Search

Background and Aims: The pervasive nature of online gaming, notably accentuated during the COVID‐19 pandemic, has spurred concerns regarding gaming addiction among children. This study explores the intricate ramifications of online gaming addiction on the academic performance and social dynamics of children in Bangladesh. Our primary objective is to gauge the extent of online gaming addiction and unravel its profound effects on academic performance. Methods: Conducting a nationwide survey from January 1, 2023, to June 30, 2023, we analyzed 502 responses from participants aged 6–17 years. The survey encompassed sociodemographic details, gaming addiction assessment, and academic performance following a simple random sampling method. We analyzed participant demographics utilizing descriptive statistics, chi‐square tests, and logistic regression. Results: Key findings revealed a majority within the 13–17 age bracket (75.50%), predominantly male (58.57%), and enrolled in secondary education (83.27%). A robust inverse relationship showed that nonaddicted students towards online gaming had higher academic performance. Therefore, it is important to implement targeted strategies to address online gaming addiction among Bangladeshi children. Conclusion: Recommending early intervention, academic initiatives, and holistic therapy, we advocate for collaboration among educational institutions, mental health professionals, parents, and policymakers. All of these initiatives are essential to navigate the evolving challenges presented by gaming addiction. Furthermore, our call for ongoing research seeks to deepen our understanding of enduring consequences on academic and social dimensions, fostering a digitally supportive environment conducive to the holistic well‐being of children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neologism, a term used in linguistics, refers to the creation and definition of new lexical items with new meanings. It is frequently employed in specialized contexts, necessitating the development of new language forms. This study aims to investigate neologisms emerging from gaming language and identify the types that predominantly occur during gameplay. Given that online gaming became a popular pastime during the pandemic, observing the new language arising from in-game chat boxes is particularly intriguing. The study includes conversations from three participants playing three different online games, collected over one day of gameplay. The findings reveal that abbreviations, acronyms, and repurposed standard English terms are prevalent forms of neologisms in gaming language. Abbreviations like "CC" and standard English terms such as "skin" and "clean" are among the most frequently mentioned by players. Interestingly, despite the conversations being in three different languages, the neologisms primarily appear in English.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, young people have become overexposed to social media and online gaming, making them more vulnerable to online violence such as cyberbullying. The aim of this study was to determine whether social media and online gaming pose a risk for cyberbullying through time spent online and whether there is a sex that is more vulnerable to this phenomenon. The survey included a sample of 4338 students (52.4% girls; age range, 11–19 years, M 14.1 SD 1.6) attending lower and upper secondary schools. Multiple moderated mediation regression models by sex were conducted, showing a relationship between social media and online gaming, time spent online outside of school, and cyberbullying. The results show that young girls are at higher risk of cyberbullying via social media, and boys are at higher risk of cybervictimization through online gaming. The findings may encourage other researchers to study the phenomenon, taking into account the role of parents and other educators.

