Riding the Wave They're Already On: What Teens Say About Why They Play Games

Susan Maunders

Thu., June 11, 3:30–4:30, Inn Wisconsin (2nd floor, East/Southeast)

For most American teenagers, their high school years (ages 15 to 18) are a period when they form their identities, strive to make decisions independently, seek idealistic goals, and practice planning and acting toward those goals. These activities reflect some of the central developmental needs of this age (Lerner, 2005).

Teens require environments that support these activities in order to stay motivated (Eccles, 1993). A learning environment that meets the developmental needs of its users is said to offer a good “stage/environment fit.” Higher levels of academic motivation gained by a good stage/environment fit can be seen even in youth otherwise considered at risk of dropping out of high school.

This presentation reports on my ongoing dissertation research on the motivational aspects of massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) for teens. Specifically, I am looking at the stage/environment fit that MMOs offer teens, a fit that, for some, exceeds the fit between their developmental needs and their current high school environments. The goal of the study is to understand the compelling experiences teens have during game play and why those experiences keep them engaged for long periods of time. The anticipated outcome of the study is a set of recommended design principles for creating motivating virtual learning environments for this age group.

The study is in process now as my doctorial thesis. It includes in-depth interviews with 24 males, ages 15 to 18, half of whom show evidence of high academic achievement and half with evidence of lower academic achievement. By June 2009, the study will be in the data analysis phase, and I plan to report preliminary findings and compare them with the findings of my 2008 pilot study. The findings of the pilot study were presented at the International Conference of the Learning Sciences in June of 2008 in Utrecht, the Netherlands (Maunders & Borko, 2008).

The key to this study is the challenge that despite much conjecture about why teens love to play MMOs, there is little in-depth qualitative data about what teens get out of their game play (Yee, 2006). Other research has used survey or observational data to describe various types of learning at various ages (Gee, 2007; Prensky, 2005), but in-depth ethnographic interviews with teens are rare. Also, there is very little research examining game play from a developmental perspective. My study offers both.

References

Eccles, J. S., Midgley, C., Wigfield, A., Buchanan, C.M., Reuman, D., Flanagan, C., & Mac Iver, D. (1993). Development during adolescence: The impact of stage-environment fit on young adolescents' experiences in schools and in families. American Psychologist, 48(2), 90-101.

Gee, J. P. (2007). What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.

Lerner, R. M. (2005). Promoting positive youth development: Theoretical and empirical bases. White paper prepared for National Research Council, Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences.

Maunders, S. J. and Borko, H. (2008). Why are online games so compelling and what can we learn from them to design better educational media? Proceedings ICLS 2008 Conference, International Society of the Learning Sciences.

Prensky, M. (2005). Don't bother me, Mom, I'm learning. New York, NY: Paragon House.

Yee, N. (2006). The demographics, motivations and derived experiences of users of massively - multiuser online graphical environments. PRESENCE: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 15, 309-329.