Engaged to Learn? Study Shows MMORPGs Rule

I corresponded recently with Dr. Joshua Smyth over at Syracuse’s Dept. of Psychology, who graciously sent me a copy of his most recent paper concerning research regarding MMORPGs and their influence on college students.

Dr. Smyth set up an experiment with 100 college students, and divided them equally into four groups. Each group he asked to play a different genre of videogames for a month. One group was given a batch of tokens and asked to play the games of their choice in a traditional video arcade. Another group was given access to PlayStation 2 consoles to play Gauntlet: Dark Legacy. The third group was given Diablo II for the PC. The fourth group played the MMORPG Dark Age of Camelot. To guard against self-selection bias, group assignments were randomized. All participants were given free access to games and equipment (arcade players got tokens). A month later, Dr. Smyth checked back on the participants.

Dr. Smyth was interested in tracking changes among the participants in the following areas: the number of hours participants played their games the last week of the study; overall health; quality of sleep; perceived academic performance; perceived social life; overall well being; how much they enjoyed playing the games; the likelihood participants would continue playing the games; how much they felt the games interfered in their social lives; how much they felt the games interfered with their academic performance; and if they were able to make new friends over the month of game play.

The findings are fascinating. The last week of the study, arcade players played the least, on average, number of hours: 2.1. Console players were next at 3.4. Computer game players were second highest at 6.2 while the MMORPG players were highest at 14.4.

Other factors were self rated from 0 to 6, with 0 being not at all and 6 being very good. The findings were most interesting surrounding reporting by subjects in the MMORPG group. These players had the highest average game enjoyment score at 4.4. They showed the highest likelihood to continue playing the game after the study. They also indicated they had made more friends than participants in the other groups, although these were online friendships rather than face to face.

Conversely, the MMORPG players rated themselves least in overall health. They also rated themselves lowest in quality of sleep, social life, and perceived academic performance. Incongruently, they averaged highest in feeling that their gaming did not interfere with academics. Dr. Smyth speculated this might have something to do with the short one month time span the study covered and college students’ propensity toward time-shifting priorities and recreational pursuits.

The quantitative finding that the MMORPG group spent more time playing is most intriguing. Dr. Smyth does a good job of covering the research indicating potential benefits for MMORPGs, and the potential negative aspects. Those players with a predilection toward excessive online use may find a mare’s nest in MMORPGs. Conversely, game play in general, and MMORPG play in particular, may have a variety of attributes from which players can benefit including overall improvement in their well-being and various medical and social interactions that are helpful.

My take: with the increased complexity of each game came the corresponding remarkable self scoring. Speaking in broad generalizations, arcades comprise the traditional land of “low thought needed” videogames. Home consoles, with notable exceptions, are often just a step above traditional quarter arcade games. Large budget PC games are often considerably more complex, with MMORPGs and other virtual worlds ranking as the most complex, the most time spent creating and maintaining, and (obviously) the most time played. Online social interactions, so often noted and of such interest to many researchers, add to the complexity of MMORPGs because the human element is the most complex and mysterious of all gaming components.

Thus, increased complexity leads to higher engagement, and higher satisfaction with the game. This is certainly an important piece of knowledge educational game makers should take from the research.

References
Smyth, J. M. (2007). Beyond self-selection in video game play: An experimental examination of the consequences of massively multiplayer online role-playing game play. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 10(5), 717-721.

Mind Control to Replace Joysticks?

Here’s an intriguing article about new gaming technology that will use brainwave power to control onscreen action. Gene Koprowski at Fox News writes of helmets with scalp nodes that users can wear while playing the Xbox or PlayStation. Alpha, Theta, and Beta brainwaves are detected by the nodes, and used to control action onscreen. A key quote:

“The technology is similar to the electroencephalogram that neurologists and other doctors use to measure brain activity,” said Domenic Greco, a doctor of clinical psychology and the founder of SmartBrain Games, a developer in San Marcos, Calif. “It’s a neuro-feedback system which sends a signal of brain activity to a specially designed game controller.”

