Examining the effects of exposure to a sexualized female video game protagonist on women’s body image.

Lindner, Danielle; Trible, Melissa; Pilato, Ilana; Ferguson, Christopher J.

doi:10.1037/ppm0000251

Cited by 9 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…Other Questions and Outlook While the above examples are among the most prominent, they are by no means the only ones to fall short of conclusive answers. Researchers continue to debate topics such as whether exposure to sexualized (female) game characters affects body image (Lindner et al 2020), the contexts in which gamification is and is not successful (Dicheva et al 2015), whether serious games can be an effective mental health intervention (Abd-Alrazaq et al 2022), and much more.…”

Section: Do Video Games Harm or Improve Wellbeing?mentioning

confidence: 99%

A Manifesto for More Productive Psychological Games Research

Ballou

2023

ACM Games

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Despite enormous resource investment, researchers lack consensus on seemingly simple questions about how video games affect players. Topics such as violent games and aggression, playtime and wellbeing, and more are characterized by deeply divided opinions and conflicting results even at the meta-analytic level. I argue that much of this disagreement stems from limitations of common methods, including use of problematic self-report measures, overreliance on cross-sectional research, and superficial use of theory, among others. To resolve debates more effectively, I describe seven practices games research should adopt more widely: (1) strengthening the theoretical derivation chain, (2) attending to inter-individual effect size variation, (3) prioritizing longitudinal, within-person studies, (4) justifying measurement decisions, (5) harnessing digital trace data, (6) controlling individual game features, and (7) adopting open research principles. For each practice, I include practical steps and resources for implementing them in one’s own work. While critical of the current state of knowledge, the article is hopeful: with the help of these practices, the next generation of video games research can be the most informative yet.

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Section: Do Video Games Harm or Improve Wellbeing?mentioning

confidence: 99%

A Manifesto for More Productive Psychological Games Research

Ballou

2023

ACM Games

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Section: Do Video Games Harm or Improve Wellbeing?mentioning

confidence: 99%

A Manifesto for More Productive Psychological Games Research

Ballou¹

2022

Preprint

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Despite enormous resource investment, researchers lack consensus on seemingly simple questions about how video games affect players. Topics such as violent games and aggression, playtime and wellbeing, and more are characterized by deeply divided opinions and conflicting results even at the meta-analytic level. I argue that much of this disagreement stems from limitations of common methods, including use of problematic self-report measures, overreliance on cross-sectional research, and superficial use of theory, among others. To resolve debates more effectively, I describe six practices games research should adopt more widely: 1) strengthening the theoretical derivation chain, 2) attending to inter-individual effect size variation, 3) prioritizing longitudinal, within-person studies, 4) harnessing digital trace data, 5) controlling individual game features, and 6) adopting open research principles. For each practice, I include practical steps and resources for implementing them in one's own work. While critical of the current state of knowledge, the paper is hopeful: with the help of these practices, the next generation of video games research can be the most informative yet.

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“…Literature and drama are the source of villain archetypes (Fahraeus and Yakali Çamoglu, 2011), but archetypes are present in games as well, e.g., the mentally unstable villain Joker in Batman: Arkham Asylum (Rocksteady 2009), or the superior species like the Sectoids in XCOM 2: Enemy Unknown (Fireaxis Games 2016). While the presented archetypes could be applied across genders, age groups, and race, the majority of villains are male (Ivory, 2006), with an observable uptake in female villains (Lindner et al, 2019). In the design of villain character designers show several preferences, such as Classic Villain-TV Tropes (n.d.):…”

Section: Visual Attributes Of Villains and Archetypesmentioning

confidence: 99%

How the Visual Design of Video Game Antagonists Affects Perception of Morality

Pradantyo

Birk

Bateman

2021

Front. Comput. Sci.

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The visual design of antagonists—typically thought of as “bad guys”—is crucial for game design. Antagonists are key to providing the backdrop to a game's setting and motivating a player's actions. The visual representation of antagonists is important because it affects player expectations about the character's personality and potential actions. Particularly important is how players perceive an antagonist's morality. For example, an antagonist appearing disloyal might foreshadow betrayal; a character who looks cruel suggests that tough fights are ahead; or, a player might be surprised when a friendly looking character attacks them. Today, the art of designing character morality is informed by archetypal elements, existing characters, and the artist's own background. However, little work has provided insight into how an antagonist's appearance can lead players to make moral judgments. Using Mechanical Turk, we collected participant ratings on a stimulus image set of 105 antagonists from popular video games. The results of our work provide insights into how the visual attributes of antagonists can influence judgments of character morality. Our findings provide a valuable new lens for understanding and deepening an important aspect of game design. Our results can be used to help ensure that a particular character design has the best chance to be universally seen as “evil,” or to help create more complex and conflicted emotional experiences through carefully designed characters that do not appear to be bad. Our research extends current research practices that seek to build an understanding of game design and provides exciting new directions for exploring how design and aesthetic practices can be better studied and supported.

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Examining the effects of exposure to a sexualized female video game protagonist on women’s body image.

Cited by 9 publications

References 54 publications

A Manifesto for More Productive Psychological Games Research

A Manifesto for More Productive Psychological Games Research

A Manifesto for More Productive Psychological Games Research

How the Visual Design of Video Game Antagonists Affects Perception of Morality

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