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How gaming affects people's personality traits

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How gaming affects people's personality traits

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Gaming can help people release their stress, take their minds off of problems and become a center of enjoyment for a majority of young teenagers and mid adults. Some people decide to take gaming way too seriously while playing games like "Call of Duty" or "Overwatch" and "Fortnite" and with this over aggression becomes the core of acquiring multiple bad habits such as narcissism, and aggressive behavior towards everyone and not just fellow gamers in the games. The online gaming community has developed toxic behavior by harassing other gamers or sending inappropriate messages and that nasty community is growing and growing. This article has shown how many males and females acquire these habits and how to prove the sense of people's wrongdoing on the online community. Although a multitude of gamers have toxic personality traits games can also help people and increase their senses.

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This article has been cited by the following publications. This list is generated based on data provided by CrossRef.

Lemmens, Jeroen S. Valkenburg, Patti M. and Peter, Jochen 2009. Development and Validation of a Game Addiction Scale for Adolescents. Media Psychology, Vol. 12, Issue. 1, p. 77.

Liu, Ming and Peng, Wei 2009. Cognitive and psychological predictors of the negative outcomes associated with playing MMOGs (massively multiplayer online games). Computers in Human Behavior, Vol. 25, Issue. 6, p. 1306.

McCloskey, Michael S. New, Antonia S. Siever, Larry J. Goodman, Marianne Koenigsberg, Harold W. Flory, Janine D. and Coccaro, Emil F. 2009. Evaluation of behavioral impulsivity and aggression tasks as endophenotypes for borderline personality disorder. Journal of Psychiatric Research, Vol. 43, Issue. 12, p. 1036.

Caplan, Scott Williams, Dmitri and Yee, Nick 2009. Problematic Internet use and psychosocial well-being among MMO players. Computers in Human Behavior, Vol. 25, Issue. 6, p. 1312.

Fang, Kwoting Lin, Yu‐Chih and Chuang, Tung‐Lin 2009. Why do internet users play massively multiplayer online role‐playing games?. Management Decision, Vol. 47, Issue. 8, p. 1245.

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Auxéméry, Y. 2010. Risque et utilité du Web en santé mentale chez l'adolescent, évolutions et perspectives. Neuropsychiatrie de l'Enfance et de l'Adolescence, Vol. 58, Issue. 8, p. 500.

Tokunaga, Robert S. and Rains, Stephen A. 2010. An Evaluation of Two Characterizations of the Relationships Between Problematic Internet Use, Time Spent Using the Internet, and Psychosocial Problems. Human Communication Research, Vol. 36, Issue. 4, p. 512.

Saville, Bryan K. Gisbert, Amanda Kopp, Jason and Telesco, Carolyn 2010. Internet Addiction and Delay Discounting in College Students. The Psychological Record, Vol. 60, Issue. 2, p. 273.

Kim, Jun Won Han, Doug Hyun Park, Doo Byung Min, Kyung Joon Na, Churl Won, Su Kyung and Park, Ga Na 2010. The Relationships between Online Game Player Biogenetic Traits, Playing Time, and the Genre of the Game Being Played. Psychiatry Investigation, Vol. 7, Issue. 1, p. 17.

Fuji, Kei and Yoshida, Fujio 2010. The influences of interaction during online gaming on sociability and aggression in real life. The Japanese journal of psychology, Vol. 80, Issue. 6, p. 494.

Desai, Rani A. Krishnan-Sarin, Suchitra Cavallo, Dana and Potenza, Marc N. 2010. Video-Gaming Among High School Students: Health Correlates, Gender Differences, and Problematic Gaming. Pediatrics, Vol. 126, Issue. 6, p. e1414.

Young, Garry and Whitty, Monica T. 2010. Games without frontiers: On the moral and psychological implications of violating taboos within multi-player virtual spaces. Computers in Human Behavior, Vol. 26, Issue. 6, p. 1228.

Zuiker, Steven J. Williams, J. Patrick Kirschner, David Littlefield, Katherine Greer and Krishnamurthy, Manikantan 2010. Alone Together in Cyberworlds? Bridging Cyberworld Development and Design through MMOs. p. 309.

Xiuqin, Huang Huimin, Zhang Mengchen, Li Jinan, Wang Ying, Zhang and Ran, Tao 2010. Mental Health, Personality, and Parental Rearing Styles of Adolescents with Internet Addiction Disorder. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, Vol. 13, Issue. 4, p. 401.

Jöckel, Sven and Schumann, Christina 2010. Handbuch Online-Kommunikation. p. 461.

Chen, Kaunchin Chen, Jengchung V. and Ross, William H. 2010. Antecedents of Online Game Dependency. Journal of Database Management, Vol. 21, Issue. 2, p. 69.

Mehroof, Mehwash and Griffiths, Mark D. 2010. Online Gaming Addiction: The Role of Sensation Seeking, Self-Control, Neuroticism, Aggression, State Anxiety, and Trait Anxiety. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, Vol. 13, Issue. 3, p. 313.

Lin, Yu-Ling and Lin, Hong-Wen 2011. A study on the goal value for massively multiplayer online role-playing games players. Computers in Human Behavior, Vol. 27, Issue. 6, p. 2153.

Pawlikowski, Mirko and Brand, Matthias 2011. Excessive Internet gaming and decision making: Do excessive World of Warcraft players have problems in decision making under risky conditions?. Psychiatry Research, Vol. 188, Issue. 3, p. 428.

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The Relationship Between Online Game Addiction and Aggression, Self-Control and Narcissistic Personality Traits | European Psychiatry | Cambridge Core

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This article has been cited by the following publications. This list is generated based on data provided by CrossRef. Lemmens, Jeroen S. Valkenburg, Patti M. and Peter, Jochen 2009. Development and Validation of a Game Addiction Scale for Adolescents. Media Psychology, Vol. 12, Issue. 1, p. 77. Liu, Ming and Peng, Wei 2009.

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News reporting on personality traits with gamers

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News reporting on personality traits with gamers

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In this video, it shows how playing games can influence someone's personality to be more aggressive or be more mind opening. Playing games such as Call of Duty does frequently get gamers to rage at the game from other people online and sometimes it can be influenced to outside the game and into their own social lives.

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How games could cause many young kids to develop bad social traits

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How games could cause many young kids to develop bad social traits

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The correlation between the kids playing mobile games and being socially awkward or kids seemingly being lonely is not a simple coincidence but rather a massive connection. In the new age where kids where given the opportunity to play mobile free games such as "Angry Birds" or "Subway Surfers" give kids a reason not to talk or try out a new hobbies because they're so addicted to playing such games, and end up making a lot of missed opportunities to be more social and expressive. When young kids are playing on their iPad or iPhone instead of playing with other kids their minds are now used to being alone or developing a sad mood all the time from being unsocial, or being alone. Because of kids developing these habits, kids are now unfortunately getting Depression and Social Anxiety for many years to come all because of being unsocial when they were younger.

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Center for Mental Health Education, School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China

Chongqing Youth and Vocational Technical College, Chongqing, China

As a new type of addictive behaviors and distinct from traditional internet game addiction on desktop computers, mobile game addiction has attracted researchers' attention due to its possible negative effects on mental health issues. However, very few studies have particularly examined the relationship between mobile game addiction and mental health outcomes, due to a lack of specified instrument for measuring this new type of behavioral addiction. In this study, we examined the relationship between mobile game addition and social anxiety, depression, and loneliness among adolescents. We found that mobile game addiction was positively associated with social anxiety, depression, and loneliness. A further analysis on gender difference in the paths from mobile game addiction to these mental health outcomes was examined, and results revealed that male adolescents tend to report more social anxiety when they use mobile game addictively. We also discussed limitations and implications for mental health practice.

Background

With the fast development of mobile technology, many functions of desktop computers have been transferred to mobile devices like ipad and smartphone, which is especially the case for game applications. Mobile video games refer to games played by either single or multi players via online mobile devices. These games are particularly popular when they can be downloaded for free (e.g., "freemium games," which are free but customers pay for extra features) ( 1). The latest China Internet Network Information Center's (CNNIC) report revealed that the growth rate of mobile online game has reached 9.6% and adolescents are the main user group ( 2). In comparison with most segments of society, adolescents are more vulnerable to Internet-related addiction because of their psychological and developmental characteristics, the easy access to Internet with a portable device, and the positive expectation of mobile gaming ( 3). It has been demonstrated that video game addicts suffered poorer mental health and cognitive functioning, and increased emotional difficulties, such as enhanced depression and anxiety, as well as more social isolation ( 4).

Despite this, relatively few studies have examined the relationship between mobile game addiction and mental health outcomes. This is because, so far, no measurement especially designed for mobile game addiction has been developed. In literature, problematic mobile video gaming has been defined as a phenomenon in which users strongly rely on mobile games and cannot help playing them repeatedly over a comparatively long period ( 5). Previous studies of Internet gaming disorder (IGD) have mainly focused on traditional online gaming addiction based on a desktop computer. However, recent research has suggested that there were only moderate correlations between the different forms of Internet addiction ( 6). In addition, although mobile game addiction has some similarity with traditional desktop computer online game addiction, there are still obvious differences. Specifically, mobile video games are characterized by portability, immediacy, and accessibility ( 7), which may increase the risk for addictive behavioral patterns and, thus, more severe mental health problems.

Additionally, most prior studies have treated social anxiety, depression, and loneliness as risk factors for Internet-relevant addiction ( 8, 9), whereas, few studies have examined the alternative direction ( 10). A relevant study found that the relative risk for depression in students with Internet addiction after months was 1.5 times higher than that of non-Internet addiction participants, after controlling for potential confounding variables (gender, study burden, age, rural, or urban school). This indicated that Internet relevant addiction may also lead to depression and loneliness ( 11). Another reason for conducting the current study was because the relationship between playing video games and psychological adjustment during adolescence is relatively scarce, which is especially true for investigating the association between playing video games and social anxiety among adolescents ( 12). Therefore, an investigation on this issue can help us understand how mobile game addiction may hinder adolescents' social development and would provide some guidance for mental health education practice.

Theoretical Framework

Mobile Game Addiction and Depression

Internet game addiction is characterized by cognitive and emotional deficits. Previous studies have reported the co-occurrence of Internet addition and depression ( 13, 14). In addition, a longitudinal study found that Internet game addition/depression severity at an earlier time positively predicted the depression/Internet game addition severity at a later time, which indicated that a possible bidirectional relationship existed between online gamers' depression symptoms and addiction. People cope with their emotional distress by playing online games, but the excessive use of online games for a long time may separate individuals from real-life relationships, thus causing severer mental health problems, such as depression ( 15). Therefore, in this study, we would expect a positive relationship between mobile game addition and depression.

Mobile Game Addition and Loneliness

Loneliness is defined as an unpleasant experience that derives from important deficiencies in a person's network of social relationships ( 16). Previous studies have consistently confirmed the connection between loneliness and online game addiction ( 17, 18). Furthermore, loneliness is not only the cause of online gaming addiction but also the consequence; there is a possible reciprocal relationship ( 19). Prior research has indicated that, although playing online games may temporarily provide an escape from the negative feelings associated with social deficiencies, excessive gaming does little to facilitate the development or maintenance of real-life relationships. Instead, the substitution for interpersonal interactions in real life may exacerbate the deterioration of existing social relationships, thereby increasing loneliness ( 19). Thus, we would expect a positive association between mobile game addiction and loneliness in this study.