Several other companies are involved, as well. The technology has been around since the 1990s, but recent developments have been able to reduce production costs to consumer levels. First appropriated by the medical field, the technology now seems poised to find its way to the consumer gaming market.

One promising application for educational gaming and other computerized interventions: the sensors can purportedly detect boredom, excitement, and stress levels. Conceivably, games can be written that will speed things up when the sensors detect the user is bored, or slow things down if it detects the user is stressed. This may be a boon to educational software that can adjust itself automatically to the pace and level of difficulty required by individual users at any given moment.

If this technology reaches its promises, we’ll have to redefine “mental prowess.” Perhaps “mind control” will need to be rethought as well. Certainly, those with motor control difficulties or other impairments may find this assistive technology highly useful.

References
Koprowski, G. J. (2007, October 5). ‘Brain interfaces’ let players control video games with thoughts, not thumbs. Fox News. [Online]. Available: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,299456,00.html

Newspaper Seriously Errs Reporting Videogame Study

I came across an egregious error in the media today, where a newspaper reporter indicated a study showing negative results toward the use of videogames at younger ages. I found the study and read it, and the study does not factor in videogames at all; DVDs and television time were the study’s focus.

I discovered the mistake while reading a story on Gaming Today about a Nigerian Tribune newspaper article referencing a study performed by Frederick J. Zimmerman, Dimitri A. Christakis, and Andrew N. Meltzoff. The newspaper article was headlined, “TV, video games hinder language development, learning ability in children.” The story opens with this (rather breathless) paragraph:

A series of studies conducted over several years by scientists overwhelmingly concluded that early exposure to television, video/computer games, etc, for long hours poses a risk to children as this causes aggresiveness [sic] later in life and may as well affect their health, reports Seye Adeniyi.

The studies in question are not referenced in the article. We’re expected to take the reporter’s word for it that many studies exist purporting to show that the exposure to media holds the alleged risks. Here is a typical paragraph from the article:

However, the general belief among many people, especially parents and guardians that allowing children to watch television, especially the DVDs, VCDs, video and play computer games, cartoons, etc, improves and enhance their learning ability may not be totally correct as scientists have discovered that allowing children to watch TV/video games etc, that many people claim helps to boost infant’s ability to learn new words and improve their speaking abilities may actually have negative effects on them by hindering their language development [sic].

At this point, reporter Adeniyi brings in Dr. Zimmerman, over at U. Washington. He said that Dr. Zimmerman warned against, “…watching cartoons, video games, DVDs, VCDs, etc, as all these cannot enhance educational performance in children, neither can it boost their ability to learn new words, improve their grammar or ability to speak English fluently.” Dr. Meltzoff is also brought into the discussion: “Speaking further, Meltzoff said parents and caretakers are the baby’s first and best teachers and not TV, video or computer games.”

Longtime readers know that I am very interested in any published research dealing with videogames, so I went looking for a copy of the paper in question. I found a PDF of the article that Dr. Zimmerman posted at U. Washington. The paper details research of a telephone survey of 1009 parents of babies, age 2 to 24 months. The parents lived in Minnesota and Washington State. The study was primarily concerned with frequency of television watching, whether broadcast or recorded. Parents were queried as to reasons for allowing their infants to watch, and the frequency:

Our understanding of why young children watch television deserves enhancement. Two recent reports documented the results of focus group assessments of parents’ reasons for having their children watch television, which included the use of television as an electronic babysitter and a belief that television is entertaining for their children. In addition, many parents believe the positive educational claims made for infant videos and television programs.

Herein lies the prime reason for the study. Parents believe that educational television is beneficial for their children. However, at the infant stages, research is beginning to indicate that television is not good for educational purposes. The study goes on to report the data found in the telephone survey regarding time parents allowed their infants to watch television, and for what reasons. But nowhere does the study mention videogames.

