嚴肅遊戲中感知之精熟經驗、角色依附與內在政治效能之路徑模式 - 政大學術集成

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(1)國立政治大學傳播學院新聞學系研究所博士學位論文. 嚴肅遊戲中感知之精熟經驗、角色依附與內在政治效能之路徑模式. 政治大 A path model of perceived mastery experiences, character 立 ‧. ‧ 國. 學. attachment and internal political efficacy in serious games. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. 指導教授：葉玉珠博士 Dr. Peter Vorderer 博士生：黃齡儀撰中華民國一百零四年一月. v.

(2) Acknowledgements First and foremost I want to thank my advisor, Yu-chu Yeh. It has been an honor to be her Ph.D. student. I appreciate all her contributions of time, ideas and encouragements to make my Ph.D. work possible. The passion and persistence she has for her research has been motivational for me, even during tough times in the Ph.D. pursuit. She will forever be my role model, both in everyday life and in the pursuit of a PhD. career. Along this long journey, I have been to three different countries to fulfill my dreams and develop myself in gaming studies. From January to May in 2011, I was an exchange in the Department of Computer Science and Interactive Technology at University of Tampere,. 政治大. Finland. From August 2012 to June 2013, I was a visiting researcher in the department of. 立. Media and Communication at Mannheim University, Germany. The visit was funded by the. ‧ 國. 學. German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the Ministry of Science and Technology. ‧. of Taiwan. From March to December in 2014, I was a visiting PhD student in the Department of Computer and Systems Sciences at Stockholm University. This visit was. y. Nat. io. sit. funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan (Contract No. NSC 103-2917-. n. al. er. I-004-005).I would like to specially thank Prof. Peter Vorderer from Mannheim University.. Ch. i n U. v. This study could not have be written to its fullest without him, who together with Prof. Yeh. engchi. served as my supervisor. Also, he challenged and supported me throughout my research stay in Germany. I would like to also thank Prof. Harko Verhagen from Stockholm University, Prof. Jiun-De Lee from Chino Tung University and Prof. Huang-Yao Hong from Chengchi University for giving me valuable suggestions to enrich this study. Last but not least, I would like to thank my mom, Shu-Hsia Huang Chen, and my husband, Niklas Eriksson for unconditional support of my dreams and studies. No matter how far I have travelled in this world, you are always the starting points of my dreams.. ii.

(3) 中文摘要. 本研究區分中介之精熟經驗與感知之精熟經驗。前者為玩家在角色扮演遊戲中所獲得之成功經驗，後者指玩家對此中介經驗之整體評估感受，且包含過去經驗。玩家在遊戲中不斷接受挑戰並破關的過程，即包含了成功的中介精熟經驗，此經驗與感知之精熟經驗應為正向相關，且為遊戲中必要之一環。角色依附是探討玩家與其角色關係之重要變項，當玩家越依附於其角色時，越能將此中介精熟經驗轉換成其感知之精. 治政大熟經驗，越能對其效能感產生正面影響。本研究因此嘗試探討嚴肅遊戲中提供的中介立 ‧ 國. 學. 精熟經驗是否會影響內部政治效能感，並探討在這影響機制中，感知精熟經驗，角色依附與內在政治效能感之路徑關係。. ‧. 本研究採對照組前後測實驗設計。參與者為 131 位大學生，在本研究發展之政策. sit. y. Nat. io. n. al. er. 嚴肅遊戲中，參與者被隨機分派到實驗組與控制組。兩組皆接受遊戲之中介精熟經驗. i n U. v. 處理，但為了檢驗遊戲中介之精熟經驗與玩家感知之精熟經驗之關係，實驗組提供不. Ch. engchi. 同場景以演練技巧之遊戲，控制組則未提供不同場景以演練技巧之遊戲。此實驗過程費時大約 60 分鐘。玩家在實驗前後於線上填寫問卷。本研究首先使用重複量數單因子變異數分析以檢驗不同性別與組別之實驗結果，接著，再以結構方程模型探討感知精熟經驗，角色依附與內在政治效能感之路徑關係。研究結果發現：(一) 實驗組與控制組之內在政治效能感皆明顯提升，然而，實驗組之提升幅度並未顯著高於控制組。(二) 在路徑模式中，角色依附會透過感知之精熟. iii.

(4) 經驗間接影響內在政治效能，而前測內在政治效能會透過感知精熟經驗間接影響後測內在政治效能，亦會對後測內在政治效能造成直接影響。本研究有助於了解嚴肅遊戲之心理機制，其結果對於應用嚴肅遊戲設計與公民教育有重要啟示。. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. iv. i n U. v.

(5) Abstract This study distinguished “mediated enactive experience” and “perceived mastery experience”. The former referred to the experience when a player plays an avatar in a game and the latter referred to a player’s psychological evaluations of the experience including past experience. Mediated enactive experiences is positively related to perceived mastery experiences when players play and make progresses in a game. The experiences are an essential part of a game. Yet character attachment may influence the relationship between. 治政大more, he or she may players and avatars. If a player attaches to his or her own avatar 立 ‧ 國. 學. perceive the mediated enactive experiences more his or her mastery experience, therefore, character attachment should positively contribute to internal political efficacy through. ‧. perceived mastery experience.. sit. y. Nat. n. al. er. io. A control group pretest-posttest experimental design was conducted in this study. Both. i n U. v. groups received policy-related mediated enactive experiences from the serious game. In. Ch. engchi. order to test if players who received more policy-related mediated enactive experiences will upgrade their internal political efficacy to a higher level, 113 college students were randomly assigned to one of the two groups: In the experimental group, players played an avatar with chances for practicing learned skills in three different settings; In the control group, players played an avatar without chances for practicing learned skills. Two repeatedMeasure ANOVAs were conducted to analyze if there were gender and group differences on. v.

