Adolescents’ Digital Game-Related Information-Seeking

• Juho Kahila University of Eastern Finland https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9913-0627
• Matti Tedre https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1037-3313
• Sanni Kahila https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6381-2610
• Henriikka Vartiainen https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6005-907X
• Teemu Valtonen https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1803-9865

DOI: https://doi.org/10.23978/inf.97477

Abstrakti

Digital games are a very popular medium among people of all ages. While information related to games is in high demand among adolescents, their digital game-related information-seeking remains an understudied subject. This study explored what kind of digital game-related information adolescents seek, and from what information sources. The data were collected from adolescents’ essays (N=91) and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The results show that adolescents seek information on new games, guidance for gaming, and information on games’ development, background stories, and future. Information is sought from internet sources, face-to-face sources, and books. The results offer valuable insights on adolescents’ information behavior and practices in a wider context as well as adolescents’ perspective on digital game-related information-seeking.

Lähdeviitteet

Adams, S. S. (2009). What Games Have to Offer: Information Behavior and Meaning-Making in Virtual Play Spaces. Library Trends, 57(4), 676–693. https://doi.org/10.1353/lib.0.0058

Agosto, D. E. (2019). Thoughts about the past, present and future of research in youth information behaviors and practices. Information and Learning Science, 120(1–2), 108–118. https://doi.org/10.1108/ILS-09-2018-0096

Anderson, C. A., Shibuya, A., Ihori, N., Swing, E. L., Bushman, B. J., Sakamoto, A., . . . Saleem, M. (2010). Violent Video Game Effects on Aggression, Empathy, and Prosocial Behavior in Eastern and Western Countries: A Meta-Analytic Review. Psychological Bulletin, 136(2), 151–173. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018251

Barr, M. (2014). Learning through collaboration: video game wikis. International Journal of Social Media and Interactive Learning Environments, 2(2), 119–133. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJSMILE.2014.063385

Bullard, J. (2013). Playfully serious information for serious play: The integration of community values in an information resource. IConference 2013 Proceedings, 389–397. http://hdl.handle.net/2142/36039

Case, D., & Given, L. (2016). Looking for information: A survey of research on information seeking, needs, and behavior (4th ed.). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Catts, R., & Lau, J. (2008). Towards information literacy indicators. UNESCO. Retrieved from https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000158723

Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2011). Research Methods in Education (7th ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203720967

Consalvo, M. (2007). Cheating: Gaining Advantage in Videogames. The MIT Press.

De Oliveira, L. F., Espindola, L. S., Santos, C. Q., Ziesemer, A. C. A., Müller, L., & Silveira, M. S. (2017). Help resources in games: Gamers’ opinions and preliminary design remarks. IHC 2017: Proceedings of the XVI Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 17–20. https://doi.org/10.1145/3160504.3160572

Donaldson, S. (2017). Mechanics and Metagame: Exploring Binary Expertise in League of Legends. Games and Culture, 12(5), 426–444. https://doi.org/10.1177/1555412015590063

Elias, G. S., Garfield, R., & Gutschera, K. R. (2012). Characteristics of Games. The MIT Press.

Elo, S., & Kyngäs, H. (2008). The qualitative content analysis process. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 62(1), 107–115. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2648.2007.04569.x

Erdelez, S. (1997). Information encountering: A conceptual framework for accidental information discovery. In P. Vakkari, P. Savolainen, & B. Dervin (Eds.), Proceedings of an international conference on researching information needs, seeking, and use in different contexts (pp. 412–421).

Finnish National Board of Education. (2014). National Core Curriculum for Basic Education 2014. Next Print Oy.

Gee, J. P. (2011). Reflections on empirical evidence on games and learning. In S. Tobias & J. D. Fletcher (Eds.), Computer Games and Instruction (pp. 223–232). Information Age Publishing, Inc.

Gee, J. P., & Hayes, E. (2012). Nurturing Affinity Spaces and Game-Based Learning. In C. Steinkuehler, K. Squire, & S. Barab (Eds.), Games, Learning, and Society: Learning and Meaning in the Digital Age (pp. 129–153). Cambridge University Press.

Gumulak, S., & Webber, S. (2011). Playing video games: Learning and information literacy. Aslib Proceedings: New Information Perspectives, 63(2–3), 241–255. https://doi.org/10.1108/00012531111135682

Harviainen, J. T., Gough, R. D., & Sköld, O. (2012). Information Phenomena in Game-Related Social Media. In G. Widén & K. Holmberg (Eds.), Social information research (pp. 149–171). Emerald. https://doi.org/10.1108/s1876-0562(2012)0000005009

Harviainen, J. T., & Hamari, J. (2015). Seek, share, or withhold: information trading in MMORPGs. Journal of Documentation, 71(6), 1119–1134. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-09-2014-0135

Harviainen, J. T., & Savolainen, R. (2014). Information as capability for action and capital in synthetic worlds. Proceedings of ISIC, the Information Behaviour Conference.

Harviainen, J. T., & Vesa, M. (2016). Massively Multiplayer Online Games as Information System: Implications for Organizational Learning. In T. Kaneda, H. Kanegae, Y. Toyoda, & P. Rizzi (Eds.), Simulation and Gaming in the Network Society. Translational Systems Sciences, vol 9. (pp. 199–214). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0575-6_16

Kahila, J., Tedre, M., Kahila, S., Mäkitalo, K., Vartiainen, H., & Valtonen, T. (2020). Children’s gaming involves much more than the gaming itself: A study of the metagame among 12 - 15 year-old children. Convergence, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354856520979482

Kahila, J., Valtonen, T., Tedre, M., Mäkitalo, K., & Saarikoski, O. (2019). Children’s Experiences on Learning the 21st-Century Skills With Digital Games. Games and Culture, 15(6),685–706. https://doi.org/10.1177/1555412019845592

King, E. M. (2013). Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games: A Potential Model of CSCL@Work. In S. P. Goggins, I. Jahnke, & V. Wulf (Eds.), Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning at the Workplace. Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning Series, vol 14. Springer.