This is a great example of how the media takes the most salacious aspects of videogames and runs with it. But, how did a reporter orient a story entirely on videogames when the study in question involves television and doesn’t even mention videogames? I think the answer lies in the fact that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends limiting screen time for infants. Screen time includes anything dealing with computer screens and/or television screens, whether that’s a DVD, live TV, or computer time. When the reporter spoke with Dr. Zimmerman and Dr. Meltzoff, they discussed screen time in general, not just television time which was the focus of the study:

According to Meltzoff, co-director of the University of Washington’s Institute for Learning and Brain Science, “there are only a fixed number of hours that young babies are awake and alert. If the alert time is spent in front of DVDs, TV and video games, etc instead of spending time with people speaking in “parentese” that is, that melodic speech we use with little ones, then babies are not getting the same linguistic experience,” he stated.

So the long and the short of it is, from what I can tell, here is what happened: 1. The reporter discussed the study with the professors; 2. They brought up screen time in general and included computer games, even though their study did not mention games but focused on television viewing; 3. The reporter ran with a story that focused on the negative influence of videogames rather than the negative influence of television as would have been considerably more accurate.

Ah, the press. We’ll continue to call them on the carpet when they get things wrong.

References
Adeniyi, S. (2007, October 2). TV, video games hinder language development, learning ability in children. Nigerian Tribune. [Online]. Available: http://www.tribune.com.ng/02102007/hlt1.html

Video games may affect toddlers learning abilities. Gaming Today. [Online]. Available: http://news.filefront.com/video-games-may-affect-toddlers-
learning-abilities/

Zimmerman, F. J., Christakis, D. A., Meltzoff, A. N. (2007). Television and DVD/video viewing in children younger than 2 years. Archives of Pediatric Adolescent Medicine, 161(473-479).

Humana Jumps Into Health Video Game Fray

A bandwagon seems to be forming among health insurers concerning serious medical video games. I blogged previously about Re-mission here and here. Recall that CIGNA was one of the major forces behind the Re-mission effort, partnering with HopeLab’s Pamela Omidyar, wife of eBay founder Pierre Omidyar. Now, it appears other major health insurance companies are poised to encourage development of video games that promote good health.

In particular, insurance leviathan Humana’s Integrated Consumer Experience Division is partnering with Digitalmill and Touchtown to develop and research health and exercise games. It appears from press coverage that students over at U. Southern California will do much of the coding. USC already has a strong relationship with DARPA surrounding military training games, and has deep roots in the Hollywood special effects crowd which is all computerized these days.

With both CIGNA and Humana now behind serious games in the health sector, look for increased development of products with low profit motivations, but high health ed expectations. Results will be measured in fitness rather than bucks. Hopefully some good research will come out of these efforts as well.

References
Business Courier of Cincinnati. (2007, September 7). Humana to reach consumers through video games. [Online]. Available: http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2007/09/03/daily40.html

Do Racecar Video Games Affect RL Driving?

Here’s an opportunity to download a free, full text PDF of a paper from one of the APA journals dealing with video games. In this instance, researchers looked at racecar-themed video games promoting a high level of risk taking, and researched whether playing them led to increased aggressiveness in real life driving.

The paper was by Peter Fischer over at Ludwig-Maximilians University, Jörg Kubitzki at the Allianz Center for Technology, Stephanie Guter and Dieter Frey, also at Ludwig-Maximilians University. All the institutions are in Germany. The paper is entitled “Virtual Driving and Risk Taking: Do Racing Games Increase Risk-Taking Cognitions, Affect, and Behaviors?” and appeared earlier this year in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied.

The paper reported on three related studies. The authors began by tying into the research on violence in video games, (“Several studies have revealed that the playing of aggressive games elicits aggressive cognitions, affect, and behavioral responses,”) and concluded their introduction by stating little research has been performed on racing games and other aggressive driving simulators.

The first study involved 198 participants who were queried regarding their video gaming and driving habits. These people, selected at random in public places, were asked to answer questions regarding their need to display competitive behavior while driving, their need to impress others while driving, reflect on their attitudes toward cautious driving, and quantify their number of tickets and accidents. The researchers subjected the answers to hierarchical regression analysis and concluded they had initial evidence of self reported aggressive driving linked to racecar video game play.