(6) manipulation effects. Moreover, structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed to analyze the proposed path model of character attachment, perceived mastery experiences, prior and posttest internal political efficacy. The results showed that the internal political efficacy of both groups was significantly enhanced. However, the experimental group did not upgrade to a higher level than the control group. Furthermore, in the path model, character attachment influenced posttest internal political efficacy indirectly through perceived mastery experiences; moreover, prior. 治政 internal political efficacy influenced posttest internal political 大 efficacy through perceived 立 ‧. ‧ 國. directly.. 學. mastery experiences indirectly and also influenced posttest internal political efficacy. To conclude, the findings of this study can help understand psychological mechanisms. sit. y. Nat. n. al. er. io. related to gaming as well as can be applied to civic education and serious game design in the future.. Ch. engchi. vi. i n U. v.

(7) TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………….........................ii CHINESE ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................... iii ENGLISH ABSTRACT........................................................................................................... v TABLE OF CONTENTS ....................................................................................................... vii LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................ xi LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................. xii. 政治大 1.1. Research background .................................................................................................... 1 立. 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 1. ‧ 國. 學. 1.2. Research goals and questions ........................................................................................ 3 2. LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................................................... 5. ‧. 2.1. Serious games and role-playing serious games ............................................................. 5. y. Nat. sit. 2.1.1. Definitions of serious games .................................................................................. 5. n. al. er. io. 2.1.2. Role-playing serious games .................................................................................... 8. i n U. v. 2.2. Character attachment toward avatars in role-playing serious games .......................... 10. Ch. engchi. 2.3. Perceived mastery experiences and political efficacy ................................................. 12 2.3.1. Self-efficacy and political efficacy ....................................................................... 12 2.3.2. Mastery experiences, perceived mastery experiences and selfefficacy ............................................................................................................... 13 2.4. Mechanisms that influence internal political efficacy in role-playing serious games ............................................................................................................. 15 2.4.1. Serious games for political purposes and efficacy ................................................ 15 2.4.2. Mediated enactive experiences and internal political efficacy in role. vii.

(8) playing serious games ....................................................................................... .16 2.4.3. Create successful mediated enactive experiences: Flow and experiential learning model ................................................................................ 19 2.4.4. Mediated enactive experiences, perceived mastery experiences, character attachment and internal political efficacy in role-playing serious games...................................................................................................... 20 2.5. Hypotheses .. ............................................................................................................... 23 3. METHOD........................................................................................................................... 25 3.1. Participants ................................................................................................................ 25. 政治大. 3.2. Instrument .................................................................................................................. 25. 立. 3.2.1. The inventory of character attachment (CA) ...................................................... 25. ‧ 國. 學. 3.2.2. The inventory of perceived mastery experience (PME) ....................................... 26 3.2.3 The inventory of Internal Political Efficacy (IPE) ................................................ 28. ‧. 3.3. The “Empower” game and the experimental design ................................................. 29. Nat. io. sit. y. 3.4. Procedures ................................................................................................................. 34. n. al. er. 3.5. Data analysis .............................................................................................................. 35. Ch. i n U. v. 3.5.1. Repeated-Measure ANOVA: Analyses of gender difference............................... 35. engchi. 3.5.2. Repeated-Measure ANOVA: Analyses of the manipulation results.35 3.5.3. SEM: Analyses of the proposed path model ........................................................ 35 4. RESULTS .......................................................................................................................... 37 4.1. Preliminary analysis .................................................................................................. 37 4.1.1. Means and standard deviations of CA, PME, Prior IPE and Posttest IPE ...................................................................................................................... 37 4.1.2. Gender difference in IPE .................................................................................... 40 4.2. Effects of manipulation ............................................................................................... 42. viii.

(9) 4.3. Results of the proposed model .................................................................................... 43 4.3.1. Goodness-of-Fit of the Proposed Model .............................................................. 43 4.3.2. Fit of Internal Structure of the Proposed Model ................................................... 44 4.3.3. Analyses of Direct Effects, Indirect Effects, Total Effects, and Explained Variance ........................................................................................................................ 45 4.4. Results of the revised model ....................................................................................... 46 4.4.1. Goodness-of-Fit of the Proposed Model .............................................................. 47 4.4.2. Fit of Internal Structure of the Proposed Model ................................................... 47 4.4.3. Analyses of Direct Effects, Indirect Effects, Total Effects, and Explained Variance ........................................................................................................................ 48. 政治大. 4.5. The comparisons between the proposed model and revised model ............................ 50. 立. 4.5.1.The comparison of internal quality........................................................................ 50. ‧ 國. 學. 4.5.2.The comparison of external quality ....................................................................... 50 4.5.3. The comparisons of direct effects, indirect effects and total effects .................. 51. ‧. 5. DISCUSSIONS .................................................................................................................. 53. y. Nat. io. sit. 5.1. Effectiveness of manipulation in enhancing internal political efficacy in serious. n. al. er. games ....................................................................................................................... 53. Ch. i n U. v. 5.2. The path model of character attachment, perceived mastery experiences, prior and. engchi. post internal political efficacy .................................................................................... 55 6. Limitations and suggestions ............................................................................................... 60 7. Conclusions ........................................................................................................................ 62 APPENDIX A. The inventory of Character Attachment, CA …. ......................................... 72 A.1. Original questions .. ................................................................................................ 72 A.2. The processes of scale development ....................................................................... 72 A.3. Questions deletions and selections ......................................................................... 72 A.4. Chinese version of character attachment scale ..................................................... 77. ix.

(10) APPENDIX B. The inventory of Perceived mastery experience, PME…. ........................... 78 B.1. Original questions .. ................................................................................................ 78 B.2. The processes of scale development ....................................................................... 78 B.3. Questions deletions and selections ......................................................................... 79 B.4. Chinese version of character attachment scale . ..................................................... 83 APPENDIX C. The inventory of internal political efficacy, IPE . ........................................ 84 C.1. Original questions .. ................................................................................................ 84 C.2. The processes of scale development ....................................................................... 84 C.3. Questions deletions and selections ......................................................................... 85. 治政 APPENDIX D. The questions of the game in Chinese…………………………………… ..90 大立 LIST OF REFERENCES ....................................................................................................... 64 C.4. Chinese version of character attachment scale ..................................................... 89. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. x. i n U. v.

