Adolescents’ Digital Game-Related Information-Seeking

Abstract

Digital games are a very popular medium among people of all ages. While information related to games is in high demand among adolescents, their digital game-related information-seeking remains an understudied subject. This study explored what kind of digital game-related information adolescents seek, and from what information sources. The data were collected from adolescents’ essays (N=91) and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The results show that adolescents seek information on new games, guidance for gaming, and information on games’ development, background stories, and future. Information is sought from internet sources, face-to-face sources, and books. The results offer valuable insights on adolescents’ information behavior and practices in a wider context as well as adolescents’ perspective on digital game-related information-seeking.

Supplemental Material for Rage in Video Gaming, Characteristics of Loss of Control Among Gamers: A Qualitative Study

“…Rage appears to cause a change in the gamer's behavior, a loss of control over behavior and emotion, and a loss or a cessation of the game named "rage-quit" (Przybylski et al, 2014). Recently, two qualitative studies explored the characteristics of rage among children and adolescents engaged in e-sport (Kahila, Juho et al, 2021;Wu et al, 2021). The authors described rage as a negative emotional reaction, mainly frustration and anger, associated to a cognitive confusion and a deviance of the usual game play (Wu et al, 2021).…”

“…To regulate rage, gamers start by quitting the game either to calm down, or to express emotions by crying, shouting, and breaking the materiel, or finally by doing nothing and accepting the rage episode. The main triggers of rage are other players (friend, member of team, or a stranger), oneself by judging his own level of play as low (low self-efficacy and failure) and technical problem that occurred during the game (with material, game, or Internet connection) (Kahila, Juho et al, 2021;Wu et al, 2021). In these samples of children and adolescents in the context of e-sport, the authors mainly explored the reasons, the emotions and their regulation, as well as the behavior associated with rage.…”

Rage in video gaming, characteristics of loss of control among gamers: A qualitative study.

“…Rage appears to cause a change in the gamer’s behavior, a loss of control over behavior and emotion, and a loss or a cessation of the game named “rage-quit” (Przybylski et al, 2014). Recently, two qualitative studies explored the characteristics of rage among children and adolescents engaged in e-sport (Kahila et al, 2021; Wu et al, 2021). The authors described rage as a negative emotional reaction, mainly frustration and anger, associated to a cognitive confusion and a deviance of the usual game play (Wu et al, 2021).…”

“…To regulate rage, gamers start by quitting the game either to calm down, or to express emotions by crying, shouting, and breaking the material, or finally by doing nothing and accepting the rage episode. The main triggers of rage are other players (friend, member of team, or a stranger), oneself by judging his own level of play as low (low self-efficacy and failure), and technical problem that occurred during the game (with material, game, or Internet connection; Kahila et al, 2021; Wu et al, 2021). In these samples of children and adolescents in the context of e-sport, the authors mainly explored the reasons, the emotions, and their regulation, as well as the behavior associated with rage.…”