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Friday, November 11
1 4 : 3 0 – 1 6 : 0 0
POL PS
Poster session
PS 046
Body Politics in the Sims 4. an Ethnografic Research
L. Anyó
1
1
Blanquerna School of Communication and International Relations. Ramon Llull Univ, Audiovisual Communication, Barcelona, Spain
This paper presents the preliminar results of a current ethnographic research about the kind of culture which the players create in the video game The Sims
4. The Sims 4 is the last version of the well-known social simulation video game where virtual bodies, closely linked to physical identities from outside
the game, set up a new society (see Jansz, Avis and Vosmeer, 2010; Martey, 2007; Wirman, 2014; Anyó, 2015a; Anyó, 2015b). In The Sims, the player creates
this social simulation, with characters of disembodied identities. In this sense, the player is the narrator who is responsible for the fictional world, which is
accepted as a diegetic universe. Furthermore, game’s interface is a powerful politic between actions of the player and rules of the game. In video games,
the players' identity is disembodied in the dynamics between the physical and virtual worlds, when it turns into characters of the diegesis. Those virtual
bodies, simultaneously the image and invention of the players, assume new shapes in a process which is far from simple, since it implies not only narrative
elements in a graphic environment that seem realistic, the interface, but also elements related to a body that had become liminal but still maintains its cen‑
trality in the definition of the identity of the player, and his cultural preferences, according grid-group cultural theory (M. Douglas, 1971, 2005; Thompson,
Ellis andWildavsky, 1990).We would like to answer this research question: Can we relate types of cultural preferences of players to the types of societies and
bodies in the gameworld of The Sims?, and Is the gameplay limited to the mechanics and interface of the game?
PS 047
This Article Investigates toWhat Extent the Labeling of a Computer Game as Educational Game Has an Effect on the Motivation for
Participation in a Media Pedagogic Project
S. Ganguin
1
, M. Waschipky
1
1
University of Leipzig, Institute of Commication and Media studies, Leipzig, Germany
This article investigates the research question of to what extent the labeling of a computer game as educational has an effect on the motivation for partic‑
ipation in a media pedagogic project. In order to answer this research question, fifth and seven grade school children were introduced to the serious digital
game 'Ludwig: Living in the Future”. The advantages of serious games are their use of principles that foster learning, their highly didactic structure (see
Kim et al. 2009, Gee 2007), their repetition of educational content in relevant situations as well as instant feedback (Graesser et al. 2009: 85 et. seq.). Since
the game is played for its own sake (see Huizinga 2004: 16), the desire to play it manifests itself from intrinsic motivation. In reference to Huizinga the use
of serious games in the classroom undermines this aspect and supposedly leads to a loss of enjoyment. To which extent this loss leads to a decrease in moti‑
vation is the central question of this article. An experimental study design serves well to answer the research question. Due to the desired transferability to
daily life, it was decided to conduct a field experiment and conduct the survey within the subjects’natural surroundings (the classroom). 245 children and
adolescents in total took part in the quasi-experiment. The quasi-experiment was carried out on a class basis with two groups that each received different
treatment. In the one group, a video presentation was shown that classified the game as an educational game, in the other group, the video presentation
presented the game as a computer game. Specifically, only the words 'educational game” and 'computer game” were exchanged for each other in the re‑
spective video presentations. Since all other influencing variables remained the same, any difference between the test group (TG; n= 141) and the control
group (CG; n= 104) can be traced back to the influence of the game’s treatment. Subsequently, the subjects then answered a quantitative questionnaire
with the goal of comparing their motivation to participate in the project. Naturally the students’previous knowledge of the game, their overall affinity for
computer games, etc. were taken into account in the questionnaire. The results showed that no general effect from the semantic classification of the game
as an educational or computer game could be established (t = . 87, p = n.s.). Further results include the following: The results demonstrate that the fifth
grade students’motivation for participation was not influenced by semantic manipulation in the form of a visual insert in the presentation video. The sev‑
enth grade students, however, show indicators that can be traced back to the labeling of the game so that their age or possibly a scholastic socialization
effect can be assumed to have influenced them in this regard (see Bialecki 2013). Moreover, also further results are presented in the article (for instance
the influence of an affinity for computer games on the participants’motivation) and in the end a media pedagogical conclusion is drawn from the obtained
findings.
PS 048
A Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on Serious Gaming
M. Slot
1
, J. Jansz
1
1
Erasmus University Rotterdam, Media & Communication, Rotterdam, Netherlands
With this paper we aim to contribute to ECREA's 'Educational pillar' by presenting our Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on serious gaming that is released
on the Coursera MOOC platform in April/May 2016. In the first part of the paper we will argue that a MOOC is an adequate tool to share academic knowl‑
edge with a large, global audience. Our MOOC aims to inform participants what serious games are, how they work and in what ways their impact can be
determined. An important message is that theories are necessary to get a better understanding of serious gaming. We discuss theories about the relation
between play and culture, about the reasons why people play games, about persuasive properties of serious games, about the process of persuasion and
about issues related to the impact of serious games. Our presentation of theories and previous research goes hand in hand with the discussion of cases like