User's expectations contribute to the maintenance of problematic use of online gaming (OG), social networking (SN), and online pornography (OP). Since an instrument to assess use expectations across applications is lacking, this study aimed at developing and testing such a questionnaire. It consists of a general module (GM), which includes expectations relevant to all three applications, and three application-specific modules. A pilot and a validation study were conducted with 2880 German adults. We conducted item analyses, exploratory factor analyses (EFA), exploratory structural equation modelling, and correlation analyses. The EFA revealed six factors for the GM and two factors for each specific module. The GM demonstrated measurement invariance between applications. The instrument showed excellent psychometric properties, indicating its suitability for assessing expectations concerning the use of OG, SN, and OG reliably and validly. It could be helpful for treating patients with problematic use of the applications and investigating the role of the relevant expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People face numerous stressors in their life. Some engage in buying behavior as a way of relieving or coping with stress. Gambling and digital gaming are examples of popular past time activities that can distract from stressors and involve spending money. This survey study investigated the role of perceived stress in the relationship between in-game buying behavior and gaming problems, and the relationship between spending money on gambling and gambling problems. We base our study on prior literature on stress during the COVID-19 pandemic and the escape theory applied to buying behavior as a coping strategy. Participants were Finnish adults (N = 1530; M = 46.67; 50.33% male). Stress was measured with the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). Spending money on gambling and gaming and in-game buying behavior were asked using single items. The Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) assessed gambling problems and the Internet Gaming Disorder Test (IGDT-10) measured gaming problems. Analyses utilized robust regression estimation. According to the results, perceived stress significantly moderated the association between in-game buying behavior and gaming problems and the relationship between spending money on gambling and gambling problems. Undergoing stress may influence spending on gaming and gambling activities and amplify gaming and gambling problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The investigation into blockchain technology has garnered significant attention since 2008, coinciding with the rise of Bitcoin. The primary sectors that have embraced blockchain technologies are supply chain management, healthcare, asset trading, and gaming. Online games are advanced, interconnected, multimedia and multimodal technologies on the Internet that provide enjoyable, simultaneous, lasting, and social virtual worlds for gamers. The landscape of online gaming has transformed over time, encompassing scalable cross-platform games, cloud gaming, immersive virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) games, and embracing various revenue strategies. The present study examines the existing literature through bibliometric analysis on the utilisation of blockchain technology in online gaming. The investigation reveals a scarcity of published academic articles that have examined the utilisation of blockchain technology in online games. Furthermore, the primary themes of current research encompass security, ethereum, smart contracts, and nonfungible tokens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motion prediction has gotten much attention in the past few years. It has endless uses either in real life or in virtual life (gaming). The current dynamic motion prediction models, such as the Markov model, depend only on the object motions' history. They ignore the object's direction and speed, which play a key role in dynamic motion prediction. This paper introduces two new probability density functions (PDFs) for elliptic and ellipsoidal regions. Then, it introduces two new motion prediction models based on the new proposed PDFs. This paper proposes new motion detection models that depend not only on the motion's history but also on moving objects' speed and direction (objects' velocity). Moreover, it integrates the proposed models with the Markov model to attain a more precise prediction. Besides, it introduces several applications for the proposed models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we examine young people's self-reported negative ("toxic") online gaming conduct via a qualitative survey (N = 95) of active game players aged 15–25 in Finland. Drawing from young people's lived experiences, we present negative gaming conduct as a complex whole, stemming from a combination of online disinhibition, affective intensity, game cultural conduct norms, and individual preferences. We explore online gaming environments as spaces with different technological and communicative affordances. In this study, we demonstrate how not all negative gaming conduct is equal in intent or outcome and introduce the concept of banal toxicity: outwardly hostile but routine conduct that lacks emotional intensity and serves little strategic purpose yet is conducive to an overall social landscape of negativity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Playing online games has grown in importance among teenagers and adults as a kind of entertainment. Gamers spend more time gaming than planning while ignoring other important activities. This problematic use of online games causes negative effects in their day-to-day life. The purpose of the present study was to explore the relationship of sensation seeking and narcissism with problematic usage of online games among adolescents. The study was conducted on 300 male and female adolescents within the age range of 13-19 years. Problematic Online Gaming Questionnaire, Sensation seeking and Narcissistic Personality Questionnaire for Children-Revised were used to collect the data for the present study. Data was computed using Pearson product-moment correlation. Results revealed that sensation seeking and narcissism were found to be positively and significantly associated with problematic usage of online games. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Problematic online behaviours are a concern among university students. Although previous research has identified that psychological distress, cognitive distortions, conscientiousness and neuroticism traits, motor impulsivity, and emotion regulation strategies have a significant direct effect on generalised problematic Internet use (GPIU), problematic social media use (PSMU), and problematic online gaming (POG), it is still necessary to determine the extent to which these psychological factors, taken together, are associated with each of the problematic online behaviours. In a sample of 690 Spanish university students, the present study examined the relationship of these psychological factors with GPIU, PSMU, and POG. Correlation and regression analyses were performed. Results reported that (1) high psychological distress, low conscientiousness trait and high motor impulsivity were common associated factors of GPIU and PSMU, but not of POG; (2) high levels of cognitive distortions and cognitive reappraisal were common associated factors of GPIU, PSMU and POG; and (3) expressive suppression and neuroticism trait had no effect on any of the three problematic online behaviours. The findings will help to develop effective prevention and intervention strategies for each problematic online behaviour in the university context.

Abstract Background and Aims The pervasive nature of online gaming, notably accentuated during the COVID‐19 pandemic, has spurred concerns regarding gaming addiction among children. This study explores the intricate ramifications of online gaming addiction on the academic performance and social dynamics of children in Bangladesh. Our primary objective is to gauge the extent of online gaming addiction and unravel its profound effects on academic performance. Methods Conducting a nationwide survey from January 1, 2023, to June 30, 2023, we analyzed 502 responses from participants aged 6–17 years. The survey encompassed sociodemographic details, gaming addiction assessment, and academic performance following a simple random sampling method. We analyzed participant demographics utilizing descriptive statistics, chi‐square tests, and logistic regression. Results Key findings revealed a majority within the 13–17 age bracket (75.50%), predominantly male (58.57%), and enrolled in secondary education (83.27%). A robust inverse relationship showed that nonaddicted students towards online gaming had higher academic performance. Therefore, it is important to implement targeted strategies to address online gaming addiction among Bangladeshi children. Conclusion Recommending early intervention, academic initiatives, and holistic therapy, we advocate for collaboration among educational institutions, mental health professionals, parents, and policymakers. All of these initiatives are essential to navigate the evolving challenges presented by gaming addiction. Furthermore, our call for ongoing research seeks to deepen our understanding of enduring consequences on academic and social dimensions, fostering a digitally supportive environment conducive to the holistic well‐being of children.