(11) LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Sources of perceived mastery experiences of a player in a serious game . ............ 18 Figure 2. The Empower game was designed for carbon tax and carbon emission trading issues .................................................................................................................... 31 Figure 3. Players were asked to choose one avatar based on the similarity of their positions with the avatar ........................................................................................................ 31 Figure 4. Players have to meet challenges in different levels. The challenges are measurable by prizes ............................................................................................................... 32. 政治大 different imaginary settings………………………………………………………32 立. Figure 5. A screen exemplifying how players practiced the learned knowledge in three. ‧ 國. 學. Figure 6. Experimental design and procedures .................................................................... 34 Figure 7. The proposed path model of character attachment, prior internal political efficacy,. ‧. perceived mastery experience and posttest internal political efficacy … .............. 36. sit. y. Nat. Figure 8. The means and standard deviations of different variables for two groups ............. 38. io. al. er. Figure 9. The means and standard deviations of pretest and posttest internal political efficacy. n. for different gender .............................................................................................. 41 Figure 10. The proposed path model. v i n Ch ................................................................................... 44 engchi U. Figure 11. The path model of the revised model .................................................................. 49. xi.

(12) LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Operation Definitions of the Public Policy Serious Game. ..................................... 33 Table 2. The Ms and SDs of Different Variables for the Experimental and the control group ................................................................................................................................ 39 Table 3. The Ms and SDs of IPE for Different Gender .......................................................... 41 Table 4. Repeated Measures ANOVA Results of Gender Effects on IPE ............................ 42 Table 5. Repeated Measures ANOVA Results of Group Difference on Manipulation Effect 43 Table 6. Summary of Direct, Indirect and Total Effects of Base Model ................................ 46. 政治大 Table 8. The Comparisons between the Proposed Model and the Revised Model………….51 立. Table 7. Summary of Direct, Indirect and Total Effects of Revised Model ........................... 49. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. xii. i n U. v.

(13) 國立政治大學傳播學院新聞學系博士論文指導教授：葉玉珠博士、Dr. Peter Vorderer. 嚴肅遊戲中感知之精熟經驗、角色依附與內在政治效能之路徑模式政治大 A path model of perceived mastery experiences, 立 in serious games. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. character attachment and internal political efficacy. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 博士生：黃齡儀撰中華民國一百零三年十月.

(14) Acknowledgements First and foremost I want to thank my advisor, Yu-chu Yeh. It has been an honor to be her Ph.D. student. I appreciate all her contributions of time, ideas and encouragements to make my Ph.D. work possible. The passion and persistence she has for her research has been motivational for me, even during tough times in the Ph.D. pursuit. She will forever be my role model, both in everyday life and in the pursuit of a PhD. career. Along this long journey, I have been to three different countries to fulfill my dreams and develop myself in gaming studies. From January to May in 2011, I was an exchange in the Department of Computer Science and Interactive Technology at University of Tampere,. 政治大. Finland. From August 2012 to June 2013, I was a visiting researcher in the department of. 立. Media and Communication at Mannheim University, Germany. The visit was funded by the. ‧ 國. 學. German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the Ministry of Science and Technology. ‧. of Taiwan. From March to December in 2014, I was a visiting PhD student in the Department of Computer and Systems Sciences at Stockholm University. This visit was. y. Nat. io. sit. funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan (Contract No. NSC 103-2917-. n. al. er. I-004-005).I would like to specially thank Prof. Peter Vorderer from Mannheim University.. Ch. i n U. v. This study could not have be written to its fullest without him, who together with Prof. Yeh. engchi. served as my supervisor. Also, he challenged and supported me throughout my research stay in Germany. I would like to also thank Prof. Harko Verhagen from Stockholm University, Prof. Jiun-De Lee from Chino Tung University and Prof. Huang-Yao Hong from Chengchi University for giving me valuable suggestions to enrich this study. Last but not least, I would like to thank my mom, Shu-Hsia Huang Chen, and my husband, Niklas Eriksson for unconditional support of my dreams and studies. No matter how far I have travelled in this world, you are always the starting points of my dreams.. ii.

(15) 中文摘要. 本研究區分中介之精熟經驗與感知之精熟經驗。前者為玩家在角色扮演遊戲中所獲得之成功經驗，後者指玩家對此中介經驗之整體評估感受，且包含過去經驗。玩家在遊戲中不斷接受挑戰並破關的過程，即包含了成功的中介精熟經驗，此經驗與感知之精熟經驗應為正向相關，且為遊戲中必要之一環。角色依附是探討玩家與其角色關係之重要變項，當玩家越依附於其角色時，越能將此中介精熟經驗轉換成其感知之精. 治政大熟經驗，越能對其效能感產生正面影響。本研究因此嘗試探討嚴肅遊戲中提供的中介立 ‧ 國. 學. 精熟經驗是否會影響內部政治效能感，並探討在這影響機制中，感知精熟經驗，角色依附與內在政治效能感之路徑關係。. ‧. 本研究採對照組前後測實驗設計。參與者為 131 位大學生，在本研究發展之政策. sit. y. Nat. io. n. al. er. 嚴肅遊戲中，參與者被隨機分派到實驗組與控制組。兩組皆接受遊戲之中介精熟經驗. i n U. v. 處理，但為了檢驗遊戲中介之精熟經驗與玩家感知之精熟經驗之關係，實驗組提供不. Ch. engchi. 同場景以演練技巧之遊戲，控制組則未提供不同場景以演練技巧之遊戲。此實驗過程費時大約 60 分鐘。玩家在實驗前後於線上填寫問卷。本研究首先使用重複量數單因子變異數分析以檢驗不同性別與組別之實驗結果，接著，再以結構方程模型探討感知精熟經驗，角色依附與內在政治效能感之路徑關係。研究結果發現：(一) 實驗組與控制組之內在政治效能感皆明顯提升，然而，實驗組之提升幅度並未顯著高於控制組。(二) 在路徑模式中，角色依附會透過感知之精熟. iii.

(16) 經驗間接影響內在政治效能，而前測內在政治效能會透過感知精熟經驗間接影響後測內在政治效能，亦會對後測內在政治效能造成直接影響。本研究有助於了解嚴肅遊戲之心理機制，其結果對於應用嚴肅遊戲設計與公民教育有重要啟示。. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. iv. i n U. v.

