With efforts to investigate the role of interactivity on user psychology in video games, scholars have demonstrated that interactivity may induce cognitive, emotional, physical (controller and exertional), and social demands of global gamers. However, existing studies are missing Latin American gamers as critical yet understudied gaming communities. Drawing on the interactivity-as-demand model, we conducted a mixed-method online survey to test measurement validity on localized versions of the video game demand scale (VGDS) for Spanish-speaking gamers (N = 195). Results showed that the Spanish-translated scale replicated the a priori five-factor structure of VGDS. Emergent themes from gamers’ comments mirrored VGDS factors, with additional insights into the cognitive demand of creative thinking, emotional demand of feeling nostalgia, physical demand of being precise, and social demand of interacting with non-player characters. These findings provide a pancultural perspective of Spanish-speaking gamers’ perceptions of their gaming while offering nuanced insights into their experiences for future research.

Virtual Reality (VR) technologies offer compelling experiences by allowing users to immerse themselves in simulated environments interacting through avatars. However, despite its ability to evoke emotional responses, and seeing 'through the eyes' of the displayed other, it remains unclear to what extent VR actually fosters perspective-taking (PT) or thinking about others' thoughts and feelings. It might be that the common belief that one can "become someone else" through VR is misleading, and that engaging situations through a different viewpoint does not produce a different cognitive standpoint. To test this, we conducted a 2 (perspective, first-person or third-person) by 2 (perspective-taking task or no task) to examine effects on perspective taking, measured via audio-recordings afforded by the think-aloud protocol. Our data demonstrate that while first-person perspective (1PP) facilitates perceived embodiment, it has no appreciable influence on perspective-taking. Regardless of 1PP or third-person perspective (3PP), perspective-taking was substantially and significantly increased when users were given a specific task prompting them to actively consider a character's perspective. Without such tasks, it seems that participants default to their own viewpoints. These data highlight the need for intentional design in VR experiences to consider content rather than simply viewpoint as key to authentic perspective-taking. To truly harness VR's potential as an "empathy machine," developers must integrate targeted perspective-taking tasks or story prompts, ensuring that cognitive engagement is an active component of the experience.

The interactivity-as-demand model has been presented, which identifies the cognitive, emotional, physical (controller and exertion), and social demands of video games. These demands are presumed to apply to a broad set of video games and gaming technologies and are measured using the Video Game Demand Scale (VGDS). The current study fills a gap in the literature by translating the VGDS for use with Korean speakers, recognizing one of the largest global gaming populations, with a specific interest in and early innovation of mobile and online gaming. A sample of N = 524 self-identified Korean gamers was asked to recall a recent gaming experience, complete the VGDS-Korean, and then answer questions about the game. The results replicated the five-factor VGDS metric, and several measurement validity tests replicated from prior work. We also saw novel findings likely related to the dominance of mobile gaming in Korea (and in our sample).

Measuring perceived challenge and demand in video games is crucial as these player experiences are essential to creating enjoyable games. Two recent measures that identified seemingly distinct structures of challenge (Challenge Originating from Recent Gameplay Interaction Scale (CORGIS) - cognitive, emotional, performative, decision-making) and demand (Video Game Demand Scale (VGDS) - cognitive, emotional, controller, exertional, social) have been theorised to overlap, reflecting the five-factor demand structure. To investigate the overlap between these two scales we compared a five (complete overlap) and nine-factor (no overlap) model by surveying 1,101 players asking them to recall their last gaming experience before completing CORGIS and VGDS. After failing to confirm both models, we conducted an exploratory factor analysis. Our findings reveal seven dimensions, where the five-factor VGDS model holds alongside two additional CORGIS dimensions of performative and decision-making, ultimately providing a more holistic understanding of the concepts whilst highlighting unique aspects of each approach.