Abstract Background Schizophrenia often involves persecutory delusions, which cause psychological distress. Some patients use online gaming as a coping tool. However, excessive online gaming has raised concerns about internet gaming disorders (IGD), while any soothing effects of online gaming on psychological distress remain unclear. Herein, we report changes in anxiety and IGD severity, measured using rating scales, in a patient with schizophrenia who used online gaming as a coping strategy for psychological distress. Case Presentation A 43‐year‐old woman diagnosed with schizophrenia had worsening persecutory delusions, including that of being targeted by snipers, and had difficulty going out because of anxiety. She coped with her psychological distress using online shooting games. We assessed her state and trait anxiety, social anxiety, avoidance behavior when alone, and IGD severity. There was a notable reduction in the state anxiety score after the introduction of online gaming. The scores for trait anxiety, social anxiety, and avoidance behavior when alone decreased noticeably after the acquisition of coping strategies. This case demonstrates the presence of IGD only during the acquisition of coping strategies. Conclusion This case highlights the potential of online gaming as a coping strategy for schizophrenia‐related anxiety. However, excessive gaming can lead to IGD and thus necessitates caution. Further research should explore the applicability and potential risks of using online gaming to cope with psychological distress among patients with schizophrenia.

Цель данной статьи – анализ особенностей коммуникации в дискурсе киберспорта, обусловленных новыми реалиями киберпространства. Материалом исследования для данной статьи послужили записи стримов турнирных и публичных матчей англоговорящих и русских контент-мейкеров. Актуальность данной статьи обусловлена высокой популярностью киберспорта как социального явления, позволяющего смотреть, болеть, участвовать и соревноваться не в реальном, а в виртуальном пространстве. Практическая значимость данного исследования позволяет изучать классифицировать и разбирать особенности игрового и киберспортивного сленга, изучать способы передачи и перевода терминов в данной сфере, а также подробно изучать стратегии выстраивания коммуникации в данной интернациональной среде. Данное исследование позволило показать, как пользователи и игроки находят способы передачи и/или обозначения различных терминов и к каким переводческим трансформациям и решениям они прибегают. В ходе исследования было выявлено, что игроки нередко прибегают к различным переводческим приёмам, среди которых можно выделить транслитерацию, транскрипцию, использование заимствований и сокращений для обозначений игровых явлений, механик, ролей, мест.Методами изучения послужили: наблюдение, анализ, классификация и описание.

Abstract Background Disruptive behaviours are a recurrent concern in online gaming and are usually dealt with through reactive and punitive strategies. However, in health and educational settings, workplaces, and the context of interpersonal relationships, positive behaviour interventions have been implemented as well. This systematic review assessed the use of positive behaviour strategies as well as their effectiveness in a range of environments to suggest routes for transferring such interventions to (multiplayer) online gaming. Methods We included 22 records in the review and examined (a) the targeted individuals/groups, (b) the specific disruptive behaviour problems that were addressed, (c) the nature of the positive behaviour strategy intervention, and (d) its effectiveness. Results Findings showed that the most common interventions that have been investigated thus far are the promotion of active bystander intervention, the good behaviour game, and tootling/positive peer reporting. These sought to prevent or reduce aggressive behaviour, negative peer interaction, name-calling, cyberbullying, and hate speech. The identified interventions differed in their effectiveness; however, all demonstrated some degree of positive impact. Conclusions Considering similarities and differences between online and offline settings, we propose that tootling and the good behaviour game are most suitable to be applied to (multiplayer) online gaming.

Annamaria Nemes,1 Delia Szok,1 Antal Tibold,2 Gabor Kosa,2 Krisztian Kapus,2 Gyula Berke,3 Zoltan Banko,3 Gergely Feher2 1Department of Neurology, Szent-Györgyi Albert Medical School, University of Szeged, Szeged, 6720, Hungary; 2Centre for Occupational Medicine, Medical School, University of Pécs, Pécs, 7627, Hungary; 3Faculty of Law and Political Sciences, ELKH-PTE-NKE Research Group on Comparative and European Employment Policy and Labour Law, University of Pécs, Pécs, 7627, HungaryCorrespondence: Gergely Feher, Tel +36-72/518-523, Fax +36-72/518-521, Email feher.gergely@pte.huIntroduction: The internet has become a part of everyday life, and during the COVID-19 pandemic the rate of internet use has raised even higher, which increases the possibility of compulsive and problematic use leading to the acceptance of online misbeliefs and conspiration theories. This cross-sectional study aimed to explore the relationship between COVID-19-related misconceptions and internet addiction among adult recreational online gamers.Methods: A sample of 1671 recreational video game users completed the online survey (male: n = 1522 (91.08%), mean age = 21.83, SD = 4.18; female: n = 149 (8.91%), mean age = 24.33, SD = 8.38). Demographic questions, risk factors and health-related questions, internet use and addiction were measured alongside a short questionnaire about common COVID-19-related topics, such as its origin and risk of infection.Results: Out of all participants 248 (14.8%) answered all the COVID-19-related questions properly, thus having no misconceptions, while 545 (32.6%) had one wrong answer, 532 (31.8%) had 2 wrong answers, 251 (15.0%) had 3 wrong answers, 78 (4.7%) had 4 wrong answers and 17 (1.0%) had 5 wrong answers. Significant factors to a higher number of COVID-misconceptions were time spent studying (χ 2 (35,1671) = 63.86, p = 0.002), marital status (χ 2 (15,1671) = 30.65 p = 0.01) and secondary employment (χ 2 (51,671) = 14.88, p = 0.01). Although 17.1% of the participants reached the threshold score for internet addiction, the predictors of COVID-19 misconceptions were marital status (β = − 0.06, p = 0.01) and time spent studying (β = 0.05, p = 0.03), while neither daily internet use, internet addiction scores or risk factors predicted these misconceptions in a linear regression model.Discussion: Our study concludes that Internet addiction did not directly influence misconceptions about the COVID-19 pandemic in this population despite the surprisingly high rate of problematic users.Keywords: internet addiction, COVID-19, risk factor, depression, online gaming