Social Anxiety

Social anxiety, which is the most common anxiety disorder in adolescence, is the state of tension or discomfort experienced by individuals in social situations ( 20). The investigation on the potential effects of mobile game addiction and adolescence social anxiety is of importance considering that approximately one third of adolescents meet the criteria for an anxiety disorder ( 21, 22). Some literature indicates that Internet addiction, smartphone addiction, and online game addiction were all associated with an individual's social anxiety [e.g., ( 23)]. Individuals with a serious tendency for online gaming addiction have significantly higher social anxiety levels than those who use online games normally. Lo et al. ( 24) investigated the potential effects of online games on the quality of interpersonal relationships and levels of social anxiety. The results indicated that the quality of interpersonal relationships may be undermined and the amount of social anxiety may increase when teenagers spend more time playing online games ( 24). In the current study, we would expect a positive association between mobile game addiction and social anxiety.

Gender Difference

Gender has been proposed as an important factor in influencing Internet use and its outcomes regarding mental health (e.g., 8). Evidence has suggested that males have a predilection toward activities that involve explosive action and combat, while females are drawn toward activities that are more social and communication focused ( 25). Females received more family supervision, which may prevent them from developing Internet addiction ( 26). In a more recent study, female video game addicts displayed significantly more somatic difficulties than male addicts ( 4). They further argued that female addicts may be uniquely at risk for negative physical health outcomes and sleep disturbances ( 4). Significant gender difference was also revealed on the association between family function and Internet addiction among adolescence ( 27). Females showed more negative consequences of its maladaptive mobile phone use ( 28). These studies highlighted the need to explore gender differences in mobile game addition and mental health problems further.

Methods

Participants and Data Collection Procedure

Data of this study was from the students ( n = 600) enrolled in the seventh, eighth, and ninth grades of a junior high school in Guizhou Province. Letters describing the project were sent home to parents with a consent form inviting participation. Children whose parents provided written informed consent and who themselves gave assent completed the questionnaire in classroom settings. Prior to answering the items, participants read information about the implications of participation and data protection. The information emphasized that participation was completely voluntary and anonymous. Excluding missing or incomplete data, 578 survey responses were collected (mean age = 15 years, SD = 1.05). 56.7% ( n = 328) participants were self-identified as males.

Measures

Mobile Game Addiction Scale

This scale was specially developed for the measurement of mobile game addiction and included 11 items ( 29). Each item was rated on a Likert-type scale from 1 = completely disagree to 5 = completely agree, with the total scores ranging from 11 to 55. A higher score indicated a severer addition tendency. This scale has shown good construct validity, with χ ²/df = 2.835, RMSEA = 0.056, 90% CI (0.044, 0.069), SRMR = 0.037, CLI = 0.970, TLI = 0.959, the Cronbach alpha coefficient in the current study was 0.84. Sample items included: " During the last year, have you felt miserable when you were unable to play mobile video games or played less than usual?" and " During the last year, have you played mobile video games so that you would not have to think about annoying things? "

Depression Scale

The depression subscale from the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) was used to assess the depression symptoms ( 30). The scale contains 6 items and each item was rated on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (not at all) to 5 (extremely serious). Higher scores indicate severe depressive symptoms. We did a measurement model analysis, and the scale showed good construct validity, with χ ²/df = 1.931,RMSEA = 0.040,90% CI(0.000, 0.070),SRMR = 0.020,CFI = 0.994, TLI = 0.989. The Cronbach alpha coefficient in the current study was 0.84. Sample items included: " You feel sad" and " You find everything dull."

Child Loneliness Scale

The revised version of the Child Loneliness Scale was adopted to evaluate individuals' loneliness ( 31). The scale contains 16 items, which were answered using a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (always) to 5 (never); higher scores indicate elevated loneliness. Good construct validity was exhibited in the current sample, with χ ²/df = 2.833, RMSEA = 0.056, 9 % CI(0.048, 0.065), SRMR = 0.0461, CFI = 0.940, TLI = 0.918. The Cronbach alpha coefficient in our sample was 0.86. Sample items included: " I don't have any friends" and " I feel lonely."

Child Social Anxiety Scale

The modified version of the Child Social Anxiety Scale was used to assess participants' social anxiety ( 32). The term "children" in the original scale was changed to "classmate" in the current version. The scale contains 10 items and each item was rated using a 3-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 = never to 3 = always. Higher scores indicate higher levels of social anxiety. The scale has been proved to have good construct validity in the current study, with χ ²/ df = 2.872, RMSEA = 0.057, 90% CI(0.044, 0.071), SRMR = 0.041, CFI = 0.951, TLI = 0.931, and the Cronbach alpha coefficient in our sample was 0.80. Sample items included: " I think my classmates make fun of me" and " I'm afraid other students won't like me."

Results

Descriptive Statistics and Zero-Order Correlations Among the Study Variables

Table 1 shows the descriptive results and zero-order correlations among the study variables. Mobile addiction was positively correlated with depression, loneliness, and social anxiety, with the correlations ranging from 0.18 to 0.46 ( p s < 0.01).

Table 1. Descriptive results and zero-order correlations among the study variables.

Structural Equation Modeling on the Relationship Between Mobile Game Addiction, Depression, Social Anxiety, and Loneliness

Using Amos 22.0, we conducted a structural equation analysis to examine the association between mobile game addiction, depression, social anxiety, and loneliness.

Several underlying statistical assumptions for multiple regression analysis were examined before running the structural modeling. The assumption of homoscedasticity was checked using the Levene's Test for Equality of Variances ( 33). The test ensured no significant differences in the variance of the three dependent variables of social anxiety, depression, and loneliness across groups defined by mobile gaming addiction ( p > 0.05 for all cases). Thus, the assumption of homoscedasticity was not violated ( 34). Second, the skewness values for all variables ranged from 0.25 to 0.82 and the kurtosis values ranged from 0.27 to 0.30, which are within the acceptable range of −1 to +1 for normality ( 35). Thus, the violation of the normality assumption was not present in the sample data. Thirdly, the assumption of independence of residuals was confirmed by the calculation of the Durbin-Watson statistics for the dependent variables of depression (= 1.36), social anxiety (= 1.76), and loneliness (= 1.71), which are within the acceptable range of 1.5-2.5 for independence ( 36). Lastly, multi-collinearity was evaluated through the assessment of zero-order correlations among selected measured constructs, as calculated in Table 1. Harris and Hagger ( 37) noted that multicolline arity is not a serious issue if none of the correlation coefficients between variables exceeds 0.70. It is apparent that pair-wise bivariate associations between the study variables were not highly correlated with each other. Accordingly, multi-collinearity was dismissed from being a major concern in the present study ( 38). To conclude, the sample data were judged to meet the criteria for further analysis.

Model fit was assessed by considering multiple criteria: a Chi-square/df < 5 a root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) of <0.08 and a comparative fit index (CFI) and a Tucker-Lewis index (TLI) of >0.90 ( 39). The model fit was considered acceptable when most abovementioned criteria were satisfied. Our results showed that the model fit to the data well, with χ ²/df = 3.475, RMSEA = 0.065, 90% CI (0.06, 0.07), CLI = 0.937, TLI = 0.921. Mobile game addiction can explain 10% variance of depression, 6% variance of social anxiety, and 4% variance of loneliness. The standardized beta coefficients are shown in Figure 1. Mobile game addiction was positively related to depression, social anxiety, and loneliness, with β = 0.31, p < 0.001, β = 0.25, p < 0.001, and β = 0.21, p < 0.001, respectively.

Figure 1. The Structural Modeling on the relation between mobile game addiction and depression, social anxiety, and loneliness. ***p < 0.01.

Considering that gender was proposed as a variable that may moderate the relationship between mobile game addiction and mental health outcomes, the moderating effect of gender was tested. We created a multi-group model in AMOS to test the differences between males and females on the paths between mobile game addiction and its outcomes. The results show that significant gender differences exist considering the relationship between mobile game addiction and social anxiety. Male adolescents who used mobile game additively reported higher levels of social anxiety (β = 0.118, p < 0.001), depression (β = 0.280, p < 0.001), and loneliness (β = 0.311, p < 0.001), compared with female adolescents (β = 0.077, p < 0.001; β = 0.17, p < 0.01; and β = 0.16, p < 0.05, respectively; see Table 2 for details).

Table 2. Multi-group (male and female) analysis on the relationship among mobile game addiction and depression, social anxiety, and loneliness.

Discussion

The goal of this study was to examine the associations between mobile game addiction and depression, loneliness, social anxiety, and the potential gender difference in these associations were also investigated. The results revealed that adolescent with mobile game addiction had higher self-reported depression, social anxiety and loneliness, which have supported our three hypotheses regarding the association between mobile game addiction and depression, social anxiety, and loneliness. Further, gender difference was observed in the path between mobile game addiction and social anxiety, with male adolescents having a stronger association between mobile game addiction and social anxiety. This indicates that male adolescents may experience more social anxieties if they use mobile game addictively, compared with female adolescents.

As we expected, mobile game addiction was positively associated with depression, anxiety, and loneliness, which have supported all of our three hypotheses and are in line with prior findings. Literature has consistently shown that video game addicts reported more anxiety, depression, lower positive affect and psychological well-being. Literature has also shown that Internet addictions are related to poorer emotional health, in particular depression and anxiety ( 40, 41). For instance, Whang et al. ( 41) found a significant association between degree of Internet addiction and loneliness and depression. Adolescents with high Internet use exhibited more psychopathology, as revealed by the Brief Symptoms Inventory (BSI, a reduced version of the Symptoms Checklist, SCL-90) compared with those with low those use ( 42). In a recent study, ( 4) reported that young adults addicted to video games showed increased depression and anxiety, and felt more socially isolated. The link between mobile game addiction and mental health may be due to the social isolation resulting from spending too much time gaming, which in turn leads to undermined psychological well-being ( 43). Our results regarding the association between mobile game addiction and loneliness are also in line with the displacement hypothesis in terms of Internet use, which argues that digital device users have spent most time in online settings, rather than offline, and their existing relationships have suffered as a result ( 44).

We also expected a gender difference considering the association between mobile game addiction and mental health outcomes. We found that males who were addicted to mobile games tended to suffer more social anxiety, loneliness, and social anxiety, compared with females. This finding is line with prior research (e.g., 24). Gender difference on social anxiety and loneliness has been widely reported in literature. Compared with female adolescents, male adolescents tended to lack social skills, were more socially withdrawn and disclosed less about themselves in offline communication settings ( 45). This is also a reason why males are more likely to be attracted to a virtual world like computer games since the online world is more comfortable and can offer more sense of security ( 46). This would further lead them to be more social isolated and experience more social anxiety, loneliness, and depression due to the lack of social bond in offline settings.

