From: Teresa Vargas
Email: terry@cats.ucsc.edu
Course: Psycology 100K: Development of Thought and Language
College: University of California Santa Cruz
Instructor: Eugene Matusov
ClassWeb: http://www.ematusov.com/psych100K
ChildrenObservations: Yes
Date: 21 Mar 1997
Time: 15:31:13
Remote Name: tsb-04.ucsc.edu
The purpose of this paper was to investigate whether it is a child's personality and/or the computer game design that effects the child's perception of the computer game rules. It is important to investigate this because doing so can give us a better understanding of how a child's developing personality interacts with their play, in this case: computer play. This paper's research question was investigated through the use of an archival research method. The existing data which were examined were, thirty field notes based on undergraduates' observations of twelve children, (mean age=8.5), who attended an after school youth group. The field notes were examined for references/descriptions of a child's personality, descriptions of computer game design and descriptions of how children perceive the rules to the computer games. In examining these field notes it was found that both a child's personality and the computer game design have an effect on how a child will perceive the rules to the game. The finding's imply that a child's personality and the game design are not two factors that work separately and independently, instead both interact with each other to produce his/her perceptions of the game rules. This paper should be of interest to the designers of the computer games and to those who have an interest in developmental psychology. It is also important to note that the following people contributed to this paper: Lisa Brown, Jessie Thyne and Mary Zinsmeyer.
On any given day, one is constantly encountering rules, ranging from moral rules to social conventions to personal rules (Cole & Cole, 1993). The presence of rules can be seen whether we are engaging in work or play. While working we follow our boss' rules and in play we follow the "rules to the game." Sometimes we follow the rules intended to be followed, while at other times we don't. Instead we follow our own rules. This seemed to be the case with many of the children referred to in the field notes.
In examining the field notes, it is evident that many children made up and followed their own rules to the computer games. An example of this can be seen when children play the computer game, "Oregon Trail". The game is set in the frontier days and involves a journey to the west, in a covered wagon. Throughout the game, you must hunt, buy and trade goods in order to survive. One of the rules to this game involves shooting the animals for food, in a sparingly manner.
Yet, after examining the field notes, it appears that most of the children, (particularly the boys), don't perceive the rules as they were intended to be, instead they try to to shoot as many animals as possible. It can be argued that these boys are perceiving the rules to the game in the same manner because of their aggressive personality, stereotypically characteristic in most boys. Or it can be said that it is the design of the game, not so much their personality, that is eliciting this "kill all you can" rule to the game. Oregon Trail can be a complex and difficult game to play. It could be that this complex design of the game may be causing these children to overlook the intended rules to the game and instead focus on a more easier rule: killing the animals.
There was an instance when the same game, Oregon Trail, did not elicit this "kill all you can" rule perception. This incident involved Ian, an 8 year old male. Ian does not perceive the rules in the same manner as the other boys do. He shoots at animals in a conservative manner and is even hesitant about throwing away items. According to an undergraduate, "Ian [is] very adamant about not wanting to throw anything away. He felt that we should trade and never throw away" (A.G. , FN#3). Ian has been described in field notes as quiet, soft spoken and enjoyable (J.A., FN#2). From this description and descriptions from other under grads, it appears that Ian has a very distinct passive personality which is influencing his perception of the rules.
Many of the children observed also employed various "short cuts" when playing the computer games. Jaime, a nine year old male, was a child who continuously used shortcuts and was especially skilled at doing so! In the game, "Treasure Cove", you are suppose to decipher word clues in order to find a "special" fish which is hidden behind other sea animals. But, Jaime figured out how to find the special fish without using the clues (J.M., F.N#1). In a similar game, "The Midnight Rescuer", Jaime also figured out how to be successful at the game a lot quicker. In this game, you are suppose to read a story and then answer questions pertaining to the story. These questions are supposed to give you clues about the "master of mischief" you are trying to catch. But Jaime figured out two ways of answering the questions without reading the story.
First, you can look for the most common answer or the one that appears the most: this will be the correct answer. Or you read only the sentences in the story that are highlighted in a different color: these sentences will contain the correct answer. Once again Jaime is able to figure out the shortcuts to the game and is able to use these shortcut to attain the second highest level in the game! Is it an aspect in Jaime's personality or is the design to the computer games that causes Jaime to make "finding the shortcuts" a rule to the games? It appears that in this case it is both. Jaime appears to have a competitive personality; he very much enjoys attaining the highest score and the attention he receives for doing so. When he plays the computer games he has one goal in mind: to achieve the highest score as fast as possible. According to an undergraduate's field note, Jaime tries to play games as quickly as possible (J.M., F.N.#1) Therefore, it seems logical that he makes the usage of shortcuts a rule to the game; after all, this helps him reach his goal of attaining the highest score.
