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Children are using the Internet at younger and younger ages. So far, however, we know little about how parents guide young children's online activities to prevent risks. Filling this void an Internet-survey established empirically which media guidance strategies 792 parents of children (2-12 years) in the Netherlands used. As was established in former television and game research factor analysis revealed that parents also applied 'co-use', 'active mediation', and 'restrictive mediation'. In addition, parents also applied new strategies: 'supervision' i.e. keeping an eye on the child from a distance, and using safety software applications. Mediation types were mainly predicted by the child's age and online behavior, such as gaming and social networking. Also, parents applied more mediation when they expected positive effects and particularly when they expected negative effects of the Internet, indicating that parents deliberately adjust their mediation to the child's needs and interests. Mediation was also predicted by the number of computers at home, and the parent's gender, education and computer / Internet skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined gaming motivation in relation to persistence. Gamers are seen to take enormous efforts in order to finish playing a video game, or level, even in the face of insufficient reward. The current study is embedded in a motivational framework, namely Self-Determination Theory (SDT) (Deci & Ryan, 2000). Our research question focused on exploring how previous gaming experience, or expertise, is related to persistence in playing video games while taking the psychological needs (competence, autonomy and relatedness) and regulation modes (intrinsic motivation, identified regulation, external regulation and amotivation) as defined in SDT into account. Previous studies (Ryan, Rigby & Przybylski, 2006) have shown that a relation between expertise, needs satisfaction and persistence exists. Our results, however, illustrate that the inclusion of the regulation modes yields a more refined and coherent application of the theoretical framework underlying the model as compared to when they are left out. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We aimed to investigate how online political games contribute to the development of political engagement. Using Raessens' (2006) functions and Van Zoonen's (2007) perspectives as an analytical framework, we investigated six online games with respect to their expressive and engaging power in terms of the performance of a 'political self'. Our exploratory research was guided by two questions. The first aimed to uncover, through interviews, why independent developers of online political games created them, and how they took their potential players into consideration during this process. The second research question was focused on players. Using an online questionnaire, we asked them how they judged the impact of playing a political game on their knowledge and opinions about the issue addressed therein. We invited them to play a political game as part of our research procedure. Questions were also asked about the players' intentions after they had played the game, thus connecting the experience of play to possible behavioral changes. Interviews with developers revealed that the development of such a game contributes to the enhancement of the everyday political context. Similar results are found amongst players (n=80, online survey). The results also suggest that the construction and expression of a 'political self' through the act of playing a political game may have consequences in the real world. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent advances in Internet technology have contributed to changes in the role of the Internet user. New Internet applications facilitate users to upload self-created content. The material involved is generally categorized as user created content (UCC). We investigated the modification of video games as an instance of user created content. Game modding is a (re)creation of game content by amateur users who publish their playable creations online for other players to enjoy. Our research was guided by two questions: who are the modders and why do they take the effort to create and publish mods. In answering the questions we also concentrated on possible differences between genres. We conducted in-depth interview with 15 modders and a quantitative online survey (N = 363). The results showed that modders were predominantly young men who spend almost 9 hous per week on their hobby. The most prominent motives were Entertainment and Community. In contrast to what was argued in earlier analyses of modding, our respondents were not particularly driven by self-marketing. The position of modders of the first person genre was in many cases somewhat different from the other genres (action games, sports games and strategy games). Modders of the FIFA football games were most strongly motivated to recreate game elements to reflect their local context. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People may have different reasons why they spend time playing a specific video game. We conducted an exploratory Internet survey (N=942) in order to gather information about what motives people have to play a particular genre of games. Results show that playing because of the competition in the game is least important for people playing RPG and MMORPG, but most important for people playing FPS. For the challenge motive, a reversed pattern was found: for FPS players, challenge is less important than for (MMO)RPG players. Escapism and fantasy are no important reasons to play FPS, at least not compared to people playing action games or (MMO)RPG. Finally, the desire to socialize with others is least important for people playing RPG. Furthermore, this study shows that the importance of these motives are related to game-use characteristics such as the average time people spend on gaming, the period of time they have already played the specific video game, and whether they play in solitude or in the company of others. