TY - JOUR
T1 - Social Comparisons and Need Fulfillment
T2 - Interpreting Video Game Enjoyment in the Context of Leaderboards
AU - Velez, John A.
AU - Ewoldsen, David R.
AU - Hanus, Michael D.
AU - Song, Hyunjin
AU - Villarreal, Jonathan A.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, © 2018 Eastern Communication Association.
PY - 2018/10/20
Y1 - 2018/10/20
N2 - This study examines how social comparison information provided by video game leaderboards may influence players’ retrospective judgments of autonomy, competence, and relatedness need fulfillment. Participants played a video game and were randomly assigned to receive no postgame feedback or were shown a leaderboard that placed them in the top or bottom quartile of players. Results indicate downward social comparisons increase enjoyment by increasing competence and relatedness perceptions. However, upward comparisons did not have an opposite effect, nor did either type of social comparison influence players’ autonomy perceptions. Implications for applying Self-Determination Theory to video game enjoyment in the context of social comparison feedback is discussed.
AB - This study examines how social comparison information provided by video game leaderboards may influence players’ retrospective judgments of autonomy, competence, and relatedness need fulfillment. Participants played a video game and were randomly assigned to receive no postgame feedback or were shown a leaderboard that placed them in the top or bottom quartile of players. Results indicate downward social comparisons increase enjoyment by increasing competence and relatedness perceptions. However, upward comparisons did not have an opposite effect, nor did either type of social comparison influence players’ autonomy perceptions. Implications for applying Self-Determination Theory to video game enjoyment in the context of social comparison feedback is discussed.
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U2 - 10.1080/08824096.2018.1525352
DO - 10.1080/08824096.2018.1525352
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85054370969
SN - 0882-4096
VL - 35
SP - 424
EP - 433
JO - Communication Research Reports
JF - Communication Research Reports
IS - 5
ER -