PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Video games can power up from merely fun to meaningful experiences

2015-04-15
(Press-News.org) It may be game over for critics who claim that video games are nothing more than a fun diversion. A team of researchers suggests that many games can be meaningful entertainment experiences for players. In a study of people's experiences with video games, players indicated that they not only enjoyed playing games, but that they also frequently appreciated them at a deeper, more meaningful level. These findings should be encouraging to video game developers who want to invest in producing games that examine more meaningful, poignant or contemplative topics. "Video games are often stereotyped as something that is just fun and entertaining, but not something that is deeply appreciated," said Mary Beth Oliver, Distinguished Professor in Media Studies and co-director of Media Effects Research Laboratory, Penn State. "Video games do not seem to have the same critical acclaim as, for example, books and plays or even music." Participants in the study suggested that story details in the game were critical to feelings of appreciation. They also indicated that more meaningful games were associated with heightened feelings of insight or enrichment. "That insight could be anything from an emotion or virtue -- like courage -- to an insight on human spirituality," said Oliver. The researchers, who report their findings in the current issue of Psychology of Popular Media Culture, said games may hold promise of providing players with enriching or gratifying experiences. "It's certainly true that there are some games that are silly or shallow, but that's the case for almost all forms of entertainment," said Oliver. "Our research suggests that contrary to stereotypes, games have the potential to be as meaningful to players as other, more esteemed forms of entertainment such as literature or cinema." Games may also provide players the opportunity to experience valuable situations and emotions that other forms of entertainment may not do as frequently, Oliver added. "Whereas viewers and readers typically watch characters make decisions in movies and books, many video games allow the player to actually make those choices, resulting in feelings such as guilt or pride," she added. Creating games with more interactive and more meaningful story lines is a challenge for developers, but could be worth the investment, the researchers indicate. The increased focus on narrative and emotions is a natural evolution in video games, said Nick Bowman, assistant professor of communication studies and a research associate, West Virginia University, who worked with Oliver. "The earliest video games really had very little in common with other forms of narrative entertainment," said Bowman. "Games have grown from simple point-and-click twitch games to incredibly engrossing emotional experiences and games now have the potential to give us the same sorts of feelings that great novels and music do." For example, Bowman said at one point in the game Spec Ops, the player is faced with the moral decision to use chemical weapons on an enemy. One consequence of choosing to do so is that innocent refugees are victims of the attack. The player is forced to witness the results of his or her actions, triggering a mix of emotions. "Such an experience gives players a space to challenge how they see the world, just as movies like Schindler's List or novels like Animal Farm, did for past audiences," said Bowman. "Video games have grown up." In the study, 512 video game players were assigned to one of two random groups and asked to recall games that were particularly fun or particularly meaningful. They then rated their perceptions about the game. While participants reported that they found both types were fun to play, they said they had more appreciation for the more meaningful games they played

INFORMATION:

Oliver also worked with Julia K. Woolley, assistant professor of communication studies, California Polytechnic State University; Ryan Rogers, assistant professor in communication and the arts, Marist College; Brett Sherrick and Mun-Young Chung, both doctoral candidates in mass communications, Penn State.



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

New treatment for common digestive condition Barrett's esophagus

2015-04-15
New research from the University of Warwick and University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) NHS Trust could transform treatments and diagnosis for a common digestive condition which affects thousands of patients. The oesophagus or food pipe (gullet) is part of the digestive system. It is the tube that carries food from your mouth to your stomach. Barrett's Oesophagus (also known as BE) and low-grade dysplasia affects approximately 2% of the adult population, particularly those with heartburn, as acid reflux from the stomach can, over time, damage the lining ...

Frog uses different strategies to escape ground, air predators

2015-04-15
Frogs may flee from a ground predator and move towards an aerial predator, undercutting the flight path, according to a study using model predators published April 15, 2015 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Matthew Bulbert from Macquarie University, Australia and colleagues. Escape from a predator is often the last line of defense for an organism. The authors of this study evaluated the effectiveness of different escape strategies of the ground-dwelling túngara frog from two types of predators, one approaching from the air and one from the ground. Researchers ...

'Pull my finger!' say scientists who solve knuckle-cracking riddle

Pull my finger! say scientists who solve knuckle-cracking riddle
2015-04-15
EDMONTON, AB (April 12, 2015) -- "Pull my finger," a phrase embraced by school-aged kids and embarrassing uncles the world over, is now being used to settle a decades-long debate about what happens when you crack your knuckles. In a new study published April 15 in PLOS ONE, an international team of researchers led by the University of Alberta used MRI video to determine what happens inside finger joints to cause the distinctive popping sounds heard when cracking knuckles. For the first time, they observed that the cause is a cavity forming rapidly inside the joint. "We ...

Are populations aging more slowly than we think?

2015-04-15
Faster increases in life expectancy do not necessarily produce faster population aging, according to new research published in the journal PLOS ONE. This counterintuitive finding was the result of applying new measures of aging developed at IIASA to future population projections for Europe up to the year 2050. "Age can be measured as the time already lived or it can be adjusted taking into account the time left to live. If you don't consider people old just because they reached age 65 but instead take into account how long they have left to live, then the faster the ...