(17) Abstract This study distinguished “mediated enactive experience” and “perceived mastery experience”. The former referred to the experience when a player plays an avatar in a game and the latter referred to a player’s psychological evaluations of the experience including past experience. Mediated enactive experiences is positively related to perceived mastery experiences when players play and make progresses in a game. The experiences are an essential part of a game. Yet character attachment may influence the relationship between. 治政大more, he or she may players and avatars. If a player attaches to his or her own avatar 立 ‧ 國. 學. perceive the mediated enactive experiences more his or her mastery experience, therefore, character attachment should positively contribute to internal political efficacy through. ‧. perceived mastery experience.. sit. y. Nat. n. al. er. io. A control group pretest-posttest experimental design was conducted in this study. Both. i n U. v. groups received policy-related mediated enactive experiences from the serious game. In. Ch. engchi. order to test if players who received more policy-related mediated enactive experiences will upgrade their internal political efficacy to a higher level, 113 college students were randomly assigned to one of the two groups: In the experimental group, players played an avatar with chances for practicing learned skills in three different settings; In the control group, players played an avatar without chances for practicing learned skills. Two repeatedMeasure ANOVAs were conducted to analyze if there were gender and group differences on. v.

(18) manipulation effects. Moreover, structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed to analyze the proposed path model of character attachment, perceived mastery experiences, prior and posttest internal political efficacy. The results showed that the internal political efficacy of both groups was significantly enhanced. However, the experimental group did not upgrade to a higher level than the control group. Furthermore, in the path model, character attachment influenced posttest internal political efficacy indirectly through perceived mastery experiences; moreover, prior. 治政 internal political efficacy influenced posttest internal political 大 efficacy through perceived 立 ‧. ‧ 國. directly.. 學. mastery experiences indirectly and also influenced posttest internal political efficacy. To conclude, the findings of this study can help understand psychological mechanisms. sit. y. Nat. n. al. er. io. related to gaming as well as can be applied to civic education and serious game design in the future.. Ch. engchi. vi. i n U. v.

(19) TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………….........................ii CHINESE ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................... iii ENGLISH ABSTRACT........................................................................................................... v TABLE OF CONTENTS ....................................................................................................... vii LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................ xi LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................. xii. 政治大 1.1. Research background .................................................................................................... 1 立. 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 1. ‧ 國. 學. 1.2. Research goals and questions ........................................................................................ 3 2. LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................................................... 5. ‧. 2.1. Serious games and role-playing serious games ............................................................. 5. y. Nat. sit. 2.1.1. Definitions of serious games .................................................................................. 5. n. al. er. io. 2.1.2. Role-playing serious games .................................................................................... 8. i n U. v. 2.2. Character attachment toward avatars in role-playing serious games .......................... 10. Ch. engchi. 2.3. Perceived mastery experiences and political efficacy ................................................. 12 2.3.1. Self-efficacy and political efficacy ....................................................................... 12 2.3.2. Mastery experiences, perceived mastery experiences and selfefficacy ............................................................................................................... 13 2.4. Mechanisms that influence internal political efficacy in role-playing serious games ............................................................................................................. 15 2.4.1. Serious games for political purposes and efficacy ................................................ 15 2.4.2. Mediated enactive experiences and internal political efficacy in role. vii.

(20) playing serious games ....................................................................................... .16 2.4.3. Create successful mediated enactive experiences: Flow and experiential learning model ................................................................................ 19 2.4.4. Mediated enactive experiences, perceived mastery experiences, character attachment and internal political efficacy in role-playing serious games...................................................................................................... 20 2.5. Hypotheses .. ............................................................................................................... 23 3. METHOD........................................................................................................................... 25 3.1. Participants ................................................................................................................ 25. 政治大. 3.2. Instrument .................................................................................................................. 25. 立. 3.2.1. The inventory of character attachment (CA) ...................................................... 25. ‧ 國. 學. 3.2.2. The inventory of perceived mastery experience (PME) ....................................... 26 3.2.3 The inventory of Internal Political Efficacy (IPE) ................................................ 28. ‧. 3.3. The “Empower” game and the experimental design ................................................. 29. Nat. io. sit. y. 3.4. Procedures ................................................................................................................. 34. n. al. er. 3.5. Data analysis .............................................................................................................. 35. Ch. i n U. v. 3.5.1. Repeated-Measure ANOVA: Analyses of gender difference............................... 35. engchi. 3.5.2. Repeated-Measure ANOVA: Analyses of the manipulation results.35 3.5.3. SEM: Analyses of the proposed path model ........................................................ 35 4. RESULTS .......................................................................................................................... 37 4.1. Preliminary analysis .................................................................................................. 37 4.1.1. Means and standard deviations of CA, PME, Prior IPE and Posttest IPE ...................................................................................................................... 37 4.1.2. Gender difference in IPE .................................................................................... 40 4.2. Effects of manipulation ............................................................................................... 42. viii.

(21) 4.3. Results of the proposed model .................................................................................... 43 4.3.1. Goodness-of-Fit of the Proposed Model .............................................................. 43 4.3.2. Fit of Internal Structure of the Proposed Model ................................................... 44 4.3.3. Analyses of Direct Effects, Indirect Effects, Total Effects, and Explained Variance ........................................................................................................................ 45 4.4. Results of the revised model ....................................................................................... 46 4.4.1. Goodness-of-Fit of the Proposed Model .............................................................. 47 4.4.2. Fit of Internal Structure of the Proposed Model ................................................... 47 4.4.3. Analyses of Direct Effects, Indirect Effects, Total Effects, and Explained Variance ........................................................................................................................ 48. 政治大. 4.5. The comparisons between the proposed model and revised model ............................ 50. 立. 4.5.1.The comparison of internal quality........................................................................ 50. ‧ 國. 學. 4.5.2.The comparison of external quality ....................................................................... 50 4.5.3. The comparisons of direct effects, indirect effects and total effects .................. 51. ‧. 5. DISCUSSIONS .................................................................................................................. 53. y. Nat. io. sit. 5.1. Effectiveness of manipulation in enhancing internal political efficacy in serious. n. al. er. games ....................................................................................................................... 53. Ch. i n U. v. 5.2. The path model of character attachment, perceived mastery experiences, prior and. engchi. post internal political efficacy .................................................................................... 55 6. Limitations and suggestions ............................................................................................... 60 7. Conclusions ........................................................................................................................ 62 APPENDIX A. The inventory of Character Attachment, CA …. ......................................... 72 A.1. Original questions .. ................................................................................................ 72 A.2. The processes of scale development ....................................................................... 72 A.3. Questions deletions and selections ......................................................................... 72 A.4. Chinese version of character attachment scale ..................................................... 77. ix.

