FVL. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Weimin Toh is Research Fellow at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. His research interests are social semiotics, multimodal discourse analysis/multimodality, game studies, and game-based learning.

Fei Victor Lim is Assistant Professor at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He researches and teaches multiliteracies, multimodal discourse analyses, and digital learning. He is editor of Multimodality and Society and author of the book Designing Learning with Embodied Teaching: Perspectives from Multimodality published in the Routledge Studies in Multimodality.

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Toh, W., Lim, F.V. Learning in digital play: a dual case study of video gamers’ independent play. RPTEL 17 , 6 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41039-022-00182-2

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Accessibility in video games: a systematic review

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• Volume 19 , pages 169–193, ( 2020 )

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• Juan Aguado-Delgado   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-0532-2282 1 ,
• José-María Gutiérrez-Martínez 1 ,
• José R. Hilera 1 ,
• Luis de-Marcos 1 &
• Salvador Otón 1  

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Video games are software products with several purposes that are growing in strength and weight in society. However, there is one noticeable problem about them; in most cases, their developers most often do not take into consideration people with disabilities when they are creating video game applications. People with disabilities are thus partially or completely excluded from their use. Prior to any additional work, it is required to have an updated state of the art about this topic. This paper shows the results of a systematic literature review conducted to define the current status of video games accessibility. The type of review is broader than usual, so it is a systematic mapping study (a specific class of systematic review). Besides elaborating the state of the art (qualitative information), we identified and analyzed related works (45 relevant studies) to provide quantitative information of the performed search (including graphs and tables), such as the number of articles found by phases, their sources, their research type, the research questions answered, the kind of disability addressed, and the type and year of publications. None of the studied initiatives can guarantee universally accessible video game applications. Our proposal is to create an integral software engineering methodology that considers accessibility guidelines, techniques, strategies, human factors, etc. in the video game software development process.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the EC-funded project ESVI-AL (ALFA III program), the PMI and TIFyC research groups at the University of Alcalá (UAH) and the Master’s Programme in Software Engineering for the Web, of the University of Alcalá (UAH). In addition, the authors are thankful for the funding of the research process to the ESVI-AL observatory and the access to the search resources to the UAH, without which it would have been impossible to consult the bibliography and reach the knowledge acquired during the review. Finally, we would like to also thank Euan Short for his invaluable help in the paper translation process.

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Appendix: Table of references

In this section additional information is attached, which may be of use for understanding the process of bibliographic review described in this paper.

The information given is a reduced version (without the columns of subjective content) of the references table generated in that process, in which the data of the works comprehensively reviewed can be found. In Table  11 , the publications are situated according to the order in which they were read.

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Aguado-Delgado, J., Gutiérrez-Martínez, JM., Hilera, J.R. et al. Accessibility in video games: a systematic review. Univ Access Inf Soc 19 , 169–193 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-018-0628-2

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Classifying Videogames as Art and Why It Matters Now

This dissertation analyses the idea that videogames can be considered art in order to argue that wide-ranging benefits could be seen if the institution recognised them as such. I have explored the idea that the institution is the key to progress the notion of videogames as art and both art museums and universities alike must be behind the progression of what is considered the artistic canon in order to create new opportunities in the field of making art. I have reviewed popular arguments for and against the inclusion of videogames in the institutional artistic canon and then considered videogames in the light of several theorist's ideas of what art is. Primarily I have looked at the ideas behind cluster theory and the theory of mass art as a way of justifying videogames as art. I have followed this with case studies of This War of Mine (2014) and the developer Sam Barlow who has produced many videogames including Aisle (1999), Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (2009), and Her Story (2015). Lastly, I have considered what might be the long-term benefits of classifying videogames as art within the institution, primarily the enfranchisement of young women artists. I do this by reviewing the new National Curriculum in computer programming and considering how, in the light of Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own, this new education area will empower young women to be able to create art despite pressures that still persist with regards to the "proper" role of a woman in our society. It is my suggestion that all you need to create a work of videogame art is a basic computer, a standard UK education, and a room of your own - but only if the art institution recognises videogames as a legitimate form of art.

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Sorcha Mackenzie

Rene G . Cepeda

This dissertation studies video games as a medium of artistic expression by engaging three key elements of Marcel Duchamp's 1957 essay The Creative Act: Institution, Intention and Artefact. By first studying how Academia and the Artworld in general have engaged historically with video games. Afterwards, the formal and structural qualities of video games are engaged with, bridging the gap between this new medium and art history through aesthetic theories. Finally, medium specific qualities that complicate their study have been addressed by comparing video games with film and Marcel Duchamp’s ideas on the creative process. It is then concluded that while the field of video games-as-art is still in its infancy and that a majority of video games are not art, it is possible for specific video games to be accepted as artworks.

Daniel Martin Feige

Pippa Tshabalala

Unpublished Masters Thesis under maiden name - Phillipa Stalker. This essay will explore the existing definitions of art games that are currently being used in the art game/art mod genre. It will identify the leading theorists within the field, and take into account their definitions whilst at the same time establishing a set of categories within which can be defined the dominant trends in the development of the field. It will also situate art games within an historical context, both within the commercial computer game field as well as the digital art field and attempt to establish some sort of timeline within which we can see the development and emergence of art games in relation to these two disciplines. Two examples of art games, both from different categories will be examined and critiqued in the context of Artistic Computer Game Modification – A 3D game called Escape From Woomera and an art mod or patch called SOD. The art game as an entity will be examined in relation to ideas of the ‘interactive’ and ‘play’, and the implications and potential for fine art practice will be investigated.

