Linnaeus University
Faculty of Health and life sciences Department of Psychology
Master Thesis 5PS22E, 30 ECTS Spring 2019
Fantasy versus Reality: How video game and book genres associate with creative thinking
Author: Biljana Stanisic Supervisor: Jens Agerström, prof.
Examiner:Laszlo Harmat, Associate Senior Lecturer
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Abstract
Video games have suffered a negative reputation regarding their influence on children and adolescents, in comparison to its “well-behaved” counterpart, books. Nevertheless, the world of video games is much more diverse than imaginable – from fantasy to reality – and it is possible that different types of video games have different effects on human cognition and behavior. To fill a gap in research, fantasy and non-fantasy genres were the focal point of the correlational study.
In this study, we analyze how video game playing habits, video game genre preference, book reading habits and book reading preferences are correlated with creative thinking. Construal level theory explains the importance of psychological distances in enhancing creativity. Fantasy and fiction content, as well as role play, are theorized to be part of creativity due to generation of distance and abstract thinking. Creativity was measured by insight problems and a categorization task. Abstract thinking was also measured by the Behavioral Identification Form. The questionnaire was given out to 154 students during lunch hours at a university in Sweden, throughout the period of March 2019. The results indicated that preference in a genre, whether gaming or literature, did not indicate significant differences in creative thinking. However, the consumption and habit of playing role-play games showed a significant correlation to creativity in comparison to its “rival” – action games. Results showed the same effects for fiction literature versus non-fiction. Theoretical and practical implicationsfor organizations and the workplace are discussed, as well as limitations of the study.
Keywords
video games; reading books; role-play games; fiction; abstraction; creativity in the workplace.
Open Science Practices
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https://osf.io/tx4v6. A member of Open Science Scandinavia (Rickard Carlsson) has verified that the open science practices adhere to the defined standards.
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Introduction
“A book or movie can show us what it is like to be in a character’s shoes, but it is the video game that can put us into those shoes.”
- Robert B. Marks, Ph.D., Whittier College (Software Association Entertainment, 2018, pg. 8).
Video game players are often perceived as violent and aggressive (Rebetez & Betrancourt, 2007), anti-social (Smith, 2010), addicted (Ng & Wiemer-Hastings, 2005), and/or depressed (Lemona et al., 2011). Fortunately, a body of research in the last decade has resurged in light of investigating positive effects of video games (Adachi & Willoughby, 2013; Desai, Krishnan-Sarin, Cavallo & Potenza, 2010; Gong et al., 2015; Granic, Lobel & Engels, 2014; Przybylski &
Weinstein, 2019; Squire, 2011;). The resurgence of positive research is a beneficial indicator as to how to perceive video game players in employment and even recruitment. One of the effects correlated with video games is creativity (Green & Kaufman, 2015), and as suggested by Sourmelis et al. (2017), there is a need for studying the role of RPGs (role playing games) in creativity, as there is also a known lack of research regarding video game genres’ individual effects.
Role playing games are more fantasy in nature in comparison to action games, which have been the main target in research on violence in video game players (e.g. Greitemeyer, 2014), and based on the fiction versus non-fiction literature body of study, the study’s initial hypothesis is that fantasy themed video games (such as RPGs) are more creativity inducing than non-fantasy genres (such as action, shooters). The same rhetoric is used for the habit of reading books for leisure, as Djikic, Oatlex and Moldoveanu (2013) show that reading fiction leads to better procedures of general information processing, including creativity. The theoretical argument for the link between fantasy/fiction and creativity is based on Construal Level Theory (e.g., Trope & Liberman, 2010) and will be explained later in the introduction.
According to Yee (2006), we find a cultural premise that there is a definite chasm between work and play. Video games suffer a reputation of non-serious nature, as a mere means of entertainment. Nonetheless, the amount of work done in video games and the effort put into gameplay is staggering, and the lines between work and play are getting blurred (Yee, 2006). Beck and Wade (2004) explain the importance of the new generation of video game players in the workplace, and the value they bring with their gaming experience. From passion about adding value to their work, confidence in their abilities and skills, competitiveness, loyalty to the
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organization, multitasking – gamers in the workplace contribute more in the workplace than non- gamers in these aspects (Beck &Wade, 2004).
Individual creativity in the workplace and organizations has been of central interest in the past two decades in research (Cummings & Oldham, 1997; Ford, 1996; Woodman, Sawyer &
Griffin, 1993). As cited in Reiter-Palmon, Kennel and Kaufman (2018), to cope with frequent changes, economic pressures, and situational demands in the market caused by constant changes in technology, increased competition, and globalization, creativity and innovation are a necessary tool (Mumford et al., 2002; Shalley et al., 2004; Woodman et al., 1993). Research on creativity in its early stages has revolved around specific occupations such as Research and Development, as well as scientists (Reiter-Palmon et al., 2018), and current trends in research on creativity are revolving around occupations of every walk of life (Mumford et al., 1997; as cited in Reiter- Palmon et al., 2018). Researchers and academics have searched for the individual factors that inhibit or facilitate creativity, through a range of organizational setting, in order to enhance creativity in the workplace (Reiter-Palmon, Mitchel & Royston, in press). Managers in the workplace have to address rapid changes and uncertainty on a daily basis, for which IBM (2010) considers creative thinking to be one of the most important skills to possess.
Indeed, the vast majority of individual creativity research is based on personality characteristics and their correlations, in comparison to a minority of creativity research dedicated to hobbies and interests as indicators of creativity. The goal of this study is to assess the relationship between having a preference for/ playing different videogame genres and creativity.
Video games
General agreement on defining what a video game is has always been confusing to consumers and creators of video games (Newman & Simons, 2004). The diversity in video gaming genres, consoles and formats has rendered scientists uncertain about how games such as Dance Dance Revolution, where the goal is to step on floor arrows to achieve the goal, and Candy Crush, with a goal to beat levels using candies to solve puzzles, share the same categorization.
Wolf (2001) distinguishes a set of elements to define a video game, which are conflict, rules, use of some player ability and some kind of valuable outcome. Conflict is described as against an opponent or different circumstances, whereas rules determine what can be done and when can it be done, player ability is synonymous to skills, strategies and/or luck, and valued
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outcome can come in the form of winning, achieving the high score or best time. If we were to define video games by today’s dictionary standards, Merriam-Webster defines a video game as
“an electronic game in which players control images on a video screen” (Merriam Webster, 2019).
Esposito (2005) simply defines a video game as “…a game which we play thanks to an audiovisual apparatus and which can be based on a story” (pg. 2). For research purpose and previously aforementioned diversity, variety and complexity of defining this item, the conceptualization provided by Esposito (2005) was used for the study.