(22) APPENDIX B. The inventory of Perceived mastery experience, PME…. ........................... 78 B.1. Original questions .. ................................................................................................ 78 B.2. The processes of scale development ....................................................................... 78 B.3. Questions deletions and selections ......................................................................... 79 B.4. Chinese version of character attachment scale . ..................................................... 83 APPENDIX C. The inventory of internal political efficacy, IPE . ........................................ 84 C.1. Original questions .. ................................................................................................ 84 C.2. The processes of scale development ....................................................................... 84 C.3. Questions deletions and selections ......................................................................... 85. 治政 APPENDIX D. The questions of the game in Chinese…………………………………… ..90 大立 LIST OF REFERENCES ....................................................................................................... 64 C.4. Chinese version of character attachment scale ..................................................... 89. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. x. i n U. v.

(23) LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Sources of perceived mastery experiences of a player in a serious game . ............ 18 Figure 2. The Empower game was designed for carbon tax and carbon emission trading issues .................................................................................................................... 31 Figure 3. Players were asked to choose one avatar based on the similarity of their positions with the avatar ........................................................................................................ 31 Figure 4. Players have to meet challenges in different levels. The challenges are measurable by prizes ............................................................................................................... 32. 政治大 different imaginary settings………………………………………………………32 立. Figure 5. A screen exemplifying how players practiced the learned knowledge in three. ‧ 國. 學. Figure 6. Experimental design and procedures .................................................................... 34 Figure 7. The proposed path model of character attachment, prior internal political efficacy,. ‧. perceived mastery experience and posttest internal political efficacy … .............. 36. sit. y. Nat. Figure 8. The means and standard deviations of different variables for two groups ............. 38. io. al. er. Figure 9. The means and standard deviations of pretest and posttest internal political efficacy. n. for different gender .............................................................................................. 41 Figure 10. The proposed path model. v i n Ch ................................................................................... 44 engchi U. Figure 11. The path model of the revised model .................................................................. 49. xi.

(24) LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Operation Definitions of the Public Policy Serious Game. ..................................... 33 Table 2. The Ms and SDs of Different Variables for the Experimental and the control group ................................................................................................................................ 39 Table 3. The Ms and SDs of IPE for Different Gender .......................................................... 41 Table 4. Repeated Measures ANOVA Results of Gender Effects on IPE ............................ 42 Table 5. Repeated Measures ANOVA Results of Group Difference on Manipulation Effect 43 Table 6. Summary of Direct, Indirect and Total Effects of Base Model ................................ 46. 政治大 Table 8. The Comparisons between the Proposed Model and the Revised Model………….51 立. Table 7. Summary of Direct, Indirect and Total Effects of Revised Model ........................... 49. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. xii. i n U. v.

(25) 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. 政治大. investigated. Furthermore, although some serious games have been proved to be effective in. 立. increasing political knowledge and political interest in political education (Hefner& Klimmt,. ‧ 國. 學. 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. Nat. sit. y. information on the internet are more likely to be interested in politics (Norris, 2001). In. n. al. er. io. other words, it is still difficult to reach people who are not interested in politics and help. i n U. v. them change their efficacy. On the other hand, games can reach people in the form of. Ch. engchi. 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. 1.

(26) 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,. 政治大. people with higher prior knowledge also lead to higher learning outcomes, especially in. 立. learning environments that involve abstract tasks or situations (McNamara& Kintsch, 1996).. ‧ 國. 學. 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. Nat. sit. y. repeatedly viewed these experiences as failures, his or her self-efficacy beliefs will be. n. al. er. io. decreased. Nevertheless, it is not to say, an intervention is without any positive effects. In. i n U. v. fact , entertainment-education referred to Social Cognitive Theory-based media projects was. Ch. engchi. 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. 2.

(27) 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&. 政治大. Bowman, 2008).To sum up, the more players attach to their avatars, the more they can. 立. transform their avatars’ successful experiences into their own mastery experiences.. ‧ 國. 學. 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. Nat. sit. y. mediated enactive experience into their own mastery experience more. Therefore, character. al. n. experience.. er. io. attachment should also positively contribute to efficacy through perceived mastery. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 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. 3.

(28) 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?. 政治大. What is the relationship among character attachment, perceived mastery experiences,. 立. and internal political efficacy?. 學 ‧. ‧ 國 io. sit. y. Nat. n. al. er. 2.. Ch. engchi. 4. i n U. v.

(29) 2. Literature Review 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.. 政治大. 2.1. Serious games and Role-playing serious games. 立. 2.1.1. Definitions of serious games. ‧ 國. 學. 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,. y. Nat. io. sit. 2006). In his definition of play (Huizinga, 1938/1955:13),. n. al. er. 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.. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 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). 5.

