Assessing the Potential Risks Associated with Facebook Game Use

Examining the Role of Personality Factors in Problematic Video Game Play Associated with Facebook Games

“…Indeed, a major element of Simulation/RPGs such as Farmville and Coasterville revolves around decorating one's property or personal game space and visiting other player's spaces. As expected, the more prestigious and decorative items are often the most difficult to obtain, and may require dedicated, goal-directed play for several weeks, even months to attain [15]. Likewise, higher scores and status within Tile-Matching games also relate to more long term goals, as success in these games are represented by overall number of levels completed.…”

“…Groves et al [15] highlights several aspects of Facebook games which encourage a competitive environment by using members of the player's own personal social network. For instance, Tile-matching games use a path-like representation of overall game success over time, which shows both what level the individual has reached, as well as how far ahead (or behind) their Facebook friends are by comparison.…”

“…In a recent study, Groves, Skues and Wise [15] use King et al's [14] taxonomy to assess how these structural components may influence player engagement in two popular genres of games played on Facebook, namely (1) Tile-Matching games, a type of game where the player must solve a series of puzzles by matching coloured blocks (e.g. Candy Crush Saga), and (2) Simulation RPGs, a type of game where players manage a small space by upgrading equipment and producing resources (e.g.…”

“…Although an in depth qualitative study of Facebook games is useful in understanding how such games may influence individuals, as very few studies have explored PVGP within the context of Facebook games, Groves et al's [15] assertions have not yet been supported empirically. This is a significant gap in the literature given that more than 250 million people play Social Networking Games on Facebook every month [16], with some of the more popular Facebook games having more than 10 million daily active users [17].…”

“…Though several studies have highlighted the need to combine research on how game structure may influence different personality characteristics [15] [18] [19], very few studies have actually done this and none have attempted to do this in relation to Facebook games. To this end, the current study will use knowledge about the structure of Facebook games to inform the selection of personality traits and how these will be associated with PVGP for Facebook game use.…”