RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PERSONALITY
AND VIDEO GAME PREFERENCES
A Thesis
Presented to the faculty of the Department of Psychology
California State University, Sacramento
Submitted in partial satisfaction of
the requirements for the degree of
MASTER OF ARTS
in
Psychology
(Counseling Psychology)
by
Joseph B. Borders
SUMMER
2012
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PERSONALITY
AND VIDEO GAME PREFERENCES
A Thesis
by
Joseph B. Borders
Approved by:
, Committee Chair
Dr. Lee Berrigan
, Second Reader
Dr. Lawrence Meyers
, Third Reader
Dr. Marya Endriga
Date
ii
Student: Joseph B. Borders
I certify that this student has met the requirements for format contained in the University format
manual, and that this thesis is suitable for shelving in the Library and credit is to be awarded for
the thesis.
, Graduate Coordinator
Dr. JianJian Qin
Date
Department of Psychology
iii
Abstract
of
RELATIONSHIP BETEEN PERSONALITY
AND PREFERENCES IN VIDEO GAME PLAY
by
Joseph B. Borders
Video games are a popular form of media that are enjoyed by individuals with a wide
range of ages. However, to date there has been very little research conducted examining
the relationship between personality and preferences for different types of video games.
The majority of studies have focused on preferences for violent or prosocial games and
have failed to demonstrate empirically distinct video game types. The current study
examined the relationships between several personality traits as measured by the NEO
Five Factor Inventory and the California Psychological Inventory and preferences for
different types of video games as measured by a modified version of Zammitto’s (2010)
Gaming Preferences Questionnaire. Principal components analysis yielded three types of
video games that were found to be related to sex and a narrow set of personality traits.
, Committee Chair
Dr. Lee Berrigan
Date
iv
DEDICATION
To
Pat Floyd, my mother, for saving me. There was a time when I knew I wouldn’t amount
to anything in life. Thank you for giving me the foundation that enabled me to reach for
the stars and become the person I am today.
Orin Borders, my father, for creating in me an appreciation of education and
psychotherapy.
Chloe Borders, my sister, who gives me hope for the future and provided positive
reinforcement to help me work on completing this thesis.
My wife, Angela Mae Borders, who encourages me daily with her strength and bravery.
This thesis is for her and the dreams we will pursue together now that I am done with
school.
v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am deeply grateful to my thesis chair, Dr. Lee Berrigan, without whom this
thesis would have been significantly less substantive and detailed. His enthusiasm and
weekly guidance enabled me to complete this thesis in a timely manner and for that I am
thankful. I am also grateful to Dr. Lawrence Meyers who guided me in the data analysis
of this study. Throughout construction of the results and discussion section of this thesis,
Dr. Meyers was constantly available to elucidate statistical concepts that were confusing
to me. I would also like to thank Dr. Marya Endriga for being my third reader, and for
providing words of support and encouragement. Also, many thanks to my friend E Ting
Lee who gave me a lot of encouragement and assistance with the statistics involved in
this study.
vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Dedication ............................................................................................................................v
Acknowledgments.............................................................................................................. vi
List of Tables ........................................................................................................................x
Chapter
1. INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................1
Children and Adolescents ....................................................................................... 2
Differences between the Sexes ................................................................................2
Violent Video Games ...............................................................................................4
Positive Effects of Video Game Play ......................................................................5
Classification of Video Game Types .......................................................................7
Personality and Video Game Preferences .............................................................16
The Affect-Dependent Theory of Stimulus Arrangement .....................................19
Measures of Personality .........................................................................................20
The Five-Factor Model of Personality .......................................................21
The California Psychological Inventory ....................................................26
The Present Study .................................................................................................31
Hypotheses ............................................................................................................34
2. METHOD ....................................................................................................................36
Participants ............................................................................................................36
Materials ................................................................................................................36
vii
Procedure ...............................................................................................................42
3. RESULTS......................................................................................................................44
Invalid Packet Exclusion........................................................................................44
Preliminary Data Analysis ....................................................................................44
Principal Components Analysis ............................................................................49
Canonical Correlations...........................................................................................63
Analysis of Variance .............................................................................................67
Differences between the Sexes .............................................................................72
Relationships Not Addressed by the Study Hypotheses .......................................80
4. DISCUSSION ...............................................................................................................86
Hypothesis One .....................................................................................................86
Hypothesis Two......................................................................................................90
Hypothesis Three ..................................................................................................93
Relationships Not Addressed by the Study Hypotheses .......................................96
Limitations and Implications of this Research.......................................................98
Appendix A. Descriptions of the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB)
Ratings .......................................................................................................102
Appendix B. Demographic Sheet ...................................................................................103
Appendix C. Gaming Preferences Questionnaire ...........................................................104
Appendix D. Gaming Patterns Questionnaire .................................................................107
Appendix E. Consent Form............................................................................................. 110
viii
Appendix F. Debriefing.................................................................................................... 111
References ........................................................................................................................ 113
ix
LIST OF TABLES
Tables
Page
1.
Ethnicity of Participants .........................................................................................45
2.
Reported Frequency of Video Game Play .............................................................46
3.
Age When First Played Video Games ....................................................................46
4.
Genres of Reported Top 3 Favorite Games ............................................................48
5.
Variance Accounted for by the Eight Factor Solution Yielded by Principal
Components Analysis of the 52 items From the Gaming Preferences
Questionnaire with a Promax Rotation ..................................................................50
6.
Correlations of the Eight Components Yielded by Principal Components
Analysis of the 52 Items from the Gaming Preferences Questionnaire with a
Promax Rotation.....................................................................................................51
7.
Structure Coefficients Based on Principle Components Analysis with a Promax
Rotation for the 52 Items from the Video Game Preferences Questionnaire .........52
8.
Reliability and Descriptive Statistics for the Eight Video Game Preference
Scales Resulting from a Principal Components Analysis of the 52 Items from
the Gaming Preferences Questionnaire ..................................................................57
9.
Variance Accounted for by Each of the Three Components Yielded by a
Second-Order Principal Components Analysis (PCA) of the Eight Components
Yielded by a PCA Performed on the 52 Items of the Gaming Preferences
Questionnaire .........................................................................................................58
x
10.
Correlations of the Three Components Yielded by a Second-Order Principal
Components Analysis (PCA) of the Eight Components Yielded by
a PCA Performed on the 52 Items of the Gaming Preferences Questionnaire ......59
11.
Structure Coefficients Based on a Second-Order Principle Components
Analysis with a Promax Rotation for the 52 Items from the Gaming
Gaming Preferences Questionnaire ........................................................................60
12.
Reliability and Descriptive Statistics for the Three Video Game Preference
Scales Resulting from a Second-Order Principal Components Analysis (PCA)
of the Eight Factors Yielded by a PCA of the 52 Items from the Gaming
Preferences Questionnaire ......................................................................................63
13.
Cumulative Percentage of Explained Variance, Eigenvalues, and Squared
Canonical Correlations for the Two Canonical Functions .....................................64
14.
Structure Coefficients for Predictor Canonical Variates for the Two
Functions ................................................................................................................66
15.
Structure Coefficients for the Dependent Canonical Variates for the
Two Functions ........................................................................................................67
16.
Differences in Openness Scores between Those Who Indicated a First
Favorite Video Game that was an RPG and Those Whose First Favorite was a
Racing, Shooter, Platform, or Sports Game ...........................................................69
17.
Differences in Openness Scores among Those Who Indicated a
Second Favorite Video Game that was an RPG and Those Whose Second
Favorite was a Racing, Shooter, or Sports Game ...................................................71
xi
18.
Coefficients and Alpha Levels for Three Pearson rs Performed to Examine the
Relationships Between Sex and Preferences for Action, Cognitive, and
Strategy Games ......................................................................................................72
19.
Observed Frequencies for the Chi-Square Performed to Examine the
Relationships between Participants’ Sex and Genres Corresponding to
Participants’ First Favorite Video Games ...............................................................74
20.
Observed Frequencies for the Chi-Square Performed to Examine the
Relationships between Participants’ Sex and Genres Corresponding to
Participants’ Second Favorite Video Games ..........................................................75
21.
Observed Frequencies for the Chi-Square Performed to Examine the
Relationships between Participants’ Sex and Genres Corresponding to
Participants’ Third Favorite Video Games .............................................................76
22.
Chi-Square Statistics and Alpha Levels for Each of Three Chi-Square Tests
Performed to Examine the Relationships between Participants’ Sex and Genres
Corresponding to Participants’ First, Second, and Third Favorite Video
Games ...................................................................................................................77
23.
Observed Frequencies of Male and Female Participants in Each of the Genre
Groups Corresponding to Participants’ First, Second, and Third Favorite Video
Games Examined via One-Way Chi-Square Analyses ...........................................79
24.
Correlation Coefficients and Alpha Levels for Several Pearson rs that
Yielded Statistically Significant Relationships That Were Not Addressed by the
Study’s Hypotheses ................................................................................................82
xii
25.
Descriptive Statistics for All Variables Involved in Significant Relationships
Explored in Addition to Relationships Specifically Addressed in the Hypotheses
of This Study ..........................................................................................................83
26.
Observed Frequencies for the Chi-Square Performed to Examine the
Relationship between Sex and Participants’ Indications That They Would or
Would Not Choose to Spend More Time Playing Video Games if More Free
Time Was Available to Them .................................................................................84
27.
Observed Frequencies for the Chi-Square Performed to Examine the
Relationship between Sex and Participants’ Indications That They Do or Do
Not Only Play Video Games on Facebook or another Similar Social
Networking Site .....................................................................................................85
28.
A Comparison of the Factors Found by Lucas and Sherry (2004) and the
Second-Order Principal Components Found in the Current Study .......................88
xiii
1
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
The first popular home video game, Pong (Atari Inc., 1972), was released on the
Atari console system in 1975 (Funk, 2005). Since then, video games have evolved into a
medium of art [Shadow of the Colossus (SCE Studios Japan, 2005)], storytelling [Final
Fantasy X (Square, 2001)], education [My Spanish Coach (Sensory Sweep, 2007)], and
social networking [World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment, 2004)]. Video games are
now available on a wide variety of systems: computers (PC and Macintosh), hand held
devices (Nintendo DS and Sony PSP), console systems (Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii),
and arcade video game machines. In the literature, games played on personal computers
are referred to as computer games, whereas games played on systems designed for the
sole purpose of playing video games, and in some cases movies, are known as video
games. Throughout this study, the term “video games” will be used and should be taken
to mean any game that is played using either a personal computer or a dedicated gaming
system.
Over the years video games have become a mainstream part of modern culture.
According to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the primary organization
responsible for managing the business and public affairs of many video and computer
game companies in the United States, 67% of American households play video games.
The ESA also reports that 25.1 billion dollars were spent by consumers on video games in
2010 (Entertainment Software Association, 2011). Given the fact that video game use is
2
so prevalent, it is important that research be conducted to examine the correlates of video
game play. To date, there has been much research conducted concerning video game
play; however, the breadth of potential correlates examined in the literature has been
quite limited.
Children and Adolescents
The vast majority of research on video game play has been concerned with the
study of video game playing among children and adolescents (Colwell, 2007; Von
Salisch, Oppl, & Kristen, 2006). This is partially a reflection of the perception that
children and adolescents are impressionable individuals who primarily learn appropriate
social behavior through modeling. Another reason for this focus on children and
adolescents is the stereotype that children are the primary consumers of video games.
When video games were a new form of entertainment in the early 1980’s, the majority of
players were children and adolescents. However, partially due to the aging of these
original gamers and the increasing availability of titles for more mature audiences, today
the average video gamer is 34, and 26% of gamers are over the age of 50 (Entertainment
Software Association, 2011).
Differences between the Sexes
It is also stereotypically thought that male video game players vastly outnumber
female players. Research has consistently shown that males enjoy and play video games
more than do females (Royse, Lee, Undrahbuyan, Hopson, & Consalvo, 2007; Lucas &
Sherry, 2004). However, this trend appears to be diminishing. Current estimates of the
concentration of females among video game players range broadly. In a report published
3
in 2011, the ESA reported that 40% of gamers are female (Entertainment Software
Association, 2011). In contrast to this, other research has found the percentage of female
gamers to be much lower. In a study that sampled 2,000 undergraduate students Terlecki
et. al. (2010) found that only 27% of female participants reported that they were currently
playing video games at the time of the study as compared to 74% of male participants.
Terlecki et al. (2010) also found that males reported having played video games
for a significantly longer time in their lifetimes, with females reporting an average of
having played video games for two to five years and males averaging ten years. This
suggests that females, on average, devote less time to playing video games than do males
but engage in game play nonetheless. Therefore, the distinction between the sexes may
be that males spend more time on average playing video games than do females but that
the sexes are more comparable when simply considering who plays video games and who
does not.
In a study examining the differences in genre preferences between the sexes,
Consalvo and Treat (2002) found that, when given a list of eight common video game
genres and asked to select which ones were their favorites, males tended to list sports,
action/adventure, and simulation as their top three, whereas females tended to list puzzlesolving, platform, and sports as their favorite genres. Boys have also been shown to
prefer fighting/combat games more than girls (Terlecki et. al., 2010). One study (Lucas
& Sherry, 2004) that more exhaustively examined the differences between the sexes in
genre preferences found statistically significant differences between males and females,
with males more strongly preferring fighter, shooter, sports, racing, fantasy/role playing,
4
action/adventure, and strategy games, and females preferring card/dice games, classic
board games, quiz/trivia, puzzle, and arcade games. Research has also shown that males
are more likely to purchase video games with higher violence content and Entertainment
Software Rating Board (ESRB) ratings (the current established system for rating video
game content) than are women (Pryzbylsky, Ryam, & Rigby, 2009). For a more complete
discussion of ESRB ratings please refer to Appendix A. These differences suggest that
males may be more likely to prefer violent, action oriented games, whereas females are
more likely to prefer less violent, more prosocial games.
Violent Video Games
The majority of research regarding video game play has been concerned with the
effects of playing violent video games (VVGs) (Anderson et al., 2004; Ferguson, 2007;
Ferguson & Kilburn, 2010). The rationale given for this focus has often been the fact that
some adolescent perpetrators of violent crimes had histories of playing VVGs (Anderson
et. al., 2004). The most commonly cited instance of this perceived relationship is the
Columbine High School shooting in 1999. The two adolescents who went on a shooting
spree at Columbine High School were known to have been players of violent video
games such as Wolfenstein 3D (Id Software, 1994) and Doom (Id Software, 1993). After
the Columbine shooting, there was much discussion in the popular media that VVGs
were potentially to blame for the actions of these adolescents.
This focus on VVGs in the literature may also be a reflection of the popular
perception that most gamers are male. The thinking appears to be that VVGs provide
testosterone ridden males a platform through which to express violent urges. This in turn
5
is seen as priming them for further aggressive behavior. Research has also shown that
there is a clear publication bias for studies examining the effects of VVGs as opposed to
prosocial, educational, or simply less violent games (Ferguson, 2007). This publication
bias has resulted in a substantial lack of published research pertaining to video games
other than those examining violence and aggression.
Positive Effects of Video Game Play
Video game play has been associated with many positive effects, including the
development of positive attitudes toward the use of technology, computer literacy,
improved cognitive and attention skills (Lucas & Sherry, 2004), and moral development
(Baranowski, Buday, Thompson, & Baranowski, 2008). Relatively recently, games such
as Dance Dance Revolution (Konami TYO, 2001) that require players to control games
through aerobic activity have been providing players with health benefits (Baranowski et
al., 2008). Most studies that have found positive effects resulting from video game play
recognize various different popular genres of video games and tend to focus on games
that are considered prosocial or educational (Gentile et al., 2009). Research has shown
that playing prosocial video games is related to increases in empathy and decreases in
schadenfreude (happiness at the misfortune of others) (Greitemeyer, Osswald, & Brauer,
2010).
One particularly interesting study composed of four experiments exposed
participants to either a prosocial, neutral, or aggressive video game and measured intergroup differences in prosocial behavior (Greitemeyer & Osswald, 2010). In the first
experiment a confederate dropped a jar of pencils and recorded whether participants
6
voluntarily helped collect them or not. Sixty seven percent of those who played a
prosocial game helped the confederate as compared to only 33% of those who played a
neutral game and 28% of those who played an aggressive game. In the second
experiment, after playing either a prosocial or neutral video game, participants were
asked if they would be willing to participate in future research and how much time they
could give. One hundred percent of participants in the prosocial video game group said
that they were willing to participate in future research as compared to 68% of those who
played the neutral game. Participants in the prosocial video game group also indicated
that they would be willing to devote more time to a future study than did those in the
neutral game group.
