Understanding the Role of Competition in Video Gameplay Satisfaction

Ph.D. Thesis – Sepandar Sepehr; McMaster University – DeGroote School of Business.

Understanding the Role of Competition in Video Gameplay Satisfaction

Understanding the Role of Competition in Video Gameplay Satisfaction

By

Sepandar Sepehr, B.Sc., M.Sc.

A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree

Doctorate of Philosophy, Business Administration

McMaster University

© Copyright by Sepandar Sepehr, December 2014

DOCTORATE OF PHILOSOPHY McMaster University Business Administration (Information Systems) - 2014 Hamilton, Ontario

TITLE: Understanding the Role of Competition in Video Gameplay Satisfaction

AUTHOR: Sepandar Sepehr, B.Sc., M.Sc. (McMaster University)

SUPERVISOR: Prof. Milena Head

PAGES: xiv, 179

ABSTRACT

Considerable amount of time is spent playing video games in today’s society. There are various elements in video games that make them entertaining and satisfying, which can be leveraged to provide engaging and satisfying experiences in educational and workplace contexts. One of the key elements in many video games is competition. Based on Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and the Theory of Flow, this dissertation explores the process through which competition makes a video game satisfying. A structural model is proposed that examines the impacts of Situational Competitiveness (manipulated via different modes of competition) and Dispositional Competitiveness (as a personality trait) on gameplay experience. The proposed model is validated through an experimental design study with 104 university students. The results show that the perception of video game competitiveness has a strong direct and indirect (mediated through Challenge and Arousal) effect on Flow experience and Satisfaction. While an individual’s personality impacts the perception of a game’s competitiveness, this perception can also be influenced by the mode of competition (playing against a computer, stranger or friend). Additionally, Social Presence is found to play a role by mediating the relationship between the mode of competition and Situational Competitiveness.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank several individuals and organizations for their generous support throughout the last few years.

First, I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to my extraordinary supervisor, Dr. Milena Head. Without exaggeration, completion of this work would not be possible if it were not for her constant support and guidance. Since my first meeting with Dr. Head, before applying to the Ph.D. program, I noticed that I would be very fortunate to work under such a kindhearted person’s supervision. And I was not wrong. Receiving her continuous encouragement and knowing that I could always trust her guidance were the main reasons for me to continue through this challenging process. Dr. Head’s intellectual contributions and emotional support made this dissertation possible.

Thanks also go to my supervisory committee members, Dr. Khaled Hassanein and Dr. Brian Detlor. They both made significant contributions to this dissertation by guiding me throughout various steps of the process, in particular on refining my proposed model, designing the experiments of this research, and preparing the final document. It was a great honour for me to have Dr. Hassanein and Dr. Detlor on my supervisory committee.

I should hereby thank Dr. Norm Archer for his generous donations that enabled me to receive the Norm Archer Endowed Prize, and for his valuable feedback on my dissertation as the internal examiner and as professor in one of my Ph.D. courses.

In addition, a thank you to my dear friends Amir Tavasoli and Farzad Nikfar, my siblings, in particular Babak and his family, my aunt Shohreh, and our new family member, Don Ferrito, with whom I never felt alone during the past few years.

I would also like to thank the DeGroote Community at large, in particular Deb R. Baldry, Dr. Catherine Connelly, Iris Kehler, Sandra Stephens, and Carolyn Colwell for their tremendous support.

I was very fortunate to receive the financial assistance of Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Ontario Graduate Scholarship Program in the last two years, for which I am truly grateful.

Last, but certainly not least, I cannot thank my wife (and PhD partner in crime) enough for her endless patience and belief in me, which motivated me to overcome the challenges I faced during the past few years and keep my sanity. Thank you.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1 – Introduction 1

1.1 Motivation and Research Objectives 2

1.2 Research Outline 4

Chapter 2 – Literature Review 6

2.1 Video Games 6

2.1.1 Serious Games 8

2.1.2 Beyond Serious Games: Gamification 15

2.2 Extant Literature Review on Video Game Experience 17

2.2.1 Studies with the Focus on Competition and Game Elements 17

Chapter 3 – Theoretical Framework and Development of Research Model 24

3.1 Self-Determination Theory 25

3.1.1 SDT and Competition 26

3.2 Flow Theory 34

3.2.1 Meta-analysis of Flow 37

3.3 Combining SDT and Flow 41

3.4 Proposed Research model and Hypotheses 43

Chapter 4 – Research Methodology 54

4.1.1 Data Collection Procedure 54

4.1.2 Pilot Study 55

4.1.3 Data Collection Procedure 56

4.1.4 Instrument and Model Validation 58

4.2 Manipulation Check 61

Chapter 5 – Data Analysis and Results 63

5.1.1 Pilot Study 63

5.1.2 Full Study 64

5.1.3 Participant Demographics and Control Variables 66

5.1.4 Research Model Validation 69

5.1.5 The Structural Model Evaluation 74

5.1.6 Effect Sizes 77

5.1.7 Post-hoc Analyses 78

Chapter 6 – Discussion and Conclusion 91

6.1 Research Findings 91

6.1.1 Research Objective 1: The Effect of Situational Competitiveness on Flow 91

6.1.2 Research Objective 2: The Role of Competition Mode on the Level of Situational Competitiveness and Social Presence 95

