TY - JOUR
T1 - Covariation among gaming motivations is correlated with anxiety and sociality
T2 - A latent class analysis
AU - David Bowman, Nicholas
AU - Chang, Chingching
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2023/3
Y1 - 2023/3
N2 - Understanding what motivates adolescents to play video games is a central pursuit of game scholars, and key to better understanding gaming uses and effects. A latent class analysis on the self-reported gaming motivations of a nationally representative sample of adolescent gamers revealed broader combinations of discrete gaming motivations understood as role-players, fun-seekers, social gamers, and gaming maximizers (further validated through an investigation of gaming genre preferences within each class). Moreover, classification into these categories was influenced by levels of self-reported anxiety (a psychological factor) and sociality (social factors): anxiety levels distinguished gaming maximizers and role-players (higher levels) from social gamers and fun-seekers, and social connectedness unsurprisingly distinguished social gamers (higher levels) from fun-seekers and gaming maximizers from role-players (lower levels). A potential hierarchal model of anxiety and socializing on gaming motivations is suggested, and broader implications for studying gaming motivations are discussed.
AB - Understanding what motivates adolescents to play video games is a central pursuit of game scholars, and key to better understanding gaming uses and effects. A latent class analysis on the self-reported gaming motivations of a nationally representative sample of adolescent gamers revealed broader combinations of discrete gaming motivations understood as role-players, fun-seekers, social gamers, and gaming maximizers (further validated through an investigation of gaming genre preferences within each class). Moreover, classification into these categories was influenced by levels of self-reported anxiety (a psychological factor) and sociality (social factors): anxiety levels distinguished gaming maximizers and role-players (higher levels) from social gamers and fun-seekers, and social connectedness unsurprisingly distinguished social gamers (higher levels) from fun-seekers and gaming maximizers from role-players (lower levels). A potential hierarchal model of anxiety and socializing on gaming motivations is suggested, and broader implications for studying gaming motivations are discussed.
KW - Gamer motivations
KW - Latent class analysis
KW - Socializing
KW - Taiwan Communication Survey
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U2 - 10.1016/j.entcom.2023.100546
DO - 10.1016/j.entcom.2023.100546
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85149789689
SN - 1875-9521
VL - 45
JO - Entertainment Computing
JF - Entertainment Computing
M1 - 100546
ER -