In the third experiment, after participants had played a prosocial or neutral video
game for eight minutes, a confederate posing as an angry boyfriend entered the
experimental room and verbally and physically harassed the female experimenter. In this
experiment prosocial behavior was defined as participants making verbal or physical
efforts to intervene and help the researcher. Fifty six percent of participants in the
prosocial video game condition helped the researcher as compared to 22% of those in the
neutral condition. In the fourth experiment participants were given the opportunity to
write down what they were thinking while playing either a prosocial or neutral video
game. Those who played a prosocial game displayed significantly more prosocial
thoughts (M = 1.26, SD = 1.15) than those who played a neutral game (M = 0.06, SD =
0.24) (Greitemeyer & Osswald, 2010).
7
Classification of Video Game Types
Surprisingly few studies have been performed to examine the validity and
accuracy of current video game genre classifications (Apperley, 2006). For research to
succeed in examining the correlates of video game play it is essential for there to be an
accurate system of video game classification. Without such a system, researchers are left
without a valid and reliable means of distinguishing any one video game from another.
In his insightful article, Apperley (2006) argued that the current genre
classification system used for video games is inefficient and flawed in that it is based on
genre classifications of films and other narrative media forms. In his paper, Apperley
discusses the two opposing camps in this debate. “Narratologists” hold that video games
should be defined based on their narrative whereas “ludologists” hold that video games
should be classified by other features unique to video games such as the rules and action
of play. The current video game classification system primarily uses a ludological
approach and categorizes video games mostly based on the ways they are played. This
can be confusing, as two games can share the same genre but be extremely different in
many regards. For example The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (Nintendo, 2003) and
Resident Evil 5 (Capcom, 2005) are both classified as action/adventure games. The
Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (Nintendo, 2003) follows the story of a young hero
who primarily fights enemies with a sword on his way to save a princess. The game
world is vast and open, allowing players to explore, find treasures, and complete quests
on the way to the ultimate goal of saving the princess. This game has relatively low
violence content and places as much emphasis on puzzle solving as it does combat.
8
Resident Evil 5 (Capcom, 2005) on the other hand, is the story of a military weapons
company that designs a virus that turns people into mutated monstrosities. Game play is
relatively linear, requiring players to follow a designated sequence of unfolding events.
Players use guns to shoot gruesome monsters, and there is a significant element of fright
and horror. These two games share the same genre but are strikingly different in many
regards. This reflects one of the problems with the current video game classification
system. Reflecting the ludologist approach, current video game genres are intended to
tell players what kind of game play they can expect from any particular game, but tell
them nothing about the graphic and narrative content of a game. From a narratologist
perspective, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (Nintendo, 2003) would likely be
categorized as a drama whereas Resident Evil 5 (Capcom, 2005) would likely be
considered a horror.
The current video game classification system arranges video games into different
“genres” based on the ways games are played. There is much disagreement as to how
many distinct genres exist and what should be considered inclusion criteria for each
genre. Some researchers have argued for the existence of as few as three distinct genres
(Lucas & Sherry, 2004) whereas others have argued for the existence of as many as 42
(Wolf, 2001). In an attempt to solve this problem, many individuals conceptualize video
game categories in the form of super-genres and sub-genres. Many games within a genre
have conceptual differences that qualify them as belonging to various sub-genres. For
example, the relatively broad super-genre of puzzle games encompasses all games that
primarily require players to solve puzzles. However, there are many puzzle games that
9
specifically involve the arrangement of letters and words, such as Words with Friends
(Newtoy, 2010) and Bookworm Deluxe (PopCap Games, 2005). These games could be
considered to belong to a sub-genre known as “word puzzles.” In a manner similar to
this, Apperley (2006) named four main genres (simulation, strategy, action, and role
playing games) and gave each of them various sub genres. Zammitto (2010) did this in
her study as well by creating sub genres of action-no shooting, action-shooting, and
action-fighting for the super genre action.
A comprehensive description of all possible genres is beyond the scope of this
study. In place of an exhaustive description, only the most popular genres will be
described here. The ESA (2010) reported that the top selling super genres in 2009 were
(in order of popularity): sports, action, family entertainment, shooter, racing, adventure,
strategy, role-playing, fighting, children's entertainment, flight, and arcade. As some of
the most popular, these genres would be recognized and understood by most experienced
gamers.
Of these 12 most popular genres, family entertainment, arcade, and children's
entertainment are the easiest to define. Family entertainment games are those that are
intended to be played by families. These games involve light competition and usually
take the form of board game type games such as Mario Party 8 (Hudson Soft, 2007).
Children's entertainment games include all games that are intended solely for the
consumption of children. These games are simplistic, contain very little violence, if any,
and typically take the form of interactive stories tied to popular movies or television
shows. Arcade games are characterized as being simple, skill based games where players
10
play through levels of progressing difficulty. Unlike many other games, arcade games
require very little time commitment. The name “Arcade” may imply to some readers that
these games are only found on arcade machines. This is not true. The genre arcade was
named so in reflection of the fact that most games found in arcades in the early days of
video games shared many qualities with those included in the genre, namely, that they are
short, simple, and require little time commitment. Some Arcade games include Angry
Birds (Rovio, 2009) and Ms. Pac-Man for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System
(Williams Entertainment Inc., 1996).
Sports games such as Madden NFL 12 (Tiburon, 2011) allow players to play
simulations of various athletic sports. These games usually require players to manage
several characters and are often played in multiplayer mode with multiple players
controlling different teams (Smith, 2006). Racing games such as Dirt 3 (Codemasters,
2011) simulate the experience of racing and allow players to control a vehicle through
which they race other players to a finish line (Smith, 2006). Flight games, more
commonly referred to as “flight simulators”, simulate the experience of flying by
allowing players to control an airplane, spaceship, or other flying machine.
Some, including Zammitto (2010), argue that flight and racing games belong to a
much broader super genre referred to as “simulation.” Simulation games are those that
attempt to simulate, as closely as possible, real life situations. Some simulation games
include Nintendogs: Lab and Friends (Nintendo, 2005), where players are given a pet dog
which they are required to care for, and The Sims (Maxis, 2000), where players control
every detail in the lives of several characters. Sports games could arguably be included
11
in the super genre of simulation games because they simulate the experience of being a
sports player and/or managing a sports team.
Fighting games require players to fight their way through several adversaries on
their way to an end goal. Fighting games embody an odd dichotomy in that they are
some of the simplest games to play yet also some of the hardest to play well. Fighting
games such as Street Fighter IV (Capcom, 2009) primarily require players to push
sequences of buttons to carry out various attacks on opponents. This means that just
about anyone can pick up a fighting game, push random buttons, and experience a
relative degree of success playing the game. For this reason, fighting games are often
referred to as “button mashers.” However, doing well, and often times succeeding in
completing the end goal in fighting games is contingent upon mastering sequences of
timed button presses.
Shooters, as a genre, represent games which primarily require players to shoot
things. This is conceptually distinct from fighting games where players primarily use
hand to hand combat and weapons such as swords and sticks (Smith, 2006). Shooters are
generally sorted into the sub genres first-person shooter and third-person shooter. In first
person shooters players play from the visual perspective of the character, as if the player
were looking out into the game world through the character's eyes. Third-person
shooters, on the other hand, give players a bird's eye view of the battlefield and require
players to aim on two dimensions (up/down and left/right) as contrasted to first-person
shooters which require players to aim and navigate in three dimensional space.
12
Adventure games are typically described as those where players control a
character who sets out on an adventure. In these games, players are faced with smaller
goals or quests on their way to completing an end goal. Unlike many other genres,
adventure games often place an emphasis on exploration of an open game world (Wolf,
2008, p. 81). This definition is broad and can conceptually be applied to several games
that end up in other genre categories, specifically action games and RPG games.
Action games are defined as those that require players to take on the role of a
protagonist who they must guide through a series of physical challenges. Action games
are typically arranged into levels of progressing difficulty that players must complete in
order to reach an end goal. Typically Action games have a “boss” or enemy who is more
difficult than the average at the end of every level. Much like adventure games, action
games are defined broadly and include the sub-genres fighting, shooter, platform, and real
time strategy. Fighting, shooter, and real time strategy games are discussed elsewhere in
this paper. Platform games can be briefly described as those which require players to
navigate an avatar through obstacles. This primarily takes the form of players jumping
from one platform to another. One of the most famous video games ever, Super Mario
Brothers (Nintendo R&D4, 1985) is a platform game.
Quite often adventure games have aspects of action games, and vice versa. In an
attempt to resolve this, the genre action/adventure was created. Action/adventure games
embody qualities of both action and adventure genres. Players control a character who
sets out on an adventure, overcoming obstacles on the way to an end goal, and game play
is characterized as being action oriented, typically with an emphasis on combat in some
13
form (Smith, 2006). Games in the action/adventure genre include God of War 3 (SCE
Studios Santa Monica, 2010) and Tomb Raider for the PlayStation 3 (Crystal Dynamics,
2012).
One of the most recognized yet poorly understood video game genres is role
playing games (RPGs). The most defining characteristics of RPGs are that they place a
heavy emphasis on players completing quests, and “leveling up” their character(s)
(Smith, 2006). Characters in these games have attributes such as strength, defense,
stamina, and health points that are set at certain values at the beginning of the game. As
players progress through the game they gain “experience points” through completing
quests and defeating enemies. Once players reach a designated amount of experience
points they “level up” and their character(s) gain a permanent increase in their attributes.
It is this leveling up of a character that is usually thought of as the hallmark of RPG
games.
For many players, leveling up is a primary motivator for playing RPGs. Some
RPGs even require players to engage in what is known as “level grinding”; spending a
significant amount of time doing nothing but battling enemies for the purpose of leveling
up a character. Many players would say that another thing that sets RPGs apart from
other games is that they typically have intricate story lines and involve a significant
amount of reading in the form of character dialogue. These characteristics are not unique
to RPGs but are undoubtedly more common among them. Many RPGs also have
characteristics that are typical of other genres. One such game “Mass Effect” (BioWare,
2007) is considered by most to be an RPG because it places heavy emphasis on the
14
completion of quests, leveling up characters, and has an intricate storyline. However, in
this game, players largely interact with the game world through shooting things with
guns. In this way, Mass Effect (Bioware, 2007) could be considered a shooter. However,
in general, if a game has a system of leveling or evolving a character's attributes, and
involves the completion of quests, it is typically considered to be an RPG.
One of the more recent additions to video game genres is massively multiplayer
online (MMO) games such as World of Warcraft (WOW) (Blizzard Entertainment, 2004)
and Guild Wars (ArenaNet, 2005). MMOs are video games which people play over the
internet with unprecedented numbers of other players physically located across the globe.
MMOs provide an interesting mix of competitive and cooperative play that did not exist
before the genre came into being (Cole & Griffiths, 2007). In their MMO play, players
can join with other members in personal alliances or larger organized groups referred to
as “guilds.” Players can also engage in what is called “player versus player” (PVP) and
attack, sometimes even hunt other players for bounty. Thus, MMOs provide a social
outlet that can create lasting friendships between people over the internet and in some
cases in person. Most commonly seen in the form of massively multiplayer RPGs or
MMORPGS, MMOs have been the focus of much video game addiction research in
recent years (Charlton & Danforth, 2007; Peters & Melesky, 2008). Peters and Melesky
(2008) found addictive MMO behavior to be correlated with agreeableness, neuroticism,
and extraversion. MMOs are of interest to the current study due to the potential for
players to engage in relatively more prosocial play and the juxtaposition of that prosocial
play with competitive play and the formation of in versus out groups.
15
There has been very little research conducted on the classification validity of
many popular genres. One study used an intuitive approach to genre classification that
was replicated in part in the current study (Lucas & Sherry, 2004). In their study on sex
differences in video game play, Lucas and Sherry (2004) composed a list of 13 common
genres. Along with their other testing measures, they gave subjects this genre list
accompanied by short descriptions of each genre and asked them to rate their liking of
each on a 7 point Likert scale. After data collection was completed, Lucas and Sherry
performed a factor analysis of subjects' scores for different genres and derived three
factors they then used as the three levels of their genre variable. The three factors were
labeled “traditional” (puzzle, card/dice, quiz/trivia, and classic board games), “physical
enactment” (fighter, shooter, sports, and racing games), and “imagination” (role playing,
action/adventure, simulation, and strategy games) (Lucas & Sherry, 2004).
Another author, Zammitto (2010), attempted to validate a classification system
more comparable to the current genre system. In her study, Zammitto constructed an
inventory designed to measure preferences for several video game types (action-shooting,
action-no shooting, action-fighting, sports, simulation-vehicle, simulation–artificial
intelligence, adventure, puzzle, and online). Zammitto's inventory breaks these types
down into their various conceptual components which participants then indicate their
preferences for, using a four point Likert scale. Scoring is achieved through obtaining
composite scores of the components pertaining to each video game type. Most other
studies that examine preferences for different video game types simply define several
game types and then ask participants to rate their preference for each one. Zammitto's
16
study is the only one that was found during the literature review phase of this study that
attempted to divide video game types into their various descriptors.
Personality and Video Game Preferences
When an individual chooses to play a video game, that person is often making a
conscious decision to dedicate a significant portion of time to one activity. The decision
to engage in any behavior is affected by situational constructs such as mood, and
consistent constructs such as personality (Hartmann & Klimmt, 2006). A person who is
feeling depressed may be more likely to choose a video game with dark undertones as
compared to someone who is feeling happy. However, much as individuals show
consistent favor for certain movie or book genres, individuals tend to make consistent
choices in video games as well (Hartmann & Klimmt, 2006). It is plausible that this
enduring choice pattern is the result of personality. It follows then that choice of video
games may be a reflection of enduring personality traits. A person who is high in trait
competitiveness may, for example, show a consistent preference for games that give
him/her the opportunity to express that competitiveness (Hartmann & Klimmt, 2006).
This supposition is dependent upon the idea of functional equivalency (Hartmann
& Klimmt, 2006). Functional equivalency refers to the phenomenon of an object or
behavior having a similar cognitive meaning to an individual as another object or
behavior. A competitive person may not be interested in competitive video games if
engaging in such play does not have the same cognitive meaning to him or her as other
outlets of competitive expression. Just as an individual may be competitive in sports but
not in chess, so too can personality traits result in different behaviors when it comes to
17
video game play than might be exhibited in other situations (Hartmann & Klimmt, 2006).
A good example of this was demonstrated in a study by Bushman and Whitaker (2010) in
which belief in a cathartic effect of playing violent video games was found to be
positively related to participants’ attraction to such games. This example demonstrates
the idea of functional equivalency by essentially showing that angry people are likely to
engage in violent video game play if they believe that doing so will offer them the same
kind of relief they believe other aggressive expressions might. In this way, the choice to
play video games has much to do with what a person expects to get out of doing so.
Some video game players cite the expectation that playing games will help them to
recover from work related fatigue and daily hassles as their primary reason for playing
video or computer games (Reinecke, 2009).
Two other factors that may affect the cognitive meaning of video game play are
the phenomena of wishful identification (Konijn, Bijvank, & Bushman, 2007) and
telepresence (Lachlan & Maloney, 2008). In one interesting study by Konijn, Bijvank,
and Bushman (2007), 99 Dutch adolescent males (mean age = 14 years) were partnered
with confederate opponents after playing a video game for 20 minutes. The adolescents
were given a control they were told would punish their opponents with a loud blast of
noise. Results of the study indicated that the amount of punishment administered to
opponents was significantly affected by wishful identification with a violent character.
Adolescents who played a violent video game and experienced wishful identification
toward a violent character were the most aggressive toward their opponents and even
administered punishments they were told would cause permanent hearing damage. Social
18
learning theory holds that observing and modeling play a significant role in childhood
development (Bandura, 1977). As such, wishful identification with violent video game
characters may affect the shaping of children’s personalities. Such identification may be
predictive of future behavior, including patterns of violent video game use (Cohen, 2001).
According to the ESA (2011) adult video game players in the United States have on
average played video games for 12 years of their lives. As such a longstanding presence
in people’s lives, video games may play a role in the formation, modification, and
maintenance of personality.
In addition to the importance of wishful identification, Konijn, Bijvank, and
Bushman (2007) also noted that adolescent participants were more likely to identify with
violent characters in video games they felt immersed in. Through narrative, realistic
environments, and direct control of a protagonist, video games allow players to
temporarily immerse themselves in the worlds of the games they play. This immersion,
where one feels more like one is existing in a media environment than in one’s own
environment, has been termed “presence” or “telepresence” (Lachlan & Maloney, 2008).
Depending on their subjective telepresence, players come to identify themselves with
characters while they are playing and temporarily experience an alteration of selfperception through association with the character. Players associate with a character’s
desirable traits and experience themselves as having such traits themselves (Klimmt,
Hefner, & Vorderer, 2009). Personality may affect the extent to which players consider
character traits to be desirable and concurrently affect their patterns of video game
choice.