The video gaming industry today is one of the increasingly fastest growing industries regarding annual revenue – to compare 2007 annual gross income of over $9.5 billion (Entertainment Software Association, 2007), and latest global market report by Newzoo (2018) of
$134.9 billion. Over a period of little over a decade, we witness the widespread consumption of games in video form, whether it was over a personal computer, gaming console or smartphone.
According to Entertainment Software Association’s report from 2018, 64% of American households own a device used for playing games, and it is 70% of these that are older than 18. The
“gamer generation” is already bigger than the boomer generation (Beck & Wade, 2004), and its impact on the workplace is undeniable. The gamer generation is defined as the “baby boom echo”
and everyone born from the year 1975 is classified as part of it, since the main characteristic is growing up with games (Beck & Wade, 2004). Newman (2004) examines three reasons for researching video games: the size of the gaming industry, popularity of video games, as well as video games as an example of human-computer interaction.
Research on video games has faced a steady increase (Rebetez & Betrancourt, 2007) alongside video games’ popularity among households. There are two directions research undertook regarding video games. First direction of research is aimed at effects on cognitive abilities, such as perception and visual attention, and on development, as well as personality, in particular aggressive and violent behavior (Rebetez & Betrancourt, 2007). The second direction research on video games takes is using multimedia, and content-based games as instructional material.
However, the psychological research has not compared different types of games and its effects on cognitive abilities, personality and education (Rebetez & Betrancourt, 2007).
The earlier research on video game effects on individuals claims problem behavior (Olson et al., 2009; Tejeiro Salguero & Morán, 2002), aggression and violence (Anderson, 2004; Dill &
Dill, 1998). Latest research, even though not saturated enough, has shone light on the more positive
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effects video games have to offer: aggression disproved to be associated with violent video games (Gong et al., 2015; Przybylski & Weinstein, 2019); video games helping with learning (Squire, 2011), problem solving (Adachi & Willoughby, 2013), overall benefits in cognition, emotional, motivation and social fields (Granic, Lobel & Engels, 2014). Granic et al. (2014) concludes that the vast majority of psychology research has been focused on the negative effects of playing video games, particularly in relation to violence, depression and addiction. While recognizing the value in the research, there is a need to balance out the perspective on video games and highlight the benefits of “gaming”. The necessity of considering the benefits of playing video games has increased in importance due to a change of trends in what games are produced today and their complexity, diversity, realism and social aspects (Granic et al., 2014).
Gose (2014) explains another trend in video game research, which is the focus on one game in particular which appears to be popular at the time, without taking into consideration the genre of the game. This represents a problem since every video game, no matter popularity, has a relatively short shelf life and is bound to be replaced by the next “big thing” (Gose, 2014). Video gaming genres, on the other hand, tend to remain more stable in trends over time.
Video gaming genres
The task of classification video game genres is not one without challenge (Wolf, 2005).
The difficulty is due to problems of defining what exactly constitutes a genre, overlaps between genres and their hybrids, actions happening at the same time in multiple genres, as well as the role of consumers’ experience of what makes a genre, and the boundaries of genres are always in flux with new material being constantly reproduced (Wolf, 2005). Berens and Howard (2001) create seven different genres for video games, which are: action and adventure, driving and racing, first- person shooter, platform puzzle, roleplaying, strategy and simulation, and sports and beat-‘em- ups. Although comprehensive, it is not all inclusive for 2019 video game standards.
Gros (2007) explains further how there is no one standard classification of video games, despite the variety of genres, as industries, academics and developers themselves use different taxonomies. Due to the fact that the world of video games is ever-expanding and constantly updated, the best method of classification is relying on the general view established via Wikipedia.
According to the official categorization by Wikipedia (List of video game genres, n.d.), the list of video game genres goes as following: Action (platform, shooters, fighting, beat ‘em up, stealth,
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survival, rhythm games); Action-adventure (survival horror, metroidvania); Adventure (text adventures, graphic adventures, visual novels, interactive movie, real-time 3D adventures); Role- playing (fantasy, action role-play games, massively multiplayer online role playing games, roguelikes, tactical role-play games, sandbox role-play games, first-person party-based role-play games); Simulation (construction and management, life and vehicle simulation); Strategy (4X, artillery, real-time strategy, real-time tactics, multiplayer online battle arena - MOBA, tower defense, turn-based strategy, turn-based tactics, wargame, grand strategy wargame); Sports (racing, sports, competitive, sports-based fighting); Other genres (massively multiplayer online game - MMO, casual, party, programming, logic, trivia, board and card games); Idle gaming (such as Cookie clicker, with a trivial task).
Research on video gaming genres is scarce and there is a need for expanding the academic world with studies on effects of different genres. Peever, Johnson and Gardner (2012) examined the relationship between video gaming genres and the five factor model of personality traits. The findings showed certain correlations of statistical significance, such as conscientious personalities striving more towards playing sports or racing games. Action and adventure platform games, which require exploration and finishing quests, were positively correlated with openness to experience. Another finding was that people high on the extraversion trait preferred playing party or casual games, which require higher levels of interaction. The study encourages further investigation on this matter.
Role playing games
Role-playing games (RPGs) represent one of the most prominent of genres to exist across all hardware entertainment media, as well as other forms outside the technological domain (Drachen et al., 2009). According to Drachen et al. (2009), research on RPGs has strived focusing towards the culture, game processes, storytelling, character design and user experience of the games, and nowadays they represent an indispensable facet of video game research. Role-playing games appear in a wide variety of forms, and there is difficulty defining what all RPGs have in common. Nevertheless, they ultimately share a common focus on issuing the player a character to build and develop via playing the game, as well as a focus on storytelling, most commonly in a fantasy-themed world (Drachen et al., 2009).
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Role-playing games are most frequently played in their online fantasy forms, massive multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPGs). Described by Achterbosch, Pierce and Simmons (2008), a massive multiplayer online role playing game is online-based, interactive, three dimensional, narrative filled environment characterized as consistent and permanent. “Massive multiplayer” part of the game genre pertains to the massive participation of millions of players at times per game (Sourmelis et al., 2017). The game genre is a narrative due to its online existence, providing it with consistence and plot, due to the fact that the game continues to exist in real time and space, even when the player is not playing (VanFossen, Friedman & Hartshorne, 2008).