Limitations and future directions

The results of this study should be viewed in light of its limitations. First, this study is a cross-sectional design. Thus, we could not determine a causal link between study variables. Future investigations should adopt an experimental design to establish the causal relationship between variables, or a longitudinal design to examine the prospective relationship among the variables. As prior studies indicated, the association between mobile game addiction and mental health problems might be reciprocal. Second, the sample is a homogeneous group of students from a middle school in China. Whether the results can be generalized to all adolescents is a question for future research.

Despite the limitations, our study has examined the association between mobile game addiction and depression, social anxiety, and loneliness, based on an adolescent sample. The results indicated that mobile game addiction was positively related to these mental health problems, and this is especially true for male adolescents as they are more likely to experience a higher level of social anxiety, depression, and loneliness after excessive use of mobile gaming. Therefore, mental health educators and practicers should be aware of the negative effects caused by addictive mobile gaming, as this is such a common phenomenon today. Specifically, attention should be given to male adolescents who are addicted to mobile gaming, as they may suffer more social anxiety.

Data Availability

The datasets generated for this study are available on request to the corresponding author.

Ethics Statement

The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by Southwest University's Human Research Ethics Committee. Written informed consent to participate in this study was provided by the participants' legal guardian/next of kin.

Author Contributions

J-LW drafted the initial version of the manuscript and responded to the reviewers' comments. J-RS analyzed the data. H-ZW collected the data and provided the comments.

Funding

This study has been supported by the Major Cultivating Project in Southwest University (No. SWU1809006).

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.

References

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The Association Between Mobile Game Addiction and Depression, Social Anxiety, and Loneliness

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As a new type of addictive behaviors and distinct from traditional internet game addiction on desktop computers, mobile game addiction has attracted researchers' attention due to its possible negative effects on mental health issues. However, very few studies have particularly examined the relationship between mobile game addiction and mental health outcomes, due to a lack of specified instrument for measuring this new type of behavioral addiction.

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Review on giving a mobile devise to a young kid and how it affects them 

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Review on giving a mobile devise to a young kid and how it affects them 

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In this video it shows how when children are given a gaming devise such as an iPad they are prone to be addicted to it and show signs of unease and depression when taken away from them. Most children nowadays are given a laptop or an Ipad to pass the time but parents usually don't realize that they are giving the child way too much time on the devise and ends up getting the child addicted to such devise. This usually occurs when kids play games or even watch YouTube.

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Mobile Addiction and it's effect in children | Dr. Priyanka Jain (English)

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How playing games can help with memorizing

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How playing games can help with memorizing

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Many people say that playing games is only a bad thing but that is not the case at all, over time people are now being able to memorize content way better due to playing video games. This study was experimenting on how kids are being effected when playing video games and seeing improvements in cognition with memorization. The scientist acquired a vast majority of 20 to 30 year old's to play games such as "Super Mario" and seeing how it affects them after one hour, many thought that it was going to result badly but surprisingly it helped many areas such as memorization, reaction time and problem-solving.

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A new study exploring the link between video games and cognition finds that playing video games as a child can improve a person's working memory years later on specific tasks.

Video games can be a contentious topic, particularly among parents or caregivers who may be concerned about the effects of spending hours in front of the console.

Yet, it seems that some video gaming could actually be beneficial. Recent studies have shown that playing video games could improve learning and may even protect against dementia in older adults.

The authors of a recent review of the evidence on video games concluded that gaming could have benefits for both cognitive and emotional skills.

In a new study, which features in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, researchers from the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya in Barcelona trained volunteers to play "Super Mario 64" - a game that researchers have previously shown to induce structural changes in parts of the brain associated with executive function and spatial memory.

The new study found that people who played video games as children showed greater improvements in their working memory than those who did not, suggesting that video games can have long lasting benefits for cognition.

This study combined video game playing with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), a noninvasive form of brain stimulation that scientists have studied as a treatment for mood disorders. In 2008, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved its use for the treatment of major depression when other approaches have failed.

Studies have also shown TMS to boost cognitive performance under some conditions, with more than 60 studies reporting that the treatment led to significant improvements in cognition, including in working memory (holding and manipulating information over a short period).

The researchers behind the new study wanted to find out whether combining video game training and TMS could enhance cognitive function more than either element alone.

They asked 27 healthy volunteers, with an average age of 29 years, to take part in 10 video game training sessions, during each of which they played "Super Mario 64" for an hour and a half.

At the end of each session, the researchers applied TMS to part of the prefrontal cortex, which is at the front of the brain and is important for complex cognitive functions, such as working memory and reasoning.

The researchers assessed the cognitive function of the participants before the study started, at the end of the 10 sessions, and 15 days after this.

They assessed a range of cognitive functions, including reaction time, working memory, attention span, visuospatial skills, and problem-solving.

Although the results overall showed very limited changes in cognitive ability, which seemed to result only from the video game training and not the TMS, the researchers did find that participants with early experience of video gaming had improved working memory.
"People who were avid gamers before adolescence, despite no longer playing, performed better with the working memory tasks, which require mentally holding and manipulating information to get a result," explains lead author of the study Dr. Marc Palaus, Ph.D.
People with prior experience of playing video games (but not the actual game in the study) also showed improvements in processing and were better able to focus on relevant stimuli during the tasks.

"People who played regularly as children performed better from the outset in processing 3D objects, although these differences were mitigated after the period of training in video gaming, when both groups showed similar levels," adds Dr. Palaus.
The results suggest that video games may induce cognitive changes that last for years after people have stopped playing.
Dr. Palaus says that video games that provide motivation - making the player want to keep on playing - and also get more difficult to stay challenging require intensive use of brain resources, which makes them ideal for boosting cognitive ability.

"Video games are a perfect recipe for strengthening our cognitive skills, almost without our noticing."

- Dr. Marc Palaus, Ph.D.

It is important to note that this study included a small number of participants who were all healthy, young, and highly educated, meaning that the findings might not be more widely applicable.

Talking about the findings of their study, Dr. Palaus stressed that these improvements only have a limited effect on the performance of other activities not linked to video gaming, as is the case with most cognitive training.

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Video gaming as a child related to improvements in memory

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A new study exploring the link between video games and cognition finds that playing video games as a child can improve a person's working memory years later on specific tasks. Video games can be a contentious topic, particularly among parents or caregivers who may be concerned about the effects of spending hours in front of the console.

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Researchers testing the "Super Mario effect" and how it helps with memorization

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Researchers testing the "Super Mario effect" and how it helps with memorization

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This video shows how playing Mario helps build a better memorization (also shown with another experiment in the Memory section). This Tedtalks explains how Mario gives the player a stimulation to memorize where places are and how to get them while having fun.

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The Super Mario Effect - Tricking Your Brain into Learning More | Mark Rober | TEDxPenn

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How young kids are seeking sensations by gaming

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How young kids are seeking sensations by gaming

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Many gamers seek the sensation of completing a hard level or getting the highest kill streak on "Call of Duty" and when players finally complete it or achieve their goal then the sensation of overwhelming joy creeps in and makes many players addicted to playing all the time for that exact sensation of joy and achieving their goals or beating a game after so many hours. In this study the researchers studied many adults and kids to see how they react to sensation by playing games, and their results showed that a lot the more impulse they have (like what game they're playing) the higher satisfaction they get and the more they want to play creating an addiction for many players.

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Jianping Hu ¹,

Shuangju Zhen ²,

Chengfu Yu ³,

Qiuyan Zhang ⁴ and

Laboratory for Behavioral and Regional Finance, Guangdong University of Finance, Guangzhou, China

School of Psychology and Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China

School of Education and Center for Mind and Brain Science, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, China

Guangzhou College of Commerce, Guangzhou, China

Based on the Dual Systems Model ( Somerville et al., 2010; Steinberg, 2010a) and the biosocial-affect model ( Romer and Hennessy, 2007) of adolescent sensation seeking and problem behaviors, the present study examined how (affective associations with online games as a mediator) and when (impulsivity as a moderator) did sensation seeking influence online gaming addiction in adolescence. A total of 375 Chinese male adolescents (mean age = 16.02 years, SD = 0.85) from southern China completed anonymous questionnaires regarding sensation seeking, positive affective associations with online games, impulsivity, and online gaming addiction. Our findings revealed that sensation seeking, positive affective associations with online games and impulsivity were each significantly and positively associated with online gaming addiction in adolescents. Positive affective associations mediated the relationship between sensation seeking and online gaming addiction. Further, impulsivity moderated the relationship between positive affective associations and online gaming addiction, such that the association between positive affective association and online gaming addiction was stronger for high than for low impulsivity adolescents. These findings underscore the importance of integrating the biosocial-affect model and the Dual Systems Model to understand how and when sensation seeking impacts adolescent online gaming addiction.

Introduction

With ever more people having convenient access to high-speed internet, online gaming has become increasingly popular, particularly among adolescents. As the popularity of online games has grown, so have concerns over the outcomes of excessive usage. Just like addiction to alcohol or drugs, addictive gamers show several classic signs of addiction, including being preoccupied by computer games, withdrawing from social life to play games, using games to escape from the pressure in the real world ( Kuss and Griffiths, 2012; Mai et al., 2012; Gunuc, 2015). Online gaming addiction has become a serious public health concern around the world, especially in China and other Asian countries ( Block, 2008). It is urgent to understand the psychological mechanisms of online gaming addiction, which are the basis of prevention and intervention.

Internet addiction is associated with an increased prevalence of externalizing problem behaviors (e.g., substance use and sexual intercourse; Ko et al., 2008; Sung et al., 2013), and internalizing problem behaviors (e.g., depression and social anxiety; Ko et al., 2014). These problem behaviors have been shown to be significantly related to sensation seeking ( Smith et al., 1992; Crawford et al., 2003; Mann et al., 2015; Engel-Yeger et al., 2016). Sensation seeking describes the willingness and actions of taking risks to attain novel and highly stimulating experiences ( Zuckerman, 1979; Steinberg et al., 2008). It is an intriguing personality trait, which can serve as a risk and protective factor for certain problem behaviors ( Norbury and Husain, 2015). Although there is accumulated evidence on the positive effect of sensation seeking on adolescents' internet addiction ( Ko et al., 2006; Li et al., 2010, 2016; Bitton and Medina, 2015), few studies have examined the relationship between sensation seeking and online gaming addiction ( Mehroof and Griffiths, 2010). Moreover, it remains largely unclear how (i.e., the mediating mechanism) and when (i.e., the moderating mechanism) does sensation seeking influence online gaming addiction. Addressing these issues are key not only to understanding the etiology of online gaming addiction but also to developing effective intervention programs ( Li et al., 2010).

Affective Associations as a Mediator

Biosocial-affect model of adolescent problem behavior ( Romer and Hennessy, 2007) proposed that, adolescents' sensation seeking may influence their affective associations with the behavior, which may further influence their risk taking. Following Kiviniemi et al. (2007), affective associations refer to the feelings associated with a specific stimulus or behavior. Consistent with this theoretical framework, a few studies have demonstrated that positive associations with risky behavior emerged as a significant mediator of sensation seeking on drug use ( Romer and Hennessy, 2007) and alcohol use ( Urbán et al., 2008). However, there is a need for empirical research to investigate whether this model can be applied to online gaming addiction in adolescence.

