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In order to better understand the development of play and games in modern lives, this article examines two competitive leisure groups: digital fighting game players and traditional taekwondo practitioners. Drawing on qualitative offline/online interviews (n = 56) and close reading of externally documented life narratives (n = 14), we explore how the modes and motives of engagement fluctuate in competitive players over time. The study provides a new developmental approach to continuous competitive play as leisure. Our results show rather than making linear progress from ‘casual’ to ‘serious’ leisure, individuals in both groups perceive their lasting relationships with these activities gradually evolving through their lives in three stages: acquaintance, attachment, and accommodation, The players fluctuate between casual and serious engagement, occasionally reaching a state of subjectively meaningful and socially cemented life permanence. The study suggests that the patterns of long-term play and gaming may not differ much between digital and non-digital domains. peerReviewed

Whether gaming has a beneficial or detrimental effect on young people's lives is a defining feature in both the research and the public discussion of youth digital gaming. In this qualitative study, we draw from a thematic analysis of the experiences of 180 game players in Finland, aged 15–25 years. Utilizing the digital gaming relationship (DGR) theory, we explore how different aspects of gaming actualize in their lives, and how different features of gaming culture participation come together to form their experience. We contend that framing gaming as a balancing act between beneficial and detrimental obscures much of the complexity of young people's gaming, reinforces a partially false dichotomy, and overlooks young people's agency. Based on our results, we suggest alternative approaches that help reduce and avoid these problems. peerReviewed

Educational functions of digital games are often seen only in the light of the serious and purposeful activities that aim for learning outcomes, in contrast with noneducational games that are designed for entertainment. The focus of this paper is in studying players’ learning outcomes from playing non-educational games, and how these relate to wellbeing outcomes of playing, and gaming motivation. The data for this study was collected via a survey (N = 1,202) in the United Kingdom and the United States. The survey respondents answered the question regarding what players perceive they have learnt by playing digital games. A generic datadriven qualitative content analysis of the responses to this question yielded 11 categories representing different types of game-based learning outcomes. A consequent cluster analysis suggested three groups of informal game-based learning, which differed in their emphasis on (1) learning persistence, (2) learning practices and community, and (3) learning to perform. Our analyses indicated substantial connections between the learning outcomes and gameplay motives and gameplay activity preferences. Such connections point out how gameplay activity has an inherently close relationship with learning. Moreover, the results yielded significant association between learning outcomes, wellbeing measures, and eudaimonic motives to play digital games. These results indicate that playing games because gaming is aligned with players’ core values and need for selfrealization are clear precedents for both wellbeing and learning outcomes. peerReviewed

Tutkimukseni tavoitteena oli selvittää minkälaisia merkityksiä ohjatussa videopeliharrastuksessa toimivat lapset antavat videopeliharrastukselle. Tutkimus on aineistolähtöinen laadullinen tutkimus, jossa on ajallisesti tiivistetyn etnografian piirteitä. Lapsilähtöinen asetelma mahdollistaa videopelikeskustelun siirtymän harrastajille itselleen, sen sijaan, että keskustelua videopeleistä käytäisiin ainoastaan kasvattajien ja huoltajien tasolla. Tutkimuksen teoria yhdistelee erilaisia leikin määritelmiä, sekä erilaisia videopelejä hyödyntäviä pedagogisia sovelluksia. Esittelen teoriassa myös videopelin laajan kentän ja esittelen myös Decin ja Ryanin (2017) sekä Malonen (1981) digitaalisiin ympäristöihin sitoutuvat motivaatioteoriat. Tutkimusaineisto on kerätty ohjatussa videopeliharrasteryhmässä lukuvuonna 2022 sekä kevät- että syyskaudella. Seuraamani videopeliharrasteryhmä oli Minecraft-videopeliin paneutunut, 6–13-vuotiaille lapsille suunnattu kerho, jossa he seikkailevat yhdessä kerran viikossa. Keräsin aineistoa yhdistämällä osallistuvaa havainnointia, etnografisia haastatteluja, kenttäpäiväkirjaa ja fokusryhmähaastattelua. Toimin pääasiassa Minecraft-klubissa toisena ohjaajana ja osallistuin lasten harrastustoimintaan sekä digitaalisessa ympäristössä itse pelaamalla että kerhokerroilla tietokoneelta toiselle kiertelemällä. Aineiston analysoin aineistolähtöisesti sisällönanalyysin keinoin. Aineistosta nousi esille kaksi yhdistävää teemaa, joista ensimmäinen on lasten antamat merkitykset videopeliharrastukselle ja toinen on informaali oppiminen videopelikontekstissa. Tulosten perusteella videopeliharrastus toimi kerholaisille videopelaamisen mahdollistajana sekä tilana leikkiä. Videopeliharrastus mahdollisti kerholaisten videopelaamisen, sillä kaikilla kerholaisilla ei ollut kotona omia konsoleita ja kotien asenneilmapiirit saattoivat vaikuttaa kotona harrastamiseen. Videopeliharrastus tilana tuottaa leikkejä näyttäytyi kerholaisten tuottamana sanailuna ja vitsailuna, ei-pelattavien hahmojen kanssa vuorovaikuttamisena, normien rikkomisena turvallisessa ympäristössä sekä perinteisten koti- ja kauppaleikkien tuottamisena. Informaali oppiminen näyttäytyi kerholaisten taitojen kehittymisenä sekä välinetaidoissa että abstrakteissa taidoissa. Tulokset osoittavat, että avoimen ympäristön videopelit mahdollistavat leikillisen toimintaympäristön, jossa oppimista tapahtuu mielekkäällä ja lapsia riemastuttavalla tavalla, ilman ulkoista ohjaamista. The purpose of this study was to explore what kind of meanings children, who play video games as an instructed hobby, give to the phenomena of gaming. The study is a qualitative study with influences from short-term ethnography. The child-centered study design enables the children to join the conversation about video gaming, which is more centered to parents and educators in today’s studies. The theory of this study is composed of different theories of playful activity (leikki) and pedagogical methods that use games or game elements as tools in education. I will also introduce Deci and Ryan’s (2017) and Malone’s (1981) motivation theories that link to digital environments. The data was collected in 2022 on both spring- and fall terms in an instructed videogame hobby group. I observed Minecraft-club which is oriented towards 6-13- old children and the videogame called Minecraft. The data was collected by combining participant observation, ethnographic interviews, field notes, and focus group interview. My role as a researcher was to work as an instructor and I participated in the activity weekly. The data was analyzed by using inductive content analysis. Two main themes of findings are children’s given meanings to video gaming and informal learning in video game contexts. The data shows that instructed videogame hobby works as the enabler of children’s video gaming and as a space for playful activity. The instructed videogame hobby enabled children’s video gaming since most of the children did not have their own consoles at home and the attitudes of their parents might have affected the video gaming at home. The Instructed videogame hobby’s meaning as a space for playful activity appeared as the use of playful and joking language, interacting with non-playable characters, challenging norms in a safe environment, and producing imaginary play. Informal learning in a videogame context appeared as the children’s improved skills in both equipment skills and abstract skills. The data shows that open-ended sand-box videogames enable a playful operational environment, where learning occurs in a meaningful and joyful manner, without external instructions.