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Media researchers have identified a range of mass media as ‘technologies of gender’. This term indicates that gender identities and gender discourse are constructed out of the language, practices and behaviours of daily life. In this paper we explore the meaning of videogames as technologies of gender. Videogames and videogameculture are generally seen as being connected to masculine preferences and we are interested in finding out what this means for both male and female gamers. We have looked at discussions on online forums concerning the RPG Final Fantasy X-2 and made a qualitative analysis of postings that contained some sort of gender-performance. We found that Final Fantasy X-2 can be a starting point for discussions about the meaning gamers attribute to male and female gender performances. They discuss the ways boys and girls should look, how they should dress and how they should behave, and we therefore conclude that videogames can indeed function as technologies of gender. Also, at least on the forums concerning this particular game-title, we found that the issue of male dominance is no longer as strict as in other fields of videogameculture. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports an exploratory focusgroup study among teenage viewers of the television serial Heartbreak High. It was guided by the following question: what meaning do teenagers attribute to a popular television serial, and what is the role of identification, empathy en parasocial interaction in this process? We deliberately combined elements of two different scientific traditions: Cultural studies theorizing about the active audience and media psychological theories about the ways in which audiences use media content. The analysis of the transcripts of our focusgroup sessions showed that the perceived realism of the serial was crucial in the construction of meaning. It also became clear that viewers indeed empathized with the characters, but identified with them in a limited sense. Parasocial interaction resulted in relationships with characters in the series, but this did not lead to feelings of friendship for the characters. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Video games of the first person shooter (FPS) type such as Doom or Counter Strike are often the subject of public concern. Surprisingly, there is no published research available about playing these games. We conducted an exploratory Internet survey (N=752) in order to gather information about who the players of online first person shooters are, and why they spend time on playing this particular kind of video game. The results of our survey on the one hand confirmed the stereotype of the gamer as it is often presented in popular media: the players of online FPS were indeed almost exclusively young men (mean age about 18 years) who spend a lot of their leisure time on gaming (about 2.6 hours per day). We also found that the most committed gamers, that is, the ones who were members of a (semi)professional clan, scored highest on motives with respect to competition, and challenge in comparison with members of amateur clans and online gamers who had not joined a clan. On the other hand, our results cast doubt on the accuracy of the stereotype. This study showed clearly that online FPS gamers are not playing in isolation. More than eighty percent of our respondents were member of a clan. Also, the regression analysis showed that the social interaction motive was the strongest predictor of the time actually spend on gaming. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Players of video games are often stereotyped as 'nerds' in social isolation. However, a lot of gaming is social in nature, for example in the case of multiplayer games, or on-line gaming on the Internet. We studied gaming at a LAN event where people link their computers to a Local Area Network in order to play against each other. Thus far, this kind of gaming in a social context has not received much attention from researchers. Our study aimed to reveal why the participants liked LAN gaming, and, more specifically, why they preferred the violent games that are commonplace at LAN events. We deliberately choose to interview both male and female participants, although women are a minority at LAN events. We conducted open interviews with six male and six female LAN gamers. The interviews were interpreted using a grounded theory framework. Our interpretation showed the participants were motivated by both competitive and social motives. They were also attracted to the violent content of the games, often labeling it as a kind of dark humor. Our conclusion that there were hardly any differences between male and female gamers warrants further research about the relevance of gender with respect to the reception of video games. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through an internet-survey of 536 parent-child dyads, the authors researched which mediation strategies parents used for their children's (8-18 years) video gaming. As in previous research on television mediation, principal factor analyses revealed the same strategies for parents and children: 'restrictive mediation', 'evaluative mediation' and 'conscious co-playing'. Mediation was most strongly predicted by the age of the child and the game behavior of the parents. Furthermore, parents were more restrictive and evaluative when they feared negative behavioral and attitudinal effects. Parents who were inclined to game together with their children expected positive social-emotional effects of gaming. Playing 'inappropriate' games mostly occurred when parents were not very restrictive. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The content of games is an understudied area in research about digital interactive games (DIGs). This paper reports a content analysis of the representation of gender and ethnic groups in 12 console games. We concentrated on the portrayal of the leading character, and supporting role in the introductory film of the DIG. Among the titles studied were games with a female leading character (for example, Tomb Raider, Parasite Eve), and with a male leading character (for example, GTA ViceCity, Splinter Cell). Our results show that the number of female characters was far larger than in earlier studies, with many of them in leading parts. Whatever their role in the game, the physical representation of women was as stereotypical as before: Their attire emphasized female features. Most characters in the DIGs belonged to the dominant, 'white' ethnic minority, the heroes exclusively so. