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Background: Socialization during gaming is an important aspect of gaming for people with and without disabilities. However, we know little about how gamers with disabilities play with others. Aim: This study investigated the social gaming experiences of individuals with disabilities focusing on research questions 1) Who do people with disabilities play with?, and 2) How do people with disabilities communicate while gaming? Method: We conducted a survey study which focused on experiences of gaming with disabilities. In total 92 responses were analyzed. Results: The results suggest that gamers with disabilities play digital multiplayer games locally and online with friends, family, strangers, and people they know. The most used communication methods were speech, text, and built-in features. However, some were not communicating at all due to a lack of suitable communication methods. Furthermore, communication varied depending on if the gaming was happening online or locally, and depending on the gaming companions. Discussion: The results align with previous research indicating that people with disabilities engage in gaming with friends, family, and strangers similar to any other gamer. However, there is a lack of studies on how people generally communicate in games, nonetheless, as speech and text communication methods are most commonly seen in games, we can assume that they are the most used communication methods for all gamers. Limitations and Future Research: This study has limitations both related to the survey questions and the survey participants. We cannot be sure if all understood the questions in the same way, furthermore, most of the participants were experienced Finnish gamers with physical disabilities which could have skewed the results. Further research is necessary to address these limitations and broaden the scope of the study's findings. Conclusions: Based on the results, we argue that games should provide multiple means of communication to make social gaming more accessible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has provided evidence that online gaming can both positively and negatively impact players' physical and mental health. However, few research studies have examined how game addiction, game community, and vitality felt while playing can inform well-being. This study addressed this gap by focusing on game players' vitality, a construct that addresses both mental and physical health. The research, conducted with 704 online players, specifically examined the association between players' enduring vitality and Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD), game community, and state-related vitality (experienced during gaming). The survey instruments included 1) the Internet Gaming Disorder short scale, 2) the Game Community of Inquiry Scale (GCoIS), and 3) the Game Subjective Vitality Scale. Findings highlighted the role of game community receptiveness in informing players' vitality. In addition, in-game vitality and enduring vitality were found to be intertwined. Implications for future research and practice are provided based on these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study addresses the relationship between the social context in which individuals play video games, pathological gaming, and depressive symptoms. A sample of 265 participants recruited through local gaming communities completed an online survey asking questions pertaining to demographics, the most common social context of their gaming, depressive symptoms, and pathological gaming. Participants also responded to the open-ended question "How do you feel gaming has impacted you socially? Why?" Many participants felt gaming helped to expand their social circle, maintain existing relationships, develop social skills, and connect with others during Covid-19 lockdowns. A small minority of participants reported that gaming displaced time they could have spent with friends and family, and sometimes damaged their social skills. Using an Ordinary Least Squares regression framework, quantitative results indicate that those who gamed primarily in-person with friends displayed lower levels of pathological gaming than all other contexts. Those who gamed in-person with friends also displayed lower levels of depressive symptoms, although this was found to be somewhat a function of time spent gaming. These results indicate that perhaps in-person gaming with friends is a protective context for gaming compared with online gaming, or solitary gaming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, several countries implemented social distancing measures to contain virus transmission. However, these vital safety measures have the potential to impair mental health or wellbeing, for instance, from increased perceived loneliness. Playing social video games may offer a way to continue to socialize while adhering to social distancing measures. To examine this issue further, the present online survey investigated social gaming during the pandemic and its association to perceived loneliness within a German-speaking sample. Results indicated a small positive correlation between general gaming frequency and perceived loneliness. Detailed analysis revealed a negative association between perceived loneliness and increased social forms of video gaming. Specifically, gamers with a higher social motive for gaming perceived less loneliness, but gamers with a dominant escape motive demonstrated a positive link to perceived loneliness. The use of social gaming in times of social distancing seems to play a small but significant factor in perceived loneliness compared to other demographical data. The findings are discussed with respect to methodological limitations, effect sizes, and sample characteristics. The results enrich the current knowledge on video gaming and its link to social wellbeing and provide a more nuanced picture than simplistic investigations of screen time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: During the 2020-2021 coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown, social activities were limited by the government-recommended social distancing guidelines, leading to an abundance of mental health issues.Methods: We hypothesized that Twitter sentiment analysis may shed some light on Animal Crossing: New Horizons and its impact on mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.Results: We found that social gaming and social media may be used as tools to cope with stress during the COVID-19 pandemic.Conclusions: Further research, including randomized study designs and prospective measurements of mental health outcomes related to social gaming behavior are required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, several countries implemented social distancing measures to contain virus transmission. However, these vital safety measures have the potential to impair mental health or wellbeing, for instance, from increased perceived loneliness. Playing social video games may offer a way to continue to socialize while adhering to social distancing measures. To examine this issue further, the present online survey investigated social gaming during the pandemic and its association to perceived loneliness within a German-speaking sample. Results indicated a small positive correlation between general gaming frequency and perceived loneliness. Detailed analysis revealed a negative association between perceived loneliness and increased social forms of video gaming. Specifically, gamers with a higher social motive for gaming perceived less loneliness, but gamers with a dominant escape motive demonstrated a positive link to perceived loneliness. The use of social gaming in times of social distancing seems to play a small but significant factor in perceived loneliness compared to other demographical data. The findings are discussed with respect to methodological limitations, effect sizes, and sample characteristics. The results enrich the current knowledge on video gaming and its link to social wellbeing and provide a more nuanced picture than simplistic investigations of screen time.