Pelien sananvapaussuoja ja pelien sääntely on ollut pelitutkimuksessa ja oikeustieteessä sivupolun katvealue. Pelit ovat vuosien saatossa aiheuttaneet useita kohuja. Tässä artikkelissa pelejä rinnastetaan sääntelyn osalta teemoiltaan ja estetiikaltaan vastaavien elokuvien ja sarjakuvien kanssa. Tarkoituksena on osoittaa pelien sananvapauden suojan ja pelien sääntelyn ominaispiirteet osana yleisempää viestinnän ja kulttuurin sääntelyä. publishedVersion

Artikkelissa tarkastellaan laadullisen kyselyaineiston (N=180) avulla suomenkielisten, 15–25-vuotiaiden nuorten kokemuksia pelikäytöksestä digitaalisten pelien parissa. Teema-analyysin avulla rakennetut teemat valottavat epäasiallisen pelikäytöksen syitä ja seurauksia, kilpailullisten pelien suunsoittokulttuuria, pelikulttuureissa esiintyvää rakenteellista syrjintää, sekä myönteistä pelikäytöstä. Pelikäytös näyttäytyy artikkelissa monipuolisena ja monimutkaisena kokonaisuutena, johon vaikuttavat niin yksilöiden ominaisuudet ja mieltymykset kuin pelikulttuurien ja yhteiskunnan rakenteet. Artikkelin lopussa esitetään ehdotuksia keinoista vähentää asiatonta pelikäytöstä. This article explores the experiences of online gaming conduct of Finnish-speaking, 15–25-year-old digital gameplayers through qualitative questionnaire data (N=180). Themes constructed through thematic analysis shed light on the reasons and outcomes of hostile online behaviour, trash talk culture prevalent in competitive online games, structural discrimination in gaming cultures, and prosocial online gaming behaviour. Online gaming conduct is shown to be a complex whole impacted by both individual features and preferences and structures in society and game cultures. At the end of the article, suggestions are made for ways of reducing hostile and discriminating online conduct in gaming. peerReviewed

We present a framework of story beats, defined as microunits of dramatic action, as a tool for the ludonarrative analysis of videogames. First, we explain the Goal - Action - Reaction - Outcome model of the story beat. Then, we present six types of story beats, Action, Interaction, Inaction, Mental, Emotion, and Sensory, providing videogame examples for each category. In the second half of the paper, we contextualise this framework in the classic game studies theory of videogame narrative and player action: unit operations, gamic action, anatomy of choice, and game design patterns, wrapping it up in the most recent trends in cognitive narratology. Ultimately, we present the story beat as a ludonarrative unit, working simultaneously as a ‘unit operation’ in the study of games as systems, and as a microunit of character action in narrative analysis. The conclusion outlines prospective directions for using story beats in formal, experiential, and cultural game research.

