Chapter 20 – Gaming

Chapter Summary

An Introduction to Video Gaming

• Introduction: Introduces the area of video gaming, explains its growth, and provides an outline of the rest of this section.
• What are video games?: Defines the term ‘video game’ and explains some key characteristics of video games.
• The evolution of video games: Provides a brief outline of the origins of video games and the factors that have contributed to the evolution of video games.
• What types of games are there?: Describes the most significant video game genres and provides examples of games in each genre.
• Who plays games?: Dispels the stereotype of the adolescent male gamer by presenting statistics of the demographics of US game players.

The Psychology of Video Gaming

Why Do People Play Video Games?

• Psychological gratifications: Media psychologists have argued that playing video games is popular because it offers players various psychological gratifications. The Self Determination Theory (SDT) proposes that playing video games is popular because it satisfies basic psychological needs such as:
  • Competence (a sense of ability).
  • Autonomy (freedom and individuality).
  • Relatedness (social connection.
• Altered states of consciousness: Playing video games also alters the player’s state of consciousness as they play. As gamers become more engaged with a game they typically experience feelings of presence and they may enter a state of flow. Researchers have proposed that negative emotions from video game play can still bring about “meta-emotions” of being enjoyable.
• Learning and honing adaptive skills: Psychologists have proposed that entertaining video games provide players with opportunities to develop and refine all sorts of beneficial skills such as problem solving, planning, social skills, and emotion regulation (e.g., keeping calm in a stressful situation). Taking advantage of how engaging video games can be, many have applied the principles of gaming to other problems or activities to increase engagement. This process is known as Gamification.

The Negative Aspects of Video Gaming

• The debate: Psychologists are divided on two key issues in relation to gaming. The first is whether gaming is a genuinely addictive behaviour or whether it is an engaging activity played intensely by some people. The second is whether playing violent video games can make people more aggressive and violent.
• Theories of how games affect people: Social Learning and Social Cognitive Theories are used to explain the impact of gaming on players. Other theoretical models are the Catalyst Model and Moral Panic Theory.
• Pathological or Problematic behaviour?: The issue of whether a behaviour can be addictive is a wider psychological question. In relation to gaming, when players experience negative outcomes from play, there is a question about the addictive nature of continuing to play.
• Gaming and violence: The issue of whether playing violent video games can have a genuine impact on a person, in terms of levels of aggression and violence in the real world, divides psychologists. The literature does not provide a clear end-point to this discussion and the debate is still ongoing.
• Negative gaming behaviour: Some behaviours engaged in by players online can be negative. These behaviours are referred to as trolling and can be characterised by being an annoyance to other players. When this behaviour becomes more severe it is called cyber-bullying.