VanFossen et al. (2008) explain how the role play aspect refers to the act of assuming a role of a fantasy character within the game, thus controlling the character’s actions and interactions with fellow players in the game. Features of the gaming genre include “training” one’s character through quests in order to gain experience, which in turn allows players to level up, gain equipment and more in-game items, all of which helps the player’s avatar advance further in the game, while the process gains on intensity, repetitiveness, and difficulty (Achterbosch et al., 2008; Ducheneaut et al., 2004; VanFossen et al., 2008).
Reading books and fiction
Research on book reading habits, in comparison to research on video games, is not as commonly focal in the academic world (Clark & Rumbold, 2006), except in the educational one.
In particular, correlation between reading books and creativity seems to be considered a self- evident truth, an axiom, thus lacking in research. In addition, there appears to be no research on the negative effects of book reading habits, unlike for playing video games. Krashen (2004) does, nevertheless, talk about “free voluntary reading” and its positive effects on the reader, such as:
increase in general knowledge, improved spelling, writing and grammar, better reading comprehension, writing and vocabulary, and developing better thinking.
Moreover, research on reading fiction genres of books in one’s free time does have its resources. Reading fiction books has been shown to positively correlate with empathy (Bal &
Veltkamp, 2013; Kid & Castano, 2013; Mar et al., 2006), social ability (Mar et al., 2006), and cognitive ability to understand other’s beliefs and intentions (cognitive theory of mind) (Kidd &
Castano, 2013), in comparison to reading non-fiction genres. Djikic, Oatley, Zoeterman and Peterson (2009) researched the effect of art (reading fiction) versus non-art (documentary) on
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personality traits of their participants, finding that fiction was associated with greater perceived personality change.
Types of reading genres have been divided into two major groups: fiction and non-fiction (List of writing genres, n.d.), by a generally accepted Wikipedia article. Colman (2007) explains that nonfiction is writing about reality (real places, events, ideas, people, things and feelings), whereas fiction is a style of writing in which anything can be made up. Fiction genres include, but are not limited to: fables, fairy tales, crime/detective, graphic novels, folktales, fantasies, legends, mysteries, mythologies, science fiction, suspense/thrillers, etc. Subcategories that fall under the umbrella of nonfiction are: essays, laboratory reports, journalism, self-help books, memoirs, biographies, textbooks, etc.
Creativity
Creativity is probably one of the most complex psychological terms, due to the obstacles of reaching a universal definition. Wallis (1926) is considered to be the first to give a formal definition of creativity, using his stage model explaining the five stages of creative insights and illuminations. The stages of creating creativity insights are preparation, incubation, intimation, illumination and verification, and Wallis considered creativity to be an inherited adaptability from evolution, allowing humans to adapt in time of rapidly incoming changes. Mumford in 2003, after a decade of scientific disputes and discussion, generates a definition with consensus from the academic community. Their definition of creativity was settled to be “the process of producing something that is both original and worthwhile characterized by expressiveness and imagination”
(Mumford, 2003, p. 110; see also Meusburger et al., 2009; Runco & Albert, 2010; Sternberg, 2006).
Creative thinking style. The cognitive theoretical approach to creativity has a focus on ideational thought processes as the foundation to creative people and accomplishments (Mednick, 1962; Finke, Ward & Smith, 1992). Welling (2007) reviewed existing theories of creativity, and organized the cognitive operations from these theories the author deemed possible to generate new ideas or products. Welling (2007) gives special attention to abstraction operation in his research, considering the understudied nature of the cognitive process. The four cognitive processes are application, analogy, combination, and abstraction. Application, a creative cognitive operation often referred to in creativity literature, is described as the adaptive use of knowledge already existing, within its habitual context. The cognitive process of analogy is described as the ability to
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transpose a concept from one recurrent context to another unconventional one. The third cognitive operation is combination, which is described as the merge of two or more ideas into one new concept. The fourth and least explored mental process is abstraction, which is defined as the finding of any pattern, structure, regularity, or organization, which exist in a number of various perceptions, either mental or physical (Welling, 2007).
Piaget (1968) is the first in research to offer the idea of abstraction as a solution to the new knowledge paradox, distinguishing reflective (mental) and empirical (physical) abstraction. Piaget deduced that the new abstract knowledge depends on old knowledge at all times. The conclusion he reached was that the various levels of abstraction emerge from the “transposition from one hierarchical level to another level” (Piaget, 1968, p. 18). One example is from Piaget’s (1972) The psychology of the child, when children learn about weight and visual appearance, because bigger things appear heavier, whereas smaller things appear lighter. From this experience (old knowledge) comes repeated experience (abstract knowledge) of some big things weighing light, and some small things weighing heavy, children start creating a separate notion of weight, independent of visual appearance.
Abstraction can be detected on a basic level using the principles of perceptual organization, such as grouping (Wertheimer, 1923, 1950). Without the existence of abstract criterion, the abilities of classification, symbolization, discrimination, pattern recognition, and generalization would be beyond the bounds of possibility (Welling, 2007). When referring to pattern recognition and classification, the author is really referring to the operations of pattern discovery and class creation, functions through which are created new structures using creative abstraction. Ward, Patterson and Sifonis (2004) demonstrate the role of abstraction in creativity by highlighting results indicating how encouraging abstract ways of thinking and constructing creative generation tasks lead to an increase in originality, supported by other research as well (Jansson, Condoor &
Brock, 1993; Vandervert, Schimpf & Liu, 2007).
Contrary (or not) to Welling’s (2007) categorization of abstraction as one of the facets of creativity, Burgoon, Henderson and Markman (2013) analyze abstraction individually and its effects on different facets of the human psyche (such as creativity). Therefore, Burgoon, Henderson and Markman define abstraction as a “process of identifying a set of invariant central characteristics of a thing” (2013, pp. 502), as it is noted that people must function at some level of abstraction during cognitive processing, thus people are capable of thinking about anything in
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abstract terms. Additionally, the authors talk about levels of abstraction to reflect that abstraction functions on a continuum. Lower levels of abstraction/higher levels of concreteness apprehend vivid, imageable, more specific and detailed thinking (e.g., Strack, Schwarz & Gschneidinger, 1985) – commonly incorporating easily observable traits (e.g. silver spoon; Medin & Ortony, 1989). Higher levels of abstraction/lower levels of concreteness apprehend a smaller number of easily observable traits, and capture less imageable thinking (e.g. pretty picture).