Leonardo Electronic Almanac

Federico Alvarez Igarzábal

This paper argues that the lack of consensus on a definition of "art" is a fundamental problem in the video-games-as-art discussion. A brief review of some influential twentieth-century definitions of "art" reveals that the concept cannot be defined in terms of essential properties, but that it should rather be understood as a Wittgensteinian family resemblance term. The paper, then, proposes Dennis Dutton's cluster theory of art as a way of establishing consensus. Besides treating "art" as a family resemblance term, Dutton's definition reintroduces the notion of "human nature" that twentieth century aesthetics has largely dismissed. The resurfacing of this notion-already posited by philosophers like Aristotle, Kant, and Hume-is owed to evolutionary psychology, a novel approach to the study of human psychology from a Darwinian perspective. Following Dutton, the paper maintains that an evolutionary approach to the study of art enables us to see beyond cultural specificities and delve into the universal phenomena that lie behind them, providing a much-needed common ground for discussion. The paper finally returns to the issue of video games and argues that, in the light of Dutton's account, video games are to be considered an art form. This manuscript was accepted in 2018 for publication in the issue "The Video Games Conundrum" of the Leonardo Electronic Almanac, currently in press. Preprint shared with permission.

Paulius Petraitis

Trevor A Strunk

An extended review of two recent academic monographs on videogames and a statement on the field of digital humanities in general.

Andy Clarke

New Art Examiner

“Are video games art?” The frequency with which that question has been posed over the past decade belies the wholly unsatisfactory nature of the responses. Although the classification of what we mean by video games has not remained categorically uncomplicated, the crux of the debate has largely lain, instead, with fairly banal epistemologies of art. At the extremes, art critics have derided video games as lacking the sophistication, depth, or even “soul” of works by such strawmen as Picasso and Van Gogh. Game designers and industry professionals, in turn, have accused such critics of being uninformed outsiders and Luddites unable to appreciate the ways technology has revolutionized art’s expressive potential on a popular level. (…) even though the institutional answer to this is question is patently unsatisfying, the conditions and rhetorics of the display of video games in exhibitions and museums have something important to tell us about ingrained understandings of art, science, culture, and industry, as well as those categories’ shifting hierarchies. In short, though exhibitions can only tell us that games are art in the least-interesting ways possible, they can tell us rather a lot about how they are art when encountered in “display mode.”

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• Front Psychol

The Association Between Video Gaming and Psychological Functioning

Juliane m. von der heiden.

1 Department of Psychology, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany

Beate Braun

2 Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, University Medical Center, Mainz, Germany

Kai W. Müller

Boris egloff, associated data.

Video gaming is an extremely popular leisure-time activity with more than two billion users worldwide ( Newzoo, 2017 ). However, the media as well as professionals have underscored the potential dangers of excessive video gaming. With the present research, we aimed to shed light on the relation between video gaming and gamers’ psychological functioning. Questionnaires on personality and psychological health as well as video gaming habits were administered to 2,734 individuals (2,377 male, 357 female, M age = 23.06, SD age = 5.91). Results revealed a medium-sized negative correlation between problematic video gaming and psychological functioning with regard to psychological symptoms, affectivity, coping, and self-esteem. Moreover, gamers’ reasons for playing and their preferred game genres were differentially related to psychological functioning with the most notable findings for distraction-motivated players as well as action game players. Future studies are needed to examine whether these psychological health risks reflect the causes or consequences of video gaming.

Introduction

Video gaming is a very popular leisure activity among adults ( Pew Research Center, 2018 ). The amount of time spent playing video games has increased steadily, from 5.1 h/week in 2011 to 6.5 h/week in 2017 ( The Nielsen Company, 2017 ). Video gaming is known to have some benefits such as improving focus, multitasking, and working memory, but it may also come with costs when it is used heavily. By spending a predominant part of the day gaming, excessive video gamers are at risk of showing lower educational and career attainment, problems with peers, and lower social skills ( Mihara and Higuchi, 2017 ). On the one hand, video game use is widespread, and it may come with certain precursors as well as consequences. On the other hand, little is known about the relations between various video gaming habits and psychological functioning. This study aims to shed light on these important relations using a large sample.

A video game is defined as “a game which we play thanks to an audiovisual apparatus and which can be based on a story” ( Esposito, 2005 ). In the last few years, the amount of scientific research devoted to video game playing has increased (e.g., Ferguson, 2015 ; Calvert et al., 2017 ; Hamari and Keronen, 2017 ). Most scientific studies in this area of research have focused on the extent of video game play and its diverse correlates. While some researchers have emphasized the benefits of game playing and even suggested a therapeutic use of video games ( Primack et al., 2012 ; Granic et al., 2014 ; Colder Carras et al., 2018 ), others have been intrigued by its potential dangers ( Anderson et al., 2010 ; Müller and Wölfling, 2017 ).

Parents and professionals may be worried about their excessively playing children being “addicted.” However, problematic and potentially addictive video game use goes beyond the extent of playing (in hours per week; Skoric et al., 2009 ). It also includes such issues as craving, loss of control, and negative consequences of excessive gaming. While it is still a matter of debate whether problematic video game play should be considered a behavioral addiction , its status as a mental disorder has been clarified since the release of the DSM-5 in 2013. In the DSM-5, the American Psychiatric Association (2013) defined Internet Gaming Disorder with diagnostic criteria closely related to Gambling Disorder. Generally, this decision has been supported by many researchers (e.g., Petry et al., 2014 ) but has also caused controversies. Researchers have criticized the selection of diagnostic criteria and the vague definition of the Internet Gaming Disorder construct, which excludes offline games from being related to addictive use (e.g., Griffiths et al., 2016 ; Bean et al., 2017 ).

