Dimensional Approach to Understanding Video Game

Effects

Douglas A. Gentile, Ph.D.

Director, Media Research Lab, Iowa State UniversityAssociate Director, Center for the Study of ViolenceResearch Fellow, Institute on Science and Society

© Douglas Gentile 2010

My approach today• As mentioned yesterday, individual differences

matter in how games may have effects on players

• Furthermore, gamers’ motivations matter

• And of course, many other moderating influences matter (e.g., parents)

• My focus today, however, is on the features of interactions with games that can be influenced by game design, and how these features can change the effects games have

What Makes a Great Teacher?(Gentile & Gentile, 2008)

1. Have clear objectives, often set at multiple difficulty levels to adapt to the prior knowledge and skills of each learner

2. The pace of the activities can be adjusted for faster or slower learners, novices or experts, to deliver differentiated instruction.

Halo 2: Controller Adaptation

What Makes a Great Teacher?(Gentile & Gentile, 2008)

1. Have clear objectives, often set at multiple difficulty levels to adapt to the prior knowledge and skills of each learner

2. The pace of the activities can be adjusted for faster or slower learners, novices or experts, to deliver differentiated instruction.

3. Well-sequenced in levels of increasing difficulty, pace, or complexity, with success at later levels contingent on competencies at prior levels

4. Learning is active with practice, feedback, and more practice to the point of mastery

5. Once mastered, the knowledge and skills are practiced further to the point of automaticity

6. Mastery of an objective is reinforced both extrinsically (e.g., with points, weapons, levels, etc.) and intrinsically (higher levels of competence and resulting self-esteem)

What Makes a Great Teacher?(Gentile & Gentile, 2008)

7. Encourage a close-to-optimal combination of massed and distributed practice

8. Knowledge/skills learned and practiced in multiple ways in a variety of contexts

– Important if transfer is desired

9. Great teachers get students excited and “hooked” on topics

What Makes a Great Teacher?(Gentile & Gentile, 2008)

Research on Both Intended and Unintended Effects

• Educational video game effects (e.g., Murphy, Penuel, Means, Korbak, & Whaley, 2001)

• Health video game effects (e.g., Lieberman, 1997) • Video game effects on

– Visual attention skills (e.g., Green & Bavelier, 2003)

– Aggression (e.g., Anderson, Gentile, & Buckley, 2007)

– Prosocial behaviors (e.g., Gentile et al., 2009) – Obesity (e.g., Vandewater, Shim, & Caplovitz, 2004) – School performance (e.g., Gentile, Lynch, Linder, & Walsh, 2004)

– Attention problems (e.g., Swing, Gentile, & Anderson, 2010)

– Physical health: e.g., Seizures & repetitive stress disorders (e.g., Ricci & Vigevano, 1999)

– Advanced laparoscopic surgical skills (e.g., Rosser, Lynch, Haskamp, Yalif, Gentile, & Giammaria, 2004)

• Video game “addiction” (e.g., Gentile, 2009)

Research on Both Intended and Unintended Effects

• Educational video game effects (e.g., Murphy, Penuel, Means, Korbak, & Whaley, 2001)

• Health video game effects (e.g., Lieberman, 1997) • Video game effects on

– Visual attention skills (e.g., Green & Bavelier, 2003)

– Aggression (e.g., Anderson, Gentile, & Buckley, 2007)

– Prosocial behaviors (e.g., Gentile et al., 2009) – Obesity (e.g., Vandewater, Shim, & Caplovitz, 2004) – School performance (e.g., Gentile, Lynch, Linder, & Walsh, 2004)

– Attention problems (e.g., Swing, Gentile, & Anderson, 2010)

– Physical health: e.g., Seizures & repetitive stress disorders (e.g., Ricci & Vigevano, 1999)

– Advanced laparoscopic surgical skills (e.g., Rosser, Lynch, Haskamp, Yalif, Gentile, & Giammaria, 2004)

• Video game “addiction” (e.g., Gentile, 2009)

And these are just And these are just somesome of the empirically identified effects! of the empirically identified effects!

How can we make sense of it all?