It is also important to look at the design of the game. These games are designed with shortcuts which make it possible for Jaime to employ the use of shortcuts. The game, Midnight Rescue, allows you to take a shortcut when answering the questions by highlighting the sentences that contain the answer. It is not only this game which is designed to make the usage of shortcuts a rule to the game. Upon visiting a local computer game store, I found over fifty magazines and books dedicated to revealing the shortcuts to various games. One magazine claimed to reveal "cheats and tips for more than seventy killer games" (Roberts, 1996). In searching the internet you will find "Game Cheat Sites", which gives you dozens of shortcuts to computer games. http://www.mucc.com/gamepage/
Children were also observed making up their own rules to the game when playing the game, "Where in the World (and USA) is Carmen SanDiego?" This game involves making educated guesses about the criminal's location and appearance, using the clues provided. Though there is no set order in which you must do this, it appeared that most of the children made up the rule of finding all the appearance clues first, and then looked up the location clues (Teresa Vargas FN#3, K.S., FN#2, L. B., FN#2 and undocumented observations).
It is not clear whether the children, through collaboration with each other, have made up this rule. Though on one occasion, I observed Amy, a nine year old female, who was playing this game for the first time and it appeared that she made this rule up on her own. When describing the rules of the game to Amy, I explained and demonstrated to her that you could guess on the location clues and appearance clues concurrently. Though at first she modeled my demonstration, she eventually ended up guessing first on all the appearance clues and then on the location clues; following the same rule that the rest of the children follow.
After examining the field notes that described children using this common rule to the Carmen SanDiego game, it didn't appear that it was a common personality trait among these children or the design of the game that was causing the usage of this common rule. Whatever is causing children to create and use this rule still remains a mystery. Though I was not able to find any apparent factors which caused children to create and use this common rule, it did appear that there were personality factors involved when a child did the opposite: did not use the "common rule". Rebecha, a nine year old female, did not use this common rule. Instead, Rebecha guessed on the appearance clues inter-changeably. Rebecha appeared to be a confident, flexible and quick learner. These characteristics appear to be attributes to Rebecha's ability to think and search for the location and appearance clues at the same time, instead of having to search for the clues in a specific order like the other children.
It also appeared, in one documented incident, that children's personality may not only have an effect on their perception of the rules in computer games, but also in non-computer games. This incident involved Risa, a seven year old female, and two undergraduates, playing the board game "Life" (J.M., FN# 5 ). In order to understand this event, it might be helpful to first have an insight into Risa's personality.
In my own experience with Risa, I noticed that she appeared to be very outgoing and enjoyed "running the show" by having control of both the mouse and keyboard. Overall it seemed that she acted in such manner that would allow for the situation to work towards her advantage. For example, upon entering the computer room, with a friend, Risa quickly rushed to the chair located directly in front of the computer as if trying to ensure control of the computer.
Risa's domineering personality was also apparent when she played the board game, "Life." When playing this game, Risa perceived the rules to the game in such a way that would benefit herself. According to one of the undergraduates who played with her,
"Risa assured us that she could teach us how to play . It seemed that Risa was making the rules up as we went along.. [and] she often made the rules in her favor, such as giving herself more money" (J.M., FN #5).
In conclusion, it appears that both a child's personality and the design of computer game effect how children perceive the rules to the game. Since most of the children observed fell into the same age group, it was not certain if age was also a factor that effected the perceptions of the rules. Age might also be playing a huge role in rule perception, which is something that future research can examine.
References
Cole, M., Cole.S. (1993). The Development of Children. 525. New York. Scientific American Books.
The Great Cheats Home Page: http://www.mvcc.com/game page/
Lepper, M.R., Lin.S. (1987). Correlates of children's usage of video games and computers. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 17, 72-93.
Roberts, N. (1996). Prima's Secrets of the Games.
The class Web discussion at http://www.ematusov.com/psych100K, Psych. 100K: Development of Thought of Language, Winter 1997.