Complex cognition shaped the Stone Age hand axe, study shows

2015-04-15
The ability to make a Lower Paleolithic hand axe depends on complex cognitive control by the prefrontal cortex, including the "central executive" function of working memory, a new study finds. PLOS ONE published the results, which knock another chip off theories that Stone Age hand axes are simple tools that don't involve higher-order executive function of the brain. "For the first time, we've showed a relationship between the degree of prefrontal brain activity, the ability to make technological judgments, and success in actually making stone tools," says Dietrich ...

Personal genome diagnostics study shows limitations of tumor-only sequencing for cancer

2015-04-15
BALTIMORE, MD, April 15, 2015 - Personal Genome Diagnostics, Inc. (PGDx), a provider of advanced cancer genome analysis and testing services, today announced the publication of a landmark study showing that many of the genetic alterations identified using tumor-only sequencing are not actually associated with the cancer, but instead reflect inherited germline mutations already present in the normal cells of the individual. The study is in the April 15 edition of Science Translational Medicine1 and was conducted by PGDx scientists working in collaboration with company co-founders ...

Tumor-only genetic sequencing may misguide cancer treatment in nearly half of all patients

2015-04-15
A study by Johns Hopkins scientists strongly suggests that sequencing tumor genomes for clues to genetic changes might misdirect treatment in nearly half of all patients unless it is compared first to a genetic readout of their noncancerous tissue. The investigators at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center say their analysis of more than 800 cancer patients' sequencing data, which was generated by Personal Genome Diagnostics Inc., a company co-founded by the researchers, shows that without such comparisons, attempts to individualize cancer therapy may be inappropriate ...

Patents forecast technological change

2015-04-15
How fast is online learning evolving? Are wind turbines a promising investment? And how long before a cheap hoverboard makes it to market? Attempting to answer such questions requires knowing something about the rate at which a technology is improving. Now engineers at MIT have devised a formula for estimating how fast a technology is advancing, based on information gleaned from relevant patents. The researchers determined the improvement rates of 28 different technologies, including solar photovoltaics, 3-D printing, fuel-cell technology, and genome sequencing. They ...

Big data key to precision medicine's success

2015-04-15
NEW YORK (April 15, 2015) -- Technological advances are enabling scientists to sequence the genomes of cancer tumors, revealing a detailed portrait of genetic mutations that drive these diseases. But genomic studies are only one piece of the puzzle that is precision medicine, a Weill Cornell Medical College researcher writes in Nature. In order to realize the promise of this field, there needs to be an increased focus on creating robust clinical databases that include medical histories from patients around the country, which physicians can then use along with genomic data ...

Wind bursts strongly affect El Niño severity

2015-04-15
The long-forecasted El Niño event of 2014/15 did not meet expectations. On March 5, 2015, the National Weather Service finally declared a "weak" event arriving several months later than expected, formally dashing predictions that we would see a major event on par with the monster El Niño of 1997/98 that would bring much-needed rain to California and other western states. Now, a team of researchers believes that they know why this year's event--and others like it--didn't live up to the hype. A new study published online April 13, 2015, in the journal Nature ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Cercus electric stimulation enables cockroach with trajectory control and spatial cognition training

Day-long conference addresses difficult to diagnose lung disease

First-ever cardiogenic shock academy features simulation lab

Thirty-year mystery of dissonance in the “ringing” of black holes explained

Less intensive works best for agricultural soil

Arctic rivers project receives “national champion” designation from frontiers foundation

Computational biology paves the way for new ALS tests

Study offers new hope for babies born with opioid withdrawal syndrome

UT, Volkswagen Group of America celebrate research partnership

New Medicare program could dramatically improve affordability for cancer drugs – if patients enroll

Are ‘zombie’ skin cells harmful or helpful? The answer may be in their shapes

University of Cincinnati Cancer Center presents research at AACR 2025

Head and neck, breast, lung and survivorship studies headline Dana-Farber research at AACR Annual Meeting 2025

AACR: Researchers share promising results from MD Anderson clinical trials

New research explains why our waistlines expand in middle age

Advancements in muon detection: Taishan Antineutrino Observatory's innovative top veto tracker

Chips off the old block

Microvascular decompression combined with nerve combing for atypical trigeminal neuralgia

Cutting the complexity from digital carpentry

Lung immune cell type “quietly” controls inflammation in COVID-19

Fiscal impact of expanded Medicare coverage for GLP-1 receptor agonists to treat obesity

State and sociodemographic trends in US cigarette smoking with future projections

Young adults drive historic decline in smoking

NFCR congratulates Dr. Robert C. Bast, Jr. on receiving the AACR-Daniel D. Von Hoff Award for Outstanding Contributions to Education and Training in Cancer Research

Chimpanzee stem cells offer new insights into early embryonic development

This injected protein-like polymer helps tissues heal after a heart attack

FlexTech inaugural issue launches, pioneering interdisciplinary innovation in flexible technology

In Down syndrome mice, 40Hz light and sound improve cognition, neurogenesis, connectivity

Methyl eugenol: potential to inhibit oxidative stress, address related diseases, and its toxicological effects

A vascularized multilayer chip reveals shear stress-induced angiogenesis in diverse fluid conditions

[Press-News.org] Video games can power up from merely fun to meaningful experiences