The paper considers three main questions: the legal status of digital designs from the perspective of EU design law, whether the protection is tied to the reproduction of physical products, and whether the scope of protection covers dimensional conversion such as using a 3D design in 2D form or vice versa. There are two sets of views regarding dimensional conversion: the “abstract” and the “concrete” view. These two different attitudes towards the scope of protection influence the manner in which the protectability of digital designs is assessed. In the “abstract” protection, it would not matter whether a product only exists as a digital image and not as a physical shape. In the “concrete” view, the protection of digital designs is more problematic, as the scope of protection is often tied to the reproduction of an actual physical product. The paper argues that, under CJEU jurisprudence and EUIPO practice, most of the open questions regarding the protection of digital designs and dimensional conversion can be considered as solved. The CJEU has chosen “abstract” protection over “concrete”, thus broadening the scope of protection at the EU level. This means that the digital use of non-digital designs can now be seen as infringing. As a consequence, in the future, right holders should put more care into evaluating the limitations and exceptions. The paper points this out with regard to the issues that are of relevance for the gaming industry, as this is where the use of digital designs is most versatile and relevant.

This study investigates the probable effect of a digital game-based vocabulary learning (DGBVL) task on the acquisition of some components of a word knowledge framework. In so doing, 124 Persian speakers (56 males and 68 females) were randomly assigned to either a control or an experimental group. The experimental group participants completed a DGBVL task for acquiring ten low-frequent inanimate object names, or lexical nouns, by playing a commercial adventure game. The control group participants practiced the same words in a fill-in-the-blank vocabulary acquisition exercise. In brief, first, all participants sat for a word-checklist and a proficiency test; next, they completed their tasks, and three weeks later, all participants sat for eight achievement tests. In the achievement test booklet, participants’ knowledge of receptive, productive, recognition, and recall dimensions and scopes of meaning, orthography, and association were evaluated. The results revealed 1) the efficiency of the DGBVL task in enhancing the acquisition of these components, 2) the precedence of productive knowledge acquisition by the experimental group participants, 3) strong associations among the components acquired through DGBVL task assistance, and 4) gains in the components that were not associated with others due to the efficiency of DGBVL. peerReviewed

The potential of non-educational games in learning is well-established, but there have been relatively few empirical studies attempting to explore the kinds of informal learning take place in non-educational games outside of formal education. Simultaneously, student motivation is known to have a connection to learning outcomes, but there is a lack of research on the relationship between gaming motivations and informal learning in games. This paper aims to fill the gap in research by, firstly, forming an empirically-based understanding of what players perceive they are learning from playing non-educational games, and secondly, exploring the potential connections of self-articulated learning outcomes with motivations to play games and preferences for gameplay activities. The research data was collected through an online survey panel. The respondents were asked to describe in open-text answers what they had learned by playing games, and their motives and gameplay activity preferences were measured using two psychometric instruments, Motives of the Autonomous Player, MAP (Vahlo and Tuuri, submitted) and the gameplay activity inventory GAIN (Vahlo et al, 2018). The open-text responses analysed using data-driven content analysis, which resulted in 11 main categories of learning outcomes. Cluster analysis of the main categories revealed three clusters indicating informal game-based learner types: (1) Learning perseverance, learning mainly related to coping skills and self-enhancement, (2) Learning practices and communalities, focusing on practical and interpersonal skills, and (3) Learning to perform, emphasising cognitive and sensori-motor competencies. Comparisons of the learning outcome clusters with motives and gameplay preferences revealed the learner types had distinct profiles which denote differences between learner types in the overall motivation to play games, in certain motivational factors, and in preferences of gameplay activities. Based on this analysis we suggest the existence of two distinct continuums, transfer of learning, and the situational dependence to gameplay activities, where these learner types are located.

Purchasing motives form a well-analyzed field within the academic scrutiny of marketing and economics. Consumption occurs if purchasing a product provides value for customers. Nowadays an increasing number of commodities exchanged in the market are digital and virtual in nature. Number of people playing online video games continues to grow rapidly around the globe. Fortnite is a free-to-play video game, but players can buy various virtual items, so called “skins”, inside the game. Interestingly, those skins are purely nonfunctional items, which provide no competitive advantage for players. Nevertheless, those items are very popular and game companies generate significant revenues through sales. In our sample of active Finnish Fortnite players, the average amount of money paid for skins was over 100 euros. We analyze different motives for buying virtual non-functional skins by using tri-dimensional motivation segmentation. We find that all traditional consumption motives, hedonic, social and utilitarian are also significant drivers amongst the Finnish Fortnite players. Interestingly, we also found some signs of charitable causes as active players like to reciprocate value to the game developers. peerReviewed

Vuoden 2022 Pelaajabarometri piirtää kuvan suomalaisten pelaamisesta, missä on edelleen nähtävissä koronavuosien jättämät jäljet. Pelaaminen ei ole enää aivan samalla, poikkeuksellisen korkealla tasolla kuin vuoden 2020 tutkimuksessa, mutta pelikulttuuri ei ole palautunut vuoden 2018 tilanteeseenkaan. Tutkimuksen aineistoksi on kerätty kansallisesti edustava, 1071 vastaajan kyselytutkimusaineisto. Tässä tutkimuksessa hahmottuva ”uusi normaali” suomalaisessa pelaamisessa kertoo pelaamisen vakiintumisesta keskeiseksi osaksi pandemian jälkeistä elämää ja ajankäyttöä. Kaikki, myös satunnainenkin pelaaminen huomioiden 98 % suomalaisista pelaa jotain peliä ainakin joskus, ja vähintään kerran kuukaudessa eli ”aktiivisesti” pelaavien osuus on 89 % tutkitusta, 10–75-vuotiaiden mannersuomalaisten väestöstä.

