Video games are anything but a marginalized subject among communication scholars and media psychologists for quite some time now. Nevertheless, a certain
lack of empirically valid theoretical conceptualizations that truly respect the unique nature of the medium is still an important issue, even concerning basic concepts
such as interactivity. Drawing from a recently introduced multidimensional conceptualization of video game interactivity as continuously required player effort
to meet game demands and to exercise in-situ authorial control over the game experience, this dissertation consists of four manuscripts (covering seven individual
studies) that aim for empirical evidence for a rather general but extremely vital question: How do players process video games? In my understanding of the field,
this question exemplifies a substantial shift in how researchers examine games to explain not only the medium’s worldwide appeal but also the psychological
consequences that may result from playing it. Just as psychophysiological and neurophysiological perspectives have gained significant momentum within game
scholarship these days, an experiential approach that focuses on the (dynamic) interplay between demand and effort promises to serve as a valuable theoretical
basis to develop an advanced understanding of video gaming beyond what we as game scholars currently know. My work is inspired by this vision and the four
manuscripts that are included in this thesis contribute little pieces to it by examining interpersonal competition (manuscript 1) and game streaming (manuscript 3) as well
as by developing and validating a German scale to assess different game demands (manuscript 2) and a methodology to explore demand dynamics (manuscript 4). In
doing so, it intends to provide conceptual and empirical groundwork necessary not only to ask bigger questions about video games but also to answer them.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:36459 |
| Date | 09 December 2019 |
| Creators | Koban, Kevin |
| Contributors | Ohler, Peter, Ohler, Peter, Rey, Günter Daniel, Technische Universität Chemnitz |
| Source Sets | Hochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion, doc-type:doctoralThesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesis, doc-type:Text |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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