Playing with value : player engagements with videogames as a negotiation of net cultural worth
Year: 2013
Type: dissertation
Abstract: This thesis explains the results of a research programme which set out to empirically \ncreate a theory relating to players’ experience of videogame playing and the \nmethodology employed in doing so. With the perspective that many empirically derived \nor tested contemporary theories are not sufficient for accounting for engagement in the \nmajority of cases, a semi-inductive theory generation methodology was selected, \ninterpreted, and employed. \nThe theoretical concept so derived is that in order to engage with a videogame product \nplayers must find an overall sense of cultural value in the products they encounter. This \nsense of value corresponds to games at a feature level, the user making judgements \nabout salient design features, and is not fixed but is constantly evaluated as the player \nencounters the game, from when they are selecting the concept of a game, through play, \nto when they are reflecting on the experience in relation to other products. The \nevaluation of features seems to involve the player 'identifying' with the individual design \nfeatures in that there is an implicit intra personal questioning of “Am I the kind of person \nwho would play a game with this feature?” which might be described as an expression of \nthe user's personal culture or assumed socially relative self sense. If they feel that they \nare the kind of person who would play a game with that feature then this value \njudgement will have a positive influence on their engagement, if they are not then it will \naffect the user’s engagement negatively. The features so evaluated in this way can be \nany personally salient design feature at all, such as game mechanics, graphical \nrepresentation or even packaging. These weighted judgements then act together in \nsummation to determine the player's potential engagement. \n \nAlso included is a justification for the selection, interpretation, application, and \npragmatics of the Classic Grounded Theory Methodology (CGT), as employed in this \nprogramme of research. Grounded Theory (GT) was selected as it initially promised to be \nsuitably open and exploratory, and advice relating to CGT was employed most often as it \nfrequently provided the most reasonable set of methods for proceeding. However \nsubstantial effort was required in both understanding what the published advice on \napplying the methodology meant, and how it applied to the current problem. Sections \nare included which tell the story of the practical process of both attempting to apply the \nmethodology, and understand the implications of that application at the same time, and \nan attempt is made to summarise tricky areas (potential misunderstandings and \nseeming myths) and explain the understanding of the methodology relative to these \nissues as it was was employed in this research. \nIn conclusion the derived theory seems to demonstrate a reasonable degree of 'fit' and \n'relevance'; a conclusion which is supported by a survey of academic and industry \nspecialists. As such, the methodology employed might be said to be useful in generating \nnovel theoretical results. Also, the theory can be expressed as a substantive \ninstantiation of existing general theories of human cultural behaviour such as Cooley's \n'Looking Glass Self' (1902). It is also felt that the theory could be readily modified to \naccount for further insights into the domain. These conclusions suggest that the \nhypotheses generated are useful for investigating the domain of videogame play and \nengagement.
Author: John Hamon Salisbury
Institution: Middlesex University London
Language: English
Topic: Digital Games and Media
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: Middlesex University
OpenAlex ID: W435932562