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The Affect-Dependent Theory of Stimulus Arrangement
Freud’s psychosexual theory of personality places emphasis on drive reduction
and holds that behaviors that result in drive reduction are likely to be repeated and
eventually become an integral part of personality (Tyson & Tyson, 1990). Indeed,
Freud’s psychosexual stages are primarily concerned with the ability of individuals to
effect drive reduction throughout each stage (Engler, 2003). One theory applicable to
selective video game exposure that is based on the idea of emotional regulation and drive
reduction is known as the affect-dependent theory of stimulus arrangement (Bryant &
Davies, 2006). The basic premise of the theory is that individuals selectively expose
themselves to media based on their drives and emotions at the time of choosing to engage
in game play. The theory is dependent upon the drive reduction idea that individuals
strive toward reducing and avoiding negative stimuli/outcomes and increasing the
occurrence of positive outcomes.
The affect-dependent theory of stimulus arrangement involves four primary
elements: excitatory homeostasis, hedonic valence, intervention potential, and messagebehavioral affinity (Bryant & Davies, 2006). Excitatory homeostasis refers to the idea
that individuals base their media choices on optimal levels of arousal. According to this
thinking, individuals who are highly excited are more likely to choose video games that
are relaxing so that they may attain a more homeostatic excitatory state, whereas
individuals who are bored may choose games that are higher in excitatory content to
counteract their boredom and establish excitatory homeostasis. Intervention potential
refers to the ability of a message to capture and hold a person’s attention. It has been
20
postulated that highly engaging messages can disrupt cognitive rehearsals related to
emotions and thereby reduce the perceived intensity of those emotions (Bryant & Davies,
2006). Message-behavioral affinity refers to the similarity between the content of the
media being consumed and the affect of the individual. It has been shown that messages
that have a high degree of similarity to individual affect have a lower chance of altering
that affect than do messages that are dissimilar to the individual’s affect. As such, people
who are in a bad mood may be more likely to choose video games that are more light
hearted and prosocial in an attempt to diminish the negative feelings experienced at that
time. The last component of affect-dependent theory is hedonic valence, which refers to
the extent to which a message is positive or negative. The affect-dependent theory of
stimulus arrangement holds that messages of hedonic value opposite to that of a person’s
current affect will reduce that affect. In this way, a person who is depressed may choose
to play a video game that is uplifting and happy to change his/her depressive mood.
Video games, being high in hedonic valence, are easy sources for individuals to turn to
for pleasure and mood regulation (Bryant & Davies, 2006).
Measures of Personality
The main goal of the current study is to test whether personality traits correlate
with predictable patterns of selective exposure to several types of video games. The
primary means of accomplishing this goal was through correlating reported video game
type preferences with subjects' five factor model (FFM) personality traits as measured by
the NEO-Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) (Costa & McCrae, 1992) and with subjects'
scores on six scales from the California Psychological Inventory (CPI) (Gough, 1987).
21
The six CPI (Gough, 1987) scales used were: dominance, empathy, intellectual efficiency,
self-acceptance, self-control, and socialization.
The Five Factor Model of Personality
The (FFM) represents a common belief among personality researchers that
personality as measured on most inventories can be reduced to five global personality
factors (Costa & McCrae, 1985; O'Connor, 2002). The five factors of the FFM have been
labeled agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism, and openness to
experience. In a study by O'Connor (2002) examining the universality of the FFM across
personality inventories, factor analyses were performed on 28 popular personality
inventories including the Italian version of the 16 Personality Factor (16PF) (Cattell,
Eber, & Tatsuoka, 1970), the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) (Myers & McCaulley,
1985), and the basic scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
(Hathaways & McKinley, 1983). The results of O'Connor's study showed that 26 of the
28 personality inventories examined could be reduced to five primary factors that closely
resembled those of the FFM, and that the FFM was able to account for an average of
38.8% of the scale variance across inventories. When compared to a mean of 50.1% of
the variability being accounted for by the inventories examined, one can see that some
data are being lost when reducing other inventories to match the FFM, but the
commonality is substantial nonetheless (O'Connor, 2002). The FFM has been found to be
robust across a wide range of ages, sexes, and cultures (Markey & Markey, 2010).
There has been much debate concerning how best to describe the five dimensions
of the FFM (McCrae & John, 1992). It is important to note that researchers have
22
experienced difficulty coming to a consensus regarding how the five factors should be
described due to linguistic challenges. Statistical data obtained through factor analysis
have offered clear support for the concept that personality as measured by most
inventories can be reduced to five conceptually orthogonal factors (O'Connor, 2002). The
difficulty in defining these factors arises through limitations of the language they are
being described with. Just as one might have difficulty explaining the color of the sky to
someone in a language that does not have a word for blue, so too can describing the five
factors be difficult because the English language lacks adjectives that would adequately
describe them in their entirety (McCrae & John, 1992).
Of the five factors, neuroticism is the most agreed upon in definition and is
generally conceptualized as “individual differences in the tendency to experience distress,
and in the cognitive and behavioral styles that follow from this tendency” (McCrae &
John, 1992, p. 1954). Individuals who score high on neuroticism tend be prone to
psychopathology stemming from self-consciousness, guilt, depression, and other negative
psychopathological symptoms. Those who score low on neuroticism are seen as being
calm and even tempered but not necessarily high in psychological health (McCrae &
John, 1992).
Extraversion has a far broader definition and can be thought of as
“venturesomeness, affiliation, positive affectivity, energy, ascendance, and ambition”
(McCrae & John, 1992, p. 196). Individuals who score high on extraversion display
higher levels of these traits than do those who score low. The latter may be seen as
withdrawn, shy, and quiet. Extraversion is often simplified as being a measure of
23
sociability. However, individuals with high scores on extraversion tend to exhibit
personality traits that are somewhere between warmth and dominance. It is this tendency
toward dominance that undermines the simplistic view of extraversion being a measure of
sociability. To counteract the simplification of extraversion as being synonymous with
sociability, many researchers have come to describe extraversion as primarily being a
measure of positive emotion (McCrae & John, 1992).
Agreeableness and conscientiousness are two of the most easily described traits.
A high score on agreeableness indicates a person who is friendly, altruistic, and caring,
whereas a low score is indicative of a person who is the exact opposite: cold, hostile, and
self-centered. Agreeableness is often simplified as being a measure of “good” versus
“evil”, although, to avoid using such loaded terms, it may be more appropriate to refer to
the polar extremes as being prosocial versus antisocial (McCrae & John, 1992).
Similar to agreeableness, conscientiousness has clearly definable polar opposites.
A high score on conscientiousness indicates a person who is driven and motivated to
achieve whereas a low score indicates a person who is impulsive and experiences
difficulty tolerating delayed gratification. The polar extremes of conscientiousness can
be described simply as “strong willed” versus “weak willed” (McCrae & John, 1992).
The extent to which an individual is able to tolerate delayed gratification and/or is weak
or strong willed may relate to an individual's ability to tolerate boredom and other such
unpleasant situations. Those who are “weak willed” or low in ability to tolerate delayed
gratification may be more likely to play video games as a method of self-regulation
(Hartmann & Klimmt, 2006). As mentioned earlier in the discussion of the affect-
24
dependent theory of stimulus arrangement and hedonic valence, video games may serve
as a way for some individuals to emotionally regulate themselves. Through the hedonic
value of video games, individuals who have difficulty tolerating delayed gratification or
prolonged moments of boredom may be more attracted to video games than others.
The final factor, openness to experience, is the hardest to describe. Many people
think of this factor as representing intelligence because individuals who score high in
openness are characterized as being creative, having unconventional thoughts and values,
and having wide interests (McCrae & John, 1992). Although this may at face value
appear to indicate that openness is related to intelligence, low scores do not necessarily
indicate that someone is less intelligent than one who scores high on openness.
Individuals who score low on openness are seen as being more conventional in thought
and behavior and less appreciative of aesthetics and differing perspectives.
As mentioned earlier, there has been relatively little research conducted
investigating the effects of personality on video game play, with the exception of the
study of violent video games and aggression (Anderson et al., 2004; Ferguson, 2007;
Ferguson & Kilburn, 2010). Research has shown that the FFM traits measured by the
NEO-FFI (Costa & McCrae, 1992) act as moderators of VVG selection tendencies and
the effects that exposure to VVGs have on aggressive behavior. Chory and Goodboy
(2011) found openness and extraversion to be positively related to violent video game
selection tendencies and agreeableness and neuroticism to be negatively correlated with
the tendency to select VVGs. Interestingly, neuroticism appears to be positively
correlated with aggressive behavior post exposure to VVGs (Markey & Markey, 2010).
25
These findings suggest that those who score low on neuroticism are more likely to select
VVGs and less likely to display aggressive behavior after playing them than are those
who score high on neuroticism; whereas those who score high on neuroticism are less
likely to select VVGs but more likely to display aggressive behavior after playing them.
Conscientiousness and agreeableness have been found to be negatively correlated with
aggressive behavior after playing a VVG (Markey & Markey, 2010).
Bruggeman and Barry (2002) found that their test subjects who were high in
psychoticism showed a tendency toward preferences for violent movies. Psychoticism
has been found to be negatively correlated with the FFM traits of agreeableness and
conscientiousness (McCrae & Costa, 2002). This finding may suggest that individuals
low in agreeableness and conscientiousness may choose violent video games more often
than others. In general, research has shown that trait aggression is positively related to
neuroticism and negatively related to agreeableness (Sharpe & Desai, 2001).
In the literature relevant to video game selection patterns, the FFM is one of the
more common forms of personality assessment used. One study conducted by Zammitto
(2010) examined the relationship between personality as measured by the NEO-FFI
(Costa & McCrae, 1992) and 12 conceptual video game genres: action-fighting, action-no
shooting, action-shooting, adventure, artificial intelligence simulation, construction
simulation, puzzle, real time strategy, role playing, sports, turn based strategy, and vehicle
simulation. Zammitto found neuroticism to be a significant predictor of preference for
shooters, action-no shooting, fighting, and sports games. Extraversion was found to be a
significant predictor of preference for these same genres, as well as for online play.
26
Openness to experience was found to be significantly negatively related to preference for
shooters, sports, and online play and positively related to preference for simulation,
adventure, and puzzle games. Agreeableness was found to have a significant negative
relationship to preferences for shooters, action-non shooters, fighting, sports, and online
games while being positively related to preference for adventure games. Lastly,
Zammitto's study found a significant positive relationship between conscientiousness and
preference for action-non shooters and puzzle games and a negative relationship between
conscientiousness and driving games.
The California Psychological Inventory
The FFM is a data reduction approach to personality assessment. Although it is
true that factor analysis has shown the five factors of the model to be consistent across
many personality inventories, some more specifiable data is lost in reducing personality
to five broad facets (O'Connor, 2002). To assess comparatively more specific personality
traits, the California Psychological Inventory (CPI) (Gough, 1987) was administered to
measure subjects' loadings on six scales of interest to this study. The six scales that were
used were dominance, self-acceptance, empathy, socialization, self-control, and
intellectual efficiency.
For the most part, the personality structures represented by each of these scales
can be inferred by their titles. Individuals who score high on dominance are assertive,
confident, and dominant, whereas those who score low on dominance are unassuming
and passive. Individuals who score high on empathy are generally well accepted by
others, comfortable about themselves, and able to understand/empathize with the feelings
27
of other individuals. Low scores on empathy are characteristic of individuals who are
relatively unempathic and uncomfortable in many social situations. High scores on
intellectual efficiency are associated with individuals who are efficient in intellectual
tasks and are able to maintain focus on them where other individuals might get bored or
discouraged. Low scores on intellectual efficiency are indicative of individuals who have
a hard time starting projects or tasks and following them out to completion. Individuals
who score high on self-acceptance have good opinions of themselves and see themselves
as personally attractive and talented whereas those who score low on self-acceptance
doubt themselves, readily accept blame, and often think that others are better than they
are. Individuals who score high on self-control are very controlling of their emotions and
see themselves as self-disciplined, whereas those who score low on self-control voice
their frustrations when annoyed or angry and have strong emotions that they make little
attempt to hide. Lastly, high scores on socialization are characteristic of individuals who
readily conform and accept rules and regulations whereas those who score low on
socialization are unconventional and resist rules and conformity (Gough, 1987).
Many video games are highly competitive in nature. Because of this, the CPI
(Gough, 1987) scale of dominance, in which high scorers are described as being
confident and dominant, is of interest to this study. Research has shown that individuals
high in competitiveness show only slightly more competitive behavior in video games
unless they are motivated to compete within the game (Vorderer, Hartmann & Klimmt,
2003). However, highly competitive video game players have been shown to have a
tendency toward playing competitive video game genres such as real time strategy and
28
shooter games (Hartmann & Klimmt, 2006). This suggests that individuals high in
dominance may prefer video games characterized as competitive. Five popular genres
that are typically competitive are racing, first-person shooter, fighting, real-time strategy,
and online games.
The abundance of research that has found that video game play increases
aggressive cognition and behavior suggests that video game play may correlate with the
CPI (Gough, 1987) self-control scale in which low scores describe individuals who have
strong emotions and feelings and have difficulty controlling them (Ferguson, 2007;
Ferguson & Kilburn, 2010: Gough & Bradley, 1996). This suggests that individuals low
in self-control may be more likely to turn to video games as a means of emotional
regulation. Such individuals may prefer action oriented games such as shooters, fighting,
and racing games as an outlet for uncontrollable emotions. Online video games allow
players to communicate with other people without being in the same physical space as
them. Individuals low in emotional regulation may be more likely to play online games
because they provide them with a format to express uncontrollable emotions without fear
of reprisal.
Use of the CPI (Gough, 1987) empathy scale is justified by findings that show
that exposure to violent video games is negatively related to empathy (Barlett, Anderson,
& Swing, 2009; Funk et al., 2004). This suggests that individuals low in empathy may be
more likely to prefer video game genres that typically contain more violence than are
individuals high in empathy. First-person shooters and fighters are two such genres.
29
As there has been limited research conducted concerning the relationship between
personality and video game preferences, there appears to be no research available to
justify using the CPI (Gough, 1987) scales of intellectual efficiency, self-acceptance, and
socialization. However, the inclusion of these scales can be justified through
consideration of the affect-dependent theory of stimulus arrangement. In many ways,
video games provide players with immediate gratification. Through playing video games
high in hedonic valence and intervention potential, players can readily regulate their
moods and emotions through video game play. Players can also regulate excitatory
homeostasis through video game play (Bryant & Davies, 2006). Intellectual efficiency is
related to an individual's ability to stay on task, follow through to completion of a task,
and not get bored or discouraged. Given this definition, it seems reasonable to suggest
that intellectual efficiency may be related to ability to delay gratification. Through
immediate gratification and affect regulation, video game play may reduce an individual's
ability to tolerate delayed gratification. This would in turn make an individual more
susceptible to boredom and becoming discouraged when faced with tasks that require
perseverance. This suggests that individuals high in intellectual efficiency may prefer
video games that require mental focus and perseverance through completion of tasks such
as puzzle and music games, whereas those low in intellectual efficiency may prefer
games that provide more immediate feedback and are more action oriented such as those
in the popular genres action, action/adventure, fighting, racing, and shooter.
Socialization can be similarly justified for inclusion in this study. Individuals who
score low on socialization are unconventional, resist rules, and experience difficulty
30
conforming. Many popular video game genres such as role playing games (RPG) and
simulation offer players the ability to freely explore a virtual world, without ties to any
particular rules or regulations. Perhaps individuals low on socialization would prefer
these types of video games because they allow players to operate outside of conventional
rules. A significant portion of current video game play occurs over the internet. Playing
in this way allows individuals to reach out to other players and establish meaningful
relationships that can turn into friendships. It seems reasonable to think that individuals
low in socialization might be attracted to the safety of anonymity and indirect
communication inherent in internet relations and thereby prefer online games more than
others.
Individuals who score low on self-acceptance readily doubt themselves and tend
to think that others are better than they are. This suggests that such individuals may be
less likely to prefer competitive genres such as fighting, racing, real-time strategy, online
games, and shooter than are those who are high in self-acceptance. It seems reasonable
to suggest that individuals low in self-acceptance might isolate themselves from others.
Similar to those low in socialization, individuals low in self-acceptance may prefer online
games because they allow them to interact with other individuals without being in the
same physical space as them.
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The Present Study
The present study replicated many aspects of the studies by Zammitto (2010) and
Lucas and Sherry (2004). The present study used a modified version of Zammitto's
(2010) Gaming Preferences Questionnaire to measure preferences for different types of
video games. This was done in an attempt to create a more sophisticated and accurate
means of measuring video game preferences than has been used in most previous studies.
Much like Lucas and Sherry (2004), after obtaining measures of participants' video game
preferences, the present study used principal components analysis to examine empirically
the existence of differing video game types. To date, there is a clear lack of empirically
derived video game categories in the literature. Principle components analysis was
performed in an attempt to aid in furthering the understanding of the existence of distinct
video game types. Because Zammitto’s questionnaire was constructed as a collection of
various video game descriptors, it is important to note that the results yielded by the
current study’s principal components analysis demonstrate sets of descriptors that tend to
be preferred together. As such, it is more accurate to think of the current study’s video
game types as groupings of descriptors that appear to be distinct from each other.