The current study is designed to replicate and validate the video game demand scale (VGDS) as a metric for understanding player experiences in video games, while also expanding the application space of that scale to an underrepresented population. Using available materials from prior VGDS research, we created the Video Game Demand Scale-Turkish (VGDS-T). The translated metric was administered online to a volunteer sample of self-identified Turkish-speaking gamers (N = 184), where participants answered questions about perceived cognitive, emotional, exertional, controller, and social demands of their most recent game, as well as other game evaluations (as validation checks). Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the translated five-factor scale was a strong fit to the original 26-item scale (VGDS-English) with nominally stronger fit for a 22-item scale (VGDS-Mandarin). Therefore, we both validated the five-factor VGDS on a novel population and provided a translated the metric for researcher and industry use with Turkish-speaking gamers.

The current study explores the relationship between perceived cognitive and physical demands of a simple video game, and the balance of reward and effort that results in flow states during gameplay. Cognitive demands and both exertion-based and controller-based physical demands were perceived as lowest in situations where reward was high and effort was low (boredom), moderate when reward and effort were balanced (flow), and highest when the reward was low and effort was high (frustration). Surprisingly, player response times to a secondary task showed the greatest improvement when playing the frustrating video game condition. We interpret this latter finding as evidence of an observed task-switching effect: players initially tried to master the game's over-challenging primary task before giving up and, instead, diverted attention toward a secondary in-game task that required less effort and thus, gave greater attentional rewards to the player. The implications of this cognitive offloading are discussed.

Video games are engaging multimedia experiences that require players’ cognitive, emotional, physical (in terms of controllers and exertion), and social faculties. Recent theorizing has suggested that these dimensions of demand can explain processes by which players engage with and respond to gameplay. A relatively new measure—the five-factor, 26-item Video Game Demand Scale (VGDS)—has been tested for dimensionality and measurement validity with English- and German-speaking players, but not for other play populations. Given the popularity of video games among Chinese-speaking players, this brief report demonstrates a successful translation of VGDS into Traditional Chinese (VGDS-C). A sample of N = 863 Chinese speakers in Taiwan were asked to recall and describe a recent gaming experience before completing the VGDS-C along with other gaming-related measures (tests of construct validity). VGDS-C was shown to be a reliable and valid way of assessing players’ perceptions of the myriad demands of video gaming.

As social robots' and AI agents' roles are becoming more diverse, those machines increasingly function as sociable partners. This trend raises questions about whether social gaming gratifications known to emerge in human-human co-play may (not) also manifest in human-machine co-play. In the present study, we examined social outcomes of playing a videogame with a human partner as compared to an ostensible social robot or A.I (i.e., computer-controlled player) partner. Participants (N = 103) were randomly assigned to three experimental conditions in which they played a cooperative video game with either a human, embodied robot, or non-embodied AI. Results indicated that few statistically significant or meaningful differences existed between any of the partner types on perceived closeness with partner, relatedness need satisfaction, or entertainment outcomes. However, qualitative data suggested that human and robot partners were both seen as more sociable, while AI partners were seen as more functional.

Research on elderly people's ICT acceptance and use often relies on the technology acceptance model (TAM) framework, but has been mostly limited to task-oriented uses. This article expands approaches in technology acceptance and use by developing a model to explain entertainment-related uses of new media technology by elderly people. On a theoretical level, we expand the TAM perspective by adding concepts that act as barriers and/or facilitators of technology acceptance, namely technophobia, self-efficacy and previous experience and expertise with technology. We develop an expanded TAM by testing the role of these concepts in two studies on entertainment media technology. In Study 1, we investigate behavioural intention to use 3D cinema among N = 125 German elderly media users (Age 50+). In Study 2, we focus the actual use of a computer game simulation by N = 115 German and US elderly media users (Age 50+). Findings in both studies point towards the central role of perceived usefulness, here modelled as enjoyment, as the reason for elderly people's use and acceptance of entertainment media technology. Perceived ease of use is seen as a precondition for enjoyment, particularly for interactive media.