Several studies, literature reviews, and meta-analyses have focused on the correlates of problematic video gaming, usually assessed as a continuum with addiction marking the upper end of the scale (e.g., Ferguson et al., 2011 ; Kuss and Griffiths, 2012 ). The degree of addictive video game use has been found to be related to personality traits such as low self-esteem ( Ko et al., 2005 ) and low self-efficacy ( Jeong and Kim, 2011 ), anxiety, and aggression ( Mehroof and Griffiths, 2010 ), and even to clinical symptoms of depression and anxiety disorders ( Wang et al., 2018 ). Potential consequences of video game use have been identified as well, such as a lack of real-life friends ( Kowert et al., 2014a ), stress and maladaptive coping ( Milani et al., 2018 ), lower psychosocial well-being and loneliness ( Lemmens et al., 2011 ), psychosomatic problems ( Müller et al., 2015 ; Milani et al., 2018 ), and decreased academic achievement ( Chiu et al., 2004 ; Gentile, 2009 ). Effect sizes have varied widely across studies ( Ferguson et al., 2011 ). There seem to be sex and age differences with regard to video gaming behavior: potentially problematic video gaming was found to be more likely among males than females (e.g., Greenberg et al., 2010 ; Estévez et al., 2017 ), and among younger gamers ( Rehbein et al., 2016 ).

In addition to looking at problematic video game use and its relation to psychological functioning, it is relevant to also focus on why individuals play video games. Players use video games for very different reasons ( Ryan et al., 2006 ; Yee, 2006 ) such as to distract themselves from daily hassles or because they enjoy the social relationships they have developed in the virtual world. Potentially problematic video gaming has been found to be related to various reasons for playing such as coping and escape ( Hussain and Griffiths, 2009 ; Schneider et al., 2018 ), socialization ( Laconi et al., 2017 ), and personal satisfaction ( Ng and Wiemer-Hastings, 2005 ). Coping ( Laconi et al., 2017 ), social interaction, and competition were among the main reasons for gaming among males but not among females ( Lucas and Sherry, 2004 ). Mixed results emerged concerning age differences ( Greenberg et al., 2010 ), but especially younger gamers seemed to be motivated for video gaming by social interactions ( Hilgard et al., 2013 ). However, so far it remains unclear to what extent people’s various reasons for playing video games are differentially related to their psychological functioning.

Besides investigating the links between potentially problematic video game use and psychological functioning as well as between reasons for playing video games and psychological functioning, it is relevant to also look at which game genres individuals prefer. Correlates of preferences for certain game genres (e.g., simulation, strategy, action, role-playing) are cognitive enhancement ( Dobrowolski et al., 2015 ; Bediou et al., 2018 ), but also the amount of time spent playing ( Lemmens and Hendriks, 2016 ; Rehbein et al., 2016 ) and psychopathological symptoms ( Laconi et al., 2017 ). Males were shown to prefer action and strategy games, whereas females showed a preference for games of skill ( Scharkow et al., 2015 ; Rehbein et al., 2016 ). Younger gamers seemed to prefer action games, older players more so games of skill ( Scharkow et al., 2015 ). However, it is not yet understood to what extent preferences for certain video game genres are differentially related to psychological functioning.

Typically, research has focused merely on violent video games (e.g., Anderson and Bushman, 2001 ; Elson and Ferguson, 2014 ) or one specific game within one specific game genre (frequently World of Warcraft; Graham and Gosling, 2013 ; Visser et al., 2013 ; Herodotou et al., 2014 ), thereby neglecting the variety of possible gaming habits across various game genres.

In the present study, our objective was to examine the relation between video gaming and psychological functioning in a fine-grained manner. For this purpose, we examined psychological functioning by employing various variables such as psychological symptoms, coping strategies, and social support. Likewise, we assessed video gaming in a similarly detailed way, ranging from (a) problematic video game use, (b) the reasons for playing, to (c) the preferred game genres. This strategy prevented us from making potentially invalid generalizations about video gaming in general and allowed us to examine the spectrum of gaming habits and the respective relations between such habits and a diverse set of variables representing psychological functioning.

Playing video games excessively should be appealing to individuals with poor psychological functioning because games allow people to avoid their everyday problems and instead immerse themselves in another environment ( Taquet et al., 2017 ). Moreover, video games offer people a chance to connect with other people socially despite any more or less evident psychological problems they may have ( Kowert et al., 2014b ; Mazurek et al., 2015 ). On the other hand, potentially problematic video game use may also lead to psychological problems because it reduces the amount of time and the number of opportunities gamers have to practice real-life behavior ( Gentile, 2009 ). Thus, we expected to find a negative correlation between problematic video gaming and variables representing psychological functioning such that we expected more potentially problematic video game use to be related to dysfunctional coping strategies ( Wood and Griffith, 2007 ), negative affectivity ( Mathiak et al., 2011 ), and poor school performance ( Mihara and Higuchi, 2017 ). Moreover, we expected to find differential correlates of people’s reasons for playing video games and their psychological functioning: Playing for escape-oriented reasons such as distraction should go along with diverse indices of poor psychological functioning ( Király et al., 2015 ), whereas playing for gain-oriented reasons such as the storyline or the social connections in the game should be related to adequate psychological functioning ( Longman et al., 2009 ). Also, we expected to find people’s preferred game genres (e.g., strategy, action) to be differentially related to their psychological functioning ( Park et al., 2016 ). Finally, we aimed to shed light on the unique contribution of each measure of psychological functioning to the prediction of problematic video game use.

Materials and Methods

Participants 1.

A total of N = 2,891 individuals (2,421 male, 470 female) with a mean age of 23.17 years ( SD = 5.99, Range: 13–65) participated in our study. Of these participants, N = 2,734 (95%) confirmed their use of video games and were thus included in further analyses (2,377 male, 357 female, with a mean age of 23.06 years; SD = 5.91, Range: 13–65). The distribution of participants with regard to sex and age mirrors the findings of past research with males and younger individuals being more likely to play video games (e.g., Griffiths et al., 2004 ). Participants’ place of residence was Germany.

Procedure and Instruments 2

We posted links to our online questionnaire on various online forums as well as on popular online game sites. To achieve heterogeneity of the sample, no exclusion criteria other than having access to the Internet and understanding German were specified. As an incentive to participate in the study, four vouchers of 50€ were raffled.