Creativity in the workplace
Creativity has been shown to contribute significantly to the workplace, in particular when it comes to organizational innovation and competitiveness, as well as effectiveness and survival (Amabile, 1996; Nonaka, 1991; Shalley et al., 2004; Wu, 2010). According to Shalley and Gilson (2004), employees produce novel, potentially applicable ideas regarding organization practices, procedures, services or products. By having creative ideas in the work space, the chances of those ideas being utilized by other employees in their work are increased, which allows for the growth of idea, and transference to other individuals in the organization, who will continue to perpetuate the same utility and further development (Shalley et al., 2004). According to Oldham (2002; see also Nonaka, 1991) this procedure is what allows organizations to keep up with and adjust according to the constantly changing tides of the market conditions, to respond to opportunities, and thus to adapt, grow and compete. Creativity research has thus heavily focused on the personal and contextual factors contributing to workplace creativity, given the significance of employee creativity (Amabile, Shatzel, Moneta & Kramer, 2004; Rodan & Galunic, 2004; Zhou, 2003).
When creativity is harnessed correctly, it was found to correlate highly with productivity at work and a more positive environment (Ario, 2004). Creative participation in the workplace was shown to increase employees’ retention at the workplace, and decrease turnover (Stradinger, 2016).
Kaimal, Ray and Muniz (2016) explored the effects of creativity on stress with the use of visual art making. Cortisol levels were assessed before and after 45 minutes of art making, and the results showed that the art making indicated a statistically significant reduction in cortisol level. Tomasco (2010) in a survey for IBM discovered that the most important leadership skill was found to be creativity. The study was one of the largest sample-sized interview based studies conducted with over 1500 corporate heads and leaders of public sectors from 60 nations and 33 industries. Creative leaders were found to be more prepared for breaking the status quo of standard industry models.
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According to Egan (2005), the performance, as well as presence, of creative people is crucial to every organization, no matter what the sector. The potential to craft, dream, create, invent, solve problems, and correspond in novel manners is essential to the success of an organization.
The list of professions and work environments which seek out and benefit from creative individuals is exhaustive and inclusive of all fields, such as designers, engineers, scientists, landscapers, leaders and administrators. Suggested by Egan (2005) is that creativity is a necessity for organizations which are interested in advancing technology, a changing organizational structure, competing with rival organizations which are actively working on improving their services, products and processes, a changing environment, developing consumer needs, and the constantly changing society adjusting to global problems and diversity. Human resource development (HRD) is seeking out research on creativity in the workplace, as the successful creative and effective responses to organizational demands would strengthen the role of human resource development practitioners within companies and organizations, thus supply more support for the human resources department (Egan, 2005).
Video games and creativity
Play as a creative process has been described in Green and Kaufman’s (2015) book Video games and Creativity, using Caillois’ (1958) classified four play types of Agon, Alea, Mimicry, and Ilinx. The four play types are meant to describe the unstructured and structured forms of play, applicable to video games. Agon is the competitive play, Alea is referring to games of luck or chance, Mimicry is the role play and Ilinx is the play altering one’s perceptions. As cited in Green and Kaufman (2015), the connection between the plays and creative thinking skills have been well researched (Lieberman, 1977; Mainemelis & Ronson, 2006; Russ, Robins & Christiano, 1999;
Sternberg, 1988). One reason for play being a creative thinking stimulant is because play in itself is a creative thinking process (Green & Kaufman, 2015). Play allows the individual to approach novel and previously unmet situations in unique ways without constraints, and can free the individual from “means-end” thinking, allowing for pressure free searches of the solutions (Basadur, 1994; Mainemelis & Ronson, 2006). In addition, such activity offers fulfillment of intrinsic motivation, with the opportunity of voluntary pleasures of play, self-expression and satisfaction (Fisher, 2004). According to Bruner (1963), this process allows for play to apply new associations among objects, behaviors, and ideas. Play and creativity are intertwined, as play
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stimulates creativity by offering the opportunity to explore and discover the alternatives to quests without limits (Getzels & Csikszentmihalyi, 1976; Torrance, 1995).
One of the first studies in the field of video games and creativity, Jackson (2012) and Jackson et al. (2012) discovered that among 12-year-old children, there was a significant difference in creativity between gamers and non-gamers. The study uses Guilford’s (1967) theory of creativity, which posits that what lies at the core of creativity is the ability to imagine multiple solutions to one problem. Children were given a task of writing a story about an elf and drawing an elf starting from an egg shape, and results showed that children who played video games in their leisure time were more creative than those who did not (correlations ranging from 0.40 to 0.59, all at the p<.01 level). Even when controlling for gender, race, intelligence, use of internet and other technologies, and type of video game (violent, interpersonal), the effects still remained the same. Hutton and Sundar (2010) explain heightened arousal levels caused by playing Dance Dance Revolution, a dancing physical activity game, and their correlation to creativity and increased mood. The study uses a definition of creativity by Mednick (1962), which is rooted in associative theory, positing that creativity is the development of associative elements into novel patterns, which meet either of two functions – specific requirements or usefulness. They found that emotion affects creativity on a significant level though the interaction of arousal and valence, in a that lower arousal levels coupled with negative mood result in higher creativity scores. In addition, with high arousal levels coupled with positive mood, they found results of greater creativity potential than with negative mood.
Video games as creative expression. In their book, Video games and creativity, Green and Kaufman (2015) pinpoint the elements of video games which make the game a creative tool – the ability to take over a new persona, character, in the form of an avatar. In addition, Nakamura (2000) and Grodal (2000) reiterate the point, by arguing that a generally appealing element of video games is the opportunity to create and “play” with different personae. Banks (2013) found in a set of in- depth interviews with several World of Warcraft players that they tend to create headcanons- interpretations of the fictional world by the individual player – which are also used to speculate how the avatar could be influenced by the player-avatar relationship on an emotional, behavioral and cognitive level. Banks and Bowman’s (2013, 2016) analysis of the interviews lead to the conclusion that the act of creating headcanons is exerting an abundance of thought-projection into the digital dimension by the player.
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Violent video games and creativity. Green and Kaufman (2015) argue the importance of discussing the effects of “violent video games” on creativity of players and playful outcomes, despite the fact that the correlations seems at odds. Nevertheless, the discussion is necessary due to the prevalence of research revolving around video games and aggression (e.g. Anderson &
Bushman, 2001; Sherry, 2001). The case of “violent video games” becomes increasingly challenging once there is a need to define the term, which was addressed as an issue in a recent court case, where the defense attorney pleaded the case of video games being blamed for mass homicide. Rushton (2013) argued that the definition of “violent video games” was so broad that Pac Man could be categorized as such. Ferguson (2013) states that games such as Centipede and Zaxxon were included in the definition of these games, despite the fact that nowadays few people consider them a threat to society. Granic et al. (2014) note that video games containing violent content does indeed contribute positively to developments in numerous areas, in particular creativity. Hamlen (2011) discovered that children participating in adventure and role-playing games were especially more likely to put their imagination to use in order to give life to their characters’ stories and motivations. Earlier research by Hamlen in 2009 has shown that general video game play, including games with violent content, is correlated to higher creativity performance. Due to the difficulty of categorizing and defining violent video games, this study is using the genre of action video games as the closest resembling categorization.
