Children’s gaming involves much more than the gaming itself: A study of the metagame among 12- to 15-year-old children

Kahila, Juho; Tedre, Matti; Kahila, Sanni; Vartiainen, Henriikka; Valtonen, Teemu; Mäkitalo, Kati

doi:10.1177/1354856520979482

Cited by 24 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…Young people's gaming activities during the lockdown contain a broad spectrum of different activities with different aims, like being with friends and making time pass in fun and meaningful ways. Thus, our study contributes to the literature finding that gaming activities are not merely about in-game activities but connect to the young people's everyday lives (such as Kahila et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 58%

“…We define online gaming as a social practice-a set of activities taking place in both the physical and online worlds (Kahila et al, 2020). A whole set of what can be seen as trivial or even meaningless activities is grouped together to form the practice of gaming (Couldry, 2004).…”

Section: Theoretical Framework: Online Gaming As a Social Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Young people's social lives changed abruptly when they were restricted to stay at home-together only with their families. Mukherjee (2020) finds that the 2020 lockdown reconfigured social life fundamentally, including in relation to leisure time and social activities (Kahila et al, 2020;Yuen, 2020).…”

Section: Smentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The online environment, as demonstrated by Third et al (2019), is a key feature of young people's everyday lives because 'technology articulate as artifacts or devices, and are intertwined with activities and practices and, as well as social arrangements, organizational forms ' (p. 11). Playing has increasingly become a social activity, and playing together can strengthen feelings of social connectedness (Kahila et al, 2020). Although the lockdown almost entirely prevented young people from physically seeing each other for about 2 months, it still allowed them to interact online.…”

Section: Smentioning

confidence: 99%

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Playing Apart Together: Young People’s Online Gaming During the COVID-19 Lockdown

Bengtsson

Bom

Fynbo

2021

YOUNG

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The COVID-19 pandemic caused countries around the world to initiate societal lockdowns, especially during the spring of 2020. This article focuses on online gaming’s role in young people’s lives during the lockdown in Denmark. Informed by a practice theoretical framework, the analyses of 35 interviews with young people (16–19 years) examine how gaming proved to be something to do in a situation of nothing to do. The analyses find that the young people’s gaming practices were beneficial (a) in allowing the young people to maintain a social life and (b) in providing a legitimate social space for maintaining friendships and/or coping with boredom. The findings demonstrate that young people who engage with online gaming are capable of adapting to fundamental changes to society to fulfil their social needs and aspirations, including during a pandemic.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 58%

Section: Theoretical Framework: Online Gaming As a Social Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Smentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Smentioning

confidence: 99%

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Playing Apart Together: Young People’s Online Gaming During the COVID-19 Lockdown

Bengtsson

Bom

Fynbo

2021

YOUNG

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“…Digital game-related information-seeking is a common metagame activity (Kahila et al 2020). Wilson (2000, 1) defines information-seeking as "the purposive seeking for information as a consequence of a need to satisfy some goal".…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adolescents’ Digital Game-Related Information-Seeking

Kahila¹,

Tedre²,

Kahila³

et al. 2021

INF

Self Cite

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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.

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Expectations and realities: Examining adolescent students’ game jam experiences

Aurava

Meriläinen

2021

Educ Inf Technol

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This article describes the expectations and experiences of young (16 to 19 year old) digital game jam participants (N = 34) who attend Finnish general upper secondary schools. Game jams are a form of game creation: events where games are made in co-operation. They are widely used in game design education and in addition, when participated voluntarily, learning has been reported as an important motivation. The existing literature mostly concentrates on game jams for adults, and informal or non-formal learning. This article is adding to the literature by examining learning in formal education for adolescents. As part of our research, we have organised game jams in formal general education, and this article is based on the pre-event and post-event surveys of three game jam events. The article maps 1) the motivations to attend a school related game jam, 2) the expectations and apprehensions the would-be participants have, 3) what kind of learning game jams promote, and 4) how does attending a game jam affect participants’ attitudes and apprehensions regarding learning, STEAM and information technology, and their own skills. Our results indicate the creative side of digital game making, desire to learn new skills and make new friends to be the main motivations for participation, and the lack of confidence in technical skills to cause most anxiety before the jam event. The effects of attending a game jam are mostly positive, with the participants reporting learning experiences in several soft and technical skills and increased motivation to take part in creative and co-creative projects. A gendered result can be seen in the participants’ altered stance on technology and programming: girls and non-binary students report technology and programming being easier and more fun than they had thought before attending a game jam event, which is well in line with previous research on STEM/STEAM education and gender.

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Children’s gaming involves much more than the gaming itself: A study of the metagame among 12- to 15-year-old children

Cited by 24 publications

References 46 publications

Playing Apart Together: Young People’s Online Gaming During the COVID-19 Lockdown

Playing Apart Together: Young People’s Online Gaming During the COVID-19 Lockdown

Adolescents’ Digital Game-Related Information-Seeking

Expectations and realities: Examining adolescent students’ game jam experiences

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