Motivations for video game play and political decision-making: Evidence from four countries

Abstract

A survey (N = 801) of college students in Australia, the Philippines, South Korea and the U.S. (Guam, Hawaii, Continental U.S.) was conducted to explore the relationships between the achievement, social and immersion motivations for video game play identified by Yee (2006) and three political decision-making variables -- political efficacy, skepticism and apathy. The results indicate that a factor comprising of items measuring the competition subcomponent of the achievement motivation of game play is positively linked with political efficacy, but negatively associated with skepticism. Also, a factor representing the advancement and mechanics subcomponents of the achievement motivation is positively related with skepticism. On the other hand, a factor representing the discovery, role-play and customization subcomponents of the immersion motivation is positively associated with apathy. The findings help extend understanding of the civic potential of video games.