Role-play games and creativity. A meta-analysis conducted by Sourmelis, Ioannou and Zaphiris (2017) analyzed 120 research publications published from the years 2010 to 2016, and categorized 49 empirical studies by their central research topic and results from at least one of the 21st century skills. The 21st century skills for the study were taken from KSAVE theoretical framework by Binkley et al. (2012). These skills were described as necessary for success in the ever changing digital world, and the adopted model consists of four dimensions and ten skills. The four dimensions with the 10 skills are ways of thinking (creativity and innovation, critical thinking, problem solving and decision making, learning to learn and metacognition), ways of working (communication, collaboration), tools for working (information literacy, information and communication technology literacy), and living in the world (citizenship - local and global, life and career, personal and social responsibility). The main research area was MMORPGs and their fostering of 21st century skills, which was shown to have been well correlated. The majority of research focused on communication skills (22% of studies), whereas creativity and innovation, as
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well as problem solving and information literacy, were understudied in comparison. The authors urge the advance of future inquiry to address the current deficiencies faced in research on MMORPGs. The meta-analysis showed that the 21st century skills Creativity and innovation had no studies conducted whatsoever (n=0) in regards to people who play MMORPGs. Despite Green and Kaufman’s (2015) theoretical basis of role-playing video games being greatly correlated with creativity based on logically sound arguments, there is a gap in empirical research and potential to further investigate the connection.
Construal level theory
Construal level theory explains how psychological distance enhances creativity (CLT;
Liberman & Trope, 1998). CLT explains that one’s mental representation of an object or event is a role of its psychological distance (Liberman & Trope, 1998). Distance in individuals functions on the mechanism of how close events are described by using low-level construals, and far away events are described using high-level construals. High-level construals incorporate the abstract, decontextualized, and superordinate characteristics of events, whereas low-level construals incorporate the concrete, contextualized and subordinare characteristics. High-level construals are focused on central meanings of events, unlike low-level construals which are littered with details.
One example is the temporal distance of planning a vacation. When the vacation is a year away from happening, the central thinking process is about the idea of relaxation and excitement, whereas within two weeks of the event, the center of cognition is planning the trip, packing appropriately, and finessing the last details.
The four dimensions of psychological distance are spatial, hypothetical, temporal, and social (Liberman et al, 2007). All the dimensions of psychological distances have mental representations of an event at high-level construals occur versus low-level construals, when it is going to happen at a place within a kilometer versus around the globe (Henderson et al., 2006), when it is highly likely to happen versus highly unlikely (Wakslak et al., 2006), when it happens within a day versus in a year (Liberman & Trope, 1998), and when it is performed by a person similar or different to the observer (Liviatan, Trope & Liberman, 2008). Hypothetical distance is particularly relevant when it comes to fantasy and fiction content.
In CLT, distance in hypotheticality is about the proximity to reality (Armor & Sackett, 2006). The bigger the hypothetical distance is, the more likely are we to present mental images in abstract and decontextualized forms that convey the principle of these events, in comparison to
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more concrete and contextual features of events. Events that are highly likely are processed at a lower level construal, and vice versa, highly unlikely events are processed at a high level construal (Wakslak et al., 2006).
According to Jia, Hirt and Karpen (2009), spatial distance was found to generate fluency, flexibility and originality when it came to creativity in their study. The study concluded based on construal level theory that physically distant action generates higher-level construals rather than lower-level ones. Same conclusion was made regarding social distance in Liviatan et al. (2008) study. The study proposes that individuals construct various representations of similar and different people, even when the information regarding both is identical. The representations affect how people judge the actions of people similar and different to them. Förster et al. (2004) conducted a series of studies regarding temporal distance and creativity. Through experiments conducted in the study, it was found that distant time perspective strengthens insight and abstract creative performing. The findings from Förster’s et al. (2004) study supports the argument that thinking about faraway future induces abstract mental representation, which is facilitating performance on tasks of creativity, investing abstract thinking, unlike analytical thinking.
Förster et al. (2004) argue that creativity has a lot to gain from abstract thinking (Finke, 1995; Ward, 1995) and a range of creativity and insight tasks would benefit from integrating more abstract construals of problem elements. Creativity is about thinking outside the box, and to adopt unconventional perspectives on tasks and problems. In this way, fantasy and fiction, as well as role play, are linked to creativity by generating psychological distance and abstract thinking. Cognitive creativity requires abstract thinking (Jansson, Condoor & Brock, 1993; Welling, 2007), and psychological distance, such as hypotheticality, induces abstract thinking. This would lead us to conclude that fantasy content video games and fiction literature (which all involve the hypothetical) are associated with more creativity.
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Hypotheses
The hypotheses were based on the theoretical background presented in the introduction and literature review of the previous sections of this paper. Four hypotheses were formulated, as well as the null hypothesis:
H0: Video game playing and book reading habits have no association with creativity.
H1: Video game playing habits are associated with creativity in two manners:
H1A: People who prefer Role-playing (fantasy) video game genres are more creative than people who play Action (shooter) video game playing genres.
H1B: More time spent on playing Role playing games (fantasy) will be associated with greater creativity, while more time spent on playing on Action (shooter) video game playing genres will be associated with less creativity.
H2: Book reading habits are associated with creativity in two manners:
H2A: People who prefer fiction genres are more creative than people who prefer non- fiction genres.
H2B: More time spent reading fiction books will be associated with greater creativity, while more time spent on reading non-fiction genres will be associated with less creativity.
Methodology
Open Science Practices
All the data and materials are openly available on https://osf.io/tx4v6.
The link above provides the pre-registered description, hypotheses, design plan, sampling plan, variables, instruments, as well as analysis plan. Files added to the data component were the converted raw data and final data file in .csv format, as well as attributes, bibliography and creators file in .csv format. Instruments uploaded in .docx format. The final data set file was used for the analysis of the current study.
Changes made since the pre-registrations were regarding wording in hypothesis 1A and 2A. Changes were recorded in a separate component named “Hypotheses”. The changes were made in changing the word “play” or “read” to the term “prefer”, due to necessary distinguishment between preference and time spent on playing/reading. In addition, the analysis plan was changed
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from using multiple regression analysis to t-tests and Mann-Whitney, for simplicity sake.
Transformations were reported in the component on the link under the name “Data”.
Transformations were conducted on the BIF choices to reflect concrete thinking point to zero (0) and abstract thinking points to one (1).