Throughout this study the term “video game types” should be read as meaning distinct
groupings of video game descriptors.
In addition to examining video game preferences, the present study examined the
relationships between several personality variables and preferences for different types of
video games. Similar to Zammitto (2010), the present study employed the use of the
NEO-FFI (Costa & McCrae, 1992) to measure openness, conscientiousness, extraversion,
32
agreeableness, and neuroticism. In addition to this, the CPI (Gough, 1987) was used to
measure dominance, empathy, intellectual efficiency, self-acceptance, self-control, and
socialization. The relationships between these personality variables and the video game
types resulting from the principal components analysis were then examined. Similar to
Zammitto (2010), the current study also asked participants to indicate their top three
video games of all time. Zammitto used this information to validate her Gaming
Preferences Questionnaire by comparing the genres of these top three favorites to the
preferred genres indicated by her measurement in a small sub-sample of participants. In
the current study, the relationships between genres corresponding to participants' top
three favorite games and the measured NEO-FFI (Costa & McCrae, 1992) and CPI
(Gough, 1987) personality variables were examined. This was done as a contingency for
the possibility that the principle components analysis yielded no significant results.
In addition to examining the relationships between personality and preferences for
different types of video games, the present study also examined the relationships between
sex and video game preferences. Many previous studies have examined the relationship
between sex and video game preferences (Consalvo and Treat, 2002; Lucas & Sherry,
2004; Terlecki et. al., 2010). Previous studies have focused almost exclusively on the
differences between the sexes in preferences for violent and/or prosocial video games.
The present study differs from these previous studies in that it examines sex differences
in preferences for all video game types regardless of their violence content or prosocial
play.
33
Statement of Problem
Previous research on video games is lacking in empirically supported means of
classifying video games into differing categories. As a result, it is difficult to measure
individual video game preferences with any degree of certainty. Possibly due to this
absence of a reliable and valid means of measuring video game preferences, there is a
notable lack of research to date that has been performed examining the relationships
between personality and video game preferences. Previous research examining the
relationships between personality and video game preferences has almost exclusively
focused on preferences for violent video games. Similarly, very little research has been
performed examining the relationships between sex and video game preferences beyond
the exclusive consideration of violent or prosocial games. Because video games have
become such a pervasive part of our modern world, played by individuals of all ages, it is
important that research be conducted examining the relationships between personality
and video game play.
Statement of Purpose
The purpose of this study was to examine empirically the existence of distinct
video game categories and to investigate the relationships between preferences for those
categories and several personality traits as measured by the NEO-FFI (Costa & McCrae,
1992) and the CPI (Gough, 1987). Additionally, the present study aimed to examine the
relationships between sex and these video game categories. With the exception of violent
video games, very little research has been conducted examining the relationships between
personality and video game preferences and sex and video game preferences. In addition,
34
previous research has lacked an accurate means of measuring video game preferences.
The current study furthers knowledge in these areas.
Hypotheses
Hypothesis 1
Principle components analysis will yield results indicating the existence of fewer
independent video game types than are currently in popular use. Based on the lowest
estimate found in the literature (Lucas & Sherry, 2004), it is expected that no fewer than
three distinct types of video games will be identified
Hypothesis 2
Based on personality traits as measured by the NEO-FFI (Costa & McCrae, 1992)
and the CPI (Gough, 1987), individuals will differ in their preferences for the video game
types yielded by principle components analysis and in the genres corresponding to their
top three favorite video games. Because the video game types yielded by the current
study’s principal components analysis may differ from the video game categories
examined in other studies, it is difficult to predict how individuals will differ in their
preferences for these types of video games. In this way hypothesis two is exploratory in
nature. Despite this, it is specifically hypothesized that dominance, neuroticism, and
conscientiousness will be positively related to preferences for action oriented games and
that empathy, intellectual efficiency, and self-control will be positively related to
preferences for games that place emphasis on puzzles and other cognitive challenges.
35
Hypothesis 3
It is hypothesized that a statistically significant difference in preferences for
different types of video games will be found between the sexes. Similar to the findings
of Lucas and Sherry (2004), it is specifically hypothesized that males will show a
preference for more violent, action, and combat oriented games whereas females will
show a preference for more prosocial games and less violent, combat oriented games.
36
Chapter 2
METHOD
Participants
A total of 312 (126 males and 186 females, mean age = 21, SD = 3.6)
undergraduate students enrolled in introductory psychology courses at California State
University, Sacramento (CSUS) comprised the sample for this study. Students enrolled in
this study in partial fulfillment of the psychology department’s compulsory research
participation required of all students enrolled in introductory psychology courses.
Materials
Demographic Sheet
Participants were given a six item demographic sheet (Appendix B). The sheet
assessed for age, sex, ethnicity, major focus of study, year in college, and marital status of
participants.
NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI)
The NEO-FFI is designed to assess personality as delineated by the Five Factor
Model (FFM) of adult personality (Costa & McCrae, 1992). The FFM is the result of
significant research that has suggested that the majority of adjectives used to describe
personality can be divided into five broad dimensions (Digman, 1990; Goldberg, 1993;
John, 1990). Studies have shown that many popular personality inventories, including
the Myers Briggs Type indicator (MBTI) (Myers & McCaulley, 1985), and the basic
scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) (Hathaways &
37
McKinley, 1983) can be reduced to five factors similar to those of the FFM (O’Connor,
2002). These findings support the construct validity of the FFM.
The five dimensions of the FFM have been labeled neuroticism, extraversion,
openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. Neuroticism broadly
refers to an individual’s general tendency toward experiencing emotional distress.
Extraversion refers to the extent to which an individual is sociable, assertive, active,
energetic, and enjoys the company of others. Openness to experience represents the
degree to which an individual is open minded, imaginative, curious, and willing to try
new things. Agreeablenees refers to the extent to which an individual is friendly and
altruistic. Conscientiousness refers to the extent to which an individual is strong willed,
determined, purposeful, and actively plans, organizes, and carries out tasks (Costa &
McCrae, 1992; McCrae & John, 1992).
It is important to remember that these categories are domains and exist on a
continuum. The dimensions should not be considered as categorizations with polar
opposites but rather as spectrums along which individuals can be placed to indicate the
extent to which a certain domain characterizes their personalities.
The NEO-FFI (Costa & McCrae, 1992) is an abbreviated version of the NEO
Personality Inventory Revised (NEO-PI-R) (Costa & McCrae, 1992). It is intended for
individuals aged 17 and older and requires a sixth grade reading level. The test items
take the form of first person statements which participants are asked to rate on a five
point Likert scale ranging from “Strongly Disagree” to “Neutral” To “Strongly Agree.”
The inventory typically takes 10-15 minutes to complete (Costa & McCrae, 1992).
38
In the construction of the NEO-FFI, Costa and McCrae performed a validimax
factor analysis on all 240 items of the NEO-PI-R (Costa & McCrae, 1992) and isolated
the 12 items with the highest factor loadings for each dimension. Some of these items
were replaced with ones that had lower factor loadings to reduce redundancy in wording.
The result was an inventory consisting of 60 items; five domain scales consisting of 12
items each. The NEO PI-R measures each of the FFM dimensions and six narrower
facets for each dimension; however, as an abbreviated form, the NEO-FFI does not
measure these facets (Costa & McCrae, 1992).
The Neo-FFI (Costa & McCrae, 1992) is one of the most widely used measures of
personality as defined by the FFM (Pytlik Zillig, Hemoenover, & Dienstbier, 2002).
Internal consistency coefficients range from .68 (agreeableness), to .86 (neuroticism)
(Costa & McCrae, 1992). The inventory also has good test-retest reliability, with 30
month reliabilities ranging from .73 (agreeableness) to .86 (openness to experience)
(Murray, Rawlings, Allen, & Trinder, 2003). The NEO-FFI (Costa & McCrae, 1992)
scales strongly correlate with the full 48 item domain scales of the NEO-PI-R (Costa &
McCrae, 1992). The correlation coefficients between each NEO-FFI (Costa & McCrae,
1992) scale and its respective NEO-PI-R (Costa & McCrae, 1992) scale are: .88
(agreeableness), .89 (conscientiousness), .90 (Extraversion), .93 (neuroticism), and .94
(openness to experience). Costa and McCrae (1985) designed a measure of the FFM
using adjective self-reports. This measure yielded five adjective factors that resemble
those of the FFM. The correlation coefficients between each of the NEO-FFI (Costa &
McCrae, 1992) scales and their respective FFM adjective factors are: .57 (agreeableness),
39
.61 (conscientiousness), .60 (extraversion, .62 (neuroticism), and .56 (openness) (Costa &
McCrae, 1992). Each of these were significant at an alpha level of .001. For more
information regarding the reliability and validity of the NEO-FFI, please refer to Costa
and McCrae (1992).
California Psychological Inventory (CPI)
The CPI is a personality inventory that assesses individuals on twenty folk
concept scales. Gough described these folk scales as being “constructs about personality
that all people, everywhere, make use of to comprehend their own behavior and the
behavior of others.” (Gough, 1996, p. 2). The twenty folk scales are: dominance,
capacity for status, sociability, social presence, self-acceptance, empathy, responsibility,
socialization, self-control, good impression, communality, well-being, tolerance,
achievement via conformance, achievement via independence, intellectual efficiency,
psychological-mindedness, flexibility, and femininity/masculinity. Of the 20 folk scales,
the current study made use of six: dominance, empathy, intellectual efficiency, selfacceptance, self-control, and socialization.
There are currently four versions of the CPI: The original 480 item CPI (Gough,
1957), the second edition consisting of 462 items (Gough, 1987), the third edition
consisting of 434 items (Gough & Bradley, 1996), and the relatively brief 260 item CPI
260 (Gough, 2002). The third edition of the CPI can only be interpreted after submitting
answer sheets to Consulting Psychologists Press for scoring. The second edition of the
CPI (Gough, 1987) was chosen for use in this study because the ability to hand score data
made administration less costly. The second edition of the CPI (Gough, 1987) is
40
comprised of 462 items which participants are asked to rate as True or False or as Agree
or Disagree in regard to how they feel each item pertains to them.
The CPI is a widely used inventory that has had much research conducted to
support its validity (Gough, 1987). The CPI scales used in this study have been shown to
be correlated with other inventory scales measuring similar personality constructs and
covariates (Gough, 1987). For further information on these correlations and other
validity data, please refer to Gough (1987). Internal consistency scores for the scales
used in this study are: .79 (dominance), .58 (empathy), .72 (intellectual efficiency), .52
(self-acceptance), .80 (self-control), and .71 (socialization). Test-retest reliability over a
one year period for these scales has been found to be: .62 for males and .68 for females
(dominance), .56 for males and .58 for females (empathy), .72 for males and .79 for
females (intellectual efficiency), .60 for males and .74 for females (self-acceptance), .76
for males and .72 for females (self-control), and .69 for males and .74 for females
(socialization) (Gough, 1987).
Gaming Preferences Questionnaire
The Gaming Preferences Questionnaire (Appendix C) was created by Veronica
Zammitto (2010) to measure empirically video game players’ preferences for different
popular video game genres. Zammitto consulted six professional game designers who
were asked to review items and provide suggestions for bettering the scale. All six of the
experts agreed that they would approve of the questionnaire as an appropriate tool for
measuring video game preferences. In Zammitto’s study, participants were each asked to
indicate their top three favorite games and their favorite video game genre. Following
41
the data collection phase of her study, Zammitto randomly sampled ten percent (55) of
participants’ data and compared the genres of their top three favorite games and their
indicated favorite genres with the top three genres indicated by their Gaming Preferences
Questionnaire scores. She found that the Gaming Preferences Questionnaire was able to
predict participants’ favorite genres in 91% (50) of the 55 cases sampled (Zammitto,
2010).
For the current study the format of this instrument was changed so that
participants were asked to indicate how much each statement applied to them using a five
point Likert scale ranging from zero “very little” to five “very much”. The pronoun “I”
was removed from each statement and the wording of statements was changed so that
participants could rate them based on the extent to which they apply to them rather than
their agreeing or disagreeing with each statement. This change was made in an attempt to
simplify the inventory and reduce possible confusion among participants.
Veronica Zammitto was also consulted for suggested points of revision. She
suggested that the conceptual category of “music games” was underrepresented by the
questionnaire in its original form. Since the original conceptualization of the
questionnaire, music games as a distinct category of video games have become more
popular and widely recognized. The questionnaire presented to participants therefore
included two additional items intended to capture the characteristics of this category.
The final modification made to the original inventory was that the wording of
statement number 21 was changed from “I enjoy more taking decision on the fly”(sic) to
“Enjoy games that require players to make quick decisions.” This change was made in
42
consideration of the fact that the original questionnaire was created for a Canadian
audience. The wording was changed to something considered more germane to American
readers.
Gaming Patterns Questionnaire
A ten item Gaming Patterns Questionnaire (Appendix D) was constructed to
assess video game play tendencies among research participants. The questionnaire
consisted of two items that assessed amount of time typically spent playing video games,
one item that assessed participants’ ages when they first engaged in video game play,
three items that assessed preferences for single or multiplayer video game play, one item
that assessed current video game systems used, one item that assessed participants’ top
three favorite video games, an item that asked participants if they would spend more time
playing video games if they had more free time, and one item that assessed the frequency
of experiencing motion sickness while playing video games among each participant.
Procedure
Data for this study were collected in multiple 30 minute sessions conducted by a
male researcher. Sessions were held in one of two research rooms that seated up to eight
participants. Upon reporting to the research session participants were given a consent
form (Appendix E) discussing the potential benefits the study might yield, the amount of
time the study would require, and the researcher‘s contact information. Consent forms
were stored separately from data packets to protect confidentiality. After signing an
informed consent form, each participant was given a packet of materials which he/she
was then asked to read carefully and respond to appropriately. Each packet consisted of a
43
demographic sheet, The NEO Five-Factor Inventory (Costa & McCrae, 1992), 195 items
from the California Psychological Inventory (Gough, 1987) that comprise the scales of
dominance, empathy, intellectual efficiency, self-acceptance, self-control, and
socialization, and a 52 item Video Game Preferences Assessment paired with a ten item
Gaming Patterns Questionnaire. These materials were presented to each participant in
one of six possible permutations. Each permutation consisted of the demographic sheet
followed by the NEO-FFI (Costa & McCrae, 1992), 195 CPI (Gough, 1987) items, the
Video Game Preferences Assessment, the Gaming Patterns Questionnaire, all presented in
one of six possible randomized arrangements. Within each randomized presentation of
the materials, the Video Game Preferences Assessment was immediately followed by the
Gaming Patterns Questionnaire. After completing their material packets, participants
were provided with a written debriefing (Appendix F) and thanked for their participation.
44
Chapter 3
RESULTS
Invalid Packet Exclusion
Thirty five of the 312 participants’ data packets were omitted from inclusion in the
study. Of these 35 omitted packets, 24 were excluded from the study because participants
gave the same response to 40 or more items on the 52 item Gaming Preferences
Questionnaire. These packets were determined to have insufficient variability among
item responses and were therefore not included in the study. Nine of the 35 packets
removed were excluded from the study because of participants’ failing to complete
enough of an inventory to make it scoreable. Two final packets were excluded because
they had a significant number of invalid item responses.
Preliminary Data Analysis
After the removal of 35 invalid data packets, the study sample consisted of 277
participants (108 male and 169 female, mean age = 20.96, SD = 3.27). Of the
participants, 14.1% were freshmen, 28.3% were sophomores, 42% were juniors, and
15.6% were seniors. Also, the study participants were ethnically diverse. Table 1
illustrates this ethnic diversity.
45
Table 1
Ethnicity of Participants
Ethnicity
N
Percent
Caucasian
114
41.5
Asian
61
22.2
Hispanic
56
20.4
African American
21
7.6
Native American
2
0.8
Middle Eastern
1
0.4
Portuguese
1
0.4
Two ethnicities
16
5.6
Three or more ethnicities
3
1.1
Note. N = 275.
Study participants reported a wide range of time they spend on average playing
video games every week. Of the 274 participants who provided an average amount of
time they believe they spend playing video games every week, 30 reported playing zero
hours every week, while the remaining 244 ranged from 0.5 to 50 hours on average spent
playing video games every week (M = 5.99, SD = 8.30). As illustrated in Table 2, study
participants varied in their reported frequency of video game play. Participants also
reported a range of ages when they played video games for the first time. The
distribution of ages at which participants first played video games is illustrated in Table 3.
46
Table 2
Reported Frequency of Video Game Play
Frequency of Play
N
Percent
Have never played
1
0.4
Rarely
47
17.0
Several times/year
38
13.7
Several times/month
69
24.9
Several times/week
68
24.5
Almost every day
29
10.5
Every Day
25
9.0
Note. N = 277.