There are Multiple Dimensions on Which Video Games can

have an Effect• Amount

• Content

• Structure

• Context

• Mechanics

Effects of Amount• Overall amount seems to be most related to

school performance– Greater amount of entertainment games -> Poorer

performance– Greater amount -> Increased attention problems

• Overall amount may be related to health outcomes– e.g., Obesity, repetitive-stress disorders

• Overall amount isn’t the whole story, however– Distributed vs. Massed practice

Effects of Content

• Specific to the content of the game (i.e., the “script” elements or themes)– Reading games -> Increased reading skills– Math games -> Increased math skills– Health games -> Increased health knowledge and

health compliance behaviors– Violent games -> Increased aggressive thoughts,

feelings, and behaviors

Effects of Structure• Specific to the formal featuresformal features of the

game– Game requires constant scanning of the

screen -> Improved visual attention skills

Unreal Tournament: Constant Scanning

Effects of Structure• Specific to the formal featuresformal features of the

game– Game requires constant scanning of the

screen -> Improved visual attention skills– Game requires use of 2-D representations to

provide 3-D information and navigation -> Improved ability to use 2D for 3D

Halo: 2D info -> 3D navigation

Effects of Structure• Specific to the formal featuresformal features of the

game– Game requires constant scanning of the

screen -> Improved visual attention skills– Game requires use of 2-D representations to

provide 3-D information and navigation -> Improved ability to use 2D for 3D

– Game requires constant scanning and maintaining orientation in spherical 3D space with only 2D information

Star Wars Rogue Leader: 2D info to maintain Spherical 3D orientation

Try to remember where the yellow-outlined ship is

Effects of Structure• Specific to the formal featuresformal features of the game

– Game requires constant scanning of the screen -> Improved visual attention skills

– Game requires use of 2-D representations to provide 3-D information and navigation -> Improved ability to use 2D for 3D

– Game requires constant scanning and maintaining orientation in spherical 3D space with only 2D information

– To the extent the representation is more realistic (perceptual fidelity), learning and transfer should be faster

Effects of Context

– If the game is structured to require cooperation and teamwork, that could moderate the effects

• Violent MMOs – team aspect moderates violent effect? (social context)• Halo – slayer vs. capture the flag (in-game context)

– Problem-based (situated) learning • Complex scientific problem-solving sometimes required

– Context not entirely independent

of content (game decisions can

change content)

Effects of Mechanics• Will learn to use the mechanical devices

– E.g., can be used to improve balance or for physical therapy (e.g., Betker, Szturm, Moussavi, & Nett, 2006)

• The closer the similarity to “reality,” the greater the transfer should be– e.g., Playing driving game with a wheel and pedals

rather than with mouse and keyboard

• Mechanics are not entirely separate from Structure– Movements are guided by visual information

gathered from the screen

Halo: Scope changes the use of input devices – small moves cause bigger changes

Four Benefits of This Approach• Gets beyond dichotomous thinking of games

as “good” or “bad”

• Allows us to understand multiple levels of effects

Smart Cycle Study N = 46 3 & 4-year-olds

3 Conditions: SC, TriC, Game only3 weeks of home use

• Letter recognition and whole word recognition better in SC condition than other 2

• Number identification better in SC and TriC conditions than Game Only

• Better improved cycling skills in SC condition, then TriC, then Game Only Condition

• Better improved joystick skills in SC condition, then Game Only condition, then TriC

What are these effects?

• Effects on letter, word, and number skills are content effects

• Effects on cycling and joystick ability are a combination of structure and mechanics effects– Could test to see how structure and mechanics

interact, which is more important for which skill (e.g., pedaling, steering, navigating menus, etc.)

• Each may be moderated by amount

Four Benefits of This Approach• Gets beyond dichotomous thinking of games

as “good” or “bad”

• Allows us to understand multiple levels of effects

• Provides testable hypotheses

• Allows for greater impact when attempting to have intended effects

To have the greatest impact, video game designers should consider all five

dimensions of effect• Example: Laparoscopic surgical simulators

– Amount: Require certain amount, distributed practice– Content: Variations, complications, errors, etc.– Structure: As realistic as possible, as many variations as

possible, 3D-2D– Context: Sense of urgency similar to surgical context– Mechanics: Input devices similar to surgical tools, formal

reactivity as similar as possible

• Goal: Under pressure, you see something wrong and instinctively react quickly, proportionally, and correctly

Media Research Lab

www.DouglasGentile.comwww.psychology.iastate.edu/~dgentile