Population and sample
The population consisted of 154 students at a university located in southern part of Sweden, between the ages of 19 and 50 years (M = 24.9, SD = 5.36). There were 88 female and 63 male participants, in addition 3 undisclosed cases of gender. The range of faculty departments the participants attended is diverse, ranging from the highest amount of participants attending the Psychology department (n = 26, 16.9%), Business and Economics (n = 22, 14.3%), Social Sciences (n = 20, 13%), to the lowest amount of a single person per department, such as Product design, Technology and English literature.
Descriptive statistics for video games show that out of 88 female participants, there were 36 gamers and 52 non-gamers, in comparison to their male counterparts out of which 53 were gamers and 10 were not, and in the category “other” we find 3 out of 3 gamers. When it comes to age, the most common age of players is 21 (n = 13), and the most common age for non-players is 22 (n = 9), which is to be taken with caution due to sample size and power. The last demographic statistic is related to the department attended, out of which students from the computer science department had the highest percentage of players (out of 13 participants, 12 are players). In total, out of 154 participants, 92 of them were gamers, and 62 were non-gamers, which allows for a fair comparison regarding creativity measurement.
Descriptive statistics for book reading show that out of 88 female participants, there were 75 readers and 13 non-readers, in comparison to their male counterparts out of which 42 were gamers and 21 were not, and in the category “other” we find 3 out of 3 readers. When it comes to age, the most common age of casual readers is 24 (n = 19), and the most common age for non- readers is 21 (n = 7), which is to be taken with caution due to sample size and power. The last demographic statistic is related to the department attended, out of which students from the psychology department had the highest percentage of readers (out of 26 participants, 24 are readers). In total, out of 154 participants, 120 of them were casual readers, and 34 were non-readers,
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which is not ideal regarding creativity measurement, which means that the results are to be taken with precaution.
Study design and data collection
Data for the observational study was collected in person, on the grounds of a University library and other building, via pen-and-paper method. Participants were voluntarily and anonymously partaking in answering the questionnaire, which was estimated to take from 10 to 15 minutes per person. Data collection occurred in the time period of March of 2019, on various occasions and through numerous methods, such as setting up a booth in one of the buildings offering candy in exchange for participation, and visiting classes with the teachers’ permission.
Instrument
The instrument used was a cross-sectional survey estimating four independent variables (video game genre preference, video game consumption, book reading genre preference, and book reading consumption) and one dependent variable (creativity), both generated in English and Swedish (included in Appendix A & B). Abstraction was also measured to shed some light on potential underlying mechanisms, even though abstraction was not part of the formal hypotheses.
The independent variables, as well as demographic characteristics (gender, age and department), were measured using short questions designed by the author of the study. Introduction at the beginning of the questionnaire serves to explain the purpose of the study to the participants. Gender selection included female, male and other, whereas age and department were open-ended questions.
Both the video gaming and book reading section included a first yes/no question of whether one enjoys playing video games/reading book in their free time, respectively. Video game genre included 10 options to choose from, Action, Action-adventure, Adventure, Role-play, Strategy, Sports, Simulation, Other, Idle and None, classification taken from Wikipedia (List of video game genres, n.d.). Book genres were divided into Fiction and Non-fiction, as well as Other, another classification taken from Wikipedia (List of writing genres, n.d.). Following was the estimated time (hours/minutes) spent on an average week playing each genre of video game and book, which was an open-ended item. In addition to each section, questions about favorite video game and genre, as well as favorite book and genre, were included in case if clarification was necessary.
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Creativity was measured using instruments taken from Förster et al. (2004), and an instrument of categorization tasks (Isen & Daubman, 1984). Abstraction was measured using the behavioral identification form by Vallacher and Wegner (1989). Insight problems taken from Förster et al. (2004), were previously used in their study to manipulate distant versus future time perspective, measuring performance on a range of assignments postulated to evaluate insight. The insight problems (included in Appendix A) were described by Schooler, Ohlsson and Brooks (1993) as eventually soluble by the average person, likely to lead to a deadlock, or a state where one finds themselves uncertain on how to continue. The insight problems are likely to manufacture the “aha” moment, where the deadlock is overcome and the solution path appears (Ohlsson, 1984), after the effort of working on the solution, and it requires thinking outside the box. The total range of scores is from 0 to 3, based on the amount of correct answers given.
Another instrument used to measure the dependent variable creativity, or rather creative cognition, was creative categorization tasks originating from Isen and Daubman (1984), but an adjusted version by Agerström, Gunnarsson and Stening (2017). The instrument inspects abstraction of objects and falls under the atypical examples in this instrument variety. According to Isen and Daubman (1984), in the categorization task, the respondent uses a Likert-type scale ranging from 1 to 10 (1 – definitely does not belong to the category, 10 - definitely does belong to the category) to indicate to which level of category it belongs to. In the original instrument, the respondents were presented with three examples of each a weak, medium and strong strength in their belongingness to a category. For the category of furniture, a sofa, desk and fan were given as examples of strong, medium and weak examples of the category, respectively. What indicates creative thinking is the ability to categorize the weaker examples as high in their belongingness to the category. The instrument has been previously used to examine the effect of positive affect and psychological distance (Isen & Daubman, 1984; Smith & Trope, 2006; Wakslak & Trope, 2009) on abstraction.
The instrument used for the study was an adjusted version by Agerström et al. (2017), where three different categories (transportation, furniture, clothes) were used to estimate each one typical and one atypical item. The typical items were car, shirt and couch, whereas the atypical items were feet, purse and telephone (included in Appendix A). The adjustments made to the original instrument was the use of three categories instead of four, one item for the typical and atypical examples, as well as the exclusion of the medium category of belongingness. In case of
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Agerström et al. (2017) the reason for doing so were the time constraints imposed by the experiment, whereas in the current study same reason could be justified, due to the volume of already aggregated instruments. In the current study the atypical items were used to capture creativity because they reflect categorizations that are non-prototypical, and “out of the box”, whereas the typical items were used as fillers to provide the context for the task.
The Behavioral Identification Form (BIF) constructed by Vallacher and Wegner (1989), is an instrument designed to assess individual variances when it comes to level of abstraction. There are 25 items in the BIF, and each of the items represent an action identity followed by two options (one more abstract high-level option focusing on why the action is performed and one more concrete low-level option focusing on how the action is performed) of describing the act, with the goal of choosing the option which best describes the act for the respondent. For example, one item contains the main action “making a list”, and the two options are “getting organized” and “writing things down”. For the results of the instrument, the mean score was calculated, with higher scores reflecting more abstraction.
