This study explored the in-game experiences of massively multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG) players focusing on game leadership and offline leadership.

Future vehicles are becoming more like driving partners instead of mere machines. With the application of advanced information and communication technologies (ICTs), vehicles perform driving tasks while drivers monitor the functioning states of vehicles. This change in interaction requires a deliberate consideration of how vehicles should present driving-related information. As a way of encouraging drivers to more readily accept instructions from vehicles, we suggest the use of social rules, such as politeness, in human-vehicle interaction. In a 2 × 2 between-subjects experiment, we test the effects of vehicle politeness (plain vs. polite) on drivers’ interaction experiences in two operation situations (normal vs. failure). The results indicate that vehicle politeness improves interaction experience in normal working situations but impedes the experience in failure situations. Specifically, in normal situations, vehicles with polite instructions are highly evaluated for social presence, politeness, satisfaction and intention to use. Theoretical and practical implications on politeness research and speech interaction design are discussed.

This study sought to examine the factors affecting the acceptance of an entertainment medium, particularly online games, by expanding the technology acceptance model. To measure factors affecting the acceptance of online games, we fielded a survey with 244 gamers serving as respondents. Perceived usefulness, enjoyment, and economic value were found to have a positive influence on attitude toward gaming, whereas perceived ease of use was not a significant predictor. In addition, we found that gender and game type (multiplayer or not) showed differing patterns of results. Interestingly, perceptions of mass acceptance of gaming were found to have a negative effect on attitude toward online games. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

With the rapid growth of smartphone use, problematic mobile game use among youth has become an increasingly salient social concern in South Korea. In this study, we empirically explored the relationship between parenting behavior and adolescents' problematic mobile game use. On the basis of the developmental perspective, we focused on students in 3 different age groups (N = 1,018: elementary school, n = 401; middle school: n = 333; high school, n = 284) and observed noticeable differences according to age group. According to the hierarchical multiple regression results, overexpectation was positively related to problematic mobile game use in all 3 age groups. However, affection was negatively related to problematic mobile game use only in the elementary school group, and monitoring was negatively related to problematic mobile game use only in the high school group. Implications of the findings are discussed.

This study examines children's social responses to gender cues in synthesized speech in a computer-based instruction setting. Eighty 5th-grade elementary school children were randomly assigned to one of the conditions in a full-factorial 2 (participant gender) 3 2 (voice gender) 3 2 (content gender) experiment. Results show that children apply gender-based social rules to synthesized speech. More specifically, children evaluate synthesized speech more positively, trust the speech more, and learn more effectively when voice gender matches either content gender (consistency attraction) and/or their own gender (similarity attraction). Children's computer self-efficacy was a significant covariate for their social responses to synthesized speech. Theoretical and practical implications of the current study for the design of educational media are discussed.