Background: Understanding how users evaluate their experiences has been recognized as being fundamental to designing services that meet the users’ needs and support the emergence of positive rather than negative value outcomes in service use. Still, the current literature does not explicitly describe how the users’value determination unfolds or how the levels of experienced value could be measured to support service design. We address this gap in the context of augmented reality (AR) mobile games by scrutinizing users’ personal values as a potential basis for achieving such an understanding. Method: Through a qualitative content analysis of 43 in-depth laddering interviews with active Pokémon Go gamers in Finland, we uncover the focal personal values associated with the game. Furthermore, we determine the connection of these values to the users’ co-creative and co-destructive gaming experiences. Results: Our study defines eight personal values highlighted in Pokémon Go. The focal co-created values include pleasure, a sense of belonging, ambition, activity, and a healthy life. The most co-destroyed values in the game include social recognition and responsibility. Interestingly, the value of sociality is highlighted in both the co-creative and the co-destructive gaming experiences. While the findings may not be generalizable beyond the studied AR mobile game context, this study explains how users’ personal values may serve as a basis for understanding the value structures of other digital service users to support service design. Conclusion: Our study contributes to the literature by introducing personal values as a potential basis for understanding users’ value-based drivers and service experiences to support the design of digital services. We theoretically conceptualize the users’ dynamic value creation process based on personal values and, using empirical findings, offer novel insights into the value co-creation and codestruction phenomena in AR mobile games. peerReviewed

This essay explores the question whether characters can exist without being signified in any way. If characters can exist trans-medially, independently of a particular form of signification or sign-vehicle, why not exist without any signification at all? What kind of existence would such a character have? And, paradoxically, what would examples look like? While the question at face value might appear logically invalid, I argue that at (or just beyond) the minimalist end of the character-representational spectrum, we find what might be called implied characters, that is, characters that are not in any way given, represented, named, or performed, but can only exist in the minds of their players during play, as a formal slot without physical, structural, communicational, or mental properties. peerReviewed

Use continuance is crucial in terms of information systems (IS) success. Previous research has shown that situational context can be central for IS use continuance but has paid limited attention to its specific characteristics. Furthermore, the link between situational context and use continuance has remained unexplored in the novel area of “exergames,” which are defined as digital games requiring physical effort from the player that determines the outcome of the game. Studying exergames is deemed important due to their potential in providing health benefits for users, revenues for providers, and well‐being for societies. However, their potential remains unreached because users tend to discontinue usage after their initial experiences. To address these gaps, we investigate the relationships between specific situational characteristics and use continuance after critical exergaming incidents, in which the user has an exceptionally positive or negative experience. To do this, we quantitatively and qualitatively examined 461 actual critical exergaming incidents. Our findings provide a greater understanding of IS use continuance by revealing new knowledge about the relationships between specific situational characteristics (ie, purpose of use, type of gaming platform, social setting, place, and exertion level) and use continuance. We also offer explanations for these relationships, thus providing a first understanding of the previously unmapped area of how users behave situation‐dependently after critical exergaming incidents. Thus, we contribute both to the general IS continuance literature as well as to the specific area of exergaming. The context specificity of our study matches the calls for heavily contextualised IS research. peerReviewed

The ability to explain word meanings is central to a child’s language development and socialisation into different domains of language use. In previous research explanations have been shown to be linked to cognitive and linguistic development as well as academic language and discursive skills. This paper analyses what kinds of linguistic and discursive competences are put to use in explanation activities in interactions between an 8-year-old bilingual child (Albin) and his mother around a digital game. The data comes from a larger data set of video-recordings and field observation of children’s interactions around games. The analysis focuses on explanation sequences in which the child explicates the meaning of objects and procedures in the game world. The analysis shows how explanations are initiated, how they unfold in interaction and how they make relevant asymmetrical roles for the participants, allowing the child to construct a position of knowledge with regard to the game, an important part of his life world. More specifically, the analysis elucidates how Albin’s explanations highlight semantic features and relations that are meaningful for him and how he employs a wide range of linguistic and other semiotic resources in constructing his explanations in a context-sensitive way. The findings shed light on linguistic, interactional and multimodal features of explanations as a discourse activity and provide a window into practices of two-way language socialization in the family. https://doi.org/10.33063/diva-376234

This paper discusses how the association learning principle works for supporting acquisition of basic spelling and reading skills using digital game-based learning environment with the Finland-based GraphoLearn (GL) technology. This program has been designed and validated to work with early readers of different alphabetic writing systems using repetition and reinforcing connections between spoken and written units. Initially GL was developed and found effective in training children at risk of reading disorders in Finland. Today GL training has been shown to support learning decoding skills among children independent of whether they face difficulties resulting from educational, social, or biological reasons.

This chapter discusses immersion and how it may be applied to journalism. It begins by unraveling the concept of immersion itself as a reminder that it is not only connected to virtual reality or augmented reality technologies, but rather that it is a multifaceted concept that may be understood in many ways. The chapter turns specifically to the theorizing done in the context of digital games research, where immersion and some related concepts have been explored in detail over the last decades. This theorizing helps us see how immersion can be understood and in what way the concept may be problematic. The chapter maps out some of the historical precedents for immersion, discusses alternative and related concepts, and how this understanding may be used to inform discussions of immersive journalism. Virtual reality can transport users to new worlds and adventures regardless of where they are physically in the real world.