Statistical analysis
Enjoyment of playing and reading
Video games. In order to compare groups of students who reported playing video games with those who do not play video games in their spare time based on their creativity scores in two creativity measurements, independent t-tests were conducted and the Mann-Whitney test was used for measurements where parametric assumptions were not met. For this analysis, the independent variable is enjoyment of video games, whereas the dependent variable is creativity, split into two measurements of creativity (insight problems and creative categorization tasks). Scores from the creative categorization tasks were normally distributed, whereas the insight problems did not fulfill the criteria for normal distribution.
Results. An independent-samples t-test was conducted to compare atypical categorization scores in gamers and non-gamers. There was not a significant difference in the scores for gamers (M = 4.53, SD = 1.82) and non-gamers (M = 4.63, SD = 1.62); t (152) = -.32, p = .747. These results suggest that there is no difference between gamers and non-gamers when it comes to creative categorization tasks. A Mann-Whitney test indicated that people who reported playing
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video games had a higher score on insight problems (M rank=85.71) than people who reported on not playing video games (M rank=65.31), U = 2096.5, z = -1.105, p < .01, r = -.23. These results suggest that gamers are more creative based on insight problems than non-gamers, with a small to medium effect size.
Reading books. Accordingly, to compare groups of students who reported reading books with those who reported not reading books in their spare time, independent t-tests were conducted, as well as Mann-Whitney for measurements where parametric assumptions were not met. For this analysis, the independent variable is enjoyment of reading books, whereas the dependent variable is creativity, split into two measurements of creativity (insight problems and creative categorization tasks). Scores from the creative categorization tasks were normally distributed, whereas the insight problems did not fulfill the criteria for normal distribution.
Results. An independent-samples t-test was conducted to compare atypical categorization scores in readers and non-readers. There was not a significant difference in the scores for readers (M = 4.62, SD = 1.71) and non-readers (M = 4.4, SD = 1.87); t (152) = .65, p = .518. These results suggest that there is no difference between readers and non-readers when it comes to creative categorization tasks. A Mann-Whitney test indicated that people who reported casually reading books did not differ when completing insight problems (M rank=78.13) than people who reported on not reading books casually (M rank=75.28), U = 1964.5, z = -.342, p > .05. These results suggest that there is no difference based on creative insight between readers and non-readers.
Genre preference
Video games. In order to examine H1A (people who prefer role-playing (fantasy) video game genres are more creative than people who prefer action (shooter) video game playing genres), a comparison of groups of students who reported their preference of video game genre, in particular role-playing genres versus action gaming genres, based on their creativity scores, will be analyzed using independent t-tests and the Mann-Whitney test for measurements where parametric assumptions were not met. For this analysis, the independent variables are preference of role- playing games (RPGs) and preference of action video games (shooters), whereas the dependent variable is creativity, split into two measurements of creativity (insight problems and creative categorization tasks). Scores from the creative categorization tasks were normally distributed, whereas the insight problems did not fulfill the criteria for normal distribution.
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Results. The sample indicated an even distribution across 10 video gaming genres (action, action-adventure, adventure, role-play, strategy, simulation, sports, idle, other and none), which left the individual genres of video games with small sample sizes, such as action (n=15) and role- play (n=19), which means that the results are to be taken with precaution. An independent-samples t-test was conducted to compare atypical categorization scores in people with role-play preference and action preference. There was not a significant difference in the scores for RPG (M = 4.17, SD
= 2.21) and action preference (M = 4.2, SD = 1.56); t (32) = .036, p = .971. These results suggest that there is no difference between people who prefer role-playing games and people who prefer action games, when it comes to creative categorization tasks. A Mann-Whitney test indicated that people who reported their primary preference in role-play games did not differ when completing insight problems (M rank=17.00) from people who reported primary preference in action video games (M rank=17.89), U = 135, z = -.272, p > .05. These results suggest that there is no difference based on creative insight between these two groups. The analysis resulted in rejecting H1A.
Reading books. In order to examine H2A (people who prefer fiction genres are more creative than people who prefer non-fiction genres), a comparison of groups of students who reported their preference of book genre, specifically fiction genres versus non-fiction genres, based on their creativity scores, will be measured using independent t-tests and the Mann-Whitney test for measurements where parametric assumptions were not met. For this analysis, the independent variables are preference of reading fiction books and preference of reading non-fiction books, whereas the dependent variable is creativity, split into two measurements of creativity (insight problems and creative categorization tasks). Scores from the creative categorization tasks were normally distributed, whereas the insight problems did not fulfill the criteria for normal distribution.
Results. The sample indicated an even distribution across 4 literature categories (fiction, non-fiction, other and none), which provided a good sample size for each category of literature.
An independent-samples t-test was conducted to compare atypical categorization scores in people with fiction preference and non-fiction preference. There was not a significant difference in the scores for fiction (M = 4.5, SD = 1.6) and non-fiction preference (M = 4.8, SD = 1.9); t (139) = -.124, p = .217. These results suggest that there is no difference between people who prefer fictive literature and people who prefer non-fictive literature, when it comes to creative categorization tasks. A Mann-Whitney test indicated that people who reported their primary preference in fiction
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literature did not differ when solving insight problems (M rank=74.99) from people who reported primary preference in non-fictive literature (M rank=63.73), U = 1911.5, z = -1.630, p > .05. These results suggest that there is no difference based on creative insight between these two groups. The analysis resulted in rejecting H2A.
Consumption of games and books
Video games. In order to examine H1B(more time spent on playing role playing games (fantasy) will be associated with greater creativity, while more time spent on playing on Action (shooter) video game playing genres will be associated with less creativity), a comparison of groups of students who reported their weekly consumption of individual video game genres (minute/hours), in particular role-playing genres versus action gaming genres, based on their creativity scores, will be measured using bivariate correlations. For this analysis, the independent variables are time spent on playing role-playing games (RPGs) and time spent on playing action video games (shooters), whereas the dependent variable is creativity, split into two measurements of creativity (insight problems and creative categorization tasks). Scores from the creative categorization tasks were normally distributed, whereas the insight problems did not fulfill the criteria for normal distribution (Spearman’s correlation coefficient will be used).
Results. A bivariate correlation using Pearson’s correlation coefficient was conducted in order to compare atypical categorization scores between the consumption of role play games and action games. There was not a significant relationship found between the atypical categorization score and time spent playing RPGs, r = -.07, p > .05; as well as with time spent playing action games; r = -.00, p > .05. The results show no difference between consumption of RPGs and shooters, based on creative categorization tasks. A bivariate correlation using Spearman’s correlation coefficient was conducted in order to compare insight problem scores with the consumption of RPGs and action video games. There was a significant relationship between the consumption of role-play games and insight problem scores, r = .20**, p < .01; whereas there was no significant correlation between the consumption of action video games and insight problem score, r = .04, p > .05. These results suggest that more time spent on role playing games is associated with more creativity, while there is no association at all between action games and creativity. This means that H1B has been partly confirmed, thus rejecting the null hypothesis.