Some indirect evidence has implied that positive affective associations mediate the relationship between sensation seeking and online gaming addiction in adolescence. Positive reactions (including cognitive and socio-affective) to novelty and stimulating experiences have been an essential part of definition of sensation seeking ( Zuckerman, 1996). Recent evidence has also shown that players with high sensation seeking found computer games more entertaining than players with low sensation seeking ( Fang and Zhao, 2010). On the other hand, recent studies have shown that positive affective associations may impact one's addictive behavior ( Karlsson, 2012; Stautz and Cooper, 2015). For example, Lee et al. (2014) found that perceived enjoyment and the associated positive affect positively influenced the development of excessive use of online games. Tone et al. (2014) reported that online game attraction was positively related to online gaming addiction. Taken together, sensation seeking may be linked to positive associations with online games, which in turn is linked to online gaming addiction. However, to date, no known studies have yet directly examined the mediating role of positive affective associations with online games in the link between sensation seeking and online gaming addiction in adolescence.

Impulsivity as a Moderator

Based on human neuroimaging findings, the Dual Systems Model ( Somerville et al., 2010; Steinberg, 2010a) was developed to explain why adolescents engage in problematic behaviors. Increasing problematic behaviors in adolescence are the product of the more mature limbic (socioemotional) system winning over the prefrontal (cognitive control) system ( Steinberg et al., 2008; Steinberg, 2010a). More and more research has begun to link the changes in neural systems to changes in behavior in adolescence ( Steinberg et al., 2008; Steinberg, 2010b; Harden and Tucker-Drob, 2011; Quinn and Harden, 2013; Willoughby et al., 2013). For example, cross-sectional ( Steinberg et al., 2008) and longitudinal ( Harden and Tucker-Drob, 2011) research has shown that age differences in sensation seeking and impulsivity match age differences in socioemotional and cognitive control neural systems, respectively. Quinn and Harden (2013) reported that, age-related changes in sensation seeking and impulsivity were associated with changes in substance use. These findings provide behavioral evidence for the Dual Systems Model. However, these studies did not directly test how these two systems interact to influence adolescents' problematic behavior. Whereas sensation seeking is thought to stem from sensitivity of the socio-emotional system to affective cues, impulsivity is suggested to stem from the poor performance of the cognitive control system ( Steinberg et al., 2008; Harden and Tucker-Drob, 2011; Quinn and Harden, 2013). The present study introduced the variable of impulsivity and investigated whether impulsivity moderates the relationship between socio-emotional system and problem behavior, directly testing how socioemotional and cognitive control systems interact to influence adolescents' online gaming addiction.

Currently, little is known about the moderating role of impulsivity in the link between affective associations and online gaming addiction, despite considerable evidence suggesting that impulsivity moderates the relationship between affect and drinking variables ( Colder and Chassin, 1997; Lindgren et al., 2014). For example, Colder and Chassin (1997) showed the role of impulsivity as a moderator of the link between positive affectivity and alcohol consumption. In a recent study, self-control (which shows conceptual overlap with impulsivity) was proposed as a moderator of the impact of implicit affective associations on alcohol use ( Lindgren et al., 2014). Based on these aforementioned findings and the Dual Systems Model, it is reasonable to infer that impulsivity moderates the relationship between affective associations with online games and online gaming addiction.

In summary, based on the biosocial-affect model of adolescent problem behavior and the Dual Systems Model, the current study sought to reveal the underlying mechanisms of the relationship between sensation seeking and online gaming addiction with two specific goals: (1) to examine whether affective associations with online games mediate the relationship between sensation seeking and adolescents' online gaming addiction, and (2) to test whether the relationship between affective associations and online gaming addiction is moderated by the individual trait of impulsivity. Therefore, two hypotheses could be proposed as follows:

Hypothesis 1: sensation seeking would increase positive affective associations with online games, which in turn contributes to online gaming addiction in adolescence.

Hypothesis 2: the individual trait of impulsivity would moderate the impact of positive affective associations on online gaming addiction, such that the relationship between positive affective associations and online gaming addiction would be stronger for adolescents with high as compared to low impulsivity.

In addition, there is lack of evidence on whether the relationship between sensation seeking and positive affective associations or the relationship between sensation seeking and online gaming addiction is moderated by impulsivity. Thus, we do not propose specific hypotheses regarding these relationships.

Materials and Methods

Sample

Male adolescents are particularly at-risk for online gaming addiction ( Li and Wang, 2013; Ha and Hwang, 2014; Wang et al., 2015). To allow more precise inference for this group, this study was conducted only on male adolescents. The original sample consisted of 413 male adolescents from Grade 10 and 11 in southern China. Of these, 38 (9.2%) were excluded because they had no experience playing online games, resulting in the current sample of 375 male adolescents. The mean age of this sample was 16.02 years (SD, 0.85 years), ranging from 15 to 17 years.

Measures

Sensation Seeking

Adolescents' sensation seeking was assessed by a short form of sensation seeking scale, which demonstrated reliability and validity ( Steinberg et al., 2008; Li et al., 2010). It consists of six items, which are scored on a six-point scale ranging from 1 (almost always untrue of you) to 6 (almost always true of you). Higher means represent higher levels of sensation seeking. Cronbach's α for the present sample was 0.68.

Impulsivity

Adolescents' impulsivity was assessed by three six-item subscales from the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, Version 11 ( Patton and Stanford, 1995) also used in Steinberg et al. (2008). Forward- and back-translation procedures were conducted to build the Chinese version of the measurement. Each item was scored on a four-point scale ranging from 1 (rarely/never) to 4 (almost always/always). Subscales were averaged to form a total impulsivity score. A higher mean represents a higher level of impulsivity. Cronbach's α coefficient for the present sample was 0.65.

Affective Associations

In a pilot study, we used the affect pool measure developed by Peters and Slovic (1996) to measure the affect toward online games (or gaming). Fifty online gaming players were recruited (46 male; mean age ± SD, 17 ± 2.03). They were asked to report the first three words that came to mind when they were told to think of online gaming. They then rated each word on a five-point scale ranging from very negative to very positive. The top seven most frequent words listed by these players were happy, interesting, attractive, popular, relaxing, concentrating, and making friends. We then used these seven words to make sentences in the current study. For example, "when playing online games, I feel happy." Participants rated how true each statement was for themselves on a six-point scale ranging from 1 (almost always untrue of you) to 6 (almost always true of you). These seven words were positive, thus, a higher mean represents more positive affective association with online gaming. Cronbach's α coefficient for the present sample was 0.90.

Online Gaming Addiction

The online gaming addiction scale was modified from the Revised Chinese Internet Addiction Scale (CIAS) ( Chen et al., 2003) to measure the degree of online gaming addiction tendency in participants. The scale has 26 items and consists of two subscales: Core Symptoms and Related Problems. The former includes three dimensions: compulsive use, withdrawal, and tolerance; the latter includes two dimensions: interpersonal and health-related, and time management problems. For each item, participants indicated how true each statement was for themselves on a four-point scale ranging from 1 (almost always untrue of you) to 4 (almost always true of you). The mean was taken with a higher mean representing a higher level of online gaming addiction. Cronbach's α coefficient of the scale and the two subscales in the study was 0.94, 0.91, and 0.87, respectively.

Procedures

Informed consents were obtained from the school, all participants and their parents. Participants in this study were voluntary and anonymous. They were given approximately 30 min to complete the questionnaires in their classrooms. All materials and procedures were approved by South China Normal University Human Investigation Committee.

Statistical Analysis

First, we presented descriptive statistics and bivariate correlations for the major variables. Second, to test Hypothesis 1, we followed MacKinnon's (2008) four-step procedure to evaluate the mediation effect. Third, to test Hypothesis 2, we followed Muller et al's (2005) description regarding the evaluation of moderated mediation.

Results

Preliminary Analyses

Means, standard deviations, and the correlation matrix of the major variables are presented in Table 1. Sensation seeking, positive affective associations with online gaming and impulsivity showed significant and positive correlations with core symptoms and related problems of online gaming addiction, suggesting that all three of these factors are risk factors for online gaming addiction. Sensation seeking correlated positively with positive affective associations; however, the correlation of impulsivity and affective associations was not significant.

In Hypothesis 1, to evaluate the mediating effect of affective associations with online games, MacKinnon's (2008) four-step procedure was used. The first three steps were to test the direct effect using linear regression, including (1) a link between sensation seeking and online gaming addiction; (2) a link between sensation seeking and positive affective associations with online games; (3) a link between positive affective associations with online games and online gaming addiction while controlling for sensation seeking. All links in these three steps should prove significant. In the fourth step, sensation seeking and positive affective associations with online games were entered in the linear regression model. We used the Sobel test to determine whether the effect of positive affective associations with online games remains significant.

The results for the mediation model examining the relationship between sensation seeking, affective associations with online games, and online gaming addiction are presented in Table 2. The effect of sensation seeking on online gaming addiction ( b = 0.152, p < 0.01), the effect of sensation seeking on affective associations with online games ( b = 0.199, p < 0.001), and the effect of affective association on online gaming addiction ( b = 0.463, p < 0.001) were significant. In the fourth step, when controlling for sensation seeking, the effect of affective associations on online gaming addiction was significant ( b = 0.450, p < 0.001); however, the effect of sensation seeking on online gaming addiction was no longer significant ( b = 0.062, p > 0.1). Finally, the Sobel test indicated that the full mediation effect of affective associations with online games on the relationship between sensation seeking and online gaming addiction was significant ( Z = 3.63, p < 0.001). Hypothesis 1 was supported.

Testing for the Moderated Mediation

To test Hypothesis 2, we conducted moderated mediation analyses with three regression models as outlined by Muller et al. (2005). In the first model, the moderating effect of impulsivity on the way in which sensation seeking impact on online gaming addiction was estimated. In the second model, the moderating effect of impulsivity on the way in which sensation seeking impact on affective associations with online games was estimated. In the third model, the moderating effect of impulsivity on both the partial effect of affective associations on online gaming addiction and the residual effect of sensation seeking on online gaming addiction were estimated. All variables were standardized to reduce multicollinearity.

In the first model (Table 3), an overall effect of sensation seeking on online gaming addiction was found, b = 0.105, p < 0.05. This effect was not moderated by impulsivity, b = -0.057, p > 0.05. In the second model, the mediator, affective associations, was the criterion. There was a main effect of sensation seeking, b = 0.184, p < 0.001, and a significant sensation seeking × impulsivity interaction effect on affective associations, b = -0.105, p < 0.05. To facilitate the interpretation of this interaction, we plotted how sensation seeking was related to affective associations at low and high levels of impulsivity (i.e., at 1 SD below and above the mean, respectively, Figure 1). Simple slope testing revealed that for low impulsivity adolescents, higher sensation seeking was associated with higher positive affective associations, b = 0.285, p < 0.001. However, for adolescents with high impulsivity, the effect of sensation seeking on affective associations was non-significant, b = 0.084, p = 0.249. Finally, the third model showed that the effect of affective associations on online gaming addiction was significant, b = 0.422, p < 0.001, and this effect was moderated by impulsivity, with a significant affective associations × impulsivity interaction, b = 0.125, p < 0.01. We also plotted the predicted online gaming addiction against affective associations at low and high levels of impulsivity (Figure 2). Simple slope testing showed that for high impulsivity adolescents, affective associations were associated with online gaming addiction, b = 0.532, p < 0.001. For low impulsivity adolescents, the effect of affective associations on online gaming addiction was weaker, b = 0.334, p < 0.001.

