Rewards and Punishments in Video Games: A Quantitative Content Analysis

• In Event: ICA Plenary Interactive Paper/Poster Session II
  In Interactive Paper Session: Game Studies Interactive Poster Session

Abstract

POSTER PROPOSAL. In recent years, concerns over video game addiction have increased. Both individual factors (such as impulsivity and reward sensitivity) and content features in video games (such as the reward and punishment features) play a role in the development of video game addiction. The reward schedules in video games, particularly partial reinforcement effects, are thought to play an important role in video game addiction. Yet little is known about these reward schedules or how they vary across games. In the current study, a quantitative content analysis is conducted to categorize the reward structures and their temporal sequence of rewards in three different video games from various genres.

Authors

• Britney Nicole Craighead, University of California, Santa Barbara

• Rene Weber, U of California - Santa Barbara