Background: Disruptive behaviours are a recurrent concern in online gaming and are usually dealt with through reactive and punitive strategies. However, in health and educational settings, workplaces, and the context of interpersonal relationships, positive behaviour interventions have been implemented as well. This systematic review assessed the use of positive behaviour strategies as well as their effectiveness in a range of environments to suggest routes for transferring such interventions to (multiplayer) online gaming. Methods: We included 22 records in the review and examined (a) the targeted individuals/groups, (b) the specific disruptive behaviour problems that were addressed, (c) the nature of the positive behaviour strategy intervention, and (d) its effectiveness. Results: Findings showed that the most common interventions that have been investigated thus far are the promotion of active bystander intervention, the good behaviour game, and tootling/positive peer reporting. These sought to prevent or reduce aggressive behaviour, negative peer interaction, name-calling, cyberbullying, and hate speech. The identified interventions differed in their effectiveness; however, all demonstrated some degree of positive impact. Conclusions: Considering similarities and differences between online and offline settings, we propose that tootling and the good behaviour game are most suitable to be applied to (multiplayer) online gaming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I analyse the Steam platform as a configuration of several market contexts. I argue that Valve, the owner of Steam, maintains a classical retail market catering to large game publishers, while the emphasis of Valve's own game titles is in alternative market contexts based on player-driven economies. I first discuss Steam as a distinct type of platform economy due to its roots in player-driven game economies. I then introduce the notion of 'markets as fields' as my analytical framework. Based on this framework, I describe three different contexts of economic transaction: the Steam Game Store, the Steam Community Workshop and the Steam Community Market. I analyse how the approximately 46,500 game titles published on the platform are distributed across these contexts and how these games can be ranked with regard to current player numbers, and discuss Valve's position as combined platform owner, game developer and game publisher. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study introduces Protectbot, an innovative chatbot framework designed to improve safety in children's online gaming environments. At its core, Protectbot incorporates DialoGPT, a conversational Artificial Intelligence (AI) model rooted in Generative Pre-trained Transformer 2 (GPT-2) technology, engineered to simulate human-like interactions within gaming chat rooms. The framework is distinguished by a robust text classification strategy, rigorously trained on the Publicly Available Natural 2012 (PAN12) dataset, aimed at identifying and mitigating potential sexual predatory behaviors through chat conversation analysis. By utilizing fastText for word embeddings to vectorize sentences, we have refined a support vector machine (SVM) classifier, achieving remarkable performance metrics, with recall, accuracy, and F-scores approaching 0.99. These metrics not only demonstrate the classifier's effectiveness, but also signify a significant advancement beyond existing methodologies in this field. The efficacy of our framework is additionally validated on a custom dataset, composed of 71 predatory chat logs from the Perverted Justice website, further establishing the reliability and robustness of our classifier. Protectbot represents a crucial innovation in enhancing child safety within online gaming communities, providing a proactive, AI-enhanced solution to detect and address predatory threats promptly. Our findings highlight the immense potential of AI-driven interventions to create safer digital spaces for young users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research into online trolling has been continuously expanding in the past decade. However, much of this research has focused on either the person of the trolls themselves, or on specific minority groups. Although all of this research is important, we still know little about how the average person deals with trolling experiences in their everyday. The present study aims to fill that gap by interviewing 22 gamers from various backgrounds who have professed to being targeted by trolls in the past. Results indicate that targets prioritize solving the problem themselves by muting or blocking trolls over seeking external support. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding player behaviour in online gaming is essential for enhancing user engagement and retention. This study utilizes a dataset from Kaggle, capturing a wide range of player demographics and in-game metrics to predict player engagement levels categorized as 'High,' 'Medium,' or 'Low.' The dataset includes features such as age, gender, location, game genre, playtime, in-game purchases, game difficulty, session frequency, session duration, player level, and achievements. The research employs a Gaussian Naive Bayes model, with data pre-processing steps including feature selection, categorical data encoding, and scaling of numerical features. The dataset is split into training (80%) and testing (20%) sets, and a 5-fold cross-validation is used to ensure model robustness. The model's performance is evaluated using accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score. The results show consistent performance across different folds, with an average accuracy of 84.27%, precision of 85.59%, recall of 84.27%, and F1-score of 83.98%. These findings indicate that the Gaussian Naive Bayes model can reliably predict player engagement levels, identifying significant predictors such as session frequency and in-game purchases. The study contributes to game analytics by providing a predictive model that can help game developers and marketers design more engaging gaming experiences. Future research should incorporate a broader range of features, including psychological and social factors, and explore other machine learning algorithms to enhance predictive accuracy. This study's insights are valuable for developing strategies to improve player retention and satisfaction in the gaming industry.