Discussion

In the current study, we tested a moderated mediation model in which the effect of sensation seeking on online gaming addiction through positive affective associations was moderated by impulsivity. This study contributes to a growing body of literature in at least three ways.

First, our results offer support for the biosocial-affect pathway to online gaming addiction, such that high sensation seeking was associated with high level of positive affective associations with online games, which subsequently was associated with a high likelihood of online gaming addiction. This pathway is consistent with the biosocial-affect model, which posits that sensation seeking influences problem behavior through the formation of affective association toward problem behaviors ( Romer and Hennessy, 2007). Adolescents higher in sensation seeking have more positive affective associations with online games, which in turn contribute to online gaming addiction in adolescence. The influence of positive affective associations on online gaming addiction is congruent with the affect heuristic model ( Slovic et al., 2007), and also extends the behavioral affective associations model ( Kiviniemi et al., 2007; Kiviniemi and Duangdao, 2009) to online gaming addiction, as these models usually account for health-related behaviors, such as behaviors in physical activities ( Kiviniemi et al., 2007), food choice ( Walsh and Kiviniemi, 2014), and smoking ( Wilkinson, 2010). This key finding provides support for and extends earlier studies which have found that affective factors, such as perceived enjoyment, are associated with excessive use of online games ( Lee et al., 2014).

Second, our results offer support for the Dual Systems Model. We found impulsivity moderated the impact of affective associations on online gaming addiction. As impulsivity increases, the association between affective associations and online gaming addiction becomes stronger. This pattern of findings indicates that impulsivity strengthens the relationship between positive affective associations and online gaming addiction. This finding provides direct evidence for the Dual Systems Model. To some extent, vulnerability to online gaming addiction is the product of high positive affective associations with online games and low impulse control. Higher levels of positive affective associations with online games impel adolescents toward online games; at the same time, immature self-control capabilities cannot restrain this impulse ( Steinberg et al., 2008; Steinberg, 2010a). That is, the cognitive control systems of highly impulsive adolescents are relatively "weak," and their online gaming behavior may be more likely to be guided by affective associations with online games. To our knowledge, it is the first study that applies the Dual Systems Model to adolescent online gaming addiction research.

Surprisingly, we found that impulsivity moderated the influence of sensation seeking on affective associations. In particular, as impulsivity decreased, adolescents higher in sensation seeking were more likely to have favorable affect toward online games. Perhaps adolescents low in impulsivity may inhibit the craving for playing online games and reasonably arrange online game time. In this context, it is not difficult to understand that adolescents with high sensation seeking would be more likely to enjoy online games.

Our study has important practical implications. First, our findings can help practitioners understand how sensation seeking is associated with online gaming addiction, providing reliable evidence for target interventions. For instance, lowering positive affective associations with online games may buffer some of the detrimental effect of sensation seeking on online gaming addiction in adolescence. Thus, it may be useful to consider intervention approaches that target these affective associations with online games. Using an implicit priming paradigm to experimentally manipulate participants' affective associations with fruit, Walsh and Kiviniemi (2014) found that participants in the positive priming condition chose fruit more often compared to the negative priming condition. Future research may apply such techniques (e.g., repeatedly paired online games related images with neutral words or images) to examine whether adolescents' affective associations with online games can be altered. Second, given that the risky effect of positive affective associations on online gaming addiction is stronger for more impulsive adolescents, manipulating the affective associations toward online games among adolescents with high impulsivity may be more effective for reducing online gaming addiction.

There are several limitations that need to be considered. First, given the cross-sectional nature of this study, we cannot make any causal inferences of the results. Future studies may test the models using longitudinal or experimental designs to achieve a causal conclusion. Second, all variables were collected using self-reported measure, which may result in common method variance problems. Further studies may use multi-method, multi-informant approaches for evaluating variables. Third, our sample included middle adolescents. Middle adolescents are thought to experience a peak of responsiveness to affective cues while still having immature capacities for impulse control ( Harden and Tucker-Drob, 2011). The relative strength of the socio-emotional system and cognitive control systems in mid-adolescents differs for early and late adolescents. Thus, our moderation model may not be generalized to early or late adolescents. The current findings also may not be generalized to female adolescents due to the selection of only male adolescents. Fourth, the present study only focuses on the link between positive affective associations, but not negative affective associations, and online gaming addiction. In general, affect can be divided into positive affect and negative affect. Extensive evidence has shown that positive and negative affect are independent of each other ( Diener et al., 1985). So are positive and negative affective associations with stimulus ( Shu and Peck, 2011). In the study of Hou and Fang (2014), the positive affective associations, not the negative affective associations with online games were found to be related to the length of time that an individual maintained online gaming behavior, suggesting the different roles of positive and negative affective associations with online games in the maintenance of online gaming addiction. Future studies should investigate whether negative affective associations influence online gaming addiction. In addition, future studies need to examine how affective associations toward online games are formed, which remains unclear.

Conclusion

We reported how sensation seeking and when impulsivity relate to online gaming addiction in adolescence. Positive affective associations with online games mediated the risky effect of sensation seeking on online gaming addiction in adolescence. Moreover, the risk effect of positive affective associations with online games was moderated by impulsivity. These findings add to our understanding of the mediating and moderating factors that act between sensation seeking and online gaming addiction in adolescence. The results also provide further direct empirical evidence for the Dual Systems Model and biosocial-affect model and a new approach to further explore and understand the mechanism of adolescents' online gaming addiction.

Ethics Statement

This study was carried out in accordance with the recommendations of Ethics Committee of Institute of Psychology, South China Normal University with written informed consent from all subjects. All subjects gave written informed consent in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. The protocol was approved by the South China Normal University Human Investigation Committee.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the research: WZ, JH. Performed the research: JH, SZ, CY, QZ. Analyzed the data: JH, SZ, CY, QZ. Contributed to the writing of the manuscript: JH, SZ, CY, QZ, WZ.

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.

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (31671154), the Youth Foundation for Humanities and Social Sciences of Ministry of Education of China (12YJC190040), Foundation for Distinguished Young Talents in Higher Education of Guangdong, China (2012WYM_0041) and Young Teacher Foundation of South China Normal University.

References

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Sensation Seeking and Online Gaming Addiction in Adolescents: A Moderated Mediation Model of Positive Affective Associations and Impulsivity

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Based on the Dual Systems Model (Somerville et al., 2010; Steinberg, 2010a) and the biosocial-affect model (Romer and Hennessy, 2007) of adolescent sensation seeking and problem behaviors, the present study examined how (affective associations with online games as a mediator) and when (impulsivity as a moderator) did sensation seeking influence online gaming addiction in adolescence.

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Explaining how games affect gamers minds, and how they feel satisfaction playing games (addiction)

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Explaining how games affect gamers minds, and how they feel satisfaction playing games (addiction)

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In this video it explains how playing games gives the sensation of addictedness. Most players that want to play games are addicted to games such as Call of Duty and mainstream games and even though those games can help build parts of the brain such as memory and cognitive skills it can destroy our socialization and need to talk.

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Your brain on video games | Daphne Bavelier

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The article talks about how gaming was made, and how it evolved into what we know as today, it explains how many people seek the stimulation of beating a game and why they do it, this relates to Psych because of how early humans would also seek sensation and how they grow through their mistakes but now its how gaming evolved through addiction and seeking sensation.

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Computer and video games offer new ways to present findings from primary source research; explore new paths of inquiry; and enhance the fields of digital humanities, digital history, and virtual heritage. In short, the historian could become the producer of a scholarly game; a game based on original primary source research that forms an argument and provides a close examination of a historical topic. Unlike other entertainment media, videogames allow for the historian to meet scholarly standards. In contemporary computer and video games, historical content has proven to be a successful choice for informing game play, developing characters, narratives and settings, establishing game mechanics, and determining strategies. History is so important to contemporary game design that in The Art of Game Jesse Schell () recommends aspiring game designers study history.

With a game, the historian can engage research questions, incorporate primary and secondary source evidence, explore historical themes, present a thesis and make historical arguments. Clyde, Hopkins, and Wilkinson () make the case for the scholarly game and establish that the 'gamic mode of history' rather than simulating a scholarly argument becomes the historical argument (6). The historical narrative and the video game both examine and form points of view about how cultures, economies, polities and societies function. The narrative presents arguments about how historical social and cultural systems work in the world as can the scholarly game (8). Video games represent 'the behavior of systems' (Fullerton and Swain , 57, , ) and 'make arguments about how social or cultural systems work in the world - or how they could work' (Bogost , 136). Constructing a work of history easily translates into designing games. History like critical play engages participants in questions about human existence (Flanagan ).

Increasingly, video games use history to immerse players in historic arts, cityscapes, cultures, landscapes, music, and the act of historical thinking. In education, gaming as pedagogy is eminent across disciplines in both secondary and post-secondary education and historians need to become more engaged in analyzing, developing, and utilizing video games. Games that incorporate and present history content illustrate not only how history informs environments, narratives, game play, mechanics, and strategies, but how original primary source research can become those elements. Developers do a considerable amount of historical research to inform their games and model the environments, and many of the games make historical arguments. The presentation of a historical argument combined with the use of primary source evidence creates a voice of authority in the historically based commercial games. While the commercial games and educational materials do not represent a 'gamic mode of history' or scholarly game, they do offer insight into how the scholarly game can be researched and designed (Clyde, Hopkins, and Wilkinson , 9; Fogu ).

Commercial games provide a glimpse of how scholarly inquiry and research may inform the future of video games, both for education and entertainment, as well as how historical research methodologies can inform the iterative design process. They offer examples of how a scholarly game could be constructed blending traditional historical methodologies with game design. These games show the possibility of constructing the virtual environments, mechanics and narrative from historical material. In addition, similarities exist between the iterative design process used to develop computer and videogames, and the process of researching historical scholarship. In spite of the vastly different outcomes, the process of researching and writing historical scholarship is iterative by nature.

The dialogues about the presentation of history in video games and the use of video games for teaching history are well under way. Scholars have explored how representations of history influence a popular understanding of history (Munslow ; Snow ) and digital humanists urge historians to use video games as primary sources (Antley , ). Games have been used to question the nature of history itself and the video game can be considered 'a historical mode of expression' (Chapman , , 326). One of the few in-depth discussions of history games by a panel of historians, 'Towards a Theory of Good History Through Gaming,' shows signs that historians may be engaging more seriously in game studies and the use of games as teaching tools (Kee et al. ). However, with the exception of Clyde, Hopkins, and Wilkinson (), scholars have not assessed the scholarly game.