Objective. The objective of this review was to systematically evaluate the effectiveness of exergaming on walking in older adults. In addition, the aim was to investigate the relationship between the exergaming effect and age, baseline walking performance, exercise traits, technology used and the risk of bias. Methods. A literature search was carried out in the databases MEDLINE, CINAHL, CENTRAL, EMBASE, WoS, PsycInfo and PEDro up to January 10, 2020. Studies with a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) design, people ≥60 years of age without neurological disorders, comparison group with other exercise or no exercise, and walking related outcomes were included. Cochrane RoB2, meta-analysis, meta-regression, and GRADE were used to estimate quality, treatment effect, covariates’ effect, and the certainty of evidence, respectively. Results. In the studies included (n = 66), the overall risk of bias was low (n = 2), unclear (n = 48) or high (n = 16). Compared with comparison groups, exergaming interventions were more effective for walking improvements (SMD = −0.21; 95% CI = −0.36 to −0.06; 3102 participants, 58 studies; moderate-quality evidence) and more or equally effective (SMD = −0.32; 95% CI = −0.64 to 0.00; 1028 participants, 13 studies; low-quality evidence) after nonexergaming follow-up. The strongest effect for covariates was observed with the type of comparison group, explaining 18.6% of the variance. Conclusions. For older adults without neurological disorders, exergame-based training improved walking, and improvements were maintained at follow-up. Greater benefits were observed when exergaming groups were compared to inactive comparison groups. To strengthen the evidence, further RCTs on the effectiveness of gamified exercise intervention are needed. Impact. Exergaming has effect equivalent to other types of exercising on improving walking in older adults. Physical therapists and other rehabilitation professionals may consider exergaming as a promising form of exercise in this age group. peerReviewed

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The tradition of children’s literature has evolved side by side with the market of children’s entertainment, games, and toys. The selection of contemporary print products includes a wide variety of materially or technologically enhanced picture books. This background is rarely considered in the examination of children’s book applications that have attracted scholarly interest after the arrival of smartphones and tablets during the early 2010s.The relationship between picture book apps, mobile games, and digital playthings requires further examination that considers the specific affordances of the mobile platform. Leaning on five case studies, this article examines how picture book apps afford opportunities for a reading experience that contains features characteristic for children’s digital play. For this purpose, I adapt a specific model of close reading that focuses on the visual, auditory, tactile, and performative elements of children’s video games.On the basis of the case studies, it seems that navigating a picture book app requires balancing between different modes of action: reading, playing, and exploring. Engagement with picture book apps has different forms that resemble the features of both traditional print reading and digital play. However, further examination of children’s playful reading practices and intergenerational play is necessary from a premise that recognizes playing with a book as a valuable research topic.

Back in the late 1970s and early 1980s, during the embryonic era of computers, hackers, and all that digitalized punk jazz, who would have guessed that one of the period’s juvenile narrative arts—“interactive fiction” it was called at the time—would soon lead to a pop cultural revolution? A young scholar named Mary Ann Buckles did. Having spent years analyzing a piece of software that the present history knows as the most influential of all computerized text-based playthings, Adventure, in 1985, Buckles eventually completed her doctoral dissertation with a first-ever focus on something that had thus far been struggling to be taken seriously by cultural critics: storygames running on computers. [Excerpt], peer-reviewed

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The material for this paper comes from Finnish people who wrote about their experiences of the music of digital games. We collected 184 texts, all but one written in Finnish. There is relatively little code-switching into English at the clause level, but the vocabulary of the texts is influenced by English on a continuum from clearly English words such as comfy to established loanwords such as uniikki (‘unique’). We will consider how the influence of the English language used both in the games and in discussions about them characterizes the vocabulary of these texts and how the English language enables the authors to enter the game world. peerReviewed

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The Gothic is an influential source for storytelling in a wide range of digital games. Thus far, interpreting it in games and how they are informed by Gothic ideology has been little studied. This study seeks to address this gap in research by investigating these issues in the narrative of the action role-playing game, Fallout 3. More specifically, through a close reading of the game narrative and by drawing on theories of the Gothic, ideological aspects of the Gothic are analyzed in detail with specific reference to non-player characters and their actions and dialogue along with elements of the mise-en-scéne, style, and simulation. Results show how classic Gothic ideology is reproduced in games by multimodal means and how, as in Gothic novels, their production and interpretation is linked to real-life contexts. The involvement of the player in these games means that a Gothic hero is not of necessity helpless, but instead bears a responsibility to make decisions in ideologically complex and ambivalent situations. peerReviewed