Video Gaming

Potentially problematic video game use.

The AICA-S, the Scale for the Assessment of Internet and Computer game Addiction ( Wölfling et al., 2016 ), was used to assess participants’ gaming behavior with regard to potential problematic use. Based on the DSM criteria for Internet Gaming Disorder (tolerance, craving, loss of control, emotion regulation, withdrawal, and unsuccessful attempts to cut back), this standardized self-report scale consists of 15 items usually with a five-point scale ranging from 1 ( never ) to 5 ( very often ). The final score (Min = 0, Max = 27 points) is computed using weighted scoring (items with an item-total correlation > 0.55 in the norm sample are weighted double; Wölfling et al., 2011 ). The AICA-S score can be used to differentiate between regular (0–6.5 points) and problematic use of video games (7–13 points: abuse; 13.5–27 points: addiction). In our sample, N = 2,265 (83%) were identified as regular gamers, and N = 469 (17%) as problematic gamers. We used the AICA-S as a continuous variable for all further analyses ( M = 3.98, SD = 3.22, Range: 0–24). The instrument has been validated for different age groups in the general population and in clinical samples ( Müller et al., 2014a , 2019 , but note small sample size; Müller et al., 2014b ). Cronbach’s alpha was α = 0.70. As expected, the AICA-S score was correlated with male sex ( r = 0.17 ∗∗∗ ) and age ( r = –0.15 ∗∗∗ ). On average, participants played video games for M = 4.09 hours per weekday ( SD = 4.44, Range: 0–24), and M = 4.21 h per day at the weekend ( SD = 2.99, Range: 0–24).

Reasons for playing

Gamers indicated how often they played video games for certain reasons. They rated each of 10 reasons separately on Likert scales ranging from 1 ( never ) to 4 ( very often ). The most prevalent reasons were relaxation ( M = 2.96, SD = 0.91), amusement ( M = 2.94, SD = 0.85), and because of the storyline ( M = 2.67, SD = 1.10).

Game genres

Gamers were asked how often they usually played various video game subgenres such as first-person shooter, round-based strategy, massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), life simulations, and others. Ratings were made on Likert scales ranging from 1 ( never ) to 4 ( very often ). Using Apperley’s (2006) classification of game genres, we categorized the subgenres into the main genres action ( M = 2.54, SD = 0.84), strategy ( M = 2.13, SD = 0.80), role-playing ( M = 2.01, SD = 0.73), and simulation ( M = 1.58, SD = 0.44). A cluster for unclassified subgenres ( M = 1.54, SD = 0.39) was added to additionally account for such subgenres as jump’n’runs and games of skill. Descriptive statistics and intercorrelations for all measures (including sex and age) are presented in Supplementary Tables S1–S4 .

Psychological Functioning

Participants provided ratings of their psychological functioning on the following constructs:

General psychopathology

The SCL-K-9 ( Klaghofer and Brähler, 2001 ), a short version of the SCL-90-R ( Derogatis, 1975 ), was administered to assess participants’ subjective impairment regarding psychological symptoms (somatization, obsessive-compulsive, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation, and psychoticism). The SCL-K-9 score is strongly correlated with the original score of the SCL-90-R ( r = 0.93). The 9 items were answered on 5-point Likert-type scales ranging from 1 ( do not agree at all ) to 5 ( agree completely ). Cronbach’s alpha was satisfactory (α = 0.77).

We assessed 10 coping strategies with the Brief COPE ( Carver, 1997 ; German version by Knoll et al., 2005 ), which is the shorter version of the COPE ( Carver et al., 1989 ): self-distraction, denial, substance use, venting, self-blame, behavioral disengagement, acceptance, active coping, planning, and positive reframing. The two items per subscale were administered on 5-point Likert-type scales ranging from 1 ( never ) to 5 ( very often ). Intercorrelations of the two items per subscale ranged from r = 0.32, p < 0.001 for positive reframing to r = 0.78, p < 0.001 for substance use (with one exception: r = -0.05, p = 0.01 for self-distraction).

We measured general affect as a trait and affect during video gaming as a state using the German version ( Krohne et al., 1996 ) of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS; Watson et al., 1988 ). On a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 ( not at all ) to 5 ( completely ), participants rated the intensity of 20 adjectives. Cronbach’s alpha was α = 0.78 for general positive affect, α = 0.83 for general negative affect, α = 0.85 for positive affect while playing, and α = 0.83 for negative affect while playing.

The measure for the assessment of shyness in adults ( Asendorpf, 1997 ) consists of 5 items that were answered on a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 ( not at all ) to 5 ( completely ). Cronbach’s alpha was excellent (α = 0.86).

We administered the German version ( Elbing, 1991 ) of the NYU Loneliness Scale ( Rubenstein and Shaver, 1982 ). The 4 items were answered on 5- to 6-point Likert-type scales. Cronbach’s alpha was satisfactory (α = 0.79).

Preference for solitude

A 10-item measure of preference for solitude ( Nestler et al., 2011 ) was answered on a 6-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 ( not at all ) to 6 ( completely ). Cronbach’s alpha was excellent (α = 0.86).

Life satisfaction

Participants answered a one-item life satisfaction measure on a 4-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 ( not at all ) to 4 ( completely ).

Self-esteem

We administered the German version ( von Collani and Herzberg, 2003 ) of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES; Rosenberg, 1979 ). The 10 items were answered on a 4-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 ( not at all ) to 4 ( completely ). Cronbach’s alpha was excellent (α = 0.88).

Self-efficacy

We administered a 10-item generalized self-efficacy scale ( Schwarzer and Jerusalem, 1995 ), which was answered on a 4-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 ( not at all ) to 4 ( completely ). Cronbach’s alpha was excellent (α = 0.86).