The edited volume Playing with the Past: Digital Games and the Simulation of History represents the most comprehensive analysis to date of 'historical representation,' 'historical simulation,' as well as 'how games advance history' (Kapell and Elliott ). Kapell and Elliott argue that 'historical video games allow for an in-depth understanding not just of facts, dates, people, or events, but also of the complex discourse of contingency, conditions, and circumstances, which underpin a genuine understanding of history' (402-409). A must read for analyzing and utilizing history in video games, it offers an overview on the use of historical narrative, the complications of user-generated historical content, and historical authenticity and realism. However, it approaches the topic from the perspective of game studies and does not demonstrate how a historian could develop a scholarly game.

The use of video games to teach history at the secondary school level has a strong body of literature supporting the practice (McCall ; McMichael ; Squire ; Steinkuehler, Squire, and Barab ; Watson, Mong, and Harris ). One of the most comprehensive examinations of the use of computer and video games in history education involves Civilization and research being carried out at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The Games, Learning and Society group, part of their serious games and meaningful play program has been designing and studying educational activities, and the studies being conducted there show success in engaging students in historical thinking and identifying the 'underlying ideological framework' (Squire , , ). Building on this research, they have created an afterschool program CivWorld that develops, researches and supplies curriculum using Civilization (Squire, DeVane, and Durga ). While this body of recent literature provides the foundation for an academic justification to develop a true scholarly game, the material does not explore the use of historical research to design and develop the games or the presentation of the respective histories in terms of game play, narrative and strategy.

Popular history-based video games such as the Assassin's Creed series, the Total War series, Rockstar's L.A. Noire and Red Dead Redemption, and Paradox Interactive's Crusader Kings II and the Europa Universalis series offer examples of how to create a scholarly video game. Each offers an aspect of potential genres, means of constructing historical narratives, and ideas for developing historically-based game mechanics. In addition, Tracy Fullerton's experimental game Walden about Henry Thoreau's time at Walden Pond offers a unique example of playing a historical moment. In Playing the Past, Kapell and Elliott () assess the levels of historical engagement that a video game may possess. Foremost, the player may be a 'historically situated agent' directly engaged in a historical past (322). They also point to Espen Aarseth's dimensions of a game to illustrate other means of historical engagement - 'the gameplay (the players' actions, strategies, and motives'; 'the game world (fictional content, topology. level design, textures, etc.)'; and 'the game structure (the rules of the game, including the simulation rules' (Aarseth ; Kapell and Elliott , 330-339).

As a historical game, the turn-based strategy series Total War uses history to inform world and system design, game writing, and user interface design. As centuries of table top games demonstrate, battles and military strategies make ideal game mechanics. The events of history determine armor, battles, characters, environments, interactions, maps, rules, settings, resources, and weapon development. Starting with Shogun: Total War (2000), Creative Assembly replicated Rome, Medieval Europe, and post-Enlightenment Europe. With feudal Japan as a backdrop, Shogun: Total War included interactive videos designed to present the outcome of decisions made by the players. Subsequent games, starting with Rome: Total War (2004) introduced free tactical movement across the strategic map, allowing the player to make tactical choices for maneuvering their armies. Their games provide users with real-time tactical battle controls as they play out historical engagements, and menus for choosing equipment and strategies. Creative Assembly does thorough secondary source research and it is reflected in the quality of the games and their loyal fan base. Like Civilization, the series certainly offers numerous possibilities for history education.

Set in Medieval Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, Medieval II: Total War (2006) and its expansion further developed characters and expanded its scope to include the Mongol and Timurid invasions, the Age of Discovery, and New World colonization. Its expansion went on to include battles at the decline of the Aztec and Mayan empires. In Medieval II, religion serves as a game mechanic and players' faction selection defines them as Catholic, Orthodox Christian, or Islamic. A choice of Catholicism creates missions generated by the Pope that the player must complete such as converting, building churches, being called upon to complete a Crusade, and forming alliances with other Catholic factions. The choice of Islam puts the player under the rule of an Imam who in term can require that the player complete a Jihad.

Empire: Total War (2009) set in the eighteenth century took players through Industrialization, North America, the American Revolution, and the colonization of India. With settings in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East, Napoleon: Total War (2010) received acclaim for its visuals and use of story-driven campaigns. Playing as Napoleon or his opposition, players opt for one of three major military campaigns. Total War: Shogun II (2011) takes players to sixteenth century Japan to role-play clans and shoguns. The subsequent Total War: Shogun II: Fall of the Samurai (2011) takes place in the late nineteenth century and introduces modern technologies such as railroads and ironclad ships, as well as giving the player control of two armies.

Though the Total War series ultimately places game play over historical accuracy, the games demonstrate a range options for the scholarly game (Kapell and Elliott , 382). In addition to military history, the Total War series uses political, social, and religious history, as well as historic material culture to determine armor, battles, characters, environments, interactions, maps, rules, settings, resources, and weapon development. The videos introduced with Shogun: Total War (2000) offer a means for presenting narrative when game mechanics alone cannot present the information. The games also offers excellent examples of how the historian can present their notes and bibliography in the scholarly game without disruption gameplay. Much like Chicago/Turabian allows historians to communicate like a backchannel twitter conversation at a conference without disrupting the narrative, Total War games include 'encyclopedias' that contain historical data on people, events, and military equipment. The series offers an outstanding example of how to develop a scholarly game about nation and empire building, as well as demonstrates how to document sources and present narrative when game play cannot sufficiently convey the scholarship.

Paradox Interactive's grand strategy game series, Crusader Kings (2004, 2012) and Europa Universalis (2000, 2001, 2007, 2008, 2013), offer cultural and social perspectives on the articulation of historical conflicts. Set in the Middle Ages, Crusader Kings II (2012) is a feudal dynasty simulator that allows the player to establish and maintain a medieval dynasty. While the game does not have a historically accurate end goal, it explores historical strategies for achieving and maintaining a feudal dynasty. In pursuit of power over the European and Mediterranean feudal states, players manage their family and their alliances. The game allows players the choice of playing as a range of historical leaders and the game mechanics include alliance building, diplomacy, double crossing, taxation, and strategic marriages (McInnis ).

Set in the Renaissance era, the empire building games Europa Universalis I-IV allow players to colonize, develop technology, engage in war, explore, and practice diplomacy and trade (Apperley , 4023). A downloadable content expansion for Europa Universalis IV (2013) includes a map-generating system that simulates the experience of adventuring into the unknown of the New World. While traveling, maps will be randomly generated and though the maps that the game generates may not be historically accurate, it simulates a historically accurate experience. In other words, like the explorer traveling to the New World relying on a map with limited accuracy, the player ventures into the unknown. Like the Total War series, the Paradox Interactive games provide examples of history-based gameplay and game structure.

Ubisoft's historical fiction series the Assassin's Creed franchise (2007-2014) reconstructs historic settings and provides players with a glimpse of life during the Crusades, the Renaissance, the American and French revolutions, and a pirate-occupied Caribbean. The open-world, action-adventure games use diegesis as a user interface to weave tales of historically based fiction with real-time historical events. Above all other historical features, the worlds built for these games illustrate the potential for the scholarly game. As open world games, presenting the character primarily in the third person, they allow the characters free run of historical settings.

The game worlds of the Assassin's Creed franchise present a model for developing any historical environment. The games clearly demonstrate the rich historical detail a scholar could offer in a video game (Kapell and Elliott , 3994). The location itself and the details such as the art, architecture, and the more basic aspects of life such as indoor lighting, furniture and utensils put a player into a historical moment. The original Assassin's Creed (2007) reconstructs historic Jerusalem, Masyaf, Acre, and Damascus. The Renaissance themed Assassin's Creed II (2009) recreates Florence, Forli, San Gimignano, and the Tuscan countryside. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (2010) and Assassin's Creed: Revelations (2011) expanded the Renaissance setting to Rome and Constantinople. Assassin's Creed III (2012) takes the player to colonial North America and includes reconstructions of Boston, New York, and 'the frontier.' Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (2013) allows players to sail throughout the colonial Caribbean islands. Assassin's Creed Unity (2014) takes place in Paris during the French Revolution.

The games provide rich historical details about cultures, economies, and societies, from the most basic game elements, such as clothing and weapons to complex economic, political, and social systems. Viewing the street shows street culture at the respective time, how people interacted in public space, and commerce that occurred in public spaces. A trip to an inn or tavern illustrates furniture, utensils, décor as well as what people ate, how they were entertained and how they conducted monetary transactions. Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag's (2013) simulation of boating uses gameplay to allow meaningful historical investigations of Colonial era nautical exploration, piracy, trade and whaling. Assassin's Creed Unity (2014) includes the violent revolutionary mobs roaming the Paris streets. Though often violence based, using hand-to-hand combat, sword play, and in the case of Assassin's Creed also planning and carrying out stealth assassinations, the action-adventure genre of games offers an excellent model for game play. In addition, the action-adventure genre can immerse the player in the historical environment providing a sandbox for historical exploration.

Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption (2010) and L.A. Noire (2011) go beyond just using history as a component to a popular game, primary source historical research informed the game worlds, mechanics and narratives, forming historical spaces (Schut ). Rockstar designers, from Rockstar San Diego and Team Bondi, respectively, conducted considerable research for the games and are renowned for accurately reconstructing open world environments. Researchers for Red Dead Redemption uncovered new historical insights, and L.A. Noire used real-life crimes and extensive primary source material. Pushing new boundaries in video game narrative and performance, L.A. Noire became the first video game shown at the Tribeca Film Festival.

For the film noire inspired action-adventure detective game, L.A. Noire (2011) researchers examined upwards of 180,000 images, police records, newspapers and maps to recreate Los Angeles in the 1940s. Based on these findings, gameplay involves crime solving, investigation, hand-to-hand combat, and gun battles. The game dialogue also incorporates historically accurate colloquialisms and slang. For developing the game environments, the developers made extensive use of Robert Earl Spence's aerial photographs from 1918 to 1971 when he photographed California and the American West. His pictures document 'the growth of suburbs and freeways, along with harbors, dams, aircraft plants, and skyscrapers' (Kalambakal ). L.A. Noire also utilizes advanced capture technology, filming actors to capture realism in the game characters actions, and thus allowed expressions to factor into game play (Edge ; Pierce ). The use of the 32 cameras to capture actors' facial expression and gestures allows for an 'interrogation mechanic' to be built into the game. Players must read the faces of other characters to judge a suspect's reaction. In theory, this technique offers historians the opportunity to truly present historically accurate characters down to period-specific body language and mannerisms.

Exploring the gap between historical fact and historical myth, Red Dead Redemption (2010) offers an example of how historical arguments can be made through video games. The western action-adventure, open-world game explores changes to the USA in the early twentieth century. It creates an argument about the country during this era. It explores issues of cultural, economic, political, and social change, as well as the relations of the USA with Native American communities and Mexico. Set in a fictional American West of 1911, at the border of Texas and Mexico, it depicts the taming of an Old West of lore and shows the area in decline as changes in the twentieth century transform the frontier. Red Dead Redemption takes on major themes of the era: the transformation of the country into an urban nation, the Interstate Commerce Clause of 1887, the vast network of railroads, Manifest Destiny, the expansion of electricity to rural areas, and the development of the automobile and aircraft. Ongoing discussions throughout the game explore the expanding of the role of federal government. In addition, the main character, John Marston, experiences the Mexican Revolution of 1910.

