Psychology of Video Games Podcast

In this podcast, the host explores the concept of gaming addiction, the challenges in researching it, and the possibility of it being considered a mental disorder. The episode includes discussions on the Oxford Internet Institute's multidisciplinary approach, proposed criteria for diagnosing internet gaming disorder, prevalence rates, and the importance of consulting researchers in the field. The speaker advocates for better science and policy making in relation to gaming addiction.

Moral choice in video games is a concept that has been with us for decades now. Many games feature points where you must decide how your character reacts to moral dilemmas or decide which of two evils is the lesser. And even games without much choice usually have characters that we pass moral judgment on when we decide if their actions are defensible or not. Media psychologists have studied those judgments and choices in the context of other types of media, and they're starting to look at them in the unique context of video games. What effects does the morality on display in games have on how we play games and how we enjoy them? How does our own morality come into play? Even if we're not making choices about our avatar's behavior in a game, does seeing him/her act in moral or immoral ways affect how much we're going to enjoy the game or what we're going to think of it once the credits roll? These are the kinds of questions I'll tackle with the aid of this episode's expert guest, Dr. Matthew Grizzard.

In this episode I talk to Dr. Jesse Fox about her research into how we identify with our video game avatars, how that affects how we play, and how it may affect what we take away from games. Specifically, we review a paper entitled "Playing for Love In a Romantic Video Game: Avatar Identification, Parasocial Relationships, and Chinese Women's Romantic Beliefs" and another study looking at how customizing avatars' appearances can make them more or less persuasive.

In this episode we explore what people like to collect virtual objects in video games, why they do it, and what game designers could do to make collections more fun to acquire and use.About this week's guest:The Play & Interactive Experiences for Learning Lab

My guests on this episode are Dr. Chris Ferguson and Dr. Patrick Markey, the authors of the new book Moral Combat: Why the War on Violent Video Games is Wrong. We talk about why people tend to blame violent video games for all kinds of things, the state of the research, morality and games, and some of the reasons why games are actually good for you.About the podcast:Previous episodesBuy the Moral Combat book on Amazon

Dr. Rachel Kowert returns to discuss her new book, A Parent's Guide to Video Games. We discuss her process for writing the book, who she thinks it benefits, and the questions and concerns that parents tend to have about the mental wellbeing of their kids ...ON VIDEO GAMES.Audio Credits: "Robot Motivation" by The Polish Ambassador, licensed under Creative Commons: CC BY-NC-SA 3.

Games are good for more than just simple fun. Some psychologists and therapists are using them to help people.  In this episode I talk to some people who are using video games as part of therapy for kids and families and they explain why games are so uniquely useful in their line of work.Audio Credits: "Robot Motivation" by The Polish Ambassador, licensed under Creative Commons: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

There's a substantial body of literature  that identifies a triforce of motivation: Competence, Autonomy, and Mastery. That is, we're motivated to do something to the extent that we feel like we can get better at it, that we feel like we have meaningful choices in how to do it, and that it makes us matter to other people. In this episode of the podcast I talk with researcher and consultant Scott Rigby about how this Self Determination Theory applies to video game design and a lot of other stuff we gamers encounter every day.About the podcast:Subscribe in iTunes herePodcast RSS FeedPrevious episodesImmersyve.comAudio Credits:"Robot Motivation" by The Polish Ambassador, licensed under Creative Commons: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0Chill Wave Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Exploring the complexities of researching video game addiction and aggression, the podcast discusses challenges in studying video game effects on behavior, understanding video game addiction, and factors influencing aggressive behavior. It also provides career advice for students interested in video game research and delves into popular video games like Team Fortress and Overwatch.

Achievements, trophies, badges, and similar rewards are ever present in video games. The assumption seems to be that they motivate players to keep playing a game in order to reach some goal or get some reward, but is that always so? In this episode I talk with Michael Hanus about when these kinds of things work and when they don't.About the podcast: Subscribe in iTunes herePodcast RSS FeedPrevious episodesAudio Credits:"Robot Motivation" by The Polish Ambassador, licensed under Creative Commons: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0"Bicycle" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License"Over Under" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License