BackgroundDigital gaming is one of the most popular forms of entertainment in the world. While prior literature concluded that digital games can enable changes in players’ behaviors, there is limited knowledge about different types of behavior changes and the game features driving them. Understanding behavior changes and the game features behind them is important because digital games can motivate players to change their behavior for the better (or worse). ObjectiveThis study investigates the types of behavior changes and their underlying game features within the context of the popular pervasive game Pokémon GO. MethodsWe collected data from 262 respondents with a critical incident technique (CIT) questionnaire. We analyzed the responses with applied thematic analysis with ATLAS.ti (ATLAS.ti Scientific Software Development GmbH) software. ResultsWe discovered 8 types of behavior changes and 13 game features relevant to those behavior changes. The behavior changes included added activity in life, enhancing routines, exploration, increased physical activity, strengthening social bonds, lowering social barriers, increased positive emotional expression and self-treatment. The game features included reaching a higher level, catching new Pokémon, evolving new Pokémon, visiting PokéStops, exploring PokéStops, hatching eggs, fighting in gyms, collaborative fighting, exploiting special events, finding specific Pokémon, using items, Pokémon theme, and game location tied to physical location. The behavior changes were connected to specific game features, with game location tied to physical location and catching new Pokémon being the most common and connected to all behavior changes. ConclusionsOur findings indicate that the surveyed players changed their behaviors while or after playing Pokémon GO. The respondents reported being more social, expressed more positive emotions, found more meaningfulness in their routines, and had increased motivation to explore their surroundings.

Tässä tutkimuksessa selvitetään opettajien näkemyksiä pelistä nimeltä Fortnite. Fortnite on ollut viimeiset vuodet esillä niin julkisuudessa, kuin oppilaiden puheissa ja tekemisissä. Keskustelu on pyörinyt pääasiassa pelin ikärajan (PEGI 12) noudattamatta jättämisessä, pelin pelaamisen aiheuttamista vaikutuksista sekä Fortniten luomasta tanssi-innostuksesta. Tästä keskustelusta syntyikin idea tutkimukseen ja tutkimuskysymysten muodostumiseen. Tutkimus on kvantitatiivinen. Aineisto kerättiin kyselylomakkeella, joka jaettiin kahteen eri opettajille suunnattuun Facebook-ryhmään. Vastauksia kertyi yhteensä 254 kappaletta. Aineisto analysoitiin SPSS-ohjelmalla tekemällä pääasiassa frekvenssilaskelmia ja ristiintaulukointeja. Kysymysten välistä korrelaatiota tutkittiin Spearmanin korrelaatiokertoimen avulla. Tämä tutkimus vastaa seuraaviin kysymyksiin: 1. Miten opettajat suhtautuvat Fortniteen? 2. Miten opettajat suhtautuvat ikärajoihin? 3. Miten opettajat suhtautuvat Fortniten sivuilmiöihin? Lisäksi tutkimus selvittää miten opettajien kokemus Fortnitesta tai harrastuneisuus pelejä kohtaan vaikuttaa kysymyksiin vastaamiseen. Tutkimus osoitti, että opettajat, jotka ovat pelanneet Fortnitea suhtautuvat peliin positiivisemmin kuin ne, jotka eivät olleet peliä itse pelanneet. Yleisesti ottaen opettajat eivät kokeneet Fortniten pelaamista hyödyksi oppilaille. Kyselyyn vastanneet opettajat suhtautuvat videopelien ikärajoihin tiukemmin kuin muihin ikärajoihin. Pelaamisen harrastuneisuuden ja ikärajoihin kevyemmin suhtautumisen välillä löytyy tilastollisesti merkitsevä yhteys. Opettajat suhtautuvat Fortnite-tansseihin positiivisesti, mutta muihin sivuilmiöihin negatiivisesti. Opettajat eivät myöskään olleet innoissaan Fortniten saapumisesta alakouluun koulutöiden muodossa, sillä vajaa puolet opettajista piti niitä sopimattomina. Kuitenkin Fortnite on otettu mukaan opetukseen, sillä reilu enemmistö on tanssinut Fortnite-tansseja oppitunneilla. Tutkimusta voisi monipuolistaa selvittämällä opettajien näkemyksiä aiheesta myös laadullisesti. Tutkimuksen tulosten perusteella jatkotutkimusaiheena voisi kartoittaa mitkä tekijät vaikuttavat opettajien tiukempaan suhtautumiseen digitaalisia pelejä kohtaan niin ikärajojen kuin asenteiden puolesta. Tämä olisi tärkeää, jotta hahmotetaan kuinka laajasti opettajat ymmärtävät kasvavaa digitaalisten pelien kulttuuria ja sen vaikutuksia kouluun ja lapsiin.