Primary research informed that the historical play space aims for accuracy in architecture, characters, landscape, material culture, and, of course, weapons. The designers based characters on real people such as Pearl Taylor Hart, alleged to have been the last individual to have carried out a stage coach robbery, and Tom Horn, legendary western lawman, and researchers even uncovered new primary source evidence while researching the game. The historical narrative about the country depicts technology and the increase in the power of the federal government as forces driving the change. Largely represented in cut away scenes, these themes help guide the limited story along. Generally, the conversations are driven by the secondary characters and with frequency they comment about the cultural, social, and political changes occurring in the country. The conversations often occur as characters are en route and the player is controlling a horse or wagon. Discussion topics also revolve around changes occurring in the West such as the role of federal government, advances in technology, and changes to the arid landscape brought on by irrigation. Other topics include Native American policy and the idea of manifest destiny, as well as early twentieth century ideas about free enterprise and the use of advertising. Without relying solely on narrative, Red Dead Redemption (2010) demonstrates the range of ways that a historian can advance a thesis and argument in a scholarly game.

The experimental game Walden (2007), being developed by the University of Southern California Game Director Tracy Fullerton, offers a close look at a historical moment. Walden explores the experiences of Henry David Thoreau during his time at Walden Pond between 1845 and 1847. It expands the use of aesthetics and narrative in game play, and uses basic survival and aesthetic experiences as game mechanics. The player lives as Thoreau did, attempting the most basic of survival and immersing oneself in aesthetic appreciation and contemplation. The activities of daily life become the mechanics of game play. Once the player masters survival, they then turn to the more aesthetic and contemplative aspects of life as the game tracks the player's observing time and rewards the player with more vibrant colors as the observing time progresses (Gutsche 2014; Shumway ). Walden offers an example of how daily life during a historical moment could be translated into a scholarly game.

In the 1930s, when Dutch cultural historian Johan Huizinga wrote that 'play is older than culture,' he likely did not have in mind Xbox 360s, PS3s, and Wiis, yet his words inform twenty-first century game design theory. In Homo Ludens, he makes the case that from human play comes the creation of cultures, the forming or meaning, and the learning and transmitting of knowledge. Huizinga's 'playing man' engages in game-like practices and rituals, be it the destruction and violence of war, the organization of societies, or the wrangling of American politics (Huizinga , 1955). While computer and video game theorists use Huizinga's ideas of play, and Huizinga informs contemporary cultural history, US historians have not engaged his ideas. Yet, intrinsically, historians understand the value of play and the design of games, using it routinely in their research and writing of historical scholarship, and some in their teaching methods (Ferguson ; Kee et al. ; Squire , ).

As the work on history video games shows, a game used as a teaching tool does not represent a scholarly game. Certainly more sophisticated games and simulations will be created for educational purposes. It is easy to envision the sandbox of a historical epoch, an open-world learning play space of peoples, nation, civilization, or a moment, a simulation of each detail of the environment, the material culture, and life's necessities. The gameplay could be the needs, the wants, the hardships, and the social, political, musical, economic, creative, and artistic manner in which the population in that moment, in that culture and society, on that land mass went through. For instance, the first year college American History survey course could be developed as a sandbox video game and students could play their lessons. However, such an endeavor represents history informing games and not a 'gamic mode of history' (Clyde, Hopkins, and Wilkinson ).

Scholarly games would ground the design process in the historical goals, objectives, or perspective. The mechanics can be drawn from the cultural, economic, political, and social questions being asked, as well as material culture, man-made and natural environments, and the rules can have a context within the historical questions (Frasca ; Uricchio ). The games discussed demonstrate the possibilities for recreating every level of a historical space and integrating history beyond merely dressing up mechanics with historical aesthetics and dynamics (LeBlanc ). However, translating the information that goes into a historical monograph presents the challenge of not allowing gameplay or story to trump scholarship.

Within the scholarly game, the objects, the interfaces, the settings, and the mechanics can portray extremely detailed historical information. The characters can be based on historical figures, not just prominent figures, but also representations of any type of citizenry from a given historical moment. The history under analysis can determine the rules or the rules can serve as a way to demonstrate to the player the nature of the historic moment, events, or epoch. A good game requires good mechanics which present the scholar with problems of narratology versus ludoulogy. The scholar must convey the relevant historical narrative while putting gameplay at the center of the design process. In a developing a game, gameplay takes precedence over story and this factor becomes more complicated when historical fact must come before game mechanics.

A review of Jesse Schell's The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses (2008) demonstrates how game design could be translated into scholarly game design. Schell points to key elements for a successful game and poses a series of questions related to the design process that illustrates how a scholarly game could be constructed. Schell points to 'two simple steps to using a theme to strengthen the power of your game's experience,' foremost determining the theme and then using 'every means possible to reinforce that theme' (49). In the case of the scholarly game, the theme would extend to developing a clear thesis and historical argument. Then, like the game designer ensuring all aspects of the game reinforce the theme, the historian would construct the game so as to reinforce their thesis and argument. For instance, Red Dead Redemption (2010) constructs an argument about crime and lawlessness resulting from the tension of America's closing frontier.

Schell () points to four basic elements that must be kept in balance - mechanics, story, aesthetics, and technology (41-43). In designing the scholarly game, these translate into your historically based mechanics, historical narrative, and historically accurate aesthetics, the battle mechanics of the Total War series, the crimes of L.A. Noire, the narrative of Thoreau's time at Walden Pond or the historically rich environments of the Assassin's Creed series. Then of course, the technology must be appropriate for the construction of the game, as well as the gameplay for intended audience. In the case of historians, more than likely the games should be designed for PC as historians more than likely use computers and do not necessarily play Xbox, Wii, or PlayStation.

One stark difference from preparing a scholarly monograph is the relationship to the audience. Historians tend to write for other historians and history students, not to the public, and they do not put the enjoyment of their reader ahead of the scholarship. They consider where they fit into the historiography, how other historians will accept or refute their argument, and how well their thesis holds up, but less so how much pleasure their reader will get. However, with a scholarly game, the player ultimately must remain at the center for game design whether the game is designed only for other historians to play, students, or a public audience. In designing the scholarly game, the historian must assess the relevant primary source material and determine how engaging with it could be most enjoyable.

History can easily dictate the challenges and choices for players in a game (Schell , 179). The major challenge arises from the fact that a game is a 'competition.' This factor easily translates to the context of creating an educational game where the player can be rewarded for acquiring the prerequisite knowledge, but the purpose becomes less evident within the context of the scholarly game (186). Here, Walden offers new possibilities about competition. First, the player Thoreau must compete with the forces of nature to survive, and then the competition moves to achieving higher levels of contemplation and aesthetic appreciation.

The historian must determine how they want the player to experience the historical moment, as well as how to make the game enjoyable for the player. As Schell () states, 'a good game designer should always be thinking of the player, and should be an advocate for the player' (106). 'The job of a game,' Schnell argues 'is to give pleasure' and the designer must determine 'the kinds of pleasure your game does and does not provide' (12). The designer should ask 'What experience do I want the player to have?' 'What is essential to that experience?' and 'How can my game capture that essence?' (21). The scholar should ask the following questions: what historical era, time period, theme, turning point, etc. do I want my player to experience? What historical facts are essential to that experience? What historical approach will capture the essence of that historical experience? What historical understanding do I want to leave the player with? Should the game approach the topic as cultural, economic, social, or political history? How should those approaches be balanced and conveyed in terms of mechanics, narrative, and aesthetics? Which approach will best convey the historical experience for the player?

Schell () urges designers to consider the questions that the game will prompt in the players' thinking and consider how to make the player 'care about these questions' and 'invent even more questions?' (30). For the scholarly game, the historian wants to encourage the player to engage in historical questioning going beyond passively receiving a narrative into actively engaging them in questioning history. According to Schell, the designer must determine the relationship between the 'value in the game and the player's motivations' and ask 'What is valuable to the players in my game? How can I make it more valuable to them? What is the relationship between value in the game and the player's motivations?' (32). The scholar must in turn determine: What is valuable to the historical actors? How do I make it valuable for the players? How do I balance historical value in the game with motivation and value for the player? Every game must present the player with problems to solve (37). The designer of the scholarly game must in turn decide what historical problems the game will ask the player to solve. These problems can range from grand strategy problems presented in games such as the Total War franchise, Crusader Kings, and Europa Universalis to basic human problems such as surviving in the wilderness that the player encounters in Walden.

In Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Designing Games, Fullerton and Swain (, , ; Fullerton ) divide the elements of games into formal and dramatic. The dramatic elements provide 'context to gameplay, overlaying and integrating the formal elements of the system into a meaningful experience,' and offer the historian the opportunity to incorporate the historic theme, actors, and narrative (86). The formal elements include players, objectives, procedures, rules, resources, conflict, boundaries, and outcome. As with Schell, the game experience ultimately rests with the player. The game invites the player to play and the player enters into 'Huizinga's "magic circle"' where 'the rules of games take on a certain power and a certain potential' (49 and 50). Players strive for objectives and these objectives can easily be informed by history. Taken from Fullerton and Swain's list, examples of objectives that could work for the scholarly game both independently and in combination include capture, chase, rescue or escape, construction, exploration, solution, and outwitting (60-64). In achieving the objectives, players are bound by 'the methods of play' and actions that they can 'take to achieve the game objectives.' Also, described by Fullerton and Swain as 'Who does what, where, when, and how?' (66). All questions that can easily translate into historical questions about historical agents, eras, locations, events and actions.

Fullerton and Swain (, , ) posit that 'rules define game objects and allowable actions by the players' (68). In the scholarly game, the primary sources of the given research topic combined with the thesis and historical argument set the parameters for developing the rules. The development of resources can come organically from the theme or topic at hand. As Fullerton and Swain argue, game resources function much as 'the real world resources... that can be used to accomplish certain goals,' assets such as 'natural resources, economic resources, human resources' (72). All of the games discussed provide examples of real-world resources being translated into game resources. While the developers rely primarily on secondary source material, Rockstar's L.A. Noire and Red Dead Redemption utilize original primary source research and offer excellent models for translating research into a scholarly game.

In developing the scholarly game, historical thinking and historical research methodologies can inform the design process. Schell () points out that 'A game is its rules,' though with the caveat that 'a game's rules are arrived at gradually and experimentally' (150). This iterative process shares similarities to a historian's research process. The research process for history has play-like and game-like properties. History can be conceived as critical play and the historical research process in inherently game like (Flanagan ). When historians research a topic, they ask new questions and take new approaches to explore history. They look for questions not yet asked and new ways to approach historical knowledge. In other words, they create the rules that will govern and guide their research and resource gathering. Then, they embark on gathering as much pertinent information as possible. Though currently archives are working diligently to digitize as much of their holdings as possible, many primary materials cannot be found online and obtaining primary source material can require extensive travel, and thus resource and time management. It can take historians all over the world in search of primary evidence. The while, each source must be documented meticulously.