The second study involved subjects playing an aggressive racecar game. Eighty-six students at Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich played one of six games on a Sony PlayStation 2. Three racing games were selected for the study: Burnout, Midnight Racer, and Need for Speed. Three non-racing games were selected for the control group: Crash Bandicoot, Tak, and Fifa 2005. (On a side note, I have to wonder how Crash Bandicoot always seems to wind up in so many of these studies.) Participants in the experimental and control groups were selected at random.

Basing their work on Anderson, Carnagey, and Eubanks (2003), the authors devised a system to measure aggressive cognition in participants. The participants were given ten words that could have dual meanings and asked to choose the definition that fit. Also, participants were asked to rate their feelings on a scale of 0 to 10 regarding certain adjectives such as “aroused,” “excited,” and “bored.” The researchers left the participants to play in seclusion. After playing the game they had been assigned to for 20 minutes, the researchers re-entered the room and administered the survey.

After performing ANOVA on their dataset, the researchers concluded subjects playing the racing games, “exhibited a higher accessibility of risk-promoting cognitions than did participants who played a neutral game.” They also indicated a stronger level of arousal/excitement through playing the racing games versus the neutral games.

Put simply, Study 2 showed that exciting video games generate more excitement than games that are less exciting. That’s not the way the researchers put it, but that about sums it up. They realized this, and sought to show a direct linkage from the racing games to RL situations. Thus their third study, in which participants again played a racing game or a neutral game. This time, after concluding play, participants took the Vienna Test System, which seeks to rate willingness to take risks while driving. It is a defensive driving simulator using video taped traffic situations. Participants respond to risky situations by pressing a button indicating when they would be willing to abandon a driving maneuver. It was sufficiently dissimilar to the video racing games that the researchers commented on it.

A total of 68 participants were in Study 3. The researchers swapped out Crash Bandicoot this time with Medal of Honor, in an attempt to see if an aggressive game that did not deal with simulated driving affected the results. They could find no statistical correlation to increase willingness to accept risk in driving with the participants who played Medal of Honor, although the sample size was small. However, again, those playing the three racing games were more willing to take on risks, this time directly related to driving, especially if they were male.

In conclusion, the researchers allow that a young male consistently playing racing video games in which risky driving is promoted through game play, could possibly extend their willingness to drive risky in real life situations. Of course, it’s not altogether as simple as that. A young man may drive in an irresponsible manner for any number of reasons, not just the video games he plays.

This paper is well worth a look. A final note of interest: the references include several German examples of research in this field that we in the English speaking world are not normally privy to, including such intriguing titles as this one …

Vorderer, P., & Klimmt, C. (2006). Zum Einfluss von Computerspielen mit Fahrzeugbezug auf das Fahrverhalten junger Fahrer: Abschlussbericht an die Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen [The influence of vehicle-related computer games on the driving behavior of young drivers: Final report to the Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt)]. Hannover, Germany: Hochschule für Musik und Theater.

References

Anderson, C. A., Carnagey, N. L., & Eubanks, J. (2003). Exposure to violent media: The effects of songs with violent lyrics on aggressive thoughts and feelings. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 960–971.

Fischer, P., Kubitzki, J., Guter, S., & Frey, D. (2007). Virtual driving and risk taking: Do racing games increase risk-taking cognitions, affect, and behaviors? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied. 13(1). 22-31.

Gaming Addictions in Indianapolis

Indianapolis Star reporter Christopher Lloyd is not addicted to video games. Honest. He wrote so in an article published in the Sunday edition of the newspaper about addictions to MMORPGs.

I’ve stated repeatedly in my various posts on the topic that “addiction” is the wrong word for video game overuse, or at least it should be labeled as a behavioral addiction to distinguish it from a chemical addiction.

Anyway, Lloyd focuses on World of Warcraft, and his article is filled with anecdotes from self-professed over-users. The article is chock full of interesting quotes. Here’s a sample:

The scarcity of hard data also provides ammunition to skeptics who question the readiness to label extensive gaming as addiction, whereas other time-consuming leisure activities are not.