This article investigates the factors contributing to the rise of video games and their potential to surpass literature in narrative expression. By examining extensive research on the intersection of video games and literature, the study dissects their complex interrelationships, mutual impacts, and shared evolution. Video game narratives, often inspired by literary predecessors, have become increasingly complex and engaging, drawing on literary techniques and non-linear storytelling methods from postmodernism and metafiction. These narratives challenge players to actively construct meaning, enhancing emotional resonance through character development, evocative prose, and carefully crafted dialogue. Technological advancements have played a crucial role in the evolution and rising popularity of video games, offering immersive, interactive experiences that empower players to shape the narrative and storyline, contrasting with literature, which relies on the reader's imagination and interpretation. The future of storytelling is likely to be shaped by the ongoing interplay between video games and literature. The integration of literary techniques and interactive elements across these mediums will continue to evolve, resulting in innovative hybrid entertainment forms that leverage the strengths of both literature and video games. This dynamic interaction ensures a diverse and vibrant future for storytelling, reflecting the multidimensionality of human creativity and imagination. As video games continue to incorporate more sophisticated literary techniques and storytelling methods, they become more capable of delivering rich, nuanced narratives that rival those found in traditional literature. This evolution opens up new possibilities for hybrid forms of storytelling that combine the best elements of both video games and literature. By embracing these hybrid forms, creators can push the boundaries of narrative expression and create new, immersive experiences that engage audiences in ways previously unimaginable. The article concludes that the future of storytelling lies in the continued convergence of video games and literature, promising a diverse and dynamic landscape that celebrates human creativity and imagination in all its forms.

The emergence of emotional intelligence in students amidst the rampant trend of playing online games has both positive and negative impacts. This study examines the relationship between the level of involvement in online games and students' emotional intelligence. The research design is correlational, utilizing an accidental sampling technique with a total sample of 169 students from Salatiga. Data was collected using the Emotional Intelligence Scale and an instrument for online game playing intensity. The data analysis method employed was descriptive analysis using the instruments of online game-playing intensity and emotional intelligence as primary data in this study. The results indicate no significant relationship between online game-playing intensity and emotional intelligence. This suggests that the intensity of playing online games does not influence emotional intelligence.

This study outlines the development of a platform that enables real-time bio-information sharing between gaming partners regardless of the game of choice. The authors hypothesize that since biosignals contain information about a person’s physiological and psychological state, sharing bio-information with easy-to-understand visual representations can augment the sense of social presence between online gaming partners. The proposed method uses the heart rate as a biosignal detected using a wrist-worn heart rate monitor, uploads these signals to a secure online real-time database, and creates visual representations of the gaming partner’s heart rate on each gamer’s screen. Comparative studies were conducted with 20 gamers. The results showed that sharing bio-information could elicit a sense of social presence similar to sharing real-time face videos in online settings. Furthermore, a synergetic effect was observed when bio-information was combined with face video sharing, leading to an even greater perceived social presence. Similar trends were not observed in co-presence in the participants of this study. However, grouping the participants’ scores by emotional arousal level showed a similar trend in the high-arousal group, suggesting that the impact of bio-information sharing may be modulated by the intensity of the gaming experience. The obtained results underscore the potential of bio-information sharing to augment social presence in online gaming contexts.