Table 3
Age When First Played Video Games
Frequency of Play
N
Percent
Have never played
1
0.4
5 years or younger
97
35.1
6 to 11 years old
156
56.5
12 to 18 years old
19
6.9
19 to 35 years old
3
1.1
Note. N = 276. No participants circled the response option “Older than 35.”
47
One hundred and forty three (51.6%) participants indicated that they would not
choose to spend more time playing video games if they had more free time whereas 134
(48.4%) indicated that they would. One hundred and eighteen (42.6%) participants
indicated that they only play multiplayer video games. Only 24 (8.7%) participants
indicated that they only play video games on Facebook or another social networking
website.
In the Gaming Patterns Questionnaire, participants were asked to indicate their top
three favorite video games of all time. These data were collected as an additional
measure of participants’ video game type preferences. Zammitto (2010) used this
approach in her study on video game genre preferences. In her study, Zammitto
examined the genre classifications of participants’ top three favorite video games and
compared them to participants’ genre preferences as indicated by their scores on her
Gaming Preferences Questionnaire. Zammitto found that, in a sub-sample of 55
participants, 91% of participants indicated top three favorite video games that belonged
to the same genres as those they showed a preference for in the Gaming Preferences
Questionnaire. This suggests a relationship between video game type preference and the
types of video games individuals are likely to report as their favorites. In the current
study, video game genres for each participant’s indicated top three favorite video games
were obtained from a popular video game review website (http://www.ign.com). The
distribution of genres corresponding to participants’ reported top three favorite games are
illustrated in Table 4.
48
Table 4
Genres of Reported Top 3 Favorite Games
Genre
___1st favorite
N (Percent)
__2nd favorite
N (Percent)
3rd favorite
N (Percent)
1st person shooter
71
(26.6)
59
(22.8)
48
(21.5)
RPG
19
(7.1)
25
(9.7)
16
(7.2)
sports
22
(8.2)
30
(11.6)
14
(6.3)
puzzle
4
(1.5)
9
(3.5)
5
(2.2)
strategy
5
(1.9)
3
(1.2)
8
(3.6)
simulation
16
(6.0)
8
(3.1)
7
(3.2)
action
14
(5.2)
15
(5.8)
16
(7.2)
platform
29
(10.9)
30
(11.6)
20
(8.9)
racing
20
(7.5)
22
(8.5)
22
(9.8)
action/adventure
16
(6.0)
21
(8.1)
19
(8.4)
fighting
16
(6.0)
8
(3.1)
19
(8.4)
music
10
(3.7)
10
(3.9)
11
(4.9)
action/RPG
7
(2.6)
7
(2.7)
8
(3.6)
MMO-action
3
(1.1)
2
(0.8)
3
(1.3)
MMO-RPG
9
(3.4)
4
(1.6)
2
(0.9)
shooter
2
(0.8)
1
(0.4)
3
(1.3)
party
4
(1.5)
4
(1.6)
3
(1.3
Note. N for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd favorite is 267, 258, and 224 respectively. Some games were listed
as belonging to sub-genres that were not strongly represented in this sample. These games were
listed as belonging to the most relevant super-genre. Example: Action/racing became racing.
49
Principal Components Analysis
To assess the existence of distinct video game categories, a principal components
analysis (PCA) with a promax rotation of the 52 items from the Gaming Preferences
Questionnaire was performed on data collected from 277 participants. The KaiserMeyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy indicated that the sample was factorable
(KMO = .81). Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity was significant (p = .00), indicating that PCA
was appropriate. The PCA yielded 15 components with eigenvalues of one or more.
Examination of the scree plot suggested one strong factor and five to seven additional
factors with progressively weaker loadings. Based on this observation, five, six, seven,
and eight factor solutions were performed and examined for item interpretability. After
careful consideration, the eight factor solution was selected because the factors it yielded
were the most interpretable of the solutions examined.
In total, this eight factor solution accounted for 51.54 percent of the variance.
Table 5 illustrates the amount of variance accounted for by each of the eight factors.
Several of the components yielded by the eight factor solution were found to correlate
with each other. Component 1 was found to be correlated with all other components but
four and five. Table 6 illustrates the correlations of the components yielded by the eight
factor solution. Table 7 shows the structure coefficients.
50
Table 5
Variance Accounted for by the Eight Factor Solution Yielded by Principal Components
Analysis of the 52 items From the Gaming Preferences Questionnaire with a Promax
Rotation.
Percent of
variance
Cumulative
percent
Eigenvalue
1
18.0
18.0
9.38
2
9.2
27.2
4.78
3
6.0
33.2
3.12
4
4.7
37.9
2.46
5
4.2
42.1
2.18
6
3.3
45.4
1.70
7
3.2
48.6
1.67
8
2.9
51.5
1.52
Component
51
Table 6
Correlations of the Eight Components Yielded by Principal Components Analysis of the
52 Items from the Gaming Preferences Questionnaire with a Promax Rotation.
Component
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
1
1.00
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
.31
.32
.12
.11
.26
.25
.26
1.00
-.02
.18
.01
.02
.29
.19
1.00
.02
.27
-.02
.05
.17
1.00
-.11
.07
-.01
.13
1.00
-.05
.13
.13
1.00
.11
.10
1.00
.16
1.00
52
Table 7
Structure Coefficients Based on Principle Components Analysis with a Promax Rotation
for the 52 Items from the Video Game Preferences Questionnaire
Items
1
42) Story unfolds while you play. .69
37) Enjoy leveling a character.
.68
19) Decide evolution of units.
.67
17) Conquer, explore,
.66
or commercialize.
22) Characters learn abilities
.65
38) Manage resources.
.62
4) Setting up character stats.
.61
49) Enjoy completing quests.
.61
32) Games with intelligent life.
.59
39) Exploring & establishing.
.58
relationships with characters.
13) Big, complex worlds.
.57
48) Initial attributes comparably. .56
equal to all players.
5) Fast moving avatars.
.49
35) Some events continue.
.43
by themselves.
30) Events after turns.
.40
11) Allow players to shoot.
7) Guns are extremely important.
28) Use blade weapons.
.48
51) Aiming skill is important.
8) Boss at the end of level.
.33
16) Mainly kick and punch enemies.
44) Characters' stats have a key
.54
role to hit and resist while
fighting.
50) Combos for more damage.
.39
2) Scary games.
43) Hand-eye coordination.
41) Frequent puzzle solving.
29) Puzzles for their own sake.
14) Only puzzles.
24) Just a few puzzles.
2
Components
3
4
5
6
.31
7
8
.33
.34
.34
.41
.33
.41
.38
.31
.31
.51
.40
.31
.31
.75
.74
.69
.67
.65
.60
.59
.45
.45
.36
.36
.39
.42
.33
.31
.46
.37
.33
.83
.80
.76
.67
.35
.34
53
Structure coefficients based on principle components analysis with a promax rotation for
the 52 items from the Video Game Preferences Questionnaire
Items
1
2
Components
3
4
5
6
7
8
23) Intellectual challenge.
.44
.62 .31
47) Combat is not that relevant.
.46 -.31
20) Can be played online.
.77
36) Can be played with others.
.72
on the internet.
21) Quick decisions.
.34
.55
1) Small maps or arenas.
.33
.34
.45
52) Music & rhythm.
.86
33) Coordinate with music.
.85
45) Keep in time with a beat.
.35
.82
26) Emulate aspects of reality.
.58
40) Control several avatars.
.42
.58
.49
25) Make buildings & structures. .37
.40
.51
27) No specific goal.
.50
18) Enjoy freedom.
.43
.47
10) High score.
.54
9) Hints to optimize play.
.54
3) Fast paced games.
.37
.53
31) Occasional boss.
.32
.42
.44
12) Drive or fly something.
.42
46) Controlling multiple units.
.51
.31
.67
34) Sports games.
.58
15) Only one avatar at a time.
-.51
6) Move units tactically.
.32
.37 .33
.41
________________________________________________________________________
Note. N = 277. Bold print indicates factor membership. Item wording was abbreviated for
concise presentation in this table. For full items please refer to Appendix C. Coefficients
of .40 or higher were considered adequate loadings for items to belong to a factor. In
some cases items had coefficients of .40 or greater on more than one factor. In these
instances, items were considered to belong to all factors on which they had a factor
loading no more than .10 less than the greatest factor loading for that item. Item 46 was
an exception to this rule because interpretation of factor one yielded a video game type
that is commonly characterized by players controlling multiple units.
54
Component 1 consists of 18 items that strongly describe the popular video game
genre known as role playing games (RPGs) and was thus labeled “RPG.” RPGs are
characterized by their emphasis on intricate storylines (items 42, 32, and 35), players
completing quests (item 49), and relatively open worlds that players are free to explore
(items 17, 39, 13, and 18). RPGs are one of the few video game types that require
players to control more than one character at once (item 46). Many RPGs employ what is
known as turn-based battle systems. In these systems characters take turns taking action
during battles. When a player character’s turn arrives, the player is usually given an
unlimited amount of time to decide what he/she wants the character to do in his/her turn.
After the character’s turn is complete, the player waits for the enemy’s turn to be over so
that he/she can input commands for the next player character’s turn. Items number 30
and 35 characterize this turn-based battle system.
RPGs are also well known for their use of leveling systems. In these systems,
players start a game with characters that have attributes such as strength and defense that
start at a set point. As the player progresses through the game he/she gains “experience
points” through battling enemies and completing quests. Upon gaining a predetermined
amount of experience points, characters gain a level, which is paired with increases in
their attributes. The various concepts inherent in leveling systems are represented by
items 37, 19, 22, 4, 48, and 44.
Component 2 consists of 11 items that appear to characterize video games that
emphasize fighting and weapons. In consideration of this, Component 2 was labeled
“combat.” This category appears to have characteristics of several popular video game
55
genres. Items 11, 7, and 51 characterize shooters, items 28, 8, 44, 50, and 31 characterize
some adventure and action/adventure games, and items 16 and 50 characterize fighting
games.
Component 3 consists of six items that revolve around the solving of puzzles and
intellectual challenges. This component was thus labeled “puzzles.”
The four items loading on Component 4 appear to relate to online gaming. Items
20 and 36 directly reflect this, while items 21 and 1 refer to aspects of online shooters.
Shooter games are commonly played over the internet with multiple players involved in
any one game. These games require a great deal of quick decision making (item 21) and
players typically engage opponents in small maps or arenas (item one). In consideration
of the items loading on it, Component 4 was labeled “online.”
Component 5 is composed of three items that clearly describe the popular video
game genre called “music”. These games require players keep in time with a beat (item
45) and coordinate their actions with music (item 33). This component was labeled
“music.”
Component 6 consisted of six items that appear to describe the popular video
game genre called “simulation” and was thus labeled “sim.” Simulation games are
generally thought of as those that try to emulate aspects of reality (item 26). This
emulation of reality can take many forms, from controlling the lives of every person in a
small town (item 40) to building an entire civilization (items 40 and 25). Many of the
more popular simulation games, such as Sid Meier’s Civilization V (Firaxis, 2010) and
The Sims (Maxis, 2000) require players to explore and establish relationships with other
56
characters (item 39). Of all the popular video game genres, simulation games arguably
allow the player the greatest degree of freedom over his/her actions (items 27 and 18).
Component 7 consists of seven items that appear to describe the popular video
game genre of “racing.” Items five and three concern fast paced games and fast moving
avatars and item 12 specifically describes driving or flying a craft or vehicle. Racing
games, whether played single or multiplayer, are characterized by players competing
against opponents of varying difficulty. In single player mode, racing games typically
titrate the difficulty level of opponents to match how far the player has progressed in the
game (item 31). Many games allow players to gain scores based on their performance
but racing games are one of the few where a player’s completion of an end goal is
dependent upon getting a high score, which in racing games takes the form of time
elapsed from start to finish line (item 10). Because of its similarity to racing games,
Component 7 was labeled “racing.”
The five items loading on Component 8 are consistent with sports games and
hence the component was labeled “sports” (item 34). Sports games typically require
players to manage several different characters or teams (items 40, 46, and 15). In these
games players are tasked with tactically moving these players around a playing field
(item 6).
The items belonging to each of the preceding components were compiled into
scales measuring preferences for video games belonging to each of the eight categories
designated by the PCA. Table 8 shows reliability and descriptive statistics for each of
57
these eight scales. Five of the eight scales had good or acceptable internal consistency.
The remaining three scales had questionable or unacceptable internal consistency.
Table 8
Reliability and Descriptive Statistics for the Eight Video Game Preference Scales
Resulting from a Principal Components Analysis of the 52 Items from the Gaming
Preferences Questionnaire.
Number
of items
Scale
M (SD)
Alpha
RPG
18
64.39 (12.04)
.88
Combat
10
32.90 (7.85)
.84
Puzzle
6
18.28 (5.17)
.81
Online
4
13.89 (3.75)
.74
Music
3
9.05 (3.49)
.86
Sim
6
19.01 (4.53)
.68
Racing
7
25.77 (4.33)
.61
Sports
5
15.39 (3.34)
.35
Note. N = 277.
Pearson correlations were performed on the eight components to examine the
extent to which they are intercorrelated. This analysis showed that the only relationships
that were not statistically significant (p < .05) were between music and RPG, puzzle and
58
combat, music and combat, online and puzzle, and online and music. This finding shows
that the eight components are largely intercorrelated.
Because the eight components were found to be intercorrelated, a second-order
principal components analysis with a promax rotation was performed to further examine
the factor structure of video game preferences as measured by the 52 items of the Gaming
Preferences Questionnaire. The variables used in the second-order PCA were the eight
components yielded by the previous PCA. This second-order PCA yielded three
components with eigenvalues of approximately one or greater. In total, this three factor
solution accounted for 67.2 percent of the variance accounted for by the original eight
factor solution. Table 9 shows the variance accounted for by each of the individual
components.
Table 9
Variance Accounted for by Each of the Three Components Yielded by a Second-Order
Principal Components Analysis (PCA) of the Eight Components Yielded by a PCA
Performed on the 52 Items of the Gaming Preferences Questionnaire.
Component
Percent of
variance
Cumulative
percent
Eigenvalue
1
36.2
36.2
2.89
2
18.7
54.9
1.49
3
12.3
67.2
0.99
59
Although Component 3 had an eigenvalue slightly lower than one, it approximated one,
and was deemed to be interpretable. Therefore, a three factor solution was chosen instead
of a two factor solution. Table 10 shows the correlations of the three components yielded
by this three factor solution. Component 2 was correlated with Component 1 (r = .44)
and slightly correlated with component 3 (r = .20). Component 3 was not correlated with
Component 1 (r = .06). Table 11 shows the structure coefficients.
Table 10
Correlations of the Three Components Yielded by a Second-Order Principal Components
Analysis (PCA) of the Eight Components Yielded by a PCA Performed on the 52 Items of
the Gaming Preferences Questionnaire.
Component
1
2
3
1
1.00
2
3
.44
.06
1.00
.20
1.00
60
Table 11
Structure Coefficients Based on a Second-Order Principle Components Analysis with a
Promax Rotation for the 52 Items from the Gaming Preferences Questionnaire.
Component
1
2
Combat
.87
.37
Racing
.85
.33
Online
.61
.48
RPG
.58
.83
.30
Sim
.80
.34
Sports
.72
Music
Puzzle
3
.78
.35
.76
Note. N = 277. Bold print indicates factor membership. Coefficients of .60 or higher were
considered adequate loadings for items to belong to a factor.
Component 1 appears to represent games that are action oriented and was thus
labeled “action.” Combat games and racing games are undoubtedly action packed.
Recall that the component labeled “online” included four items. Two indicated a
preference for online games, and the other two seemed to indicate a preference for online
shooters. Because of these items and this component’s second-order factor loading, it
may be more appropriate to think of this component as “online shooter” which, in
agreement with this second-order component, is highly action oriented.
61
Component 2 is made up of three types of video games that appear to be similar in
that they all require a degree of strategy. Simulation games require players to formulate
an end goal for their game playing and to strategize their completion of it. Many popular
simulation games can easily be considered to be strategy games as well. One such game,
Sid Meyer’s Civilization (Firaxis, 2010) requires players to create a civilization and
strategize interactions with neighboring civilizations. This game is very comparable to
the board game Risk. Despite this, Sid Meyer’s Civilization is often considered to be a
simulation game because it allows players to control many aspects of a civilization as if
they were a ruling monarch. This includes aspects such as road building, setting tax
rates, and determining how much tax revenue to spend on military and education. RPG
games often require a great deal of strategy as well. Turn based battle systems, which are
common in RPGs, require players to strategically choose their player’s actions and plan
ahead in battle, much like a chess player would. Sports games also require a great deal of
strategy. Most sports games effectively make players a team manager and an
omnipresent entity responsible for deciding what all team players should be doing during
game play. Because of the importance of strategy in all these game types, Component 2
was labeled “strategy.”
