The social facilitation of performance, engagement and affect in a complex videogame: Opponent identity

Russell Blair Williams, Zayed University

Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

International Journal of Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations

Publication Date

1-1-2019

Abstract

Copyright © 2019, IGI Global. The objective of this study is to analyze the social facilitation of performance, intrinsic engagement, state hostility, and targeted affects in a computer-based driving game where social actors are competitors. This is a quasi-experimental study with 97 Gulf Arab women. Social facilitation of absolute performance does not take place while it does for relative performance. There is no difference in state hostility based on social facilitation, but there is in targeted affect. Intrinsic engagement and extrinsic motivation are both facilitated by human opponents. There is a negative relationship between intrinsic engagement and state hostility across conditions. There is evidence that the experience of playing a game character and playing a person is substantially different. The two most powerful predictors of performance and affect are intrinsic engagement and videogame interest when playing a person. Weekly hours of console play are added to those two when playing a game character.

ISSN

1942-3888

Publisher

IGI Global

Volume

11

Issue

1

First Page

1

Last Page

17

Disciplines

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Keywords

Co-Located Opponents, Driving Game, Extrinsic Motivation, Game Characters, Game Interest, Gulf-Arab Women, Intrinsic Engagement, Relative Performance, State Hostility, Targeted Affect, Weekly Play

Scopus ID

85065743391

Indexed in Scopus

yes

Open Access

no

Link to Full Text

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