6.1.3 Research Objective 3: The Effect of Personality Traits on Situational Competitiveness 96

6.2 Contributions 98

6.2.1 Contributions to Theory 98

6.2.2 Contributions to Practice 100

6.3 Research Limitations 101

6.4 Future Research Agenda 103

6.5 Conclusion 106

References 108

Operationalization Mode of Flow/CA 126

Methodology 128

Sample 129

Analysis 131

Results 134

Moderator: Operationalization Method 134

Selection of Constructs Used in Meta-analysis 137

Unidimensional (Code 1) 137

Multidimensional (Code 2 & 3) 138

Miscellaneous (code 4) 140

Data and Calculations 141

Conclusion 147

References for the Meta-Analysis 147

Between Team Comparison 156

Experiment Guideline 162

Experiment document – Articles To read 1 166

Experiment document – Articles To read 2 169

LIST OF FIGURES, TABLES, AND FORMULAS

Figures

Figure 1 – Proportions of games within each primary educational content category (Ratan and Ritterfeld 2009) 13

Figure 2 - Situating Gamification (from Deterding et al. 2011) 16

Figure 3 - Finding the Gap in Literature on Video Gameplay 21

Figure 4 –Finding the Gap in Literature on Video Gameplay (continued) 22

Figure 5 – Overarching Theoretical Framework 25

Figure 6 - The self-determination continuum (source: Ryan & Deci, 2000) 32

Figure 7 - Flow Models: Original Flow Model on the left and Four-State Flow Model on the right 36

Figure 8 - Eight State Flow Model 37

Figure 9 –Proposed Research Model of the Study 44

Figure 10 - Screenshot of TypeRacer Game 57

Figure 11 –Result of PLS Analysis of the Proposed Structural Equation Model 74

Figure 12 –Research Model 128

Figure 13 – Variables with Increasing Means 155

Figure 14 – Variables with no Observable Mean Change 156

Figure 15. Variation of Team's Average Score for the Variables with the Largest Differences from T1 to T3 159

Figure 16. Average Values for Each Team at T1, T2, and T3 Based on Their Rankings 161

Tables

Table 1 –Age Distribution of Participants 66

Table 2 –Frequencies of Demographic Variables 67

Table 3 – Participants' Previous Experience Statistics 68

Table 4 –Construct Reliability of the Constructs in the Model 70

Table 5 – Cross Loadings Matrix for al the First-Order Constructs (significant at 0.001) 71

Table 6 – Discriminant Validity Assessment Table using Construct Correlation Matrix and Square Root of AVE 72

Table 7 –Summary of Findings for Supporting the Proposed Hypotheses 75

Table 8 – Direct Relationships' Effect Sizes (α = 0.05) 77

Table 9 – Indirect Relationships' Effect Sizes (α = 0.05) 78

Table 10 –Unmeasured Latent Marker Construct Test Results for Assessing Common Method Bias 80

Table 11 – PLS Result for Non-hypothesized Paths in the Saturated Model 83

Table 12 –Impact of Control Variables on Model's Latent Constructs 84

Table 13 –Effect Sizes of Control Variables on Endogenous Constructs 85

Table 14 – Total number of studies for each code and each relationship 135

Table 15 – The results of the meta-analysis after controlling for the moderator (operationalization mode) 136

Table 16 – Studies Qualified for the Meta-analysis 141

Table 17 – The extracted data for the studies that were used in the final meta-analysis 143

Table 18 – Calculations for the studies that had correlation between flow and intention 145

Table 19 –Calculations for the studies that had correlation between flow and attitude 146

Table 20. Teams Ranking at each Round 156

Table 21. Largest Differences Between Teams 158

Formulas

Equation 1 – Goodness of Fitness Formula (Wetzels et al., 2009) 76

Equation 2 – f2 Formula (Cohen 1998) 77

LIST OF ACRONYMS AND SYMBOLS

ANOVA / Analysis of Variance
AVE / Average Variance Extracted
CMV / Common Method Variance
EFA / Exploratory Factor Analysis
ERP / Enterprise Resource Planning
IS / Information Systems
IT / Information Technology
GoF / Goodness of Fit
MIS / Management Information Systems
MMO(RPG) / Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game
PLS / Partial Least Squares
SDT / Self-Determination Theory
TAM / Technology Acceptance Model
VIF / Variance Inflation Factor