Component 3 appears to be comprised of games that require a great deal of
cognitive processing. It is true that games represented by the previous two components
require a degree of cognitive processing as well. The distinction to be made here is that
Component 3 appears to represent games which are entirely dependent upon cognitive
processing. Puzzle games obviously require players to think through complicated puzzles
62
to find solutions. The cognitive nature of music games requires some explanation.
Music games require players to follow commands on the screen, and press certain buttons
in time with the music. The on screen instructions usually take the form of something
that is comparable to music notes. In this way, players are effectively reading music
scores. A significant portion of the challenge in music games is that they play in a
continuous, unstopping flow. In order to play a music game well, players must be able to
“read” and respond to the on screen instructions in a fast pace flow. This requires a great
deal of mental focus. New players will often complain that the hardest aspect of learning
how to play a music game is being able to read what is being shown on the screen fast
enough. One might be able to move one’s fingers and/or feet fast enough to perform the
movements required to succeed in a music game, but a significant challenge is presented
by being required to read and pair appropriate movements with what is read. Because
both puzzle and music games strongly emphasize cognitive processing skills, Component
3 was labeled “cognitive.”
The items that comprise the scales belonging to each component yielded by the
second-order PCA were compiled into three scales intended to measure preference for
action, strategy, and cognitive games. Cronbach’s alpha levels for these three
components were good and were much better than the alpha levels for the original eight
components. Table 12 shows reliability and descriptive statistics for these three scales.
63
Table 12
Reliability and Descriptive Statistics for the Three Video Game Preference Scales
Resulting from a Second-Order Principal Components Analysis (PCA) of the Eight
Factors Yielded by a PCA of the 52 Items from the Gaming Preferences Questionnaire.
Number
of items
Scale
M (SD)
Alpha
Action
21
72.55 (13.00)
.86
Strategy
29
98.80 (17.58)
.90
Cognitive
9
27.33 (7.11)
.82
Note. N = 277.
Canonical Correlations
A canonical correlation analysis was used to explore the relationships between
personality variables and video game preferences. The dependent variables were
preference for action, strategy, and cognitive processing games, as defined by the
preceding second-order principal components analysis. The predictor variables were
neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, conscientiousness, and agreeableness
as measured by the NEO-FFI (Costa & McCrae, 1992), and dominance, empathy,
intellectual efficiency, self-acceptance, self-control, and socialization as measured by the
California Psychological Inventory (Gough, 1987).
With 277 cases in the analysis, the relationship between the sets of variables was
statistically significant, Wilks’ Lambda = .74, Rc2 = .26, approximate F(22, 775.55) =
2.57, p < .001. The dimension reduction analysis indicated that only the first two
64
functions were statistically significant; hence, only those first two functions were
extracted and interpreted. Percentage of variance explained, eigenvalues, and the squared
canonical correlations for the two functions are shown in Table 13. The first function
accounted for approximately 57.88 percent of the explained variance and the second
function added 32.26% to that. These two functions combined accounted for
approximately 90 percent of the explained variance. The Cramer-Nicewander (1979)
index indicated that 12.73 percent of the variance of the dependent variates was explained
by the predictor variates.
Table 13
Cumulative Percentage of Explained Variance, Eigenvalues, and Squared Canonical
Correlations for the Two Canonical Functions
Function
Eigenvalue
Percent variance
explained
Squared canonical
Correlation
1
0.19
57.88
.16
2
0.11
32.26
.10
The structure coefficients for the two functions for the predictor and dependent
variables are shown in Table 14 and Table 15, respectively. The first predictor function is
associated with higher levels of self-control, agreeableness, and openness to experience
and lower levels of extraversion; the first dependent function is associated with higher
preference for cognitive processing games and lower preference for action games. This
65
first function appears to indicate that being friendly yet emotionally and socially reserved
is predictive of preference for cognitive processing games and is negatively correlated
with preference for action games.
The second predictor function is associated with higher levels of openness,
conscientiousness, and extraversion; the second dependent function is associated with
higher preference for cognitive processing games and action games. The second function
appears to indicate that being open to trying new experiences, extraverted, and motivated
to achieve is predictive of preferences for both cognitive processing and action games.
66
Table 14
Structure Coefficients for Predictor Canonical Variates for the Two Functions
Predictor variable
Function 1
Function 2
Openness
.37
.55
Conscientiousness
.02
.32
-.26
.35
Agreeableness
.47
.13
Neuroticism
.33
.09
Dominance
-.11
-.01
Empathy
.29
.23
Intellectual Efficiency
.20
-.23
-.08
-.21
Self-Control
.59
-.19
Socialization
.15
-.09
Extraversion
Self-Acceptance
67
Table 15
Structure Coefficients for the Dependent Canonical Variates for the Two Functions.
Dependent variable
Function 1
Function 2
Action
-.79
.61
Strategy
-.24
.34
Cognitive processing
.56
.81
Multivariate Analysis of Variance
To examine the relationships between genres of stated top three favorite video
games and personality, three one-way MANOVAs were performed with genres
corresponding to participants’ stated first, second, or third favorite video games as the
independent variables and with neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience,
conscientiousness, and agreeableness as measured by the NEO-FFI (Costa & McCrae,
1992), and dominance, empathy, intellectual efficiency, self-acceptance, self-control, and
socialization as measured by the CPI (Gough, 1987) as the dependent variables. Several
of the genre groups corresponding to participants’ first, second, and third favorite video
games were of insufficient sample size to be included in the analyses. As suggested by
Hair et al. (2010), a sample size of 20 was determined to be sufficient for inclusion in the
analyses.
The first analysis was a 5-group one-way between-subjects MANOVA which used
genres corresponding to participants’ stated first favorite video games (RPG, shooter,
sports, platform and racing) as the independent variable. A total of 170 cases were
68
included in this analysis. Genre groups were distributed as follows: RPG (15.3%),
shooter (42.9%), sports (12.9%), platform (17.1%), racing (11.8%). Box’s M test was
statistically significant ( p < .05), indicating unequal variance/covariance of the
dependent variables across genre groups. This necessitated the use of Pillai’s Trace to
determine the multivariate effect.
Pillai’s Trace indicated that the dependent variate was significantly affected by
genres corresponding to participants’ first favorite video games, Pillai’s Trace = .471,
F(44, 632) = 1.92, p < .001, 1 - Wilks’ Lambda = .411. Univariate ANOVAs were
conducted on each dependent variable to determine which were significantly affected by
genres corresponding to participants’ first favorite video games. All the dependent
variables were evaluated against a Bonferroni adjusted alpha level of .0045 (.05 divided
by 11). Genres corresponding to participants’ first favorite video games had a significant
effect on openness to experience scores, F(4, 165) = 5.15, p = .001, 2 = .11. Univariate
effects for the remaining dependent variables were not statistically significant.
Tukey post-hoc comparisons of genres corresponding to participants’ first favorite
video games for the openness measure indicated that participants whose first favorite
video game was an RPG had significantly higher openness scores than did those whose
first favorite game was a racing, shooter, sports, or platform game. Table 16 illustrates
these group differences.
69
Table 16
Differences in Openness Scores between Those Who Indicated a First Favorite Video
Game that was an RPG and Those Whose First Favorite was a Racing, Shooter,
Platform, or Sports Game.
Genre
group
Mean
Standard
deviation
95 percent
Significance of difference
confidence interval
from RPG group
RPG
33.15
6.08
[30.99, 35.32]
Shooter
28.78
5.68
[27.49, 30.07]
.007
Sports
27.18
4.94
[24.83, 29.54]
.003
Platform
27.79
5.76
[25.74, 29.84]
.005
Racing
27.00
4.95
[24.53, 29.47]
.003
Note. N’s for RPG, shooter, sports, platform, and racing were 26, 73, 22, 29, and 20
respectively. All genre groups in this table were compared to the RPG group. The
significance levels refer to the differences between the RPG group and comparison
groups.
The second analysis was a 6-group one-way between-subjects MANOVA which
used genres corresponding to participants’ stated second favorite video games
(action/adventure, RPG, shooter, sports, platform, and racing) as the independent
variable. A total of 195 cases were included in this analysis. Genre groups were
distributed as follows: action/adventure (10.8%), platform (15.4), RPG (16.4%), racing
(11.3%), shooter (30.7%), and sports (15.4). Box’s M test was not statistically significant
(p > .05).
Wilks’ Lambda indicated that the dependent variate was significantly affected by
genres corresponding to participants’ second favorite video games, Wilks’ Lambda =
70
.648, F(55, 832.14) = 1.49, p = .01. Univariate ANOVAs were conducted on each
dependent variable to determine which were significantly affected by genres
corresponding to participants’ second favorite video games. All the dependent variables
were evaluated against a Bonferroni adjusted alpha level of .0045 (.05 divided by 11).
Genres corresponding to participants’ second favorite video games had a significant
effect on openness to experience scores F(5, 189) = 5.76, p < .001, 2 = .13. Univariate
effects for the remaining dependent variables were not statistically significant.
Tukey post-hoc comparisons of genres corresponding to participants’ second
favorite video games for the openness measure indicated that participants whose second
favorite video game was an RPG had significantly higher openness scores than those
whose second favorite video game was a racing, shooter, or sports game. Table 17
illustrates these differences.
71
Table 17
Differences in Openness Scores among Those Who Indicated a Second Favorite Video
Game that was an RPG and Those Whose Second Favorite was a Racing, Shooter, or
Sports Game.
Genre
difference
group
Mean
Standard
95 percent
deviation
confidence interval
Significance of
from RPG group
RPG
33.22
5.71
[31.24, 35.20]
Racing
26.45
4.62
[24.07, 28.84]
.000
Shooter
29.57
5.81
[28.12, 31.01]
.043
Sports
26.43
5.32
[24.45, 28.42]
.000
Note. N’s for RPG, racing, shooter, and sports were 32, 22, 60, and 30 respectively. All
genre groups in this table were compared to the RPG group. The significance levels refer
to the differences between the RPG group and comparison groups.
The third analysis was a 5-group one-way between-subjects MANOVA which
used genres corresponding to participants’ stated third favorite video games (fighting,
RPG, shooter, platform, and racing) as the independent variable. A total of 137 cases
were included in this analysis. Genre groups were distributed as follows: fighting
(14.6%), platform (14.6%), racing (16.1%), RPG (17.5%), and shooter (37.2%). Box’s M
test was not statistically significant (p > .05). Wilks’ Lambda indicated that the
dependent variate was not significantly affected by genres corresponding to participants’
third favorite video games, Wilks’ Lambda = .66, F(44, 468.70) = 1.21, p > .05.
72
Differences between the Sexes
To test the hypothesis that preferences for different types of video games differ
between the sexes, three Pearson correlations were performed to assess the relationships
between sex and the three components yielded by the second-order principal components
analysis of this study (preference for action, strategy, and cognitive games). All three
Pearson correlations were statistically significant, indicating that females were more
likely than males to prefer cognitive games whereas males were more likely than females
to prefer action and strategy games. Table 18 illustrates the coefficients and alpha levels
of these relationships.
Table 18
Coefficients and Alpha Levels for Three Pearson rs Performed to Examine the
Relationships Between Sex and Preferences for Action, Cognitive, and Strategy Games.
Dependent
variable
Sex
Mean
SD
r
p
10.37
1.84
-.41
.001
Strategy
8.56
1.74
-.18
.002
Cognitive
6.09
1.62
.30
.001
Action
Note. N = 277. Sex was coded as 0 = male, 1 = female.
To further test the hypothesis that preferences for different types of video games
differ between the sexes, three Chi-Square tests were performed to examine the
relationships between sex of participants and genres corresponding to participants’ first,
73
second, and third favorite video games. Table 19, 20, and 21 show the observed
frequencies of the three Chi-Squares. All three tests were statistically significant,
indicating that genres corresponding to participants’ first, second, and third favorite video
games differed between the sexes. Table 22 illustrates the Chi-Square statistic and alpha
level for each Chi-Square test performed.
74
Table 19
Observed Frequencies for the Chi-Square Performed to Examine the Relationships
between Participants’ Sex and Genres Corresponding to Participants’ First Favorite
Video Games.
Sex
Genre
Male
Female
Shooter
44
29
73
RPG
14
12
26
Sports
15
7
22
Puzzle
0
4
4
Strategy
3
2
5
Simulation
0
16
16
Action
6
8
14
Platform
3
26
29
Racing
1
19
20
Action/Adventure
6
10
16
Fighting
7
9
16
Music
0
10
10
MMO Action
2
1
3
MMO RPG
5
4
9
Party
1
3
4
Note. N = 267.
Total
75
Table 20
Observed Frequencies for the Chi-Square Performed to Examine the Relationships
between Participants’ Sex and Genres Corresponding to Participants’ Second Favorite
Video Games.
Sex
Genre
Male
Female
Shooter
34
26
60
RPG
19
13
32
Sports
15
15
30
Puzzle
0
9
9
Strategy
2
1
3
Simulation
0
8
8
Action
5
10
15
Platform
3
27
30
Racing
6
16
22
Action/Adventure
13
8
21
Fighting
1
7
8
Music
2
8
10
MMO Action
2
0
2
MMO RPG
3
1
4
Party
1
3
4
Note. N = 258.
Total
76
Table 21
Observed Frequencies for the Chi-Square Performed to Examine the Relationships
between Participants’ Sex and Genres Corresponding to Participants’ Third Favorite
Video Games.
Sex
Genre
Male
Female
Shooter
29
22
51
RPG
13
11
24
Sports
7
7
14
Puzzle
3
2
5
Strategy
8
0
8
Simulation
0
7
7
Action
8
8
16
Platform
2
18
20
Racing
7
15
22
Action/Adventure
7
12
19
Fighting
10
10
20
Music
1
10
11
MMO Action
3
0
3
MMO RPG
2
0
2
Party
0
3
3
Note. N = 225.
Total
77
Table 22
Chi-Square Statistics and Alpha Levels for Each of Three Chi-Square Tests Performed to
Examine the Relationships between Participants’ Sex and Genres Corresponding to
Participants’ First, Second, and Third Favorite Video Games.
N
df
2
p
Top1 x sex
267
14
65.84
.001
Top2 x sex
258
14
51.67
.001
Top3 x sex
225
14
46.51
.001
Note. Top1, Top2, and Top3 represent first, second, and third favorite game, respectively.
Despite the fact that these Chi-Square tests yielded statistically significant main
effects, many of the group samples were of insufficient size to examine any simple
effects. It was determined that groups with fewer than 10 participants in them were of
insufficient sample size to examine their related simple effects. As a result, only the
genre groups corresponding to participants’ reported first, second and third favorite video
games that had ten or more males and ten or more females in them were further analyzed
for simple effects. To test whether the observed differences between the frequencies of
male and female participants who named first, second, or third favorite video games
belonging to one of these genre groups were greater than would be expected by chance,
several one-way Chi-Square analyses were conducted.
Of the 15 different genre groups corresponding to participants’ identified first
favorite video games, only two (shooter and RPG) had a sufficient number of participants
to be analyzed via one-way Chi-Square. Among genre groups corresponding to
78
participants’ second stated favorite video games, shooter, sports, and RPG were the only
ones with sufficient sample size. The genre groups corresponding to participants’ third
favorite video games that had sufficient sample size were shooter, RPG and fighting. The
one-way Chi-Squares that were performed on these groups were not found to be
statistically significant at an alpha level of .05, indicating that the observed differences
between the sexes in genre groups examined were not different enough to rule out that
they could have occurred by chance. Table 23 illustrates the observed frequencies of
males and females for each of the genre groups examined via one-way Chi-Square
analyses.
79
Table 23
Observed Frequencies of Male and Female Participants in Each of the Genre Groups
Corresponding to Participants’ First, Second, and Third Favorite Video Games Examined
via One-Way Chi-Square Analyses.
Male
Female
Total
p
Shooter
44
29
73
n.s.
RPG
14
12
26
n.s.
First favorites
Second favorites
Shooter
34
26
60
n.s.
RPG
19
13
32
n.s.
Sports
15
15
30
n.s.
Shooter
29
22
51
n.s.
RPG
13
11
24
n.s.
Fighting
10
10
20
n.s.
Third favorites
Note. n.s. signifies relationships that were not significant at p = .05.
80
Relationships Not Addressed by the Study Hypotheses
Additional analyses were conducted to examine relationships that were not stated
in this study’s original hypotheses. Several Pearson rs were performed that yielded
statistically significant relationships. Table 24 illustrates the correlation coefficients and
alpha levels of each of these relationships. Table 25 shows the descriptive statistics for
each variable involved in these significant relationships.
Results indicated a positive correlation between age and participants reporting that
they would spend more time playing video games if more free time was available to
them. Male participants indicated more frequent video game play and more hours spent
playing video games in a typical week than did females. Female participants reported
experiencing motion sickness while playing video games more often than did male
participants. Participants who indicated that they only play multiplayer video games
reported experiencing motion sickness while playing video games more frequently than
did those who did not indicate that they only play multiplayer games.