The historian in their continual attempt to transcend bias in the historical process must allow the evidence to speak for itself. In other words, the questions that initiate the research cannot be allowed to distort what the evidence says (Novick ). Thus, as the research process ensues, new questions arise that may require completely different paths and more new questions. At any moment, the historian must be prepared to completely redesign the rules of their research game. Projects may go through many complete redesigns before a historian is done with the research phase. As the resource gathering and adventure ensue, though not too soon so as to bias the process, the historian starts to form a thesis and central argument to connect and explain the historical subject matter. This process may also result in completely having to redesign the research game. Then, once all the evidence is gathered, it must be analyzed and organized, and conclusions must be formed. Finally, the historian faces what amounts to a game of Tetris, piecing together bits of evidence from hundreds to thousands of sources into a narrative. While the output may be different, the process is iterative by nature and can inform design for virtual spaces and video games.

The inherently game-like qualities of historical research, the popularity of history-based video games, the use of games as pedagogical tools, and the movement by game studies to analyze history games point to the possibilities of developing a scholarly game. As with the game design process itself, to fully assess the possibilities, a game must be put into development and iterative research must be used to explore the best practices in translating historical scholarship that meets the standards of the discipline into game play. The video game offers far greater potential for the creation and presentation of history than any other entertainment or interactive media.

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Gaming history: computer and video games as historical scholarship

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Computer and video games offer new ways to present findings from primary source research; explore new paths of inquiry; and enhance the fields of digital humanities, digital history, and virtual heritage. In short, the historian could become the producer of a scholarly game; a game based on original primary source research that forms an argument and provides a close examination of a historical topic.

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This video, explains the history of gaming and where it all began. Big titles such as Mario or Sonic are explained within this video and give more background to one of the biggest attractions mankind has to offer.

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A brief history of video games (Part I) - Safwat Saleem

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Video games giving benefits to young children and their development

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Video games giving benefits to young children and their development

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In this article it talks about video games being viewed in a negative way, a misrepresented way, video games can help build a child's development into a better, stronger mind simply by playing games (within moderation). Main areas of increased development in reasoning, spatial navigation, memory, and perception in shooter games while in other genres of gaming it helps the problem-solving way of thinking. Not only does gaming help children reduce anxiety about whatever they are going through, it helps the brain build their cognitive and for most people gender development stage (boys).

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Video game play may provide learning, health, social benefits, review finds

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Playing video games, including violent shooter games, may boost children's learning, health and social skills, according to a review of research in American Psychologist. The study comes out as debate continues among psychologists and other health professionals regarding the effects of violent media on youth.

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This video, explains how video games affects childhood and why its good to give children the time to play such games. Not only does it build the brain but it gives satisfaction when they beat a hard stage or get a new high score.

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How Video Games Affect Childhood Development

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In a study to see if gaming actually helps with memory, scientists built an experiment lab to see if gamers memorized stuff better than people who didn't play games when they were a kid. 27 people were brought in to memory tasks given by the scientist and the results showed that people who did play games when they were younger did exceptionally well compared to the people that didn't play games thus giving an example to show how gaming helps with memory. Areas that gamers were shown to be better in includes holding and manipulating memory patterns to give the best answer to the task at hand. After the first study, people played Super Mario 64 and redid the study to find that gaming really does strengthen the players cognitive skills.

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A number of studies have shown how playing video games can lead to structural changes in the brain, including increasing the size of some regions, or to functional changes, such as activating the areas responsible for attention or visual-spatial skills. New research from the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) has gone further to show how cognitive changes can take place even years after people stop playing.

This is one of the conclusions from the article published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. The study involved 27 people between the ages of 18 and 40 with and without any kind of experience with video gaming.

"People who were avid gamers before adolescence, despite no longer playing, performed better with the working memory tasks, which require mentally holding and manipulating information to get a result," said Marc Palaus, who has a PhD from the UOC.

The article stems from Palaus' doctoral thesis, which was supervised by Elena Muñoz and Diego Redolar, researchers in the UOC Faculty of Health Sciences' Cognitive NeuroLab. They were co-authors of the article alongside Raquel Viejo, another researcher from the group.

The results show that people without experience of playing video games as a child did not benefit from improvements in processing and inhibiting irrelevant stimuli. Indeed, they were slower than those who had played games as children, which matched what had been seen in earlier studies.

Likewise, "people who played regularly as children performed better from the outset in processing 3D objects, although these differences were mitigated after the period of training in video gaming, when both groups showed similar levels," said Palaus.
Combining transcranial magnetic stimulation
The study lasted a month and the researchers analysed participants' cognitive skills, including working memory, at three points: before starting the training in video gaming, at the end of the training, and fifteen days later. The video game used was Nintendo's Super Mario 64.

The study also included 10 sessions of transcranial magnetic stimulation. This is non-invasive brain stimulation through the skin without the need to get to the brain tissue that temporarily changes the brain's activity.

"It uses magnetic waves which, when applied to the surface of the skull, are able to produce electrical currents in underlying neural populations and modify their activity," explained Palaus.

The researchers wanted to find out if combining video gaming and this kind of stimulation would improve cognitive performance, but that didn't turn out to be the case. There are a number of possible causes, including the experimental nature of the parameters for the stimulation.

"We aimed to achieve lasting changes. Under normal circumstances, the effects of this stimulation can last from milliseconds to tens of minutes. We wanted to achieve improved performance of certain brain functions that lasted longer than this," said Palaus.
Strengthening cognitive skills
In this case, the video game used was a 3D platform adventure, but there are many genres of video game which can influence cognitive functions differently.

According to Palaus, what most have in common is that they involve elements that make people want to continue playing, and that they gradually get harder and present a constant challenge. "These two things are enough to make it an attractive and motivating activity, which, in turn, requires constant and intense use of our brain's resources."

"Video games are a perfect recipe for strengthening our cognitive skills, almost without our noticing." Nonetheless, he stressed that these improvements only have a limited effect on performance of other activities not linked to video gaming, as is the case with most cognitive training.

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Playing video games as a child can improve working memory years later, researchers find: The study included 10 sessions of transcranial magnetic stimulation, a type of non-invasive brain stimulation

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A number of studies have shown how playing video games can lead to structural changes in the brain, including increasing the size of some regions, or to functional changes, such as activating the areas responsible for attention or visual-spatial skills.

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Video games helping people with memory loss

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Video games helping people with memory loss

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In this video, it explains how much of an impact gaming has to the memorization field of the brain and why it's good to play games on your off time.

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Are video games the answer to memory loss?

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Internet Gaming Disorder is when someone cannot stop playing games and it ultimately affects their day-to-day lives. Not only is IGD something that extremely common these days, most people don't even know its a thing. With this in mind scientist wondered if this is a new thing or something that has been happening for generations with whatever games they had at the time. In the 70's scientists did studies and this very topic IGD. And funny enough people were experiencing things close to IGD but not exactly the same.

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Abstract

Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) has recently received nomenclatural recognition from official medical bodies as a potential mental health disorder, despite evident variability and inconsistencies in its core conceptualization and psychometric assessment. Research on gaming addiction dates back to the 1970s, and important changes in the field have occurred, especially in terms of definition and conceptualization of the phenomenon, which resulted in a multiplicity of strategies in the assessment of IGD via inconsistent criteria or psychometric tools. In the present review, the authors argue how the adoption of inconsistent criteria and psychometric tools for assessing IGD has negatively influenced the field. Furthermore, this review provides an overview of how the field evolved in terms of its historical developments, current definitions and frameworks, developments in the neurobiological research, psychometric assessment, and emerging trends in the assessment of gaming addiction. Finally, the paper provides information on alternative emerging methods for assessing IGD via sound psychometric tools based on updated and officially recognized conceptualization of the phenomenon of IGD.

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Assessment of internet gaming disorder in clinical research: Past and present perspectives

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Abstract Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) has recently received nomenclatural recognition from official medical bodies as a potential mental health disorder, despite evident variability and inconsistencies in its core conceptualization and psychometric assessment.

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In this experiment scientists studied how emotional intelligence could be associated with gaming. In order to conduct this study, scientists studied on 3rd grade elementary kids to determine how their brains could be affected. Setting up a English class environment, the kids played the games and improved on their emotions, and understanding people's emotions as well, while kids that were already good with associating the difference of people's emotions, kids that needed help with that has dramatically improved.

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ABSTRACT
Previous studies have shown that trait emotional intelligence (EI) is an important factor affecting children's learning performance in physical instruction settings. However, there have been very few studies exploring the effects of children's high- or low-trait EI levels on both gaming performance and learning performance in digital game-based learning environments. Therefore, in this study, we developed a game-based English learning environment to investigate how different levels of trait EI would affect children's gaming performance and learning performance. A total of 51 third-grade elementary school students participated in this study. The students' trait EI was measured by a modified version of the Trait EI Questionnaire-Child Form. The students' gaming performance was evaluated by the achievement of badges, and their learning performance was assessed by a paper-based examination after playing the game. The collected data were analyzed using Pearson correlation analysis and independent samples t tests. The results showed that there were significant correlations between trait EI, gaming performance, and learning performance; this implies that trait EI had a significant relationship with both gaming performance and learning performance. Moreover, the results showed that there was a significant correlation between the gaming performance and learning performance for those students with low-trait EI. However, the results showed that gaming performance and learning performance were not significantly correlated for the high-trait EI students. A subsequent analysis showed that the high-trait EI students' gaming performance and learning performance were significantly better than those with low-trait EI.

Additional information

Funding

This study was partially supported by grants (MOST 105-2511-S-008-009-MY3, MOST 105-2622-S-008-001-CC3) from the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan.

Notes on contributors

Jie Chi Yang
Jie Chi Yang is currently a full professor in the Graduate Institute of Network Learning Technology at the National Central University, Taiwan. His research interests include human factors, digital game-based learning, computer assisted language learning, and interactive learning environments.

Benazir Quadir
Benazir Quadir is a lecturer in the Department of Information Management at Shandong University of Technology, Zibo City, Shandong Province, P.R. China. Her research interests include digital game-based learning, online synchronous learning, and social media learning.

Nian-Shing Chen
Nian-Shing Chen is Chair Professor in the Department of Information Management at the National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan. His research interests include online synchronous teaching & learning; mobile & ubiquitous learning; gesture-based learning and educational robotics. He is Editor-In-Chief for the SSCI-indexed Journal of Educational Technology & Society.

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Effects of Children's Trait Emotional Intelligence on Digital Game-Based Learning

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ABSTRACT Previous studies have shown that trait emotional intelligence (EI) is an important factor affecting children's learning performance in physical instruction settings. However, there have been very few studies exploring the effects of children's high- or low-trait EI levels on both gaming performance and learning performance in digital game-based learning environments.

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In this study we learned that MMORPG's have a enormous deal with self-esteem (if you play them). Normally MMORPG's are community based, if you do something then chances are that you need someone's help too which builds companionship and shows your self-worth. If you do good and were a big contributor for most of the time usually in real life your actions reflect that. Actions that are expressive, cooperative and helpful are traits that are formed while if you're not good at the game and continuously are being made fun of chances are that you're gonna be laid-back, and doubt your choices more often than not.

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