(30) Salen and Zimmerman (2003:80) defined a game as a system in which players engage in an artificial conflict, defined by rules, that results in a quantifiable outcome. Juul (2005:67) defined a game as: (1) a rule-based system; (2) with variable and quantifiable outcomes; (3) where different outcomes are assigned different values; (4) where the player exerts efforts in order to influencethe outcome; (5) the player feels emotionally attached to the outcomes; (6) and the consequenceof the activity are optional and negotiable.. Maroney (2001) observed many games such as role-playing games without strict rules. Therefore, he defined a game is a form of play with goals and structure. He pointed out three important elements in a game: Structure, goal and play. A structure refers to the actions that. 政治大 also defined. A goal refers to the actions that players take in a game are directed toward 立. players can take are defined and a method for resolving the consequences of each action is. ‧ 國. 學. achieving a goal. Play means “in perform”, “in pretend, and “the opposite of work”. Adams (2010:11) pointed out that gameplay consists of (1) the challenges that a player must face to. ‧. arrive at the object of the game, and (2) the actions that a player is permitted to take to. sit. y. Nat. address those challenges.. n. al. er. io. Among these definitions, Garris, Ahlers, and Driskell (2002:443) gave a full picture of. i n U. v. games which cover six dimensions: fantasy, rules/goals, sensory stimuli, challenge, mystery,. Ch. engchi. and control (Garris, Ahlers, &Driskell, 2002:447).. Fantasy is an imaginary or fantasy context, themes or characters; Rules/goals are clear rules/ goals and feedback on progress toward goals; Sensory stimuli refers to dramatic visual and audio stimuli; challenge refers to level of difficulty and uncertain goal attainment; Mysteryis the optimal informational complexity; Control refers to the exercise of authority or the abilityto regulate, direct, or command something.. In communication studies, the relationship between media, political efficacy and political participation has been a recurrent topic of concern (Quintelier& Hooghe, 2011). Some studies claimed that political comedy shows on TV are positivity associated with political efficacy (Hoffman& Thomson, 2009), whereas some studies claimed that watching local news is negatively associated with political efficacy (Kenski& Stroud, 2006). Nowadays,. 6.

(31) many scholars have shifted the focus on new media. Some of them hold a positive view toward the relationship between internet and the public’s political efficacy. Coleman, Morrison and Svennevig (2008) argued that many new interactive technologies such as politicians’ blogs and online parliaments have provided opportunities to narrow down the perceived gap between the government and the governed as well as provide a meaningful link between them. Their findings supported the relationship between new media and political efficacy, but they focused more on the affordance of new media to get responses from the government. In the same vein, Kenski and Stroud (2006) held a positive view toward the relationship between new media and political efficacy, but they focused more on. 政治大. the affordance of new media to make people confident in understanding political issues.. 立. ‧ 國. 學. Can games combine with “seriousness”? Rodriguez(2006) argued that seriousness is not everywhere isolated from the playful. Therefore, game and serious can coexist. His. ‧. argument has paved a way for serious games. The term "serious game" has many definitions. Nat. sit. y. with slightly different meanings. For example, Zyda (2005:25)defined serious game as a. n. al. er. io. mental contest, played with a computer in accordance with specific rules, that uses. i n U. v. entertainment to further government or corporate training, education, health, public policy. Ch. engchi. and strategic communication objectives. He argued that it is the pedagogy that makes games serious and pointed out that pedagogy has to subordinate to stories and that entertainment component comes first. On the other hand, Michael and Chen (2006:17) claimed that “serious” purpose should come first and the “entertainment” purpose should come later. They defined serious games as “games that do not have entertainment, enjoyment or fun as their primary purpose. Another definition has focused on the “engaging” and “motivating” characteristics of serious games which are advantageous for development of skills and abilities (Susi,. 7.

(32) Johannesson &Backlund, 2007). According to Susi, Johannesson and Backlund (2007:5), the definition of serious games is as follows: “ Serious games are games that engage the user, and contribute to the achievement of a defined purpose other than pure entertainment. A game's purpose may be formulated by the user or by the game's designer, which means that also a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) game, used for non entertainment purposes, may be considered a serious game.”. Susi, Johannesson and Backlund (2007) has compared serious games to the existing entertainment games. They summarized that serious games are different from entertainment games in that the former focuses on problem solving, important elements for learning, assumptions needed for workable simulations and natural communication, whereas the latter. 政治大. focuses on rich experiences, elements for fun, simplified simulation processes and perfect. 立. communication. Although there are many different focuses, most researchers agree on a core. ‧ 國. 學. meaning that serious games are digital games designed with the purposes beyond. ‧. entertainment, including games for learning, health, advocacy and social change (Ritterfeld, Vorderer, & Cody, 2009; Peng, Lee& Heeter, 2010).. y. Nat. io. sit. To conclude, the elements of games include: fantasy, rules/goals, sensory stimuli,. n. al. er. challenge, mystery, and control. Serious is not everywhere isolated from the playful.. Ch. i n U. v. Therefore, a serious game do not render it’s playfulness to the purposes beyond entertainment.. engchi. 2.1.2. Role-playing serious games Serious games can adopt different game genres such as simulation games, adventure games, role-playing games and strategy games. However, most of the serious games are not just one type of the game, but also a combination of different genres. Take “Peacemaker” as an example. It was originally the project of Carnegie Mellon University started in 2005 by a small team and later was published in February 2007 by ImpactGames. It is a combination. 8.

(33) of role-playing games and strategy games. According to the introduction of Peacemaker, players can choose to represent either the leader of Israel or the Palestinian authority. They have to deal with events presented using real world pictures and footage. They have to react and make social, political, and military decisions that their position entails within a gameplay system similar to turn-based strategy. The goal of the game is to solve the conflict with the two-state solution. Among these game genres, role-playing games are often adopted and suggested to be highly valuable in both educational and entertaining purposes (Bowman, 2011). Roleplaying games are games in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional. 政治大. setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either. 立. through literal acting or through a process of structured decision-making or character. ‧ 國. 學. development (Cover, 2010). Peng, Lee and Hetter (2010) has mentioned that in role-playing games, players have to pretend that they are someone else and try to “take actions” to fulfill. ‧. the social expectations of this other person in a make believe situation. In RPG, the character. Nat. sit. y. which a player plays is often called an avatar. An avatar is a game unit that is under the. n. al. er. io. player’s control. The word “unit” covers the physicality in space and the clear marking of. i n U. v. this physicality on the screen (Kromand, 2007). In avatar-based games, players can observe. Ch. engchi. the embodied manifestation of the self and its visually presented actions (Jin& Park, 2009). According to Bowman, three main advantages of role-playing are: scenario building, problem-solving and skill training. Besides, role-playing scenarios are highly useful in encouraging growth across many dimensions of human psychology. For example, roleplaying scenarios provide the opportunity to develop self-confidence, as players practice and learn to succeed at a task (Bowman, 2011). Although role-playing games have been wildly used for educational and entertaining purposes, few studies have been discussed the mechanisms underlying the benefits of learning. Therefore, this study employs role-playing. 9.

