Paper Info
Title
An instrument to build a gamer clustering framework according to gaming preferences and habits.
Abstract
In the era of digital gaming, there is a pressing need to better understand how people's gaming preferences and habits affect behavior and can inform educational game design. However, instruments available for such endeavor are rather informal and limited, lack proper evaluation, and often yield results that are hard to interpret. In this paper we present the design and preliminary validation (involving Nź=ź754 Spanish secondary school students) of a simple instrument that, based on a 10-item Game Preferences Questionnaire (GPQ), classifies participants into four 'clusters' or types of gamers, allowing for easy interpretation of the results. These clusters are: (1) Full gamers, covering individuals that play all kinds of games with a high frequency; (2) Hardcore gamers, playing mostly first-person shooters and sport games; (3) Casual gamers, playing moderately musical, social and thinking games; and (4) Non-gamers, who do not usually play games of any kind. The instrument may have uses in psychology and behavioral sciences, as there is evidence suggesting that attitudes towards gaming affects personal attitudes and behavior. Besides, we propose applying the instrument to help designers of educational games to get better tailored their games to their target audiences. Display Omitted Developing an instrument to quickly classify gamers according to their preferences and habits.Data from 754 students confirmed the instrument validation.We found 4 different gamers profiles: Hardcore, Casual, Well-rounded gamers and No gamers.Results are in accordance with the reviewed literature in the field.Gaming preferences and habits could influence educational games effectiveness.
Year
DOI
Venue
2016
10.1016/j.chb.2016.03.085
Computers in Human Behavior
Keywords
Field
DocType
Educational games,Classification of gamers,Gaming preferences and habits,Instruments for serious games,Applied games
Social psychology,Musical,Psychology,Educational game,Behavioural sciences,Casual,Cluster analysis
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
62
C
0747-5632
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
7
0.50
15
Authors
4
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Borja Manero1244.01
Javier Torrente230433.85
Manuel Freire321423.39
Baltasar Fernández-Manjón472887.00