Perceived Addictiveness of Smartphone Games: A Content Analysis of Game Reviews by Players

The tangled ways to classify games: A systematic review of how games are classified in psychological research

In the face of the rapid evolution of the gaming market and the puzzling overlap of genres, consistency in classification seems elusive. The purpose of the present review was to explore the classification of video game genres in the context of psychological research. The aim was to address the challenges associated with creating consistent and meaningful classifications of video game genres, considering the rapid evolution of the gaming market and recent tendency to create games that could be classified into multiple genres. We performed a search in four databases according to the PRISMA guidelines and reviewed 96 full-text papers (N = 49 909). Through our findings, we reveal how researchers strive to classify genres and the numerous complications that arise from this pursuit. In the face of these challenges, we propose alternative ways of classifying genres. Our first proposal is a new classification of video game genres based on our literature review. In our second proposal, we advocate a more detailed understanding by focusing on specific gaming mechanics, and thus we introduce the innovative concept of utilizing community-based tags, such as Steam tags, as an alternative to genres in psychological research.

The Links Among Cumulative Ecological Risk and Smartphone Addiction, Sleep Quality in Chinese University Freshmen: A Two-Wave Study

Purpose

While previous research has highlighted the influence of family, school, and peer factors on smartphone addiction and sleep quality, the cumulative effects of these risk factors and their underlying causal relationships remain poorly understood. Therefore, based on the cumulative risk model and the bioecological model of human development, this study examined the longitudinal associations between cumulative ecological risk and smartphone addiction and sleep quality.

Methods

A survey was conducted among 653 Chinese university freshmen (mean age 18.56) at two distinct time points, with a 6-month interval. The initial assessment focused on family, school, and peer risk factors, while the subsequent assessment focused on smartphone addiction and sleep quality.

Results

Approximately 63.71% of university freshmen were found to be at risk of exposure. Compared to other risk-exposure groups, the group with no-risk exposure exhibited the lowest scores for smartphone addiction and sleep quality. The relationships between cumulative ecological risk and smartphone addiction and sleep quality displayed a linear pattern and a discernible "gradient effect". Smartphone addiction was identified as a fully mediating factor in the link between cumulative ecological risk and sleep quality, with a mediating effect value of 0.08 (representing 44.44% of the total effect).

Conclusion

University freshmen face various risks associated with their families, schools, and peers. The cumulative ecological risk can, directly and indirectly, impact sleep quality by influencing smartphone addiction. Given the observed "gradient effect" of cumulative ecological risk on smartphone addiction and sleep quality, it is imperative to adopt comprehensive risk prevention strategies to mitigate the impact of each risk factor.

The more academic burnout students got, the more problematic mobile phone use they suffered? A meta-analysis of mainland Chinese adolescents and young adults

Introduction

In recent years, the relationship between academic burnout (AB) and problematic mobile phone use (PMPU) has become the hot issue of scholars, and a lot of related research has been carried out, but the results are different. Most studies showed that there was a significant positive correlation between AB and PMPU. However, some studies showed that the relationship between AB and PMPU was not significant. While this study aimed at exploring the relationship between AB and PMPU, as well as the influence of some moderating factors (region, age, gender, publication year, the measurement instrument) on them.

Methods

According to the searching process for studies of PRISMA, we searched the related studies on AB and PMPU in Mainland China from January 2012 to November 2022 from CNKI, Wanfang Data, Chongqing VIP Information Co., Ltd. (VIP), Baidu scholar, ProQuest dissertations, Taylor & Francis, Springer, Web of Science, Google Scholar, EBSCO and PsyclNFO. Eventually, 50 studies were included in the meta-analysis, involving 38,488 subjects, with the sample size ranging from 193 to 2,260. CMA 3.0 was used to analyze the overall effect and test the moderating effect.

Results

The result shows that the relationship between AB and PMPU can be considered as a moderate correlation (r = 0.414, 95%CI [0.384, 0.443]), and moderator analysis shows that the relationship between AB and PMPU was moderated by the measurement instrument and publication year.

Discussion

Specifically, when the Mobile Phone Addiction Tendency Scale and the Smartphone Addiction Scale for College Students were used as PMPU measurement tools, the correlation coefficients between AB and PMPU were higher. When the publication year was used as a moderating variable, the relationship between AB and PMPU increased over the years. Systematic Review Registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42022347277, identifier PROSPERO CRD42022347277.

Individual Differences in a Multidimensional Measure of Compulsive Mobile Phone Use

Due to their ubiquity, compulsive mobile phone use (CMPU) should include cognitive, psychological, and behavioral dimensions. This study has two main objectives-(a) explicate a multidimensional measure of CMPU and examine individual differences in the various dimensions and (b) conceptualize mobile phone self-efficacy and examine its relationship with CMPU. A survey with 446 U.S. adults was conducted in which respondents completed assessments related to CMPU, mobile phone self-efficacy, and mobile phone use frequency. Results showed the presence of a three-dimensional factor structure for CMPU. While gender, age, and mobile phone activity were associated with CMPU, mobile phone self-efficacy was not. The relevance of the findings is discussed along with implications for future research.

Dive in the Past: A Serious Game to Promote the Underwater Cultural Heritage of the Mediterranean Sea

In the last decades, the popularity of video games has been increasing thanks to their unique ability to engage their audience and create empathy. Among them, serious games have additional purposes besides entertainment, such as learning and behaviour change. Serious games, in fact, have been successfully applied to different fields, including education, health, tourism, and cultural heritage. In this context, the paper describes a novel serious game developed for increasing awareness and promoting the Underwater Cultural Heritage (UCH). In particular, the paper focuses on the Dive in the Past Serious Game which allows users to simulate a virtual dive into the Mediterranean Sea to explore accurate and life-sized 3D reconstructions of underwater archaeological sites. The purpose of the game is twofold: to engage diver and non-diver tourists into a virtual interactive exploration of underwater sites through digital storytelling and challenges; to increase awareness and knowledge on Mediterranean UCH. This work has been carried out in the context of the MeDryDive project, an EU co-funded under the COSME Programme, which aims to create personalized dry dive experiences for the promotion of Mediterranean UCH sites as distinctive tourism destinations.

Prevalence and underlying factors of mobile game addiction among university students in Bangladesh

BACKGROUND

Nowadays, the youth are more engaging with their more advanced smartphones having high-quality graphics and gaming features. However, existing literature depicts that adolescents suffer from several forms of psychological problems including mental health, depression, loneliness, insomnia and low self-control due to mobile game addiction. Therefore, this study aims to find the prevalence and motivating factors for mobile game addiction among university students of Bangladesh.

METHODS

A cross-sectional survey was carried out to collect the required information from 1125 students of three universities in Bangladesh. Descriptive statistics, χ² test and ordinal regression model are employed to meet the objective of this study.

RESULTS

The findings reveal that male students are more likely to show addictive behaviours than their counterparts in the context of mobile game addiction. The results depict that loneliness, duration of using smartphones and playing mobile games, and source of entertainment are the main cause of mobile addiction. Also, more than half of the respondents (54.3%) are severely addicted to mobile games who were influenced by friends and YouTube gamers to play games. Moreover, students are suffering from several physical problems such as headaches, eye discomfort, blurry vision and ear discomfort.

CONCLUSION

Considering the findings of this paper, the authors suggest that the authorities should consider this immediately and arrange a positive entertainment environment to prevent students from mobile games. Furthermore, it is necessary to encourage students to participate in sports or other extracurricular activities that may be helpful to lessen mobile game addiction among students in Bangladesh.