The concept of play has long been recognized as a fundamental aspect of child development because it promotes learning and cognitive development, and is useful for social skills and motivation. Thus, it has attracted the attention of researchers in many scientific fields such as maths, physical education, artificial intelligence and…

The relationship between online game use and creativity remains contentious. Self-worth orientation theory suggests that online gaming can fulfill individual self-worth needs, implying that self-worth may moderate this relationship. Study 1 assessed online game use, self-worth, and creativity among 184 college students through a cross-sectional…

In the contemporary context of rapid digitalization and evolving youth interests, traditional art forms such as Nanjing Paper-Cutting face significant challenges in preserving their cultural significance. This study explores the semantic transformation of Nanjing Paper-Cutting symbols within digital games and their potential value in cultivating…

As technology becomes ubiquitous in the homes of many families, children learn to incorporate touchscreen devices into their everyday activities. The present study explored young children's role in shaping their gaming experience to maintain social interactivity. Twenty-nine children at 2.5 years old in the U.S. played a non-educational game on a…

A series of experiments conducted in Central Europe (Hungary, Austria) and East Asia (Japan) probed whether 5- to 10-year-old children (n = 436, 213 female) and adults (n = 71, 43 female; all data collected between July 2020 and May 2023) would infer traits and choose partners accordingly, in a novel touchscreen game. The participants observed…

Creativity is often characterized by the capacity to generate novel ideas, explore unconventional approaches, and solve problems through intuition, curiosity, and innovative thinking. Assessing this multifaceted skill is both essential and challenging, especially in educational and game-based environments where creativity drives engagement and…

In this evaluation study, we investigated the extent to which Solitaired.com's online game, Solitaire, could be used to model players' performance on several validated cognitive tests commonly associated with mental acuity (i.e., memory and processing speed). Prior research found that Solitaire gameplay is affected by mild cognitive impairment and…

In this quasi-experimental study, we examined the effect of a self-reflection activity on the utility value of pre-service teachers in teaching game design. A pretest-posttest design was used to determine any differences associated with the intervention. 129 pre-service teachers from different majors participated in the study. The participants…

Digital game-based learning (DGBL) is a pedagogical approach employed in educational contexts, wherein digital games are utilised to effectively attain specific learning outcomes. For teacher professional programmes to develop appropriate curricula on DGBL pedagogy, it is important to understand how teachers currently use DGBL in their teaching…

With the increasing popularity of the Internet, there is significant interest among academics and the public in understanding the relationship between the Internet and individual development. However, the association between digital games use and creativity has been a topic of controversy, as highlighted in previous research. This study aimed to…

Recent developments in the use of large-language models have led to substantial improvements in the accuracy of content-based automated scoring of free-text responses. The reported accuracy levels suggest that automated systems could have widespread applicability in assessment. However, before they are used in operational testing, other aspects of…

The purpose of this study was to validate a proposed theoretical model of adolescent internet gaming disorders from a reality-virtual perspective. A questionnaire survey was conducted using random stratified cluster sampling on 3,058 middle school students with internet gaming experience, drawn from four middle schools in a province in northern…

Digital game addiction has become a prevalent issue among adolescents. This study aimed to elucidate both the relationship between digital game addiction severity and academic procrastination, as well as school burnout, and to examine the indirect role of academic procrastination in the connection between digital game addiction severity and school…

Executive Functions are essential for good school performance as well as for the proper development of individuals' socio-affective, vocational, academic, and planning skills. Investigations with digital games aimed at stimulating inhibitory control of the executive functions in the school environment, especially with typically developing children…

To Brian Sutton-Smith's catalogue of seven play rhetorics in his influential work, "The Ambiguity of Play," the author adds an eighth category--the rhetoric of computational play, connecting the research field of game studies with other forms of play studies. By proposing this rhetoric, Sicart seeks to consolidate the relation between…