Social support and friends

We administered the perceived available social support subscale from the Berlin Social Support Scales (BSSS; Schwarzer and Schulz, 2003 ). The 8 items were answered on a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 ( not at all ) to 5 ( completely ). Cronbach’s alpha was excellent (α = 0.94). Participants indicated how many offline friends and offline acquaintances they had ( r = 0.44, p < 0.001) as well as how many online friends and online acquaintances they had ( r = 0.33, p < 0.001). Due to left-skewed distributions, we logarithmized the data before aggregation.

Participants reported their grade point average. German grades are assessed on a scale that ranges from 1 ( excellent ) to 6 ( insufficient ). Thus, higher scores indicate worse grades.

Participants further reported their sex and age. Both were used as control variables in further analyses.

In a first step, we computed zero-order correlations between the video gaming variables and the measures of psychological functioning. In a second step, we computed partial correlations in which we controlled for sex and age because past research has repeatedly shown that sex and age are correlated with both video gaming ( Homer et al., 2012 ; Mihara and Higuchi, 2017 ) and psychological functioning ( Kessler et al., 2007 ; Nolen-Hoeksema, 2012 ). Finally, we explored the unique contribution of each measure of psychological functioning to the prediction of potentially problematic video gaming. Therefore, we computed regressions with potentially problematic video gaming as the dependent variable and sex, age, and the measures of psychological functioning as predictors (entered simultaneously into the regression equation). By employing this procedure, we were able to determine the effect that each variable had over and above the other ones. For instance, we could identify whether general psychopathology was predictive of potentially problematic video game use when the influence of all other variables (e.g., shyness, loneliness, and others) was held constant.

Additionally, we included analyses regarding sex and age differences in the link between video gaming and psychological functioning. Since we collected a self-selected sample where different sexes and age groups were not represented equally, our findings are only preliminary, but may stimulate future research.

Potentially Problematic Video Game Use and Psychological Functioning

First, we examined whether potentially problematic video game use was related to various psychological functioning variables. As can be seen in Table 1 , the results for the zero-order correlations were similar to those for the partial correlations in which we controlled for sex and age. A medium-sized positive relation to the potentially problematic use of video games emerged for the presence of psychological symptoms including depression, anxiety, and hostility. Furthermore, several coping strategies were differentially associated with the potentially problematic use of video games: Self-blame and behavioral disengagement showed the strongest positive relations to potentially problematic video game use, followed by denial, acceptance, substance use, self-distraction, and venting. Planning, active coping, and, to a lesser extent, positive reframing were negatively associated with the potentially problematic use of video games. Moreover, the association with potentially problematic video game use was negative for general positive affect and positive and larger in size for general negative affect. However, potentially problematic video game use was clearly positively associated with the experience of both positive and negative affect while playing. Further, a preference for solitude, shyness, and loneliness were positively correlated with the potentially problematic use of video games. Lower self-esteem, lower life satisfaction, and, to a lesser extent, poorer perceived social support and lower self-efficacy went along with potentially problematic video game use. There was an association between fewer offline friends and acquaintances but more online connections with potentially problematic video gaming. Finally, poorer performance in school (i.e., higher grades) was related to the potentially problematic use of video games. These results suggest that potentially problematic video gaming goes along with poor psychological functioning and vice versa.

Associations between potentially problematic video gaming and psychological functioning.

Reasons for Playing Video Games and Psychological Functioning

Second, we investigated whether players’ reasons for playing video games were differentially related to the psychological functioning variables. Table 2 presents the partial correlations, controlling for sex and age. Using video games to distract oneself from stress was clearly connected to a high level of psychological symptoms. Distraction-motivated gamers preferred coping strategies such as self-blame, behavioral disengagement, self-distraction, denial, substance use, venting, and acceptance, but they neglected active coping and planning. They showed less general positive affect and more negative affect both in general and while playing as well as more positive affect while playing. These gamers further reported low self-esteem and low life satisfaction, loneliness, a preference for solitude, shyness, a lack of self-efficacy and social support, and poor achievement in school. A similar but somewhat less extreme picture was revealed for gamers who played video games in order to have something to talk about . However, these gamers reported more online connections. Gamers who played video games to improve their real-life abilities also reported more online connections. In addition, these gamers showed higher levels of general positive affect. The strongest association with online friends and acquaintances emerged, as expected, for gamers who played because of the social relations in the virtual world. Although all reasons for playing video games were related to positive affect while playing, the strongest associations emerged for gamers who played because of the social relations , to stimulate their imagination , and for curiosity . It is interesting that, for gamers who played video games because of the storyline and for relaxation , there was a relation only to positive but not to negative affect while playing. Reasons for playing were only weakly related to sex and age (see Supplementary Table S2 ). In sum, several reasons for playing video games were differentially associated with psychological functioning.

Associations between reasons for playing video games and psychological functioning.

Video Game Genre and Psychological Functioning

Third, we examined whether players’ preferences for different video game genres were differentially associated with the measures of psychological functioning. Table 3 shows the partial correlations in which we controlled for sex and age. There was a weak connection between general psychological symptoms and all of the video game genres we investigated except strategy. A preference for action games had the strongest association with affect while playing. Thus, action games seem to be both rewarding and a source of frustration. A preference for action games went along with poorer school performance. Gamers who preferred role-playing games scored higher on shyness and a preference for solitude and lower on self-esteem; they also reported fewer offline connections. By contrast, preferences for games of the unclassified category on average went along with a larger number of offline friends and more positive affect, both while playing and in general. Two game genres (i.e., role-playing and unclassified games) were related to the coping strategy of self-distraction. Because preferred game genre was related to participants’ sex (see Supplementary Table S3 ), we had a more detailed look at the correlations between preferred game genre and psychological functioning separately for both sexes: For males ( n = 2,377), the strongest correlation between general psychopathology and game genre emerged for action ( r = 0.08, p < 0.001), followed by role playing ( r = 0.07, p < 0.01), and unclassified ( r = 0.07, p < 0.01). For females ( n = 357), the strongest relation between general psychopathology and game genre emerged for simulation ( r = 0.17, p < 0.01). Differences were also found regarding the strength of the relation between number of friends online and the genre action: r = 0.06, p < 0.01 for males, and r = 0.27, p < 0.001 for females. Similarly, preferred game genre was related to participants’ age (see Supplementary Table S3 ). However, there were merely differences with regard to the relation of psychological functioning and game genre, when analyzed separately for different age groups (<19 years, n = 557; 19–30 years, n = 1916; >31 years, n = 261). In sum, our results speak to the idea that individuals with different levels of psychological functioning differ in their choices of game genres and vice versa.

