ENG 225 Rhetoric and Gaming

Greitemeyer, T., Osswald, S., & Brauer, M. (2010). Playing Prosocial Video Games Increases Empathy and Decreases Schadenfreude . American Psychological Association 2010, Vol. 10, No. 6, 796 – 802. This article covers two experiments by Greitemeyer, et al, to show levels of malicious pleasure (schadenfreude) after playing games that were rated as “prosocial”, “antisocial”, and “neutral” in regards to the game’s theme. The first experiment used Tetris (Pajitnov, A., 1984) and Lemmings (Psygnosis, 1991) as the neutral and prosocial games, respectively. The participants were then asked how they felt about a celebrity's misfortune. Those who played the prosocial game were more likely to not feel schadenfreude about the celebrity. The second experiment included the antisocial game Lamers (MobyGames, 1992), a parody of Lemmings where the goal is to kill all of the animals, rather than save them. Those who played the antisocial game experienced the highest level of schadenfreude...

Gumulak, S., & Webber, S. (2011). Playing video games: Learning and information literacy . Aslib Proceedings, 63(2), 241-255. This article has Gumulak & Webber research the correlation between gameplay and learning. By interviewing a group of local teenagers, Gumulak & Webber could see if problem solving in a digital play space would translate to real world problem solving. They asked the teenagers about how they feel when they accomplish a hard task in-game, and how that makes them feel. By using this qualitative approach, they were able to find a direct correlation between solving problems in a play space, and being able to translate into the real world.

Chih-Chien Wang Ph.D. and Chia-Hsin Wang M.B.A (June 1st, 2008). Helping Others in Online Games: Prosocial Behavior in Cyberspace This study analyzes the reasons why players in MMOGs help each other. It also looks at how gender influences these interactions. They laid out two possible reasons for helpful player interactions which were altruism and reciprocity. Altruism leading a player to help another because they feel fulfilled by it. Reciprocity leading a player to help another because they expect help from the other in the future. The study collected data through an online survey using a 5 point likert scale. The original sample size was 405 but only 402 fully completed the survey. The questions attempted to measure altruism and reciprocity. Additionally they attempted to differentiate between “prosocial behavior, prosocial behavior with same sex beneficiaries, and prosocial behavior with opposite-sex beneficiaries”. The survey was conducted on an online web community best known...