Participants who indicated that they would choose to spend more time playing
video games if more free time was available to them indicated significantly more
frequent video game play and significantly more hours spent playing in a typical week
than did those who would not choose to play more. Reported frequency of video game
play was found to be positively correlated with preference for action and strategy games
as defined by the second-order PCA of this study. However, reported frequency of video
game play was also found to be negatively correlated with preference for cognitive games
as defined by the second-order PCA of this study. A positive correlation was also found
81
between reported hours spent playing in a typical week and preference for action and
strategy games as defined by the second-order PCA of this study. Lastly, participants
who indicated that they would choose to spend more time playing video games if they
had more free time and participants who indicated that they only play multiplayer games
were more likely to prefer action games as defined by the second-order PCA of this study.
82
Table 24
Correlation Coefficients and Alpha Levels for Several Pearson rs that Yielded
Statistically Significant Relationships That Were Not Addressed by the Study’s
Hypotheses.
Age
Age
Sex
Play
Weekly
frequency hours
Motion
sickness
Only
More multiplayer
1
Sex
1
Play frequency
-.50 (.00)
Weekly hours
-.47 (.00) .65 (.00)
Motion sickness
.15 (.01)
More
1
1
1
.12 (.04) --------- .43 (.00) .30 (.00)
Only multiplayer
---------
Only Facebook
---------
1
.13 (.03)
Action
-.41 (.00) .43 (.00)
.32 (.00)
Strategy
-.18 (.00) .24 (.00)
.22 (.00)
1
.16 (.01) .16 (.01)
Cognitive
.30 (.00) -.13 (.03)
Note. Dashes indicate relationships that were examined via Chi-Square. These analyses
are reported later in this section. Sex was coded as 0 = male and 1 = female. The caption
“play frequency” refers to subjects’ reported frequencies of video game play. “Weekly
hours” refers to the number of hours participants reported playing video games in a
typical week. “Motion sickness” refers to how often participants reported experiencing
motion sickness when playing video games. “More” refers to participants’ responses to
the question “If I had more free time I would choose to spend more time playing video
games” and was coded as 0 = false and 1 = true. “Only multiplayer” refers to participants’
responses to the question “I only play video games with other people in the same room or
over the Internet” and was coded as 0 = false and 1 = true. “Only Facebook” refers to
participants’ responses to the question “I only play video games on Facebook or another
similar social website” and was coded as 0 = false and 1 = true. “Action”, “strategy”, and
“cognitive” refer to preferences for the three video game types yielded by the secondorder principal components analysis of this study.
83
Table 25
Descriptive Statistics for All Variables Involved in Significant Relationships Explored in
Addition to Relationships Specifically Addressed in the Hypotheses of This Study.
Mean
SD
N
Age
20.96
3.27
277
Sex
0.61
0.49
277
Frequency
3.24
1.51
277
Weekly
5.99
8.30
274
Motion sickness
0.41
0.74
276
More
0.48
0.50
277
Only multiplayer
0.43
0.50
277
Only Facebook
0.09
0.30
277
10.37
1.84
277
Strategy
8.56
1.74
277
Cognitive
6.09
1.62
277
Action
84
To examine the relationships between several dichotomous variables, three ChiSquare analyses were performed. The first Chi-Square test examined the relationship
between sex and participants’ indications that they would or would not choose to spend
more time playing video games if more free time was available to them. Table 26
illustrates the observed frequencies of this Chi-Square. The relationship was found to be
statistically significant, 2 (2, N = 277) = 11.50, p = .001, indicating that males were
more likely than females to indicate that they would choose to spend more time playing
video games if they had more free time.
Table 26
Observed Frequencies for the Chi-Square Performed to Examine the Relationship
between Sex and Participants’ Indications That They Would or Would Not Choose to
Spend More Time Playing Video Games if More Free Time Was Available to Them.
Would play
more
Sex
Male Female
Total
False
42
101
143
True
66
68
134
Total
108
169
277
The second Chi-Square test examined the relationship between sex and
participants’ indications that they do or do not only play video games on Facebook or
another similar social networking site. Table 27 shows the observed frequencies of this
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Chi-Square analysis. The relationship was found to be statistically significant, 2 (2, N =
277) = 17.42, p < .001, indicating that female participants were more likely than male
participants to indicate that they only play video games on Facebook.
Table 27
Observed Frequencies for the Chi-Square Performed to Examine the Relationship
between Sex and Participants’ Indications That They Do or Do Not Only Play Video
Games on Facebook or another Similar Social Networking Site.
Only
Facebook
Sex
Male Female
Total
False
107
146
253
True
0
23
23
Total
107
169
276
A final Chi-Square test was used to examine the relationships between sex and
participants’ indications that they do or do not exclusively play multiplayer video games.
The relationship was not found to be statistically significant.
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Chapter 4
DISCUSSION
The primary goals of this study were to collect empirical evidence supporting the
existence of several distinct types of video games, and to explore the relationships
between participants' preferences for those video game types and sex, the personality
traits openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism as
measured by the NEO-FFI (Costa & McCrae, 1992) and dominance, empathy, intellectual
efficiency, self-acceptance, self-control, and socialization as measured by the CPI
(Gough, 1987). The literature on video game play patterns and personality demonstrates
the importance of investigating the relationships between these two variables.
Preferences for various types of video games have been linked to several five factor
model personality traits (Chory & Goodboy, 2011; Markey & Markey, 2010; Zammitto,
2010). However, little research has been conducted using other personality traits, such as
those measured by the CPI (Gough, 1987). Additionally, much of the research has
focused specifically on the relationships between violent video game play and sex (Lucas
& Sherry, 2004) and aggressive behavior (Anderson et al., 2004; Ferguson, 2007;
Ferguson & Kilburn, 2010).
Hypothesis One
Hypothesis one, that the number of distinct types of video games is fewer than are
identified by the current genre classification system, was tested through principle
components analysis of participants' preferences for various video game descriptors.
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Principle components analysis of participants' preference ratings for various descriptors
contained in the Gaming Preferences Questionnaire yielded eight different types of video
games. These eight were labeled combat, racing, online/online shooter, RPG, simulation,
sports, music, and puzzle. An examination of the relationships among these eight
components indicated that they were highly intercorrelated. Because of this, a secondorder principle components analysis using these original eight components was
performed.
Similar to Lucas and Sherry (2004), the second-order principal components
analysis of the current study yielded only three distinct video game categories. These
three components were labeled “action,” “strategy,” and “cognitive processing” for the
unifying qualities of the types of games that composed them. This is different from the
factors found by Lucas and Sherry (2004), which were labeled “traditional,” “physical
enactment,” and “imagination.” Nevertheless, there are many similarities and differences
between the genres that composed the factors found by Lucas and Sherry (2004) and the
video game types that comprised the second-order components yielded by the current
study. Table 28 illustrates these comparisons.
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Table 28
A Comparison of the Factors Found by Lucas and Sherry (2004) and the Second-Order
Principal Components Found in the Current Study.
The current study
Lucas and Sherry (2004)
Action
combat
racing
online shooter
Physical enactment
fighter
racing/speed
shooter
sports
Strategy
RPG
simulation
sports
Imagination
fantasy/RPG
simulation
strategy
action/adventure
Cognitive processing
music
puzzle
Traditional
card/dice
classic board games
quiz/trivia
puzzle
arcade
Lucas and Sherry's physical enactment factor is very similar to the current study's
action component. Both of these categories describe games that are action oriented and
revolve around players controlling their avatars through the completion of physical
challenges. The current study's strategy component compares to Lucas and Sherry's
(2004) imagination factor. The only way these two are different is the inclusion of
action/adventure games in Lucas and Sherry's (2004) factor. This may be a reflection of
the fact that Lucas and Sherry (2004) used several popular conceptual video game genres
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rather than constructing video game categories from various descriptors as the current
study did. If Lucas and Sherry (2004) had employed a similar technique, they might have
found a category similar to the current study's “combat” which contains descriptors that
characterize action, action/adventure, fighter, and shooter games. Lucas and Sherry's
(2004) traditional factor is the most different from the components of the current study.
An examination of the genres that composed the traditional factor shows that card, dice,
trivia, and board games were included in this category. A review of the descriptors
contained in the current study's Gaming Preferences Questionnaire (Appendix C) reveals
that the current study failed to include descriptors of these types of games. If the current
study had included these descriptors, it is possible that the component “cognitive
processing” would have been more similar to Lucas and Sherry's (2004) traditional factor.
The primary goal of hypothesis one was to identify several distinct types of video
games. The description of the current study's three video game types as distinct should
be made with caution. Although the three second-order components were less
intercorrelated than were the original eight components, the component “strategy” was
significantly correlated with the components “cognitive processing” and “action.”
Because of this, hypothesis one was only partially supported by the findings of the
current study. It was supported by the fact that fewer types of video games than are
currently in popular use were defined, however, it was not supported by the fact that the
three categories found were so intercorrelated.
Because the current study examined the existence of distinct video game types
through the measurement of participants' video game preferences, these relationships may
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be a reflection of the fact that individuals might tend to enjoy and prefer numerous types
of video games. Perhaps the original eight components yielded by this study were
intercorrelated not because they share qualities but because individuals who prefer certain
types of games may tend to prefer others as well. This suggests that preferences for
various video games may not be an adequate means of detecting the existence of distinct
video game types.
Hypothesis Two
The second hypothesis of this study was that video game preferences would differ
between participants based on their scores on the NEO-FFI (Costa & McCrae, 1992) and
CPI (Gough, 1987) scales used in this study. This hypothesis was tested in two parts:
first, the relationships between the personality traits measured in this study and the three
video game types yielded by the second-order principle components analysis were
explored. In the second part of testing this hypothesis, the relationships between these
same personality traits and the genres corresponding to participants' first, second, and
third favorite video games were examined.
The first part of testing hypothesis two was carried out by conducting a canonical
correlation analysis using participants' preferences for the three video game types yielded
by second-order PCA as the dependent variables and the personality traits measured by
the CPI (Gough, 1987), and the NEO-FFI (Costa & McCrae, 1992) as the predictor
variables. Two functions were found to be statistically significant and were extracted for
further analysis. However, interpretation of these functions should be made with caution
because they both had eigenvalues that were significantly lower than one. Function one
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had an eigenvalue of 0.19 and function two had an eigenvalue of 0.11, indicating that the
variance explained by the functions was significantly lower than the estimated error
variance for each. In addition, the Cramer-Nicewander (1979) index indicated that only
12.73 percent of the variance of the dependent variables was explained by the predictor
variables.
The first predictor function yielded by the canonical correlation analysis was
associated with higher levels of self-control, agreeableness, and openness to experience
and lower levels of extraversion, while the first dependent function was associated with
higher preference for cognitive processing games and lower preference for action games.
This appears to indicate that participants who were introverted and controlling of their
emotions, yet friendly, caring, unconventional, and creative were likely to prefer
cognitive processing games and have low preference scores for action games. This is
congruent with Chory and Goodboy (2011) who found agreeableness to be negatively
correlated with preference for violent video games which are rich in action content. This
function also confirms many of Zammitto's (2010) findings. Zammitto found openness to
be negatively related to preference for shooters and sports games and positively related to
preference for puzzle games. Contrary to the findings of Zammitto (2010) and the
current study, Chory and Goodboy (2011) found openness to be positively related to
preference for violent video games, which are high in action content. This first function
is also in agreement with Zammitto's (2010) findings that preferences for shooters, action
non-shooters, fighting, and sports games, which are all high in action content are
negatively related to agreeableness and positively related to extraversion. Similarly,
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Chory and Goodboy (2011) found extraversion to be positively related to preferences for
violent video games and agreeableness to be negatively related to preferences for violent
video games. Zammitto (2010) also found agreeableness and openness to experience to
be positively related to preferences for adventure games, which are often high in action
content. This first function does not support these findings.
The second predictor function was associated with higher levels of openness to
experience, conscientiousness, and extraversion; the second dependent function was
associated with higher preference for cognitive processing games and action games. This
suggests that participants who are more extraverted, unconventional, creative, strong
willed, and purposeful are more likely than others to prefer both cognitive processing and
action games. Like Chory and Goodboy (2011) and Zammitto (2010), this function
suggests that extraversion is positively related to preferences for games that are high in
action content; however, contrary to both of these studies, this function also suggests that
individuals who are high in extraversion also prefer cognitive processing games.
Zammitto (2010) found a negative relationship between openness to experience and
preferences for video games that are high in action content and a positive relationship
between openness to experience and preferences for puzzle and adventure games.
Function two is in agreement with both of these findings. However, Chory and Goodboy
(2011) found openness to experience to be positively related to preferences for violent
video games, which are high in action content. Lastly, Zammitto (2010) found
conscientiousness to be positively related to preferences for action non-shooter games
and puzzle games. Function two is in agreement with this finding.
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The second part of testing hypothesis two was accomplished by conducting three
one way MANOVAs, each using the personality traits measured in this study as the
dependent variables and genres corresponding to participants' first, second, and third
favorite video games as the independent variable for the first, second, and third
MANOVA respectively. Only the first two MANOVAs yielded statistically significant
results.
The first MANOVA found that participants whose first favorite video game was
an RPG had significantly higher openness to experience scores than those whose first
favorite game was a racing, shooter, platform, or sports game. These findings are in
partial agreement with Zammitto (2010) who found openness scores to be negatively
related to preferences for shooter and sports games. However, contrary to the findings of
the current study, Chory and Goodboy (2011) found openness to be positively related to
preference for violent video games, which the majority of shooters would be classified as.
The second MANOVA indicated that participants whose second favorite video
game was an RPG had significantly higher openness scores than those whose second
favorite game was a racing, shooter, or sports game. Because sports, racing, and RPG
games are not associated with any inherent amount of violent content, and because most
research concerning video games has focused on violent video games, there is little
research available to compare to these findings.
Hypothesis Three
Hypothesis three, that there would be observable differences in preferences for
different types of video games between the sexes, was tested in two parts. In the first part
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the relationships between sex and preferences for the three video game types yielded by
the second-order PCA of this study were examined via Pearson correlations. In the
second part of testing hypothesis three, three Chi-Squares were performed to examine the
relationships between sex and genres corresponding to participants' first, second and third
favorite video games.
The three Pearson rs used to examine the relationships between sex and
preferences for the three types of video games yielded by second-order PCA were all
found to be statistically significant. These correlations indicated that female participants
were more likely than male participants to prefer cognitive processing games whereas
male participants were more likely than female participants to prefer action and strategy
games. These findings are in partial agreement with Consalvo and Treat (2002) who
found that males tended to prefer action/adventure games (which fit into the second-order
component “action”), sports, and simulation games (which fit into the second-order
component “strategy”) whereas females tended to prefer puzzle, platform, and sports
games. These findings are also similar to those of Lucas and Sherry (2004) who found
that males preferred fighter, shooter, racing, and action/adventure games (which fit into
the second-order component “action”), and sports, RPG, and strategy games (which fit
into the second-order component “strategy”) more than did females and that females
preferred card/dice games, classic board games, quiz, trivia, and puzzle games more than
did males. The research examining the differences in video game preferences between
the sexes appears to suggest that males prefer more action and violence oriented video
games than do females whereas females tend to prefer more prosocial types of video
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games (Consalvo & Treat, 2002; Lucas & Sherry, 2004; Terlecki et. al., 2010). The
current study appears to support these findings.
All three of the chi-square analyses were statistically significant, indicating that
there were significant differences in genres corresponding to first, second, and third
favorite video games between the sexes. Despite these significant findings, very few of
the individual genre groups were of sufficient sample size to conduct further analyses to
examine any simple effects. Several one-way chi-square analyses were conducted to
examine the simple effects of the groups that contained sufficient numbers of participants
but none of them were found to be statistically significant.
Despite the fact that the sample sizes of most of the genre groups were too small
to examine simple effects, an examination of the observed frequencies of males and
females in each group suggests some potential differences that might be found with a
larger sample size. Among all three chi-squares, zero male participants named a favorite
game that was a simulation whereas a total of 31 games that were simulations were
named by female participants. Also, among the three chi-squares only three games were
named by males that belonged to the genre “music” whereas a total of 28 were named by
females. Interestingly, among the three chi-squares, female participants named 50
favorite games that belonged to the genre “racing” whereas males only named 14.
Another interesting trend that appears in the observed frequencies is that female
participants named 71 favorite games that belonged to the genre “platform” whereas
males only named eight. This is a particularly interesting trend because the most well
known video game of all time [Super Mario Brothers (Nintendo R&D4, 1985)] is a
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platform game. It seems reasonable to suggest that individuals who have relatively little
experience playing video games might name Super Mario Brothers as a favorite game if
asked to provide one. This would support the findings of previous studies that reported
males playing video games more frequently and for longer periods of time than females
(Royse, Lee, Undrahbuyan, Hopson, & Consalvo, 2007; Lucas & Sherry, 2004; Terlecki
et. al., 2010). Future research using the current genre system to examine sex differences
in video game preferences would be well advised to use larger sample sizes than the
current study so that relationships such as those suggested here might be adequately
analyzed.