Associations between preferred video game genre and psychological functioning.

Predicting Potentially Problematic Video Game Use by Psychological Functioning Variables

In a final step, we entered all of the investigated psychological functioning variables as well as sex and age as predictors of the potentially problematic use of video games. By employing this procedure, we were able to determine the unique contribution of each psychological functioning variable when the influence of all other variables was held constant. As Table 4 shows, the number of online friends and acquaintances as well as positive affect while playing were most predictive of potentially problematic video game use over and above all other variables. General psychopathology, a lack of offline connections, and poor school performance were weaker but still relevant predictors of potentially problematic video game use.

Prediction of potentially problematic video game use by psychological functioning variables.

With this study, we aimed to shed light on the association of diverse video gaming habits with gamers’ psychological functioning. Drawing on a large sample, our results revealed a medium-sized relation between potentially problematic video game use and poor psychological functioning with regard to general psychological symptoms, maladaptive coping strategies, negative affectivity, low self-esteem, and a preference for solitude as well as poor school performance. These findings are in line with those of prior work (e.g., Kuss and Griffiths, 2012 ; Milani et al., 2018 ). Also, reasons for playing video games were differentially related to psychological functioning with the most pronounced findings for escape-oriented in contrast to gain-oriented motives. Specifically, distraction-motivated gaming went along with higher symptom ratings, lower self-esteem, and more negative affectivity, whereas playing to establish social relationships in the virtual world was related to a larger number of online connections and more positive affect while playing. Furthermore, there were only weak relations between the preferred game genres and psychological functioning. The action games genre was associated with the strongest ratings of affect while playing. These results on reasons and genres may help to explain conflicting findings of former studies, because in our work we examined various reasons for playing, several game genres, and various aspects of psychological functioning simultaneously. Finally, positive affect while playing and a larger number of online friends were the strongest unique predictors of potentially problematic video game use, followed by psychological symptoms, a lack of offline connections, and poor school performance. These findings suggest that, on the one hand, independent of one’s psychological conditions, enjoying oneself during gaming (i.e., experiencing positive affect, connecting with online friends) may go along with potentially problematic use of video games. On the other hand, poor psychological functioning seems to be a unique risk factor for potentially problematic video gaming.

The presented results are generally in line with previous work that has identified a connection between video gaming and psychological health, academic problems, and social problems ( Ferguson et al., 2011 ; Müller et al., 2015 ). However, our study moved beyond prior research by providing in-depth analyses of both video gaming habits (including potentially problematic use, reasons for playing, and preferred game genre) and psychological functioning (including psychological symptoms, coping styles, affectivity, as well as variables that are related to individuals and their social environments). In addition, we identified unique predictors of potentially problematic video game use.

How can the findings on differential relations between video gaming and various indices of psychological functioning – ranging from beneficial results ( Latham et al., 2013 ) to unfavorable results ( Barlett et al., 2009 ; Möller and Krahé, 2009 ; Anderson et al., 2010 ) – be integrated? According to Kanfer and Phillips (1970) , problematic behavior (e.g., excessive video gaming) can be understood as a function of the situation (e.g., being rejected by a peer); the organism (e.g., low self-esteem); the person’s thoughts, physical reactions, and feelings (e.g., sadness, anger); and finally, the short- as well as long-term consequences of the behavior (termed SORKC model). In the short run, according to our results, playing video games may be a way to distract oneself from everyday hassles and may lead to positive affect while playing and a feeling of being connected to like-minded people, all of which are factors that have an immediate reinforcing value. In the long run, however, spending many hours per day in front of a computer screen may prevent a person from (a) developing and practicing functional coping strategies, (b) finding friends and support in the social environment, and (c) showing proper school achievement, factors that are potentially harmful to the person. Thus, differentiating between short- and long-term perspectives may help us understanding the differential correlates of intensive video gaming.

When is it appropriate to speak of video game addiction? More and more researchers have suggested a continuum between engagement ( Charlton and Danforth, 2007 ; Skoric et al., 2009 ) and pathological gaming/addiction, instead of a categorical perspective. In part, this recommendation has also been followed in the DSM-5 ( American Psychiatric Association, 2013 ) where Internet Gaming Disorder is classified with different degrees of severity, ranging from mild to moderate to severe, according to the functional impairment associated with it. The AICA-S also allows for a differential perspective on gaming behavior by providing ways to assess both the time spent playing video games and the main DSM criteria that indicate Internet Gaming Disorder. However, in our study we did not aim at making a diagnosis, but at having a closer look at potentially problematic gaming behavior and its correlates in a non-clinical sample.

In sum, it seems relevant to assess not only the extent of video game use but also the reasons behind this behavior (e.g., distraction) and the concrete rewards that come from playing (e.g., the experience of strong affect while playing action games) to fully understand the relation between video gaming and psychological functioning.