Tämä tutkielma perehtyy siihen, kuinka metaforisen neljännen seinän rikkomista voidaan hyödyntää kauhun tehokeinona peleissä. Tehokeinot ymmärretään tämän tutkimuksen kontekstissa erilaisina keinoina ja tapoina herättää kauhua pelaajassa. Tutkielma paneutuu pelien erilaisiin neljättä seinää rikkoviin suunnitteluratkaisuihin ja ratkaisumalleihin, joiden avulla pelin kauhu syntyy. Tutkielma ei ota kantaa siihen, kuinka pelottava jokin yksittäinen kauhuelementti on, vaan siinä tarkastellaan pelaajassa potentiaalisesti kauhua herättäviä tehokeinoja. Tutkielma pyrkii laajentamaan pelien kauhukäsitystä psykologisen kauhun ja metakauhun suuntaan, jolloin pelien kauhukäsitys ei typisty vain selviytymiskauhun lajityyppiin. Kokeilevan ja kokeellisen pelisuunnittelun avulla voidaan mahdollisesti löytää keinoja laajentaa käsitystä siitä, mitä kaikkea kauhupelit ja kauhu peleissä voivat olla. Tämä tukee sitä, että tulevaisuudessa pelien kauhugenreä ja -sisältöä voitaisiin tutkia ja käsitellä laajemmin kuin tämänhetkisessä tutkimuksessa. Kuten elokuvatutkija Perron esittää, liian vakiintuneet kauhuelementit rajoittavat sekä pelien tekoa että niiden tulkintaa. Tutkimus on toteutettu laadullisena sisällönanalyysina, jota varten tutkimusaineisto on kerätty mediatutkijoiden Bizzocchin ja Tanenbaumin kehittämän pelien lähilukutekniikan avulla. Lähiluvun kohteena toimii vuonna 2017 julkaistu tietokonepeli Doki Doki Literature Club!, joka ensin näyttäytyy viattomana, japanilaishenkisenä treffisimulaattorina ennen kuin se paljastaa todellisen luonteensa psykologisena metakauhupelinä, jonka kauhu syntyy pääasiassa neljännen seinän rikkomisesta. Lähilukua varten peli pelattiin kolme kertaa läpi. Lähilukua tuettiin pelin maksullisen lisäsisällön, YouTube-pelivideoiden ja Fandom-wikisivun avulla. Lähiluvussa kertynyt aineisto jaoteltiin sisältötyyppinsä mukaan äänen, kuvan ja ludonarratiivin eli pelattavuuteen ja tarinankerrontaan liittyvien elementtien kategorioihin. Tutkimus esittää, että neljännen seinän rikkomista kauhun tehokeinona voidaan hyödyntää siten, että pelin audiovisuaalisessa kuvastossa ja ludonarratiivissa käytetään erilaisia kauhuelementtejä, jotka pohjautuvat pelaajan odotusten rikkomiseen ja yllätyksiin pelin metatasolla. Pelaaja voi kokea kauhua, kun tutut tarina- ja pelielementit muuttuvat yhtäkkiä pelottavan vieraiksi. Yllättävyyttä lisää satunnaiselementtien käyttö, jolloin peli muuttuu arvaamattomaksi ja näin ahdistavan hallitsemattomaksi. Kauhugenrestä tuttuja kauhua herättäviä elementtejä voidaan yhdistää erilaisiin pelin metaominaisuuksiin, kuten julkaisualustan kuvaustekstiin, tiedostokansioihin ja pelin käyttöliittymään. Kauhu ei siis rajaudu pelin sisältöön, vaan se voi ilmetä myös pelin ulkopuolisten ja ulkoisten ominaisuuksien kautta.

This article discusses the ‘computer game’ as a pragmatic concept. A dual nature of the computer game as both a pragmatic idea and a pragmatic meaning is introduced. Practical meanings of the computer game correspond with the concrete effects that engaging with computer games produces in an individual. Practical ideas of the computer game correspond with the subjectively constituted conceptual families concerning the computer game’s assumed practical meaning. Individual computer games can be considered flat or round depending on the range of their practical meanings. Thus, the article contributes to the study of cultural objects by offering a framework for examining the evolution and existence of such objects as cross-cultural practical entities – less in terms of communication, media, and materiality, and more in terms of concrete actions and events that individuals across societies commence and conceptualize.

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This study analyses the application of a co-production approach in utilizing digital games and game-related methods in mental health services. The goal is to offer a real-world experiment on co-production, focusing on mental health service users, active gamers and mental health practitioners who worked together in equal ways and valued each other’s unique contributions during the experiment. The implications of a co-production approach for applying digital games in the field of mental healthcare are somewhat limited and under-explored. In this case study, seven workshop sessions were held involving service users, gamers and professionals. Participants were interviewed concerning their experiences with the activities and content of the co-production workshops. Thematic analysis of the participants’ experiences and perceptions resulted in three main themes: 1) empowering participation; 2) cooperation on a level playing field; and 3) improving self-efficacy. The experiment showed that applying a co-production approach in utilizing digital games is worth implementing in mental health services, particularly when putting novel nursing approaches and procedures into practice. Overall, co-production turned out to be a beneficial approach to introduce and implement game activities into mental healthcare; therefore, it can be taken one step further, meaning that service users’ experiences are truly valued, and they can play a crucial role in developing mental health services.

