2017 Research Symposium – Video Games: A Medium that Demands Our Attention Symposium
Las Vegas Westgate Hotel & Casino | Ballroom G
* pre-ordered box lunches available for $15 through the BEA registration site

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hair: Nicholas Bowman, West Virginia University

8:30 AM – 9:00 AM                 Early Bird Coffee

9:00 AM – 10:30 AM              Gaming as Cognitive Demand Keynote & Presentations
This track of the symposium will focus on the perceptual and cognitive abilities that underlie skilled performance on various types of video games as well as how video game play can alter basic perceptual and/or cognitive abilities. Presentations will include research that highlights how certain game types load differentially on various perceptual/cognitive abilities, how the perceptual/cognitive abilities of skilled players of certain games differ from those of unskilled players, and how dedicated training on certain video games can be used to alter perceptual/cognitive abilities.

Cognitive Demand Chair: C. Shawn Green, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Top Paper, Cognitive Demand: Brett Sherrick, University of Alabama; Narrative and gameplay as unique instigators of immersion-based persuasion

Joe A. Wasserman, West Virginia University; Sex-Based Stereotype Threat and Game Modality Kevin Koban, Chemnitz University of Technology; It’s about time! Action video games’ demand of cognitive skills during prolonged periods of gaming

10:30 AM – 12:00 PM            Gaming as Emotional Demand Keynote & Presentations
This track of the symposium will focus on how video games can elicit emotions and how emotions can influence game play. Research will address these processes, including how a player’s success/failure in games can elicit achievement-related emotions (e.g., happiness, frustration, anger, pride); how the narrative structure of games as well as characters within games can elicit basic, social, and moral emotions (e.g., happiness, guilt, disgust); and how anticipatory emotions can guide a player’s decision-making in games (e.g., hopes, fears, anxiety). We will also examine the mediating role of video-game induced emotions on behavioral outcomes, including but not limited to goal-directed behaviors and prosocial/antisocial behaviors.

Emotional Demand Chair: Matthew Grizzard, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York

Top Paper, Emotional Demand; Top Overall Paper; Top Student Paper: Teresa Lynch, Indiana University; Playing with Emotion: A Framework for Investigating Emotion in Video Games

Daniel Possler & Cristoph Klimmt, Hanover University of Music, Drama, & Media; Arthur A. Raney, Florida State University; Gaming is Awesome! A Theoretical Model on Cognitive Demands and the Elicitation of Awe during Video Game Play

Regan Mandryk, Max Birk, & Jason Bowey, University of Saskatchewan; Exploring the Capacity of Tension-filled Narrative-based Games for Mood Repair

12:15 PM – 1:30 PM               Poster Session
Jaime Banks, West Virginia University, & Caleb Carr, Coffee Hound; Exploring the Phenomenology of Zero-History Specific Social Demand in a Multiplayer Environment

Joomi Lee, Michigan State University; What is information for social behavior: social affordances in videogames

Chris Alton, York University; Computer Space: Virtual Spaces, Real-World Places, and Player Affect

Federica Orlati, ITU; Material Matters: The Artist’s embodiment in the making of video games

David Beyea, Michigan State University; Refocusing Video Game Research: From Uses and Gratifications to Affordances

Stefan Hall, High Point University; Interrogating Immersion: What forms does it take in game design?

Min Xiao, University of Florida; Exploring Factors Influence Consumer Intention to Watch eSports

1:30 PM – 3:00 PM                 Gaming as Behavioral Demand Keynote & Presentations
This track will focus on behavioral demands and outcomes of video games. Discussion will include some of the following topics: The physical aspect of games, e.g. the effects of game presentation and controller type, physical motion and exertion in game effort and enjoyment, the natural mapping of behavior in games, or the physiological responses to games; the effects of specific behaviors in game, e.g. decision making, search, and interactive behaviors on attitudes, beliefs, habits, or behaviors outside of game; and the real-world behavioral effects of game play, including pro and anti-social behavioral outcomes of games, the gamification of behavior, and habitual versus automatic use of games.

Behavioral Demand Chair: Allison Eden, Michigan State University

Top paper, Behavioral Demand; 2nd Place Student Paper: Sarah Hodge, Jacqui Taylor, John McAlaney, Davide Melacca, Christos Gatzidis, & Eike Anderson, Bournemouth University; Measuring moral decisions from a purpose made video game

3rd Place Student Paper: Kevin Kryston, Michigan State University; Expanding synchrony as holistic understanding of video game enjoyment

Kenon A. Brown, Andrew C. Billings, Melvin Lewis & Kim Bissell, University of Alabama; Explicating the Electricity of eSports

3:00 PM – 3:30 PM                 Coffee & Collaboration
Our Video Games scholars will spend some time reflecting on their notes and presentations and identify potential areas of cross-collaboration and future research.

3:30 PM – 5:00 PM                 Gaming as Social Demand Keynote & Presentations
This track of the symposium will focus on how social cues embedded in video games affect perceptual and behavioral outcomes. We will discuss research that highlights how design features (e.g., avatars), interaction goals (e.g., cooperation, competition), and social outfits (e.g., teammates, guilds, gaming communities, etc.) affect online and offline social dynamics (e.g., trust, liking, personal relationships, etc) – and the the role of video games to raise awareness of social processes in video games, with both prosocial and antisocial outcomes.

Social Demand Chair: Jorge Peña, University of California, Davis

Top Paper, Social Demand: Nicholas Matthews, Digipen; Investigating how non-player characters influence socially-strategic moral decisions

Taylor Anderson-Barkley & Kira Foglesong, High Point University; Activism in Video Games: A New Voice for Social Change

Jaime Banks, West Virginia University & Caleb Carr, Illinois State University; Exploring the Agency and Complexities of Avatar-Mediated Interactions via the PaaP Model

5:00 PM – 5:45 PM                 Closing Plenary & Call to Action

 

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