A mobile game to increase positive affect and social interaction in children

• In Event: Poster Session 06
  In Poster Session: PS 06 Topic - Technology, Media & Child Development

Abstract

Mobile games that encourage social interaction and cooperation in players has the potential to change the isolating environment of mobile games for children. For this purpose, we developed an infrastructure where different mobile devices interact, and children can benefit from the mobile gaming environment as a social interaction context. A game involving various roles in a restaurant kitchen, where players’ goal was to prepare orders as quickly and accurately as possible, was designed. In the single-player version of the game mimicking the already available restaurant games, children prepared the orders on their own. In the multiplayer version, children shared interdependent roles (e.g., getting ingredients from the pantry, chopping vegetables, cooking). The infrastructure allowed mobile devices to communicate so that all screens served as one particular segment of the gaming environment. In a within-participants experiment, sixty-three children (age range = 10-12) played the single-player and multiplayer versions of the same mobile game in groups of four. After each gameplay, children answered questions about their liking of the game and preferences for future gameplay. Two independent coders blind to the experimental treatment coded for positive affect, leading, helping, and seeking help behaviors of children in both versions of the game. Results of multilevel analyses showed that children preferred to play the multiplayer (vs. single-player) version of the game in the future, γ10 = .253, SE = .119, p = .037. Moreover, based on observed behaviors, children showed more positive affect, γ10 = .019, SE = .004, p < .001 and more leadership behavior, γ10 = .027, SE = .007, p < .001, and sought more help from other players, γ10 = .005, SE = .002, p =.003 while playing multiplayer (vs. single-player) game. These initial findings indicate that emerging mobile gaming technologies provide important opportunities to facilitate social interaction and promote a cooperative game environment for children that has the potential to improve their well-being.

Authors

• Ayse Busra İplikci, Akdeniz University
  Presenting Author

• Gul Gunaydin, Sabancı Üniversitesi
  Non-Presenting Author

• Emre Selcuk
  Non-Presenting Author

• Seda Yardim
  Non-Presenting Author

• Yavuz Eren, JEoIT Software
  Non-Presenting Author