Limitations and Future Directions

With the present study, we aimed to uncover the association between video gaming and psychological functioning. Our approach was cross-sectional and warrants interpretative caution because correlations cannot determine the direction of causation. It remains unclear whether potentially problematic gaming is a factor that contributes to the development of psychological dysfunction or whether psychological dysfunction contributes to potentially problematic gaming. Also, a third factor (e.g., preexisting mental difficulties) may produce both psychological dysfunction and potentially problematic gaming. Thus, longitudinal studies that are designed to identify the causal pathway may provide a promising avenue for future research. Future studies may also answer the question whether the link between video gaming and psychological functioning is moderated by sex, age, the reasons for playing, or the preferred game genre. In addition, it is important not to forget that the present results are based on a self-selected sample in which potentially problematic video gamers were overrepresented (e.g., Festl et al., 2013 , for a representative sample). Thus, future research should replicate our findings in a representative sample. Further, we relied on self-reported data, which is a plausible method for assessing inner affairs such as people’s reasons for their behaviors, but it would be helpful to back up our findings with evidence derived from sources such as peers, caregivers, and health specialists. Our work reflects only a first approach to the topic, and future work may additionally collect in-game behavioral data from the players ( McCreery et al., 2012 ; Billieux et al., 2013 ) to objectively and more specifically investigate diverse patterns of use. Furthermore, one must not forget that the used taxonomy to classify video game genres is only one of various possible options and one should “think of each individual game as belonging to several genres at once” ( Apperley, 2006 , p. 19). Finally, some of the effects reported in our paper were rather modest in size. This is not surprising considering the complexity and multiple determinants of human behavior. In our analyses, we thoroughly controlled for the influence of sex and age and still found evidence that video gaming was differentially related to measures of psychological functioning.

The current study adds to the knowledge on gaming by uncovering the specific relations between video gaming and distinct measures of psychological functioning. Potentially problematic video gaming was found to be associated with positive affect and social relationships while playing but also with psychological symptoms, maladaptive coping strategies, negative affectivity, low self-esteem, a preference for solitude, and poor school performance. Including gamers’ reasons for playing video games and their preferred game genres helped deepen the understanding of the specific and differential associations between video gaming and psychological health. This knowledge might help developing adequate interventions that are applied prior to the occurrence of psychological impairments that may go along with potentially problematic video gaming.

Ethics Statement

In our online survey, participants were given information on voluntary participation, risks, confidentiality/anonymity, and right to withdraw. Whilst participants were not signing a separate consent form, consent was obtained by virtue of completion. We implemented agreed procedures to maintain the confidentiality of participant data.

Author Contributions

BB, BE, JH, and KM conceived and designed the study. BB, JH, and KM collected and prepared the data. JH analyzed the data. BE and JH wrote the manuscript.

Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

1 The data were gathered as part of a larger project ( Stopfer et al., 2015 ; Braun et al., 2016 ). However, the analyses in the present article do not overlap with analyses from previous work.

2 Other measures were administered, but they were not relevant to the present research questions and are thus not mentioned in this paper. The data set and analysis script supporting the conclusions of this manuscript can be retrieved from https://osf.io/emrpw/?view_only=856491775efe4f99b407e258c2f2fa8d .

Supplementary Material

The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01731/full#supplementary-material

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Google DeepMind’s Latest AI Agent Learned to Play Goat Simulator 3

Goat Simulator 3 is a surreal video game in which players take domesticated ungulates on a series of implausible adventures, sometimes involving jetpacks.

That might seem an unlikely venue for the next big leap in artificial intelligence , but Google DeepMind today revealed an AI program capable of learning how to complete tasks in a number of games, including Goat Simulator 3 .

Most impressively, when the program encounters a game for the first time, it can reliably perform tasks by adapting what it learned from playing other games. The program is called SIMA, for Scalable Instructable Multiworld Agent, and it builds upon recent AI advances that have seen large language models produce remarkably capable chabots like ChatGPT .

“SIMA is greater than the sum of its parts,” says Frederic Besse, a research engineer at Google DeepMind who was involved with the project. “It is able to take advantage of the shared concepts in the game, to learn better skills and to learn to be better at carrying out instructions.”

Google DeepMind's SIMA software tries its hand at Goat Simulator 3.

As Google , OpenAI , and others jostle to gain an edge in building on the recent generative AI boom, broadening out the kind of data that algorithms can learn from offers a route to more powerful capabilities.

DeepMind’s latest video game project hints at how AI systems like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini could soon do more than just chat and generate images or video, by taking control of computers and performing complex commands. That’s a dream being chased by both independent AI enthusiasts and big companies including Google DeepMind, whose CEO, Demis Hassabis, recently told WIRED is “investing heavily in that direction.”

“The paper is an interesting advance for embodied agents across multiple simulations,” says Linxi "Jim" Fan, a senior research scientist at Nvidia who works on AI gameplay and was involved with an early effort to train AI to play by controlling a keyboard and mouse with a 2017 OpenAI project called  World of Bits . Fan says the Google DeepMind work reminds him of this project as well as a 2022 effort called  VPT  that involved agents learning tool use in Minecraft.

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“SIMA takes one step further and shows stronger generalization to new games,” he says. “The number of environments is still very small, but I think SIMA is on the right track.

A New Way to Play

SIMA shows DeepMind putting a new twist on game playing agents, an AI technology the company has pioneered in the past.

In 2013, before DeepMind was acquired by Google, the London-based startup showed how a technique called reinforcement learning , which involves training an algorithm with positive and negative feedback on its performance, could help computers play classic Atari video games . In 2016, as part of Google, DeepMind developed AlphaGo , a program that used the same approach to defeat a world champion of Go , an ancient board game that requires subtle and instinctive skill.

For the SIMA project, the Google DeepMind team collaborated with several game studios to collect keyboard and mouse data from humans playing 10 different games with 3D environments, including No Man’s Sky , Teardown , Hydroneer , and Satisfactory . DeepMind later added descriptive labels to that data to associate the clicks and taps with the actions users took, for example whether they were a goat looking for its jetpack or a human character digging for gold.