The gaming industry has changed since advanced technologies and hardware specifications were able to create the possibility of gaming with connective network or known as online gaming. Some communities are accepting positively, and others are contradicted. Thus, there is an urgency to know the insight from their sentiment. The present research extracts 10 thousand sentiments at social media with sentiment text analysis. The text is interpreted into six based emotions namely anger, disgust, fear, joy, sadness, and surprise. The mining analysis by lexicon valance aware dictionary and sentiment reasoner (VADER) projects the Joy emotions as the domination result with 94.74%. Positive joy expression on online gaming is revealed by extracting the sentiment analysis. In total, ten thousand data were collected from the corpus, which resulted in the happy sentiments that were experienced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Up to three billion, of the eight billion people in the world, play videogames. Gaming is a significant global sociocultural influence. This primer will aid psychiatrists in understanding sociocultural milieux of gamers, who include patients and their communities. Method: A rapid narrative review. Results: Benefits include expression of personality, identity and culture through social aspects of gaming. Improved physical health, neurocognition, self-efficacy and quality of life are associated with gaming in those with certain mental health disorders including schizophrenia. Harms may include in-game discrimination, disordered gaming, as well as encouragement of online gambling. There is no longitudinal association between violent games and youth aggression. Conclusions: Psychiatrists should enquire about gaming as part of the sociocultural milieux of patients' lives, and the perceived mental health benefits and harms of gaming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The invention of blockchain technology, coupled with the growing interest in cryptocurrencies, has given rise to a new form of monetised gaming known as "Play to Earn" (PTE). "Axie Infinity" (AI) is currently the most popular PTE game, occupying a large portion of the online gaming market. In this paper, we profile the risks and benefits of PTE gaming, with a specific focus on AI. Qualitative data in the form of online chat threads was evaluated via a Thematic Analysis (TA) approach. The analysis revealed a number of themes including the dominance of extrinsically motivated gameplay in conjunction with negative appraisals of game quality, the benefits and costs of play, and the potential for PTE scholarship models to be associated with exploitation. The results did, however, indicate awareness of potential consumer risks. The findings have implications for informing consumer education, regulation, as well as areas of focus in future quantitative research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aims: Gaming disorder [GD] risk has been associated with the way gamers bond with their visual representation (i.e., avatar) in the game-world. More specifically, a gamer's relationship with their avatar has been shown to provide reliable mental health information about the user in their offline life, such as their current and prospective GD risk, if appropriately decoded. Methods: To contribute to the paucity of knowledge in this area, 565 gamers (Mage = 29.3 years; SD = 10.6) were assessed twice, six months apart, using the User-Avatar-Bond Scale (UABS) and the Gaming Disorder Test. A series of tuned and untuned artificial intelligence [AI] classifiers analysed concurrently and prospectively their responses. Results: Findings showed that AI models learned to accurately and automatically identify GD risk cases, based on gamers' reported UABS score, age, and length of gaming involvement, both concurrently and longitudinally (i.e., six months later). Random forests outperformed all other AIs, while avatar immersion was shown to be the strongest training predictor. Conclusion: Study outcomes demonstrated that the user-avatar bond can be translated into accurate, concurrent and future GD risk predictions using trained AI classifiers. Assessment, prevention, and practice implications are discussed in the light of these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Toxic practices are anti-social interactions that result in a breakdown of communication between consumers. We draw on in-depth interviews, netnography, and insider experience in the context of online gaming to describe the technological configurations that embed the neoliberal logics of competitiveness, individual responsibilization, and entrepreneurialism. Taken together, these embedded logics craft the toxic consumer subject as the dominant way of inhabiting online spaces. Overall, this study illustrates how technocultures align consumer subjectivity to market logics that erode consumer wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past few years, there has been a great development of audiovisual electronic media. It brings great opportunities in many scientific fields but is also subject to many judgments of criticism from opponents. Therefore, in view of the enormity of the changes and expansion of the culture, many circles wonder and analyze what changes occur among adults under the influence of these means and especially online games. The author, based on his own research, presents a new psychological approach between the predisposition to addictions and impulsivity in the light of ressentiment. Seventy-two people participated in the study, and the IVE Impulsivity Questionnaire, UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale and Internet Gaming Disorder Test (IGD-20 Test) and Ressentiment Questionnaire were used. The results of the study showed that there is a link between impulsivity and addiction propensity, but it is determined by the degree of impulsivity in a person. On the other hand, ressentiment in the emotion regulatory system appeared as a negative feeling resulting from a sense of unfulfillment in an online game causing a mental state that extends over time and is underpinned by various types of emotionally tinged reactions. What can cause these feelings to turn into revenge without concrete actions-inducing hatred, but not leading to infliction of harm-and causing jealousy, which will not be confirmed by acts of jealousy. In light of this research, the negative emotion that is generated during online game interaction relates to personal experiences and can affect the emotional state and components of environmental attitudes.

Children are a nation's future. In the digital era, online gaming has become deeply ingrained in the lives of children, significantly impacting them. Thus, comprehensively examining this situation is imperative. However, the existing research has predominantly focused on analyzing online gaming among underachieving students. This narrow focus has magnified the negative implications of gaming among this group while overlooking the underlying structural realities. To address this, in contrast to prior studies emphasizing underachieving students' gaming behavior, this paper takes a holistic and group-specific approach. Based on academic performance and using purposive sampling, 35 participants (18 students, 12 parents, and 5 teachers) were selected for a comprehensive investigation. This study compares the gaming behavior, significance, external assessments, and the urban–rural and socioeconomic factors associated with underachieving and high-achieving students. The study reveals stark differences in gaming behavior between the two groups. Underachieving students tend to engage in excessive gaming, whereas their high-achieving counterparts exhibit more moderate gaming habits. Further analysis uncovers distinct meanings associated with online gaming for these two groups. Underachieving students' gaming patterns align with the established theory of compensatory gaming, fulfilling their lack of achievement and meaning in real life. Conversely, high-achieving students conform to the enrichment theory, viewing gaming as a means to enrich their learning and overall lives, rather than a substitute for what is lacking. The disparity in gaming behavior is further amplified by the differential evaluations provided by parents and teachers. Moreover, this study underscores the deeper structural distinctions between these two groups rooted in urban–rural backgrounds and family education.

