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立 政 治 大 學
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1. Introduction
1.1. Research background
Serious games are digital games designed with the purposes beyond entertainment, including games for learning, health, advocacy and social change (Michael & Chen, 2006;
Peng, Lee& Heeter, 2010; Ritterfeld, Vorderer, & Cody, 2009). A number of serious games have been developed and proved to be effective in increasing domain specific efficacy such as scientific efficacy and healthy management efficacy (Meluso, Zheng, Spires & Lester, 2012; Peng, 2009). However, the underlying mechanisms of such effects are seldom
investigated. Furthermore, although some serious games have been proved to be effective in increasing political knowledge and political interest in political education (Hefner& Klimmt, 2011), political attitudes such as political efficacy are seldom discussed.
Many prior studies focus on the positive contributions of internet on internal efficacy and external efficacy. However, they might neglect that people who access political information on the internet are more likely to be interested in politics (Norris, 2001). In other words, it is still difficult to reach people who are not interested in politics and help them change their efficacy. On the other hand, games can reach people in the form of entertainment. A game can be played without being considered for its serious topic first but the purposes of the game can be shifted later. Djaouti, Alvarez and Jessel (2012) called this the purpose-shifting approach a serious game. Therefore, serious games could be an
effective medium to promote political efficacy for people, especially for them who were not interested in political information originally.
In social cognitive theory, mastery experience is the personal experience with success or failure; it is the most influential factor of self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997). In order to apply this concept to understand the relationship between gaming mechanisms and players’ this
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psychological processes, this study has further distinguished “mediated enactive experience”
and “perceived mastery experience”. The former refers to the experience when a player plays an avatar in a game and makes decisions for an avatar (Peng, 2008) and the latter refers to a player’s psychological evaluations of the experience including past experience (Maddux, 2002).
According to Maddux (2002), even though mastery experiences are provided, people may form beliefs about future events, states and beliefs about their abilities and behavior according to their previous knowledge and experiences. This ability is called self-regulation which is an important assumption of social cognitive theory (Maddux, 2002: 7). In fact, people with higher prior knowledge also lead to higher learning outcomes, especially in learning environments that involve abstract tasks or situations (McNamara& Kintsch, 1996).
Moreover, Feltz and Lirgg (2001) pointed out, it is one's cognitive process of mastery experiences that influences self-efficacy beliefs. If one has repeatedly viewed these experiences as success, his or her self-efficacy beliefs will be increased; if one has repeatedly viewed these experiences as failures, his or her self-efficacy beliefs will be decreased. Nevertheless, it is not to say, an intervention is without any positive effects. In fact , entertainment-education referred to Social Cognitive Theory-based media projects was widely applied on mass media in order to influence audience’ awareness, attitudes and behaviors (Singhal & Rogers, 1999). Social Cognitive Theory has also been used to successfully facilitate behavior change and domain specific efficacy through video games (Starks, 2014). According to Starks (2014), in a meta-analysis of 25 video game
interventions to influence diet, exercise, and other health behavior, six games were specifically stated to be based on SCT, with three SCT-based games showing positive outcomes.
Mediated enactive experiences is positively related to perceived mastery experiences
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國立 政 治 大 學
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N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
when players play and make progresses in a game. The experiences are an essential part of a game (Starks, 2014). Yet character attachment, the “manipulated” relationship between players and avatars (Lewis, Weber& Bowman, 2008), may influence a player’s perceived mastery experience and then carry effects on his or her political efficacy. An avatar is a game unit that is under the player’s control. The word “unit” covers the physicality in space and the clear marking of this physicality on the screen (Kromand, 2007). Character attachment refers to an individual's feelings of (1) friendship; (2) identification with a video game character when an individual is willing to suspense disbelief; (3) responsibility for the game character; and (5) being able to control the game character's actions (Lewis, Weber&
Bowman, 2008).To sum up, the more players attach to their avatars, the more they can transform their avatars’ successful experiences into their own mastery experiences.
In conclusion, mediated enactive experiences provided by a game should be positively related to perceived mastery experiences and carries on the effects of efficacy in serious games. Moreover, when players attach to their avatars more, they will transform the
mediated enactive experience into their own mastery experience more. Therefore, character attachment should also positively contribute to efficacy through perceived mastery
experience.
1. 2. Research goals and questions
To date, there are no studies about the relationship between digital games and political efficacy. In addition, although there are games designed to enhance efficacy, the underlying mechanism remains unknown. According to a survey from Taiwan's Market Intelligence &
Consulting Institute in 2012, more than six million people play digital games in Taiwan and most of them are between 15-34 years old. Since digital games are becoming an important medium for the young generation in Taiwan, this study will include college students as
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國立 政 治 大 學
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N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
participants and try to find out the mechanisms of digital games for influencing political efficacy. Hopefully, the findings in this study will contribute to political education and serious game design in the future. Specifically, this study aims to, first, investigate whether policy-related mediated enactive experiences provided by the game can influence internal political efficacy. Second, this study investigates the relationship among character
attachment, perceived policy-related mastery experiences and internal political efficacy.
Based on the aims of this study, the following research questions are proposed:
1. Can policy-related mediated enactive experiences provided in a serious game enhance internal political efficacy?
2. What is the relationship among character attachment, perceived mastery experiences, and internal political efficacy?
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Political efficacy is an important construct since it is an effective predictor of political participation (Finkel, Muller& Opp, 1989; Chavis& Wandersman, 1990). Political efficacy is the “feeling that political and social change is possible and that the individual citizen can play a part in bringing about this change” (Campbell, Gurin &Miller, 1954: 187). In Taiwan, a survey conducted by the Chinese Association for Human Rights showed that the average score of political efficacy was only 2.86 (5-point Likert scale) which is considered a low political efficacy.
2.1. Serious games and Role-playing serious games 2.1.1. Definitions of serious games
The modern game studies can be traced back to the publication of Dutch historian Johan Huizinga's Homo Ludens (1938/1955). Although its core topic is playing rather than gaming, Homo Ludens remains a standard reference in game design books (Rodriguez, 2006). In his definition of play (Huizinga, 1938/1955:13),
It is a free activity standing quite consciously outside "ordinary" life as being "not serious", but at the same time absorbing the player intensely and utterly. It is an activity connected with no material interest, and no profit can be gained by it. It proceeds within its own proper boundaries of time and space according to fixed rules and in an orderly manner. It promotes the formation of social groupings which tend to surround themselves with secrecy and to stress their difference from the common world by disguise or other means.
Based on the concept of play, researchers have proposed definitions of games which depict necessary elements. Some definitions focus on “rules” (Salen& Zimmerman, 2003;
Juul, 2005) while others focus on “structure” (Maroney, 2001). Some definitions focus more on gaming mechanisms while others focus more on a player’s gameplay experience (Adams, 2010). Some may agree with Huizinga’s distinguish of “seriousness” and “play” (Maroney, 2001) while others don’t agree with him (Rodriguez, 2006).