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

Autonomy / The propensity of people to have control over their actions and see themselves as the locus of causality
Competence / Tendency of individuals to feel capable performing a task (sense of self-efficacy).
e-Learning / The use of IT systems in education
Edugame / Educational Game, aka Game-Based Learning (GBL)
Edutainment / Educational Entertainment, entertaining material that has the purpose of educating users
ERPsim / Game like simulation environment that is used for teaching ERP concepts on SAP ERP
Flow / State of optimal holistic experience, capturing deep involvement in an activity
Game-Based Simulation, Game-Based Simulator, Simulation Game / Simulations that use video game environments for creating a more engaging environment, such as virtual universities
Game-Based Model / The games that use a simplified version of real-world models
Game-Based Visualization, Game Visualization / The category of systems that use visual technologies and techniques from games to create new forms of visualization and more accessible versions of visualization. These systems allow for higher levels of interactive visualization where user actions might affect resulting visualization
Game-Based Interface, Game Like Interface, Game-Based UI / A non-standard but highly symbiotic application interface design produced based on the design of a popular game
Game-Based Production, Game-Based Authoring / Use of tools or game/game engines created for videogaming to output some other piece of media.
Game-Based Messaging/Advertising/Marketing, Advergames / A type of Serious Games that are used to transmit a message, advertise a product/service, or market a product
Game-Based Training / Adding gameplay to enhance motivation to train, or effectiveness of content transfer, behaviour change, or specific goal of training
Game-Based Education/Learning / Using gameplay to enhance motivation to learn, engage education, or to enhance effectiveness of content transfer or other specific learning outcome
Gamification / Using game elements in a non-game system for achieving the engaging power of games
SAP ERP / The biggest ERP solution in the market, and the main solution of SAP AG.
Serious Games / Any game that is designed for a purpose that is not pure entertainment.

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Ph.D. Thesis – Sepandar Sepehr; McMaster University – DeGroote School of Business.

Chapter 1 – Introduction

Since the 1980s, video games have expanded rapidly and established a massive and growing industry (Cucuel, 2011; McGonigal, 2011). Some authors believe that the video games industry is one of the fastest growing in this era (Arnseth, 2006). Video games are pervasive in today’s society with reports showing that 67% of Americans play video games (Entertainment Software Association, 2010). This phenomenon is not restricted to children and teenagers. Statistics show that the average age of video gameplayers is above 30 years old and these adults are expected to play video games for the rest of their lives (Entertainment Software Association, 2010; Williams, Yee, & Caplan, 2008).

As Millennials[1] –the demographic cohort with birth years from the early 1980s to the early 2000s – enter the workforce, their mindsets and behaviours in regards to their working environment have become important areas of study. Dr. Jean M. Twenge names this generation, “Generation Me,” due to its individualistic attitude and lack of interest in social problems (Twenge, 2006). Millennials, when compared to their predecessors, appreciate extrinsic values more (e.g., money, image, fame) and intrinsic values less (e.g., self-acceptance, affiliation, community), particularly when compared to Generation X[2] (Twenge, Campbell, & Freeman, 2012). It is essential for higher education institutions and employers to understand the differences and mindsets of young students/employees (Twenge, 2006). A significant characteristic of Millennials is the fact that they learn by doing and traditional learning/working environments are boring for them (Twenge, 2006). For this generation, video games are an inseparable communication and learning medium (Edery & Mollick, 2009).

As Arnseth (2006) explains, “one striking feature of gameplay that seems to be particularly relevant for education is the fact that children and adolescents seem to invest a considerable amount of time and effort in accomplishing tasks that are often very difficult and time consuming.” Williams et al. (2008) found that in their sample of 7,000 massively multiplayer online (MMO) gameplayers, users spend on average of close to 30 hours a week playing video games, which is comparable to the amount of time a full-time employee spends at his or her job. Qualitative and quantitative research has shown that time loss among video gameplayers is independent of gender or age (Wood, Griffiths, & Parke, 2007).

As a consequence of the recent surge of interest in gameplay, schools and workplaces face new challenges to adapt themselves to the gamer generation with its new behaviours and culture (Beck & Wade, 2004). From a learning perspective, instructors are challenged in finding ways to keep students engaged, attentive, involved and motivated during distinct learning processes at diverse educational levels (Feiertag & Berge, 2008). These challenges arise due to the fact that Millennials may find traditional school and work environments boring compared to the world they immerse in through playing video games (Collins & Halverson, 2009). Gee (2003) believes that “schools, workplaces, and families can use games and game technologies to enhance learning” (p. 1).