Online Gaming as Tool for Career Development

Lehrstuhl Informatik 5(Informationssysteme)

Prof. Dr. M. JarkeI5-KCGHR-0908-1

STEG’08

Darko Dugosija,Vadi Efe,Stephan

Hackenbracht,Tobias Vaegs,Anna Glukhova

First International Workshop on Story-Telling and Educational Games

Online Gaming as Toolfor Career Development

Darko Dugosija, Vadi Efe, Stephan Hackenbracht,Tobias Vaegs and Anna Glukhova

Maastricht, Netherlands, September 16, 2008

Informatik 5, RWTH Aachen University, Germany

“Man only plays when in the full meaning of the word he is a man,and he is only completely a man when he plays.” (Schiller)



STEG’08



Outline

Introduction

Survey facts

Results

Conclusions and outlook



STEG’08



Introduction

Observation: Today’s Internet usage becomes more extensive and further reaching each day.

Question: How do real and virtual life influence each other?

Choice of Topic: Video gaming – because it is the first truly digitalized hobby.

Problem: Little existing scientific background



STEG’08



Survey facts

performed on a self-built on-line platform

considered aspects:– gaming – career (job/school)

skills, personal relations, money, personal assessment– gaming – friendships/relationships

situation of hobbies, positive/negative influence on friendships/relationships, interchange offline/online contacts, personal assessment

– gaming – group interactionteam play, motivations, gender, technical competence, personal assessment



STEG’08



Survey facts

1088 participants

on average everyone filled in two of three parts of our survey => ~725 responses for each part

more than expected free statements given (>300)

survey promoted on forums, social networks, e-Mail, mailing lists, Usenet, personal websites, blogs, personal networks



STEG’08



Results: Outline

Demographics

Motivations

Learning by playing

Career effect

Conflict handling

Selected quotes



STEG’08



Results: Demographics

Fig.1: Distribution of theage of the participants

Fig.2: Education of the participants

Our demographics match those of the online gaming population and our survey participants are well educated.



STEG’08



Results: Motivations

Tab.1: difference between team play aspects in real and virtual life

both only real only virtualratio

(both vs. RL+VL)

Comradeship 36.4 % 18.7 % 9.8 % 1.3 : 1

Joint effort 42.3 % 13.8 % 9.8 % 1.8 : 1

Not letting others down 36.2 % 16.1 % 8.6 % 1.5 : 1

Shared victory 40.2 % 9.3 % 16.1 % 1.6 : 1

Overcoming conflicts 22.7 % 17.1 % 11.4 % 0.8 : 1

Rely on each other 39.0 % 17.8 % 8.6 % 1.5 : 1

Identification 11.7 % 9.3 % 7.9 % 0.7 : 1

Defined responsibilities 19.4 % 16.1 % 15.0 % 0.6 : 1

(Other) (6.8 %) (4.4 %) (3.0 %)

Fig.3: Motivations by gender

Fun and relaxation are by far most important, while learning is usually not a motivation.

Aspects of team work are usually similar in real and virtual life.



STEG’08



Results: Learning by playing

Fig.5: Number of acquired skills while gaming

Fig.4: Ratio of skills acquiredby gaming compared to related activities

Spearman's rho Positive Influence

Correlation Coefficient 0.397

Sig. (2-tailed) 0.000

N 593

Number ofAcquired Skills

Tab.2: Correlation between positive influence and number of acquired skills

Players acquire several transferable skills while gaming, and a few more by related activities.



STEG’08



Results: Learning by playing

Gaming related skills are rated high as expected, but also foreign language skills due to international gaming communities. Those skills could often not be acquired easier in different ways than gaming.

Fig.6: Distribution of acquired skills

Fig.7: Possibility of acquiringskills by other means than gaming



STEG’08



Results: Career effect

Value df Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)

Pearson Chi-Square 23.186 4 0.000

Likelihood Ratio 24.347 4 0.000

N of Valid Cases 440

Tab.3: χ²-test of Fig. 6

Fig.8: Hours played during times of negative influence

Players usually do not experience negative influences of gaming if playing only reasonable (i.e. ≤20h/week) amounts of time.



STEG’08



Results: Career effectFig.9: Comparison of genresplayed during times of positive and negative influence

Fig.10: Overall influence on career/school

There is a noticeable difference among the genres regarding positive/negative influence on the career, which should be considered in TEL game design.



STEG’08



Results: Conflict handling

both only real only virtualratio

(both vs. RL+VL)

Challenge 28.7% 7.9% 31.1% 0.7:1

Seeing others lose 4.2% 3.0% 15.7% 0.2:1

Justice 19.2% 37.6% 6.3% 0.4:1

Victory 19.6% 4.2% 32.7% 0.5:1

Blow of steam 6.8% 7.2% 15.7% 0.3:1

Dislike of someone 10.7% 17.3% 8.4% 0.4:1

(Other) (5.8%) (7.2%) (4.7%)

Tab.4: Reasons to engage in a conflict in real and virtual life

Fig.11: Overall influence of gaming on social skills

Conflicts are more easily engaged in virtual life, as there are less severe consequences to be expected.



STEG’08



Results: Selected Quotes

“Married for 24 years, husband and sons (21 and 17) game together with me frequently.”

“Games like Final Fantasy VII/VIII allowed me to use advanced strategies from a young age, again, helping me in a way school never could. I would say in my first five years of gaming, I learned at least twice as much as I did when I attended school.”

“Video games had much effect on my creative and I might say artistical side. It is because of them that I am now on Graphical design university, and studying and learning programs like Maya and 3ds max.”

“I'm a terrible sport player, so I enjoy most teamwork in games. Teamwork, especially in large group, is much more accessible and easier in virtual world than in real life. Large team raid rocks when everyone is trying their best.”

“I enjoy social gaming but know that it's not reality. I can switch off myself when I switch off the computer.”



STEG’08



Conclusions and Outlook

useful considerations for designing TEL games– proven: possibility of learning through gaming– focus learning on transferable skills– hide the learning aspect behind fun and relaxation– games well suited for learning conflict management

concept of virtual life truly justified

survey data suitable for more analysis



STEG’08



Thank youfor your attention!

Questions?