Impasse-driven learning in the context of video games

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Abstract

This study was designed to elucidate the problem-solving skills used by frequent and infrequent video game players to negotiate impasses encountered while playing a novel video game. All participants were instructed to think aloud while playing a video game for 20 consecutive minutes. Comments made were then used to make inferences about the problem-solving skills that participants used to resolve impasses encountered during the game. Findings showed that frequent players made significantly greater reference to insight and game strategies than infrequent players. After reaching an impasse, all players also were most likely to comment on their game progress and potential game strategies to use. Over the course of game play, all participants showed increasing emphasis on their problem-solving skills as evidenced through their greater mention of insight, game strategies, and goal comments.

Section snippets

Participants

Participants included 10 frequent and 10 infrequent adult video game players drawn from a sample of convenience in New York City. All potential participants completed a questionnaire to identify their experience with video games. Twenty-three individuals expressed interest in completing the study. However, only the first twenty individuals who met the specified criteria (e.g. 10 frequent players who presently played more than once a week; 10 infrequent players who played less than once a week)

Results

The findings presented below primarily concern the game performance of all participants, their comments made during the think-aloud, and the relationship between comments made and game performance.

Discussion

This study was designed to investigate and explicate differences in frequent and infrequent adult video game players’ problem solving while playing a video game. Of particular interest were differences that might emerge as a result of having encountered an impasse. Overall, impasse comments were not as prevalent among the participants’ comments as had been expected and no significant differences between frequent and infrequent players were found in their reference to these comments.

However,

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      Citation Excerpt :

      These strategies have the potential to lead to greater problem-solving techniques and the ability to negotiate unexpected obstacles more easily. In fact, Blumberg et al. (2008) found that after reaching an impasse, players were more likely to comment on gameplay strategies as a way of overcoming it. As explained by Litts and Ramirez (2014), failure in games is part of the learning process and should not be defined as a stigmatizing end to what learning can become; failure in gameplay should be valued and sought (Gee, 2003; Juul, 2013; Ramirez, Seyler, Squire, & Berland, 2014).

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    Portions of this research were presented at the biennial meeting of the Conference on Human Development in Louisville, KY in April, 2006.

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