Competitive Video Game Play

Abstract

Sports often go beyond simple games to something that individuals identify and relate to throughout their lives. Furthermore, passive and active sports consumption (i.e., video games) allows individuals to further create a sense of fanship and identification with their favorite teams. The following study manipulates player saliency to team, saliency to opponent, and competitive outcome to examine those impacts on enjoyment and hostility. A 3 (opponent saliency) × 2 (team identification) × 2 (competitive outcome; win vs. loss) experimental design was invoked to study these effects. Results indicate that competitiveness was significantly related to both enjoyment and hostility. Furthermore, data suggest a significant interaction between identification and competitive outcomes on hostility.