Relationships Not Addressed by the Study Hypotheses
In addition to the relationships specifically addressed by the current study’s
hypotheses, several others were investigated and a number were found to be significant.
Results showed that older participants were more likely than younger participants to
indicate that they would choose to spend more time playing video games if more free
time was available to them. Also, male participants were more likely than female
participants to indicate that they would choose to spend more time playing video games if
more free time was available to them. Similar to many previous studies (Royse, Lee,
Undrahbuyan, Hopson, & Consalvo, 2007; Lucas & Sherry, 2004), male participants
indicated more frequent video game play and more hours spent playing video games in a
typical week than did female participants. Female participants reported experiencing
motion sickness more frequently than did male participants. This is possibly a reflection
of the finding that females play video games less often and for less time than do males,
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thereby having less habituation to motion sickness caused by exposure to virtual
environments.
Participants who indicated that they only play multiplayer video games reported
experiencing motion sickness while playing video games more frequently than those who
did not indicate that they only play multiplayer games. Two of the most popular forms of
multiplayer video games are MMOs and first-person shooters. First-person shooters
require players to navigate through three dimensional environments, while MMOs often
necessitate frequent shifting in the player’s visual perspective. Both of these aspects of
gameplay make MMOs and first-person shooters more likely than other types of video
games to induce motion sickness in players. Participants who indicated that they only
play multiplayer games were more likely to prefer action games as defined by the secondorder PCA of this study. This reflects the standing of first person shooters (which would
fit into the action category) as one of the more common forms of multiplayer video game
play.
Of the numerous forms of multiplayer games, those played over Facebook or
other similar social networking websites are some of the most popular. These games are
typically more prosocial than other games and place a significant emphasis on player
interdependence. Many Facebook games require players to make friends with other
players and trade goods and services with them in order to succeed in the game. The
current study found that female participants were significantly more likely than male
participants to indicate that they only play video games on Facebook or another similar
social networking website. This supports the findings of previous studies that showed
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that females tend to prefer prosocial video games more than do males (Consalvo & Treat,
2002; Lucas & Sherry, 2003; Terlecki et. al., 2010).
Reported frequency of video game play and reported number of hours spent
playing video games in a typical week were found to be positively related to participants’
preferences for action and strategy games as defined by the second-order PCA of this
study. In contrast to this, preference for cognitive processing games as defined by the
second-order PCA was found to be negatively related to reported frequency of video
game play. These findings are easily explained by the fact that many games that would
fit into the categories of action and strategy games involve intricate and engrossing story
lines that can motivate players to dedicate more time to game play. Additionally,
cognitive processing games, in contrast to many action and strategy games, set goals for
players that take a relatively short amount of time to achieve. In this way, cognitive
processing games require much less time commitment. Concordantly, participants who
indicated that they would choose to spend more time playing video games if more time
was available to them were more likely to prefer action games than those who indicated
that they would not spend more time playing video games.
Limitations and Implications of this Research
The current study yielded several findings that should be interpreted with caution.
The three components yielded by the principal components analysis limited the
comparison of the current study’s findings to many previous studies that used video game
classification systems different from the current study’s classification system. Similar to
Lucas and Sherry (2004), the current study suggests that classification of video games
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can be reduced to three types. However, the three types yielded by the current study were
highly intercorrelated. Because the current study attempted to identify distinct video
game categories through measuring participants’ video game preferences, these three
video game types are dependent upon subjective opinions. Therefore, the intercorrelation
of the three video game types of this study may be a reflection of the tendency for
individuals to prefer various types of video games simultaneously. Perhaps the three
components yielded by the second-order PCA would be better described as “preference
groupings.”
The canonical correlation analysis yielded minimally interpretable results.
However, the analyses of the relationships between personality traits and genres
corresponding to first, second, and third favorite video games appeared to yield results
that were more interpretable. The variance exhibited in the genres corresponding to
participants’ favorite video games suggests that a significant amount of descriptive ability
may be lost in reducing video games to three categories.
There were numerous limitations in the current study that posed potential
confounds. Of the various analyses performed in this study, those involving the genres
corresponding to participants' first, second, and third favorite video games yielded the
most promising results. However, much of this data was uninterpretable due to
insufficient sample size. It would therefore be important for future studies to use larger
samples when using the current genre system as a method of classifying video games.
Future studies would also be well advised to sample from a population of identified video
game players. Differing levels of experience with video games posed a potential
100
confound in the current study. Several participants in the current study stated that they
rarely or never play video games. Participants who stated that they have never played
video games were omitted from inclusion in data analysis; however, there were many
other participants who reported playing very infrequently who were included in data
analysis.
The Gaming Preferences Questionnaire used in the current study was flawed in
that it had an unbalanced number of items representing each of the conceptual video
game genres. For example, there were only three items included in the inventory that
were expected to correspond to the genre “music” whereas 16 items loaded on the
component “RPG” in the principal components analysis. The current study showed that
various aspects of video game play are shared by different types of video games. This
makes creating such a balanced inventory a difficult undertaking.
Another significant issue that must be considered in the current study is the issue
of fatigue among participants. Although the majority of participants were able to
complete their packets of materials in less than 30 minutes, in total, each participant's
packet consisted of 19 pages of materials, including 307 multiple choice items and
demographic information. It would not be unreasonable to suspect that a number of
participants experienced significant fatigue, which may have affected their item
responses.
Despite its many flaws, the current study will lend support to any future efforts to
measure empirically distinct video game categories. The analyses not involving the
components yielded by the second-order PCA showed promising results that should be
101
explored further in future studies. The current study also demonstrated differences in
video game preferences between the sexes beyond preferences for violent or prosocial
games, which have been the primary focus of a majority of previous studies.
This study was hindered by the inability to reliably and accurately measure
preferences for distinct video game types. Although the current study attempted to create
such a means of measuring video game preferences, it was not entirely successful in
doing so. Given that video game play is an ever growing pastime, with a sizeable number
of individuals already playing, it is likely that more research examining the relationships
between personality and video game preferences will be performed in the future. In order
for those studies to yield valid results, a more accurate and valid measure of video game
preferences needs to be created. The current study provides support toward the creation
of such a scale. However, much work remains to be done.
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APPENDIX A
Descriptions of the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) Ratings
Rating
appropriate ages
possible content__________
Early Childhood (EC)
3 years and older
no material that could be considered
inappropriate for children.
Everyone (E)
Everyone 10+ (E10+)
6 and older
10 and older
minimal cartoon, fantasy, or mild
violence, Infrequent use of mild
language.
more cartoon, fantasy, or mild
violence than (E) games, mild
language, and/or minimally
suggestive themes.
Teen (T)
13 and older
Violence, suggestive themes, crude
humor, minimal blood, simulated
gambling, and/or infrequent use of
strong language.
Mature (M)
17 and older
Intense violence, blood and gore,
sexual content, and/or strong
language.
Adults only (AO)
18 and older
Prolonged scenes of intense violence
and/or graphic sexual content and
nudity.
Note: From “Game Ratings and Descriptor Guide” by the Entertainment Software Rating
Board. Game ratings & descriptor guide. Retrieved February 13, 2012, from
http://www.esrb.org/ratings/ratings_guide_print.jsp.htm.
103
APPENDIX B
Demographic Sheet
Please answer all of the following questions as honestly as you can. Doing so will allow
your researchers to compile a more accurate representation of population characteristics
using the data obtained from this sample.
What is your:
1) Age________
2) Sex (circle one):
Male
Female
3) Ethnicity (please circle your choice):
White/Caucasian
Asian or Pacific Islander
Black/African American Native American
Other________________
4) Major(s)___________________
5) Year in college? (circle one)
Freshman Sophomore
Junior
6) Marital status ___________________
Senior
Hispanic/Latino
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APPENDIX C
Gaming Preferences Questionnaire
Using the given scale, please rate how much each of the following statements concerning
video game preferences pertain to you.
VERY LITTLE
LITTLE
NEUTRAL
MUCH
VERY MUCH
1
2
3
4
5
Place the number corresponding to how you feel each statement pertains to you in the
empty space provided next to each item. Note that all items in this inventory are
concerning video games. All items containing the word “games” are referring specifically
to video games.
____1) Prefer games where opponents are engaged in small maps or arenas.
____2) Prefer games that try to scare the player.
____3) Prefer fast paced games.
____4) Enjoy setting up character stats (strength, intelligence, etc.).
____5) Enjoy moving an avatar (player controlled character, object, or vehicle) around
really fast.
____6) Enjoy games that require players to move units around tactically.
____7) Prefer games where using guns is extremely important.
____8) Prefer games that have a tougher enemy at the end of the level.
____9) Prefer games that show hints about how to optimize play.
____10) Enjoy trying to get a high score.
____11) Prefer games that allow players to shoot.
____12) Prefer games where players can drive or fly a vehicle, craft, or robot.
____13) Prefer games with big and complex worlds.
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____14) Prefer games that only require solving puzzles.
____15) Prefer to control only one avatar (player controlled character, object, or vehicle)
at a time.
____16) Prefer games where players mainly kick and punch enemies.
____17) Prefer games where players can conquer, explore, or commercialize.
____18) Enjoy fooling around the game world without any main reason or objective.
____19) Prefer games that allow players to decide evolution paths for their units.
____20) Prefer games that can be played online.
____21) Enjoy games that require players to make quick decisions.
____22) Prefer games where characters can learn abilities.
____23) Prefer games that are an intellectual challenge.
____24) Enjoy resolving just a few puzzles.
____25) Prefer games where players can make buildings and structures.
____26) Prefer games that emulate aspects of the real world.
____27) Prefer games that don't have any specific goal.
____28) Prefer games where characters use blade weapons.
____29) Enjoy resolving puzzles for their own sake.
____30) Prefer games where events happen once a player finishes his/her turn.
____31) Enjoy games that only sometimes require players to engage a character stronger
than the average.
____32) Prefer games with intelligent life.
____33) Enjoy games that require players to make certain actions in coordination with
music.
____34) Prefer sports games.
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____35) Prefer games where some events continue by themselves.
____36) Prefer games that can be played with other people on the internet.
____37) Enjoy leveling a character.
____38) Prefer games where players can manage resources.
____39) Enjoy exploring and establishing relationships with other characters.
____40) Prefer games where players are given the chance to control several avatars
(player controlled characters, objects, or vehicles) at a time.
____41) Prefer games that require players to resolve puzzles frequently.
____42) Prefer games with a story that unfolds while you play them.
____43) Enjoy being challenged with hand-eye coordination tasks.
____44) Prefer games where characters' stats have a key role to hit and resist while
fighting.
____45) Enjoy games that require players to keep in time with a beat.
____46) Enjoy controlling multiple units.
____47) Prefer games in which engaging in combat is not that relevant.
____48) Prefer games that are carefully balanced by setting initial attributes comparably
equal to all players.
____49) Enjoy completing quests.
____50) Enjoy doing combo moves for higher damage.
____51) Enjoy games in which having good aiming skill is a must.
____52) Prefer games where music and rhythm are an important part of game play.
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APPENDIX D
Gaming Patterns Questionnaire
Please answer the following questions as they pertain to your video game playing
patterns.
1) How often do you typically play video games (circle one)?
a. every day
b. almost every day
c. several times a week
d. several times a month
e. several times a year
f. rarely
g. I have never played video games
2) How many hours a week on average would you say you spend playing video games?
_________Hours
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3) How old were you when you played your first video game (circle one)?
a. 5 years old or younger
b. between 6 and 11 years old
c. between 12 and 18 years old
d. between 19 and 35 years old
e. older than 35 years old
f. N/A (I have never played video games)
4) How often do you experience motion sickness while playing video games (circle one)?
a. never
b. rarely
c. sometimes
d. often
e. always
f. N/A (I have never played video games)
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5) Please list up to 3 platforms you own and have played video games on in the last 12
months,ordering them from most used (1st) to least used (3rd). For example:
PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintedo DS, iPad, and PC (personal computer).
1St _____________________ 2nd _____________________ 3rd_____________________
6) From the following options, please place a check mark next to your most preferred
way of playing video games.
___Single player alone.
___Single player with other people (passing pads, hot seat) or helping out.
___Competitive multiplayer mode with someone in the same room.
___Cooperative multiplayer mode with someone in the same room.
___Competitive multiplayer mode on the Internet.
___Cooperative multiplayer mode on the Internet.
7) Please list your top 3 favorite video games ever.
1__________________________________
2__________________________________
3__________________________________
For the following 3 items, please circle “TRUE” if you feel the statement applies to you
and “FALSE” if you feel it does not apply to you.
8) If I had more free time I would choose to spend more time playing video games.
TRUE
FALSE
9) I only play video games with other people in the same room or over the Internet.
TRUE
FALSE
10) I only play video games on Facebook or another similar social website.
TRUE
FALSE
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APPENDIX E
Consent Form
I hereby agree to participate in research which will be conducted by Joe Borders, a
graduate student in psychology. In this research I will be given a packet of materials
including some demographic questions, some questions about my video game play
patterns and history, two inventories measuring personality characteristics, and another
inventory measuring my preferences in video games.
The research will take place in one of the research rooms on the third floor of Amador
Hall and will require one half hour of my time.
I understand that I will receive one half hour of credit toward satisfying the Psychology
Department’s research participation requirement by participating in this study.
I understand that this research may lead to further understanding of the relationship
between personality and preferences in video game play.
I understand that there is a possibility that some questions may make me feel
uncomfortable and that I may discontinue my participation at any time without any
penalty other than loss of research credit, and that the investigator may discontinue my
participation at any time.
This information was explained to me by Joe Borders. I understand that he will answer
any questions I may have now or later about this research. Joe Borders can be reached at
macmonk01@yahoo.com.
Signature: _____________________________
Date:____________________
111
APPENDIX F
Debriefing
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between several
personality factors and video game preferences. A secondary purpose of this study was to
provide a foundation for the construction of an empirically supported classification
system for video games.
Hypotheses and Supporting Research
Very little prior research has been done examining the relationship between
personality and video game preferences (Hartmann & Klimmt, 2006). It is likely that this
is because the video game classification system, currently in the form of genres, consists
of categories that often overlap and are not consistently agreed upon (Apperley, 2006).
The results of this study will be used, in part, to test the existing classification categories
and to provide the basis for constructing a more empirically supported one. The only
study known to have done anything similar to this found empirical support for the
existence of only three individual genres which the researchers termed “Traditional”,
“Physical Enactment”, and “Imagination” (Lucas & Sherry, 2004).
Of the research performed to date on the relationship between personality and
video game preferences, a study by Zammitto (2010) is particularly noteworthy.
Zammitto found neuroticism to be a significant predictor of preference for shooters,
action-no shooting, fighting, and sports games. Extraversion was found to be a significant
predictor of preference for these same genres, as well as online play. Openness to
experience was found to be significantly negatively related to preference for shooters,
sports, and online play and positively related to preference for simulation, adventure, and
puzzle games. Agreeableness was found to have a significant negative relationship to
shooters, action-non shooters, fighting, sports, and online games while being positively
related to preference for adventure games. Lastly, Zammitto's study found a significant
positive relationship between conscientiousness and preference for action-non shooters
and puzzle games and a negative relationship between conscientiousness and driving
games.
In her study, Ziammitto analyzed her data using conceptual genres rather than
empirically supported video game categories. One of the main purposes of this study is to
employ factor analysis in an attempt to provide such empirically supported categories. As
such, it is hypothesized that patterns will be found in preferences for specific video game
characteristics and that these patterns will be identifiable as distinct video game
categories. Similar to the findings by Lucas and Sherry (2004), it is hypothesized that the
actual number of distinct categories found will be far fewer than those used in
Ziammitto's study and common video game nomenclature. It is further hypothesized that
112
the categories yielded by this analysis will be composites of the ones used in Ziammitto's
study. For example, analysis may yield a category best described as “aggressive play”
that is composed of games stereotypically thought of as belonging to the shooter, action,
fighting, and sports genres. As such, it is hypothesized that the categories found by this
study will have a similar relationship to personality as the component genres used in
Ziammitto's study.
In addition to the NEO Five-Factor Inventory used to assess personality in
Ziammitto's study, the current study also employed the use of several scales from the
California Psychological Inventory (CPI). Inasmuch as little research has been done on
the relationship between personality and video game preferences in the past, it is unclear
what relationships will be found between the factors of the CPI and video game
preferences. However, it is hypothesized that dominance will be found to be positively
related to preference for competitive games, and preference for violent video games will
be negatively related to empathy and self-control.
Contact Information
The results of this study will be available by May 24, 2012. If you would like further
information about the study or have questions regarding the study, please contact Joe
Borders at macmonk01@yahoo.com at your convenience.
Psychological Services
If you have experienced any personal distress caused by the content or materials in
this research and want to talk to someone, counseling services are available through
the Student Health Center free of charge. Please contact Psychological Services at
278-6416 for assistance.
113
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