Nongamers may be appalled by the idea of someone playing video games four or five hours a day, but consider that the average American spends nearly 32 hours a week watching television, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Clint Parker, a 25-year-old electrician’s assistant from Broad Ripple, played World of Warcraft for six to eight hours a day and doesn’t think he ever had a serious problem with it.

“It’s certainly nothing like a drug addiction,” he said. “If you don’t play . . . you’re not going to get the shakes or the sweats or start vomiting.”

In the same July 29 edition of the newspaper, Lloyd offers another article entitled, “Tales from the Gaming World,” where he confesses his own upbringing in the world of video games and his daily doses of WoW. “I am a gamer … Yes, I am a WoW player.” But he’s not addicted. Really.

Quantifying Addiction in World of Warcraft

Someone recently remarked to me regarding the paucity of quant studies on video games. I think this hole is slowly filling as researchers figure out what, exactly, to measure in regards to gaming. Efforts that have taken place so far have focused on simple things to measure like caloric consumption and glucose levels in the brain while playing. More troubling has been the focus on gaming as an “addiction,” with little regard for properly differentiating between video game overuse with chemical dependencies.

I found a paper by Nicholas Hunter over at MIT recently which focuses on the issue of “addiction” in World of Warcraft. Hunter served as lead programmer for Revolution, a social studies serious game set in Colonial America about which much has been written. In Spring, 2005, Hunter wrote a class paper on addiction in World of Warcraft. He sums up the paper from his portfolio page thusly:

Games, and in particular MMORPGs, have a history of being called “addictive.” So I thought I’d take a quantitative approach to the problem by developing a model for player consumption habits, conducting a survey of WoW players and then performing a regression analysis of the data collected. As part of my model, I propose a new way to evaluate opportunity cost (a core principle of economics) and determine that WoW players are addicted, but without enough data to determine what kind of addiction.

Although the paper has not been published (as far as I can tell), it has been made available through MIT’s Open Courseware project. It’s well worth the read, and can be downloaded here. Hunter seeks to apply “rational addiction” to Warcraft, theoretically assuming consumption leading to additional consumption equates addiction. The key question is whether the addiction in question is negative or beneficial. Obviously, a negative addiction is one leading to harm, such as smoking or alcoholism. A beneficial addiction would lead to positive aspects, such as a habitual exercise regime or developing an appreciation of fine music.

Hunter collected his dataset through random interviews with 30 WoW players, who were asked a series of questions regarding their gaming use. Follow up surveys were conducted a month later. The last question asked was, “Do you believe that you are addicted to WoW? If so, do you think playing WoW has a negative impact on your life?”

Although Hunter was able to show a statistical indication of addiction to WoW based on his dataset, he was unable to determine if it would fall under the negative or beneficial labels. He has released his dataset online, and has some additional information regarding the paper here.

In each posting on video game addiction, I’ve mentioned my preference to consider video game overuse a separately defined entity from chemical addictions. I was therefore happy to find this tidbit on Hunter’s portfolio page:

Note: In retrospect, I made a tactical error when writing this paper by overusing the term “addiction.” In economics, addiction means that prior consumption increases the amount you consume now (counter to diminishing marginal utility). As I explain in the paper, there are two kinds of addiction: Beneficial and Negative … You can read the paper for a more formal explanation of how these two types differ, but the reason for this edit is that the word “addiction” carries with it all kinds of meaning in the usual English language that does not always apply when discussing the term in economics.

References

Hunter, N. (2005). Rational addiction and MMOs: A case study of World of Warcraft. [Online.] Available: http://web.mit.edu/nhunter/www/wowresearch/wowaddiction.pdf

Video Games Help Stroke Patients

Here is a report on a system using a 3-D interactive gaming environment with force-feedback to see if stroke victims improved kinesthetically. Although the number of subjects was small (five people), the experiment involved repeated measures over several weeks. The results noted improvements in the patients.