(34) games as the focal game genre to discuss the mechanisms for enhancing political efficacy.. 2.2. Character attachment toward avatars in role-playing serious games Role-playing serious games are of high values in education. Investigating the relationship between a player and an avatar contributes to the application of role-playing serious games. From the perspectives of communication, some researchers have argued the relationship between a player and the avatar can be called parasocial interaction (Jin, 2010; Jin& Park, 2009). Other studies have argued the relationship between a player and the avatar can be called identification (Peng, 2010; Peng, 2008).. 政治大. Parasocial interaction was coined by Horton and Wohl (1956) in an attempt to address. 立. some of the ‘new media’ around that time, specifically television, and to outline some of the. ‧ 國. 學. audience behavior being noticed. Parasocial interaction was often used to describe one-sided relations in which one knows a great deal about the other but the relationship is not. ‧. reciprocal.” (Ashe & McCutcheon, 2001: 125). According to Horton and Wohl, for the. y. Nat. sit. audience, the persona on TV is known to them in the same way they might know their close. n. al. er. io. friends. On the other hand, identification is a process that culminates in a cognitive and. i n U. v. emotional state in which the audience member is not aware of himself or herself as an. Ch. engchi. audience member, but rather images being one of the characters in the text (Cohen, 2001, pp. 252). This often leads the audience members to internalize the character’s goals (Cohen, 2001). To further distinguish these two different concepts, identification leads the audience to experience the text as if he or she was inside the text, whereas parasocial interaction requires the audience to retain his or her own identity to interact with the character (Cohen, 2001). Besides, according to Cohen, parasocial interaction is more like a concept “friendship” which is increased by the character a direct address to the audience. Can both identification and paraoscial interaction exist in the relationship between a. 10.

(35) player and the avatar? There could be identification when a player plays his or her avatar. According to Blinka(2008), identification between an avatar and a player could mean that the player does not perceive the avatar as something “more” but simply as a game mechanism and it could also mean a deeper interconnection of a player and his or her avatar. Meanwhile, there could also be friendship between an avatar and a player. Blinka (2008) pointed out that a player could assign to the avatar an independent status, which lacks the sense and place in the psyche provided the player shares their intimacy in a real-life partnership. Hence, identification and paraoscial interaction could both exist in the relationship between a player and the avatar.. 政治大. Furthermore, an avatar and a performer on TV are different in that the former is. 立. controlled by the player and the latter is not controlled by the audience. Therefore, the most. ‧ 國. 學. important concept between a player and its avatar, especially “a sense of control” and “responsibility” is lacking in both the concept of identification and parasocial interaction. In. ‧. digital games, the relation between players and avatars is “actual and tangible”. There is no. Nat. sit. y. felt connection and para-social interaction between players and avatars (Lewis, Weber. n. al. er. io. &Bowman, 2008). In order to describe the psychology mechanism between the individual. i n U. v. gamer and the game character, Lewis, Weber and Bowman (2008) proposed the new. Ch. engchi. construct “character attachment” (CA). This new construct remains rooted in the parasocial interaction theories but incorporates with notions such as suspense of disbelief, responsibilities and control. The definition of CA refers to an individual's feelings of (1) friendship; (2) identification with a video game character when an individual; (3) being willing to suspense disbelief; (4) being responsible for the game character, and (5) being in control of the game character's actions (Lewis, Weber& Bowman, 2008). In order to capture the whole psychological mechanism between a player and his or her avatar, the relative new construct “character attachment” is adopted in this study.. 11.

(36) 2.3. Perceived mastery experiences and political efficacy. 2.3.1. Self-efficacy and political efficacy Self-efficacy refers to beliefs in one's capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to manage prospective situations. Efficacy beliefs influence how people think, feel, motivate themselves and act (Bandura, 1995). While self-efficacy is the general efficacy, “political efficacy” is a domain specific efficacy. “Political efficacy” is the “feeling that political and social change is possible and that. 政治大. the individual citizen can play a part in bringing about this change” (Campbell, Gurin. 立. &Miller, 1954: 187). In early studies (Campbell, Gurin & Miller, 1954; Campbell, Converse,. ‧ 國. 學. Miller& Stokes, 1960), the construct of political efficacy has been considered as an important predictor of political participation (Abramson& Aldrich, 1982) as well as an. ‧. outcome of participation (Finkel, 1985). Analysis of the four (later six) SRC (Social. y. Nat. io. sit. Research Centre) items used to measure political efficacy in the studies of the Ann Arbor. n. al. er. Group revealed a two-dimensional structure of political efficacy: Internal efficacy can be. Ch. i n U. v. defined as the confidence of the individual in his or her own abilities to understand politics. engchi. and to act politically, whereas external efficacy constitutes the individual’s belief in the responsiveness of the political system (see Converse, 1972; Balch, 1974). In the newer definitions, internal political efficacy can be defined as an individual’s “beliefs about the impact a person may have on the political process as a result of his or her own skills and confidence,” or the skills and confidence of similar individuals (Riedel& Sullivan, 2001: 4353).External political efficacy can be defined as the belief that political institutions will be responsive to a citizen’s action in the political process, or the belief that one is effective when participating in political life (Riedel& Sullivan, 2001: 4353).. 12.