The data trove from the human players was then fed into a language model of the kind that powers modern chatbots, which had picked up an ability to process language by digesting a huge database of text. SIMA could then carry out actions in response to typed commands. And finally, humans evaluated SIMA’s efforts inside different games, generating data that was used to fine-tune its performance.

The SIMA AI software was trained using data from humans playing 10 different games featuring 3D environments.

After all that training, SIMA is able to carry out actions in response to hundreds of commands given by a human player, like “Turn left” or “Go to the spaceship” or “Go through the gate” or “Chop down a tree.” The program can perform more than 600 actions, ranging from exploration to combat to tool use. The researchers avoided games that feature violent actions, in line with Google’s ethical guidelines on AI.

“It's still very much a research project,” says Tim Harley, another member of the Google DeepMind team. “However, one could imagine one day having agents like SIMA playing alongside you in games with you and with your friends.”

Video games provide a relatively safe environment to task AI agents to do things. For agents to do useful office or everyday admin work, they will need to become more reliable. Harley and Besse at DeepMind say they are working on techniques for making the agents more reliable.

Updated 3/13/2024, 10:20 am ET: Added comment from Linxi "Jim" Fan.

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'Games made by soulless machines': Tech sparks debate over AI stories in video games

Vincent Acovino

Christopher Intagliata

A screenshot from Nvidia and Convai's recent demonstration video of AI in video games. Screenshot by NPR hide caption

A screenshot from Nvidia and Convai's recent demonstration video of AI in video games.

Is the future of artificial intelligence in video games playing out in a cyberpunk ramen bar? Tech companies would like you to think so, but game writers aren't so sure.

In a recent demo from the tech company Nvidia, a human player talked to two video game characters using a microphone — and the characters responded in real time using generative AI.

Nvidia is promising a new kind of storytelling made possible by Generative AI technology.

In a press release, Nvidia said the technology offered the chance to turn "generic non-playable characters (NPCs)" into "dynamic, interactive characters capable of striking up a conversation, or providing game knowledge to aid players in their quests."

Nvidia had partnered with the tech start-up Convai for the demo, but they aren't the only ones pushing the new technology. At this year's Game Developers Conference in San Francisco on March 18-22, new video games powered by generative AI technology are expected to be announced.

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And the companies at the forefront of AI are not just promising to do the work that human writers are already doing; they are promising to completely change the way video game stories are told.

It's a claim that, across the industry, is being met with skepticism and hesitation.

Pushing the boundaries

In truth, the change is already happening.

The tech is already being used widely in game development. In a survey of more than 3,000 developers conducted by the Game Developers Conference, nearly a third say they already use AI in their workplace. Employees in business and marketing were most likely to use it, while those in narrative were among the least likely.

But it's in storytelling that the promise and perils are being most closely watched.

Games often have hundreds of characters who, together, help build a bigger story and more immersive experience. Until now, their dialogue has always been written by humans.

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Yet Kylan Gibbs, who develops AI at his company Inworld AI, says the generative technology can create a new relationship between author and creator.

"It means that every person ends up with something that — while still beheld to the story and narrative allure of the world — they're able to look at from different angles," he said.

Not everyone is so sure. Or, at least, not so willing to begin using AI in their own games.

Josh Sawyer is the studio design director at Obsidian Entertainment, which made narratively acclaimed games like Pentiment , and Fallout: New Vegas, and he isn't sold by the recent run of AI.

"A lot of the demos, I'm not going to lie, they seem impressive for a chat bot ," he said, adding it was not something he would use in his games.

Fallout: New Vegas is a science-fiction role playing game beloved for its story and characters.

In a game like Fallout: New Vegas , which follows the remaining denizens of Earth living in the wake of a nuclear apocalypse, it's the smaller interactions with the world's many characters — and their carefully crafted responses — that make for a good story.

"The appeal for our players is the characters feel very specific," Sawyer said. "I'm not looking to make a lot of generic dialogue."

Xalavier Nelson Jr., who leads the independent studio Strange Scaffold, has similar concerns. He says everything in a game needs to be filtered through a layer of intent.

"When I hear about building NPCs that make for better or equivalent game experiences while being driven by AI responses, the first thing I have to ask is ... how much does that create a cohesive experience for the player?"

"Even if an NPC interacts in a million different ways ... if it doesn't add up to a wider message, you end up with what we call in games 'oatmeal' — a sludge which functionally means or performs nothing outside of a sheer amount of stuff that's put into the world."

A question of ethics

Joon Sung Park, an AI researcher at Stanford, doesn't think generative AI will take the place of human writers who come up with high-concept, compelling storylines.

Instead, he sees AI making a game's many small characters more complex, more dynamic, and more spontaneous.

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"Where these agents are good at is creating believable micro-moments," he said. "But they're likely not going to be able to create individual, really fun stories."

Still, today it's human writers who craft a lot of the one-liners and small talk that side characters say in a video game. If AI does that instead, it might put some writers out of work, according to Nelson Jr.

"When we eliminate positions for juniors, that means they don't become mid level. Which means they don't become seniors. Which means they don't become the vibrant creative voices and directors of tomorrow," he said.

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Despite the fact that generative AI is already being used across the industry, 87% of game developers surveyed by the Game Developers Conference say they are at least somewhat concerned with how this tech will impact the game industry.

That's why for many it's not a question of whether AI can write a good story — it's whether it should .

"Ten years from now, the AI might become so good at what it does that it's indistinguishable from the best human writers," says Eric Barone, who wrote and designed the hit game Stardew Valley entirely by himself.

"I feel like we have to turn to a spiritual element here. I want to play games by human beings, not games made by soulless machines."

It's an ethical question writers are confronting now. But players will face it soon, and they'll have to decide whether games written by artificial intelligence are the games they want to play.

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