References

Broeren, J., Rydmark, M., Björkdahl, A., & Sunnerhagen, K. S. (2007). Assessment and training in a 3-Dimensional virtual environment with haptics: A report on 5 cases of motor rehabilitation in the chronic stage after stroke. Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair 21(2). 180-189.

UCLA Study to Tackle Online Gambling, Gaming

The Daily Bruin reports on an ambitious survey slated for the following school year that will examine UCLA students’ online gambling and video playing habits. Timothy Fong, codirector of the UCLA Gambling Studies Program is quoted:

“The genesis of this study came about after we started to see more students and younger patients with Internet gambling and video game addictions … It led us to wonder how big of a problem this was.”

Other questions in the survey will seek to identify popular games and pinpoint the differences in game players and online gamblers.

Most people who are gambling online or playing video games have no problems at all and lead normal and balanced lives, but for some, it can cause problems when done in excess.

“Many lose the ability to distinguish reality from fantasy and even begin to prefer fantasy,” said Dr. Richard Rosenthal, codirector of the program. “They just cannot stop playing.”

Daily Bruin author Seda Terzyan then proceeds to interview students who have habitually gambled online. Although Congress passed an anti-online gambling bill last year that prohibits banks and credit card companies from processing payments to online gambling companies, loopholes abound and UCLA students report ongoing activity.

With no current regulation on these sites or by the school, there is no way of knowing the fairness of the games, no way to protect compulsive gamblers and no way to determine who is playing, Fong said.

Then the article turns controversial, and Terzyan reports on potential bias in the study.

Though compulsive gaming was recently rejected as a mental illness or addiction by the American Medical Association, the diagnosis for it is essentially identical to the criteria used to diagnose pathological gambling, Rosenthal said.

There is a progressive failure to control the impulse to gamble, followed by disturbances in personal and family life – it works the same way for gaming, he added, stating that an addiction is essentially the loss of control.

In many ways, he added, compulsive video gaming can be viewed as the purest form of addiction, since it does not require a substance as seen in chemical dependency, nor does it require the rewards of monetary loss and gain present in gambling addiction.

Terzyan offers additional anecdotal evidence of video game addiction, interviewing World of Warcraft players who have spent several hours at a time on the game.

On a personal note, I know I am engaged in an uphill battle against the concept of labeling video games as addictive. Nonetheless, here is my stance: the term “addiction” should be reserved for chemical dependencies. Behavioral attributes that affect ones’ life should be termed “overuse.” When the Council on Science and Public Health (CSPH) presented its report to the AMA on research in violence and video games, the term video game “overuse” was used. At the very least, some sort of differentiation needs to be made clear, such as indicating chemical addictions versus behavioral addictions.

OK, enough soapboxing. I’ll look forward to reading the results from Rosenthal and Fong’s study.

References

Terzyan, S. (2007, July 9). Addictions for the Internet generation. Daily Bruin. [Online]. Available: http://www.dailybruin.com/news/2007/jul/09/addictions_internet
_generation/

Brain Science and Video Games

Thanks to Bobbie Johnson over at the Technology Blog at the Guardian for pointing out a recent article at Discover Magazine by Steven Johnson entitled, This is Your Brain on Video Games: Gaming sharpens thinking, social skills, and perception.

Steven Johnson addresses several items from the gaming portion of his book, Everything Bad is Good for You, taking a look at some of the latest brain research surrounding video games.

Some of the studies in recent months are ones I’ve documented elsewhere in this blog, but others I have not previously covered. For instance, he talks about Richard Haier over at UC, Irvine, tracking cerebral glucose metabolic rates in Tetris players. Experienced players show lower glucose use (a rough measure of thought energy) than novice players.

Things he points out that I’ve covered include Green and Bavelier’s work on visual plasticity, Rosser’s work with laproscopic surgeons, and Beck and Wade’s business study of gamers in the workplace.

Victoria Schlesinger is given a byline for additional reporting on the story, and perhaps is credited with the legwork involved on the more recent studies. There are a handful of other studies and quotes in this article that will make for interesting reading for researchers looking out for new papers to peruse.