Online video gaming has developed from a hobby to a ubiquitous, social and leisure phenomenon. Roblox, a free-to-play, online sandbox platform has thrived in this time, with a substantial global userbase, where the majority of Roblox users are under 16 years old. Using video recorded data from single case, this study examines the ways in which two preteen players collaboratively participate, solve problems, and share strategies during a pre-gaming interaction. The analysis highlights the affordances of this form of online play for social and language learning. Using Multimodal Conversation Analysis, this study explores how participants leverage cooperative learning strategies including mutual scaffolding techniques and fluidity of epistemic participation that includes material ecology, knowledge exchange, joint problem solving, instructing, and help-seeking. The analysis elucidates a relationship between these pre-gaming activities and participants’ utilization of resources for learning related to language, technology, literacy, and teamwork.

This study reveals that online video games have emerged as a novel platform for social interaction, wherein numerous gaming options facilitate player’s competition and collective interaction within the virtual realm. Gamers have increasingly begun to form distinct virtual social communities due to the inherent capacity of these games to facilitate social networking in a multiplayer online setting. This phenomenon has given rise to a unique social dynamic among video game enthusiasts. The present study delves into an exploration of the social gaming behaviour exhibited by participants engaged in multiplayer online games. Additionally, it seeks to establish a correlation between virtual and real-world behaviours by examining the relationship between destructive and constructive social behaviours and the dominance and affiliation dimensions of social interaction. Purpose: Online gaming has become a unique phenomenon among the young players with a significant influence on them. The basic objective of this study was to determine the social interaction caused by online gaming among young game players. This study conducted in Pakistani perspective has achieved the objections set to analyze the influence of online gaming and increased level of social interaction. Design/Methodology/Approach: To conduct this investigation, an online survey was administered to individuals who regularly engage in multiplayer gaming activities and dedicate a substantial portion of their daily time to gaming. The study sample consisted of 200 gamers spanning an age range of 16 to 30 years. Findings: The results of this inquiry shed light on the prevalence of pro-social behaviour and anti-social behaviour, characterized by constructive and destructive actions among gamers, respectively. Furthermore, the study reveals that destructive behaviour negatively predicts affiliation, while constructive behaviour has a positive predictive influence on affiliation. Moreover, certain demographic variables, such as age and gender, exert a significant impact on the prediction of dominance within the gaming community. The findings of this study provide substantial support for the notion that virtual social interactions have a notable influence on real-world behaviours, underscoring the interconnectedness between the online gaming environment and broader social dynamics. Implications/Originality/Value: Online gaming has become a common practice not only among young adults but also among the minors. Thus, this phenomenon has reduced physical activities among the youth and even among the school going children. This study may provide an insight into the matter and possible appropriate recommendations as well.

Copyright of Journal of Sports Sciences Research / Spor Bilimleri Araştırmaları Dergisi is the property of Journal of Sport Sciences Researches / Spor Bilimleri Arastirmalari Dergisi and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Although there is ample literature available on toxicity in games, as there is regarding trolling on social media, there are few to no cross-platform studies on toxicity and trolling. In other words, the extant literature focuses on one platform at a time instead of comparing and contrasting them. The present work aims to rectify this gap by analyzing interviews from a larger study of 22 self-proclaimed victims of ingame trolling to not only determine whether social media or gaming communities are considered more toxic but also to explore how definitions of the word 'trolling' change depending on the platform in question. We found that while definitions of in-game trolling behavior focused on behavioral styles of trolling (e.g., throwing one's avatar into enemy fire to disadvantage one's team, and blocking other players' avatars' movement), social media trolling is defined by more sinister actions such as misinformation spreading and 'canceling' other users. We also found that gaming is perceived as generally more toxic than social media, often due to company policies or lack thereof. Practical and theoretical implications for the study of toxicity in all online communities -- gaming or social-media based -- are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online death events constitute integral parts of many competitive online multiplayer games. Nonetheless, research has identified death events as frequently involved in the proceedings of toxic behaviors (Märtens et al., 2015). While much existing research has been attentive towards providing a range of explanations for the emergence of toxic behaviors in online games (see for example Kordyaka et al. in Internet Research, 30(4), 1081–1102, 2020; Kou, 2020; Kowert in Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 2020), research exploring the micro sociological mechanisms involved is currently limited. By applying a micro sociological situational approach to a sample of screen-recorded video data from an observational study of online toxic behaviors in League of Legends, we find that patterns of interactional rituals and situational properties play an important role in whether a death event, in which one or more players are killed, escalates into a toxic encounter. These preliminary results suggest a micro-situational understanding to be explored and refined in future empirical research. From the preliminary findings, a range of potential interventions to mitigate toxic behavior and promote social inclusion in online gaming are suggested. Among these, two types of social-norm interventions, targeting social referents and weakening social norms, align well with the main findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study introduces Protectbot, an innovative chatbot framework designed to improve safety in children’s online gaming environments. At its core, Protectbot incorporates DialoGPT, a conversational Artificial Intelligence (AI) model rooted in Generative Pre-trained Transformer 2 (GPT-2) technology, engineered to simulate human-like interactions within gaming chat rooms. The framework is distinguished by a robust text classification strategy, rigorously trained on the Publicly Available Natural 2012 (PAN12) dataset, aimed at identifying and mitigating potential sexual predatory behaviors through chat conversation analysis. By utilizing fastText for word embeddings to vectorize sentences, we have refined a support vector machine (SVM) classifier, achieving remarkable performance metrics, with recall, accuracy, and F-scores approaching 0.99. These metrics not only demonstrate the classifier’s effectiveness, but also signify a significant advancement beyond existing methodologies in this field. The efficacy of our framework is additionally validated on a custom dataset, composed of 71 predatory chat logs from the Perverted Justice website, further establishing the reliability and robustness of our classifier. Protectbot represents a crucial innovation in enhancing child safety within online gaming communities, providing a proactive, AI-enhanced solution to detect and address predatory threats promptly. Our findings highlight the immense potential of AI-driven interventions to create safer digital spaces for young users.