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study was undertaken about the appeal of playing digital interactive games (DIGs) at a LAN event. At a LAN event, gamers link their PCs in a high speed Local Area Network (LAN) in order to play against each other in competitive 'wars'. Two principal questions guided the study. First we wanted to know who the visitors of a LAN event were, because there is no research we know of about this class of gamers. Second, we wanted to know what people motivated to participate in a LAN event. The survey among 176 LAN gamers showed that they were almost exclusively male, with a mean age of 19.5 years. The gamers devoted about 2.6 hours each day to their hobby, which is far more than found in other studies among gamers. They were particularly motivated by social motives, and to a lesser extent by a need to know more about games (interest motive). The competition motive obtained a low overall score, although it was more prominent among a subgroup of 'heavy gamers'. The authors interpret their results as a nuance of the stereotype of the solitary, adolescent gamer. LAN gamers participate in game communities and are socially motivated to visit LAN events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Weekly, about 4900 videos, tagged "Islam" are uploaded on YouTube. This study addresses three aspects of Islam's representation: (a) how Islam is framed, (b) how it is visualized, and (c) what are the motives of YouTubers to share videos about Islam. The theoretical framework rests on two pillars. Firstly, we used valence framing to identify positive/negative patterns of representation. Secondly, Uses and Gratifications theory was used to study the motives for sharing videos. A content analysis of 120 videos and 15 interviews with content producers were the methods we employed. Valence frames were present in almost all videos. Negative videos slightly prevailed, but in general the tone is balanced despite the fact that videos often were rather emotional. Regarding the motives, three main factors prevailed: communicating Islam as a primary reason for Muslim participants, self-expression for non-Muslim YouTubers. Social recognition yielded to be equally important for both groups. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An experiment among 2453 girls between 11 and 17 years old showed that confrontation with the interactive brand placement in the game resulted in higher top of mind awareness of the brand, more positive brand images, and more favorable behavioral intentions. This study also examined whether effects of brand placement in games hold for all girls, or whether some groups are more strongly affected by this form of advertising. Consistent with advertising literature and theories on children and advertising, this study showed that there was a three-way interaction effect between exposure to the brand placement, age, and prior brand use for behavioral intentions. The youngest girls who had no prior experience with the brand were more strongly influenced by the brand placement than the oldest girls who had no prior brand experience. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sims is the best selling PC game ever. Its success contradicts the common stereotype about video games and its players. The Sims is a noncompetitive game with hardly any violence that attracts a far larger audience than the proverbial male adolescent. We investigated the player base of The Sims2, the most recent edition of The Sims that was released in 2004. The explorative study we report here is the first large-scale survey among players of The Sims2 (N = 760). Our results show that the common assertions about the large representation of women among Sims-gamers are true: 84% of our participants were female. We employed a uses and gratifications perspective to investigate why our participants liked to play The Sims2. Pastime was the most important motive, social interaction the least important. The gender differences we found were that men scored higher than women on the motives fantasy, challenge and social interaction. We also found that age was an important factor. Younger players expressed a stronger sense of empathy and identification with game characters than older players, and they scored higher on parasocial interaction. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the practices of adult female gamers who play the videogame The Sims, and its successor The Sims 2, focusing on the motivations they have for playing, the context in which they play and their notions on the gendered nature of videogaming in general, and the possible digital skills they think they might derive from playing this game. For this research project 23 face-to-face depth-interviews with female gamers between the ages of 17 and 59 were conducted, and an additional 34 female gamers were interviewed by email. It is concluded that this group of female gamers do not play the game to engage in any form of competition, or to experience arousal, but rather to relax, enjoy the specific challenge of the game and engage in a fantasy-world. Most women have no contact with other female gamers, apart from the women they communicate with online. We have shown that through playing the game a group of participants had learned how to structure information on the computer and look up things on the Internet, and we conclude that playing a videogame can indeed influence someone's digital skills. We have demonstrated that with selecting a group of women who play one particular game-title, it is possible to isolate a particular type of female gamer and we may thus conclude that within gaming literature it is no longer feasible to consider women gamers to be a homogenous group. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]