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Reading books. With the aim of examining H2B(more time spent reading fiction books will be associated with greater creativity, while more time spent on reading non-fiction genres will be associated with less creativity), a comparison of groups of students who reported their weekly consumption of literature genres (minutes/hours), in particular fiction versus non-fiction literature, based on their creativity scores, will be measured using bivariate correlations. For this analysis, the independent variables are time spent on reading fiction literature and time spent on reading non-fiction literature, whereas the dependent variable is creativity, split into two measurements of creativity (insight problems and creative categorization tasks). Scores from the creative categorization tasks were normally distributed, whereas the insight problems did not fulfill the criteria for normal distribution (Spearman’s correlation coefficient will be used).
Results. A bivariate correlation using Pearson’s correlation coefficient was conducted in order to compare atypical categorization scores between the consumption of fiction genres and non-fiction genres. There was not a significant relationship found between the atypical categorization score and time spent reading fiction, r = .09, p > .05; as well as with time spent reading non-fiction, r = .11, p > .05. Results indicate no difference between consumers of fiction and non-fiction, based on creative categorization tasks. A bivariate correlation using Spearman’s correlation coefficient was conducted in order to compare insight problem scores with the consumption of fiction and non-fiction literature. There was a significant relationship between the consumption of fiction and insight problem scores, r = .22**, p < .01; unlike between the consumption of non-fiction and insight scores, r = .14, p > .05. These results suggest that the amount of time spent on reading fiction has a significant relationship with creativity, unlike the time spent on reading non-fiction, even though the effect size is between small and medium. The results of the analysis partly confirm H2B, thus rejecting the null hypothesis.
Exploratory analysis
Creativity and abstraction. A bivariate correlation using Spearman’s correlation coefficient was conducted in order to check the correlation between the two instruments used to measure creativity (insight problems and creative categorization tasks) and one measure of abstraction (BIF). There was a significant relationship between the BIF and insight problem scores, r = .17*, p < .05; as well as between the BIF and atypical categorization scores, r = .27**, p < .01.
There was no correlation found between insight problems and creative categorization scores, r
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= .03, p > .05. This suggests that abstraction is indeed one mechanism of creativity, or that creativity is one mechanism of abstraction.
Video games and abstraction. An independent-samples t-test was conducted to compare BIF scores in people who reported on playing video games in their free time and people who did not report playing video games in their free time. There was not a significant difference in the scores for gamers (M = .62, SD = .15) and non-gamers (M = .62, SD = .16); t (152) = .23, p = .816.
These results suggest that there is no difference between gamers and non-gamers when it comes to level of abstraction. An independent-samples t-test was conducted to compare BIF scores in people who reported preferring RPGs and people who reported preferring shooters. There was not a significant difference in the scores for RPG preference (M = .63, SD = .16) and shooter preference (M = .59, SD = .14); t (32) = -.913, p = .37. These results suggest that there is no significant difference between RPG and shooter preference, based on their level of abstraction. A bivariate correlation using Pearson’s correlation coefficient was conducted to compare BIF scores between the amount of time spent playing RPGs and the amount of time spent playing shooter games. There was not a significant relationship between the BIF score and time spent playing RPGs, r = .04, p > .05; as well as time spent playing action games, r = .03, p > .05. This result indicated no real difference between consumption of RPGs and shooters, based on the level of abstraction.
Reading books and abstraction. An independent-samples t-test was conducted to compare BIF scores in people who reported on reading books in their free time and people who did not report reading books in their free time. There is a significant difference in the scores for casual readers (M = .63, SD = .15) and non-readers (M = .57, SD = .16); t (152) = 1.97, p = .05, r = .158.
These results suggest that casual readers are higher level when it comes to abstraction, in comparison to non-reader, although the effect size is small. An independent-samples t-test was conducted to compare BIF scores in people who reported preferring reading fiction and people who reported preferring reading non-fiction. There was not a significant difference in the scores for fiction preference (M = .62, SD = .16) and non-fiction preference (M = .63, SD = .14); t (139)
= -.294, p = .77. These results suggest that there is no significant difference between fiction and non-fiction preference, based on their level abstraction. A bivariate correlation using Pearson’s correlation coefficient was conducted to compare BIF scores between the amount of time spent reading fiction and the amount of time spent reading non-fiction. There was not a significant
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relationship between the BIF score and time spent reading fiction literature, r = .10, p > .05; as well as time spent reading non-fiction literature, r = .07, p > .05. The results show no significant difference between consumption of fiction and non-fiction, based on the level of abstraction.
Discussion
As there was no previous research found to address the difference between fantasy and non-fantasy video games, there was a need to independently distinguish between already determined genres within the industry and choose representatives of fantasy and non-fantasy genres. Gaming genres are majorly divided based on the mechanism of play, not theme. The rationale for choosing role-play games as the fantasy representative was due to the predominantly fantasy themed leading titles in the industry (such as World of Warcraft), as well the assumption of customizable avatars. The initial idea was to compare the fantasy themed and the genres scrutinized in the general population, also known as “violent” video games. Due to the vague nature of defining the games and genres falling under the umbrella of the “violent” games, for study the genre of action video games was chosen. The justification is the subgenre selection including shooters, fighting and survival, inherently implying violence as the primary mechanism.
Previous division of such nature was not found in any study.
Overall results of the study suggest that playing video games or reading books in one’s spare time does contribute to creative and abstract thinking. The results of the study align well with the construal level theory, that fantasy and fiction, best expressed in hypotheticality, are associated with abstraction, or as Förster (2004) addresses it as creativity. Role play video games in their fantasy content generate psychological distance and enable abstract thinking in the play.
Fiction books allow for the identical effect to occur, however on another media and platform.
Fantasy content furthers hypothetical thinking and the possibilities of the imagination enable for abstract, wide conceptualizations. The distance in role-play games, from being “inside” an avatar and travelling the world of these games, the theme of fantasy and the far-fetched story-lines allow for spatial and temporal distance. All elements of RPGs correspond with the construal level theory.
Reading fiction enables the imagination to travel anywhere, spatially and temporally, as well as hypothetically.
West (2015) found that creativity was enhanced by effects of organizational play, and the implications for organizations was to foster a climate of playfulness in order to enhance creativity