Lee, J. H., Clarke, R. I., & Rossi, S. (2016). A qualitative investigation of users’ discovery, access, and organization of video games as information objects. Journal of Information Science, 42(6), 833–850. https://doi.org/10.1177/0165551515618594

Leu, D. J., Zawilinski, L., Forzani, E., & Timbrell, N. (2014). Best Practices in Teaching the New Literacies of Online Research and Comprehension. In L. B. Gambrel & L. M. Morrow (Eds.), Best practices in literacy instuction (pp. 343–364). Guilford.

Lobel, A., Engels, R. C. M. E., Stone, L. L., Burk, W. J., & Granic, I. (2017). Video Gaming and Children’s Psychosocial Wellbeing: A Longitudinal Study. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 46(4), 884–897. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-017-0646-z

Martin, C., & Steinkuehler, C. (2010). Collective information literacy in massively multiplayer online games. E-Learning and Digital Media, 7(4), 355–365. https://doi.org/10.2304/elea.2010.7.4.355

McKenzie, P. J. (2003). A model of information practices in accounts of everyday-life information seeking. Journal of Documentation, 59(1), 19–40. https://doi.org/10.1108/00220410310457993

Mäyrä, F., Van Looy, J., & Quandt, T. (2013). Disciplinary identity of game scholars: An outline. Proceedings of the 2013 DiGRA International Conference: DeFragging GameStudies.

Nucciarelli, A., Li, F., Fernandes, K. J., Goumagias, N., Cabras, I., Devlin, S., Kudenko, D., & Cowling, P. (2017). From value chains to technological platforms: The effects of crowdfunding in the digital game industry. Journal of Business Research, 78, 341–352. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2016.12.030

Official Statistics of Finland. (2019). Participation in leisure activities 2017. Statistics Finland. Retrieved from https://www.stat.fi/til/vpa/2017/02/vpa_2017_02_2019-01-31_kat_001_fi.html

Pellicone, A., & Ahn, J. (2018). Building Worlds: A Connective Ethnography of Play in Minecraft. Games and Culture, 13(5), 440–458. https://doi.org/10.1177/1555412015622345

Saikkonen, L. (2018). Hakulausekkeen muodostamisen vaikeus – nuorten ja opettajien taidot testissä. Informaatiotutkimus, 37(1). https://doi.org/10.23978/inf.70165

Savolainen, R. (2008). Everyday information practices: a social phenomenological perspective. Scarecrow Press.

Savolainen, R. (2016). Elaborating the conceptual space of information-seeking phenomena. Information Research, 21(3), 139–162.

Sjöblom, M., & Hamari, J. (2017). Why do people watch others play video games? An empirical study on the motivations of Twitch users. Computers in Human Behavior, 75, 985–996. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.10.019

Sköld, O. (2017). Getting-to-know: Inquiries, sources, methods, and the production of knowledge on a videogame wiki. Journal of Documentation, 73(6), 1299–1321. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-11-2016-0145

Sköld, O., Adams, S., Harviainen, J. T., & Huvila, I. (2015). Studying games from the viewpoint of information. In P. Lankoski & S. Björk (Eds.), Game Research Methods (pp. 57–73). ETC Press. Retrieved from http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2812774.2812781

Sotamaa, O., & Wirman, H. (2015). Online Games Modifications and User Generated Content. In The International Encyclopedia of Digital Communication and Society (pp. 1–10). American Cancer Society. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118767771.wbiedcs056

Sourmelis, T., Ioannou, A., & Zaphiris, P. (2017). Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) and the 21st century skills: A comprehensive research review from 2010 to 2016. Computers in Human Behavior, 67, 41–48. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.CHB.2016.10.020

Steinkuehler, C. (2007). Massively Multiplayer Online Gaming as a Constellation of Literacy Practices. E-Learning and Digital Media, 4(3), 297–318. https://doi.org/10.2304/elea.2007.4.3.297

Steinkuehler, C., & Duncan, S. (2008). Scientific habits of mind in virtual worlds. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 17(6), 530–543. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-008-9120-8

Tammy Lin, J.-H., Bowman, N., Lin, S.-F., & Chen, Y.-S. (2019). Setting the digital stage: Defining game streaming as an entertainment experience. Entertainment Computing, 31, 100309. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.ENTCOM.2019.100309

Törhönen, M., Sjöblom, M., Vahlo, J., & Hamari, J. (2020). View, Play and Pay? – The Relationship between Consumption of Gaming Video Content and Video Game Playing and Buying. Proceedings of the 53rd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 3, 2719–2728. https://doi.org/10.24251/hicss.2020.332

Voogt, J., & Pareja Roblin, N. (2012). A comparative analysis of international frameworks for 21st century competences: Implications for national curriculum policies. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 44(3), 299–321. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220272.2012.668938

Wilson, T. D. (2000). Human information behavior. Informing Science, 3(2), 49–55. https://doi.org/10.28945/576

Wu, H.-A. (2016). Video Game Prosumers: Case Study of a Minecraft Affinity Space. Visual Arts Research, 42(1), 22–37. https://doi.org/10.5406/visuartsrese.42.1.0022