Physical inactivity and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) signify two pandemics with negative physical, mental, and economic consequences. Younger and older people have not reached the recommended physical activity level for years. Societal restrictions due to COVID-19 additionally reduce opportunities for physical activity, and they increase social isolation. Here, we outline how playing exergames with others (social exergaming) at home could foster physical and mental health and promote communication and discussions on exergaming. Accordingly, we highlight the educational and social benefits of exergaming at home and delineate the concept of Educational and Social Exergaming (EASE). We outline specific benefits and pitfalls of exergaming regarding its physical and nonphysical effects, including educational values of discussing exergaming experiences and related topics. Moreover, we discuss the relevance of practical guidelines for educational and social exergaming at home as well as prospects for future research. Overall, educational and social exergaming could alleviate several detrimental effects of both pandemics on the health and well-being of people of all ages.

Physical inactivity and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) signify two pandemics with negative physical, mental, and economic consequences. Younger and older people have not reached the recommended physical activity level for years. Societal restrictions due to COVID-19 additionally reduce opportunities for physical activity, and they increase social isolation. Here, we outline how playing exergames with others (social exergaming) at home could foster physical and mental health and promote communication and discussions on exergaming. Accordingly, we highlight the educational and social benefits of exergaming at home and delineate the concept of Educational and Social Exergaming (EASE). We outline specific benefits and pitfalls of exergaming regarding its physical and nonphysical effects, including educational values of discussing exergaming experiences and related topics. Moreover, we discuss the relevance of practical guidelines for educational and social exergaming at home as well as prospects for future research. Overall, educational and social exergaming could alleviate several detrimental effects of both pandemics on the health and well-being of people of all ages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As gaming spectatorship has become a worldwide phenomenon, keeping the spectator in mind while designing games is becoming more important. Here, we explore the factors that influence spectators' engagement. Through the use of GRiD Crowd, a game akin to life-size Pong, different levels of spectator influence on the game were tested and their impact on engagement via arousal measures were analyzed. Spectator influence on the game was accomplished via smartphone, where 78 participants put in different audience compositions (alongside friends or strangers) were tested. We found that when the spectators had an impact on the game, higher levels of emotional arousal were recorded, which generated an increase in engagement. These results provide a suggestion of design that could be used by game designers who wish to engage their spectatorship, a segment of their target market that is becoming impossible to ignore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: As it is often difficult to study professional game design practices from a technical communication perspective, this exploratory study seeks to discover accessible alternatives in amateur communities engaged in participatory design. Methods: Using an exploratory, mixed methods single-case study model, we analyzed discourse and technical communication practices in a community focused on designing and playing social deception games across a network of digital platforms, with an eye toward how administrators, designers, and players negotiated design challenges. Results: The amateur game design community observed here participates in professional design practices that can be mapped onto Eyman’s (2008) framework for technical communication in games. Communities such as the subject-participants in this study produce unique documentation tracing design processes in ways some professional studios do not (Sansone, 2014) and foreground user experience considerations in observable, archived discussions. Conclusion: Amateur game design communities are as interested in maintaining strong user experiences and balanced gameplay as professional studios, as indicated by this study, and may use similar tactics to achieve results. The comparisons allowed construction of a framework for comparing amateur and professional designs in terms of tech comm practices. For technical communicators who must understand and account for world-making processes, demonstrating how amateur practice may compare to professional practice opens up new potential sites of study in the service of constructing game design ecologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Society nowadays is increasingly reliant on technology and the trend for the following years seems to maintain. At the same time, public and private organizations are searching for ways to innovate and optimize their activities and the internet as well as the increased use of electronic devices provide new perspectives for this. Besides the public sector, high ranking companies from domains such as commerce to health or tourism, have started using a new tool: gamification. While some of the first attempts to implement the idea of ‘games’ for selling products go as far back as 1912, the scientific concept of ‘gamification’ is quite new and has just recently been recognized as a study domain. In addition to this, a rising interest in the field is also proven by an increase in number of searches for the term on search engines as well as in scientific databases. From an organizational point of view, through the use of these techniques, institutions can obtain a positive influence on sales, enhanced customer retention, better marketing, improved employee-management communication, overall optimization of activity etc. This paper aims to offer a contribution to the research in the field of gamification, to show some of the revolutionary solutions found by top organizations, based on gaming techniques, and to propose a model for implementing gamification in a tourism organization. The research starts from studying the gamification model implemented by leading tourism platform, Tripadvisor and focuses on building a game-specific architecture that can be applied to Romanian tourism sites, ranging from tourist review sites, such as turistinfo.ro to online tourism agencies. This model includes elements specific to games, and characteristic for the gamification concept, such as: avatar, rewards, challenges, points, badges, leaderboard. The study finishes with opinions regarding the economic and social benefits of implementing gamification as an innovative technique in tourism and conclusions.

As gaming spectatorship has become a worldwide phenomenon, keeping the spectator in mind while designing games is becoming more important. Here, we explore the factors that influence spectators’ engagement. Through the use of GRiD Crowd, a game akin to life-size Pong, different levels of spectator influence on the game were tested and their impact on engagement via arousal measures were analyzed. Spectator influence on the game was accomplished via smartphone, where 78 participants put in different audience compositions (alongside friends or strangers) were tested. We found that when the spectators had an impact on the game, higher levels of emotional arousal were recorded, which generated an increase in engagement. These results provide a suggestion of design that could be used by game designers who wish to engage their spectatorship, a segment of their target market that is becoming impossible to ignore.

Internet technology provides a new approach to how gambling is conducted in postmodern times. Drawing on constructivist research and utilising a single case study strategy, this paper examines online social gambling and real money gambling marketing communication practices, as well as offering some insights into the development and implementation of effective marketing communication programmes. In contrast to existing studies, this paper, in part, proposes integrative and higher levels of marketing communication programmes between online social gambling and real money gambling environments. The paper reveals the implicit structure of meanings underlying the link between online social gambling activity and real money gambling practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]