The internet has provided immense benefits to society, but it has also posed significant risks, particularly for children. Child exploitation and privacy risks associated with digital technology have become a growing concern, as predators have found ways to exploit the anonymity of the internet to target vulnerable children. This paper presents an overview of the challenges and strategies for taking a proactive approach to child safety online, with a focus on online child exploitation and the risks associated with day-care and school journaling apps, online gaming, social media and messaging apps.

Interpersonal communication in the twenty-first century is increasingly taking place within digital media. This poses the problem of understanding the factors that may facilitate or hinder communication processes in virtual contexts. Digital media require a human-machine interface, and the analysis of human-machine interfaces traditionally focuses on the dimension of usability. However, interface usability pertains to the interaction of users with digital devices, not to the interaction of users with other users. Here we argue that there is another dimension of human-media interaction that has remained largely unexplored, but plays a key role in interpersonal communication within digital media: shareability. We define shareability as the resultant of a set of interface features that: (i) make sharing of materials with fellow users easy, efficient, and timely (sharing-related usability); (ii) include features that intuitively invite users to share materials (sharing-related affordances); and (iii) provide a sensorimotor environment that includes perceptual information about both presented materials and the behavior of other users that are experiencing these materials through the medium at hand (support to shared availability). Capitalizing on concepts from semiotics, proxemics, and perceptual and cognItive neuroscience, we explore potential criteria to asses shareability in human-machine interfaces. Finally, we show how these notions may be applied in the analysis of three prototypical cases: online gaming, visual communication on social media, and online distance teaching.

In our paper, we used factor analysis and artificial intelligence-based modeling to reveal how video gamers living in an economically peripheric European Union member state can be segmented based on gaming time. We performed a causal analysis of two groups—occasional and frequent players—based on the data of a 2022 representative survey. The results show that in a semi-peripheral country, the adult population plays video games in a similar proportion as in the central countries (every second person), but at the same time, a high degree of polarization can be demonstrated in the time spent gaming. Based on our results, players can be predicted with high reliability based on player preferences, that is, game types, motivations, and shopping habits. However, it is worth supplementing these categories with players' socio-demographic characteristics. Our research contributes to a deeper understanding of the factors and causal relationships that determine video gamers in semi-peripheral countries; moreover, it sheds light on the distinguishing variables that function as group builders.

Studies have found that adolescents' in-game purchases are related to psychosocial problems. In-game purchases, including loot boxes—which contain random video game items that can be purchased with real-world money—are new systems; therefore, the associated problems have not been fully examined. This study examined whether adolescents planned their in-game purchases and looked into the issues related to purchasing styles. We surveyed 1,052 Japanese high school students (591 females, 443 males, and 18 others, aged 15–18 years) on their monthly allowance, time spent on online gaming, in-game purchases, gaming problems, and depression symptoms. The results revealed that adolescents who made unplanned purchases reported a greater degree of problems than those who planned their purchases. Among the non-planners, loot box users had poorer mental health than nonuser counterparts. These results revealed the relationship between psychosocial problems and problematic gaming, including unplanned purchases and the use of loot boxes among adolescents. Therefore, these relationships become important areas to focus on, to understand problematic online gaming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The main objective of current study to explore the impact of employing Metaverse marketing (Presence, Avatar, Home Space, Teleporting, Interoperability, Privacy and Safety, Virtual Goods and Natural Interfaces) through gaming platforms and its influence on customer experience. Methods: The methodological approach of study was quantitative and deductive in its philosophical approach; a random sample of customers who play online games responded to (450) questionnaire. SPSS was employed in order to process and analyze primary data. Results: Results of analysis indicated that foundational concepts of Metaverse marketing had a statistically significant influence on customer experience with R= 0.862 and a variance of 74.3% in influence which accepted the main hypothesis of the study. Regarding the foundational concepts of metaverse marketing, it was see that all variables were influential in enriching customer experience in marketing, the highest influence was scored by natural interfaces with R= 0.784 and a variance of 61.4% in influence which indicated that the natural interfaces in metaverse marketing supported a better customer experience with the purchasing and marketing process. Recommendations:Study recommended the organizations should work harder into investments in digital real estate and crypto-currency. Further recommendations were presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]