Digitaalisten jääkiekkopelien kilpapelaaminen nousi otsikoihin keväällä 2020, kun COVID-19 -pandemian vuoksi jääkiekon suomenmestaruussarja Liiga jouduttiin keskeyttämään. Varsinaisen jääkiekkoviihteen tilalle Telia yhteistyökumppaneineen loi virtuaaliset pudotuspelit, eli ePlayoffit, jotka saivat näkyvyyttä useissa kotimaisissa medioissa. Samalla ePlayoffit nostivat esiin myös NHL-pelien ammattipelaamista ECL- ja NACL-sarjoissa. Tässä katsauksessa käyn läpi digitaalisiin jääkiekkopeleihin liittyvää tutkimusta, sekä kartoitan uusia mahdollisia tutkimussuuntia niihin liittyen. Katsaus keskittyy historiallisiin ja yhteiskunnallisiin näkökulmiin, sekä kilpapelaamiseen. Mahdollisia uusia tutkimussuuntia on useita ja esittelen tässä niistä vain muutaman. Competitive play in digital ice hockey simulations rose to the headlines in Spring 2020, when the COVID-19 -pandemic resulted in the cancellation of the 2019–2020 -season of the Finnish national ice hockey league, Liiga. To replace traditional ice hockey, the Swedish telecommunications company Telia created virtual ice hockey playoffs, called the ePlayoffs, which attracted the attention of several Finnish media outlets. At the same time, these ePlayoffs gave attention to professional NHL video gaming in the ECL- and NACL-leagues. In this review, I look at the research based on these digital ice hockey simulations and map some new possible directions for the future research on the subject. The review focuses on historical and societal points of view, along with competitive gaming. There are multiple possible new directions for the research and I will only present a handful of them in this review. nonPeerReviewed

Digital gaming attracts people of all ages. Nevertheless, professional esports (also known as electronic sports, e-sports, or eSports) is dominated by under 35 year olds. In this paper, e-sports market is analysed by focusing on the performance of different age-groups. Younger generations play more digital games and dominate e-sports scene, but also older people enjoy playing various video games. Two separate datasets are analysed for testing whether age is a statistically significant explanatory variable for success in professional e-sports tournaments. According to the empirical results, success in e-sports tournaments decreases with the player’s age. The best results are gained when the players are under 25 years old. Negative relationship between age and e-sports success is confirmed by analysing both 100 best e-sports players and 100 oldest players. E-sports is gaining increasing popularity in the future and therefore it will also attract more fans amongst the birth cohorts of “boomers” and “Generation X”. peerReviewed

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Performative Let’s Play gaming videos are a part of contemporary Internet culture through which morality becomes shared. Many digital games draw on Gothic traditions to feature human-like monsters who demand morally complex interpretations from players. This study examines what kinds of moral evaluations players form of ambiguous Gothic monsters in Let’s Play videos of the action role-playing game Fallout 3. With a discourse analysis of transcribed speech obtained from 20 Let’s Play series on YouTube, it argues that the moral evaluations that players actively produce impact significantly on the play experience, that players take diverse moral stances whose (in)determinacy varies based on what players assume of their audience, and that players are morally autonomous by not hesitating to disagree with the game designers’ moral ruling. Complex Gothic monsters function effectively as catalysts for the moral evaluations that can involve expressions of suspicion, sympathy for the underdog, begrudging acceptance, and betrayal.

Esports phenomena have grown rapidly in recent years, and so has research on the topic. Some of the research has also addressed esports fandom (see e.g. Taylor 2012). Nevertheless, studies comparing and contrasting how players and fans engage with the game and the esports based on that game are scarce. This study compares and contrasts how players and fans engage with playable game characters and esports players. The paper draws on previous research in fan studies, sports fandom and esports to examine the relationships of players and fans of the videogame Overwatch (Blizzard Entertainment 2016) with the fictional heroes of the game as well as with their favorite professional players in the newly started Overwatch League. We analyse how these relationships are articulated by fans and players, and pay attention to emerging similarities and differences. The findings show that personality is deemed important for engagement with both, game characters and esports players. In addition, gender and sexual orientation emerged as important factors. By contrast, nationality was deemed important for engagement with esports players, but not with player characters. Further research should concentrate on the connections between esports and identity politics, as well as player characters and identity construction. peerReviewed

Virtual reality (VR) and VR gaming have seen substantial advancement during the recent years both in terms of technological development and the number of users. A notable rise has also occurred in the number of VR arcades. Despite the growing academic interest towards VR and VR gaming, there is still a dearth of understanding on the usage aspects of VR gaming and VR arcades. To address this gap, this study explored the habits of using VR arcades with emphasis on digital gaming. Specific focus was set on investigating differences between gender, age, and physical activity background. The study was exploratory in nature and based on a quantitative analysis of data collected from 126 respondents in Finland. The findings of this study bring new knowledge to this emerging subject, and thus, extend our understanding on the habits of using VR arcades and VR games. The study shows that digital gaming is clearly the most popular form of entertainment in VR arcades. Also, for the vast majority, the main purpose to visit VR arcades is gaming for fun, and it is more popular to visit VR arcades together with others than alone. The findings also demonstrate how VR gaming can be a new frontier for exergaming. Gender, age, and physical activity background differences are discussed. As a practical contribution, the findings are used to present implications for VR gaming and VR arcade stakeholders. peerReviewed

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Producing digital and interactive journalistic products offers unique and important new learning opportunities for journalism education. This study analysed the experiences of two pilot courses on so-called ‘newsgames’ in a Finnish university in 2015 and 2017. The data consisted of the newsgames and other materials produced by the students, student feedback concerning the course and observations of teachers throughout the project. Our analysis demonstrates how producing newsgames in the context of higher education may foster project-based learning experiences, something that has been relatively rare in traditional journalism education. Collaboration with media companies also offered valuable feedback for the students throughout the course and provided them with an opportunity to practice selling their expertise. The study highlights how interdisciplinary and project-based cooperation may benefit journalism education.