Daniel Schultheiss

I'm attached, and I'm a good guy/gal!: how character attachment influences pro- and anti-social motivations to play massively multiplayer online role-playing games.

Ones feelings of intimacy and connectedness with distal, fictional media characters are referred to as parasocial interactions. Video games have challenged this concept, as the distance between game players and characters is greatly reduced, if not completely removed, in virtual environments. Games encourage the internalization and psychological merging of a players and a characters mind, a multidimensional concept known as character attachment (CA). Data from our study suggest that dimensions of CA are useful in understanding both pro- and anti-social gaming motivations. Pro-social gamers feel a greater sense of control over their characters, while anti-social gamers are more likely to suspend their disbelief of the game environment and not take responsibility for their virtual actions. Pro-social gaming was more prevalent in older gamers, and younger male game characters were motivated by anti-social reasons.

How to Encourage the Crowd? A Study about User Typologies and Motivations on Crowdsourcing Platforms

Studies about user participation on crowd sourcing platforms have revealed lists of different motivational factors. Reward and payment seems to be crucial at least on market places for creative ideas or workforce. However, past surveys or experiments mostly concentrated on one platform each with little theoretic background. The present exploratory study within the theoretic frame of motivation and creativity science appealed to more heterogeneity of platforms to be analyzed. Thus a broader view on user motivation was possible and a typology of crowdsourcers revealed four clusters of different platform users: female creatives, male technicians, academics and alternative all-rounders.

The Quality of Video Games: Subjective Quality Assessments as Predictors of Self-Reported Presence in First-Person Shooter and Role-Playing Games

Based on the Theory of Subjective Quality Assessments, the present study examined players’ assessments of video game design features (qualities) as related to self-reported feelings of presence in role-playing games (RPG) and first-person shooters (FPS). An initial qualitative study with 8 focus groups (Study 1) was conducted to explore important game quality dimensions. Afterwards an online survey was designed to explore the association of those discrete dimensions with recollections of presence (Study 2). Using a quota sample of RPG and FPS gamers in Germany (N = 5,180), survey results show that recollections of presence were associated with positive quality assessments regarding a game’s environment, the player’s interaction with non-playable characters in that environment, and the environment’s.

“From the Weaker Sex to Hardcore Gaming”: Female Gaming Patterns on the Internet

The issue of gender with regard to video game usage has been researched since the first mass-market video games appeared. Since then, diverse results have been found. Assumptions regarding limitations on access, different content preferences, and differing usage behavior have been derived. Surprisingly, in recent years, findings changed—indicating a shift from perceptions about uninterested female gamers to understanding that female gamers have specific needs and expectations. This work is based upon an explorative study examining usage patterns of women who play Internet-based video games. Additionally, differences between female and male gamers are evaluated and discussed. We found that female gamers show a bigger economic potential and more playing time in less complex Internet-based video games than male gamers. This study provides new knowledge regarding female video-gaming patterns and offers implications for further research topics.