(37) The sources of influencing internal and external political efficacy are different. Sullivan and Riedel (2001) pointed out that educating citizens in nonpolitical environments about self-governance and a form of political socialization, increased internal efficacy. Whereas external efficacy is not increased by continued education in nonpolitical environments; rather, it is influenced by direct political participation (Riedel& Sullivan, 2001: 4355). Besides, there is no direct relationship between internal political efficacy and external political efficacy. According to Morrell (2005: 52), citizens to whom the political system denies full access could, theoretically, still feel completely capable of participating in it. It is also theoretically possible that those to whom the political system gives full citizenship. 政治大. privileges may still not feel personally competent to exercise those privileges.. 立. Therefore, this study focuses on internal political efficacy due to the following two. ‧ 國. 學. reasons: First, as aforementioned literature review, internal political efficacy can be enhanced by education, however, external political efficacy are influenced more by direct. ‧. political participation. Second, external political efficacy is related to a set of governmental. Nat. sit. y. actors such as political elites, political institutions and officials (Kolln, Esaiasson& Turper,. n. al. er. io. 2013). It is difficult to change these outside actors’ behaviors to influence people’s external. i n U. v. political efficacy. However, since there is no direct relationship between internal and. Ch. engchi. external efficacy, it is still possible to change people’s internal political efficacy regardless of the behaviors of outside actors.. 2.3.2. Mastery experiences, perceived mastery experiences and self-efficacy According to Bandura (1977), there are four different sources to enhance self-efficacy: Performance accomplishment, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion and emotional arousal. Each source has different modes of induction (Bandura, 1977). (1) Performance accomplishment: participant modeling, performance desensitization, performance exposure. 13.

(38) and self-instructed performance; (2) vicarious experience: live modeling and symbolic modeling; (3) verbal persuasion: suggestion, exhortation, self-instruction and interpretive treatments; (4) emotional arousal: attribution, relaxation, biofeedback, symbolic desensitization and symbolic exposure. Among these sources, performance accomplishment is most influential because it is based on personal mastery experiences (Bandura, 1997). Although mastery experiences are the most important in influencing self-efficacy, it is one's cognitive process of mastery experiences that influences self-efficacy beliefs. If one has repeatedly viewed these experiences as success, self-efficacy beliefs will increase; if one has repeatedly viewed these experiences as failures, self-efficacy beliefs will decrease (Feltz&. 政治大. Lirgg, 2001). Over all, success is often subjective. Accomplishments that are judged. 立. successful by observers are not always judged so by the performer. Therefore, in this study,. ‧ 國. 學. to distinguish these two different mastery experiences, the former is called mastery experiences offered by the tasks and the latter is called “perceived mastery experiences”.. ‧. Very few studies have tried to distinguish between “mastery experiences” and “perceived. Nat. sit. y. mastery experiences”. This study not only distinguishes the differences but also tries to. n. al. er. io. operationalize mastery experiences and measure perceived mastery experiences.. i n U. v. Maddux (2002), suggested that success needs to be interpreted by the subjective in. Ch. engchi. three ways to enhance the impact of success: (1) competence must be viewed as incremental; (2) causal attributions must be changed to credit the efficacy of self actions; (3) encouraging self-belief in personal competence must be encouraged to provoke actions that leads to efficacy-enhancing success”. Based on the discussions above, this study tries to measure “perceived mastery experience” and develop the inventory of perceived mastery experiences from these three factors.. 2.4. Mechanisms that influence internal political efficacy in role-playing serious. 14.

(39) games. 2.4.1. Serious games for political purposes and efficacy To date, no games have been particularly developed for political efficacy. However, there are serious games designed for political purposes. There are also serious games developed and proved to be effective in increasing domain-specific efficacy. For example, Hefner and Klimmt (2011) tested the impact of a German serious game (“Genius: At the Center of Power”) for basic political education with formally mid-level-educated students. The first study found out that playing the game caused substantial knowledge gain and a rise. 政治大. in political interest compared to a control group. In their second study, they did not find out. 立. positive impact on political-educational outcomes with learners from formally low-level. ‧ 國. 學. secondary schools. In the same vein, some games have been created to understand the decision-making processes of public policy. However, these games lack of evidences of. ‧. effectiveness. Take “Cyber-Budget France” as an example. It was built by the French. y. Nat. io. sit. government Budget Minister Jean-Francois Cope. The challenge of this game is to ensure. n. al. er. the €300 billion budget is spent wisely and that if tax cuts are made then services do not fall. Ch. i n U. v. into deficit. Another game “SuperPower” designed by GolemLabs in 2002 is also a public. engchi. policy game. The player plays the role of a state leader, whose goals are to produce economic stability and prosperity. Serious games can also be designed to change efficacy. Some serious games have been developed and proved to increase domain-specific efficacy such as scientific efficacy, academic self-efficacy and healthy management efficacy (Meluso, Zheng, Spires &Lester, 2012; Peng, 2009). Ketelhut (2007) examined seventh graders' data gathering behaviors in a virtual game environment and found that the game-based learning environment improved students' science self-efficacy and that high self-efficacy students demonstrated better data. 15.

(40) gathering behaviors. Re-mission 2 is also an example of serious games for increasing selfefficacy of health management. It is a game developed by hope Lab. This game helps kids and young adults with cancer take on the fight of their lives. Players have to play a nanobot. This nanobot flies through the body of different cancer patients to destroy cancer cells. Based on scientific research, the games provide cancer support by giving players a sense of power and control and encouraging treatment adherence. It has been proven to be effective in increasing knowledge of cancer and self-efficacy to management cancer (Kato, 2010). Overall, there are games designed for domain-specific efficacy and games for political purposes. However, those games often aimed at practical skills and knowledge but less at. 政治大. abstract abilities and attitudes. This study is different from previous studies in that this study. 立. focuses more on abstract thinking abilities and attitude changes.. ‧ 國. 學. 2.4.2. Mediated enactive experiences and internal political efficacy in role-. ‧. playing serious games. y. Nat. io. sit. According to Maddux (2002), people may form beliefs about future events, states and. n. al. er. beliefs about their abilities and behavior according to their previous knowledge and. Ch. i n U. v. experiences. This ability is called self-regulation which is an important assumption of social. engchi. cognitive theory (Maddux, 2002: 7). In another word, a player’s perceived mastery experiences in playing a serious game may come from completing current tasks in the game and from prior knowledge and experiences which are not directly related to games. In short, a player’s perceived mastery experience is an overall judgment from the player’s past and current gaming and topic-related experiences. Such experiences offered in a game for a player can be called mediated enactive experience (Peng, 2008). According to Peng, players take active control and experience through their avatars. Yet the experience is mediated because rewards and punishments result from the actions, behaviors and interactions are. 16.