Motivations and use of video games in engineering students

Abstract

The use of video games has increased exponentially worldwide, mainly among the youth population. The main objective of this article is to evaluate the consumption habits and motivations of engineering students to play video games. To this end, an instrument to measure the use of video games and a scale of motivations were administered to 633 students enrolled in different academic engineering programs at a Peruvian public university. It was found that 91.3% of students play video games, compared to 8.7% who have never played them; it was also found that their use is greater among male students (95%) than among female students (73.4%). Likewise, it was found that these students prefer strategy video games, and that they mostly play them for escape and entertainment, and for socioemotional activation. It is concluded that consumption habits and motivations are related, since the greater the consumption of video games, the greater the motivation is for young people to play them.

An Investigation of Factors Influencing Attitudes Towards Online and Offline Games with the Moderator Effects of Gender in Iran

“…In addition, the relationship between gender and genre is significant; females preferred adventure and strategic genres, while males preferred action and sports genres followed by strategic. This result is in line with the study outcomes of Rehbein et al (2016), Von der Heiden et al (2019), Baloch et al (2023), Núñez-Pacheco et al (2023) and Scharkow et al (2015) who found that males preferred action and strategy games. Also, Yoon et al (2013) found gender and game type change the results.…”

“…Moreover, Baloch et al (2023) reported a gender-based disparity in the duration spent engaging in online gaming activities among university students, showing that male participants were more dedicated to playing online games than their female counterparts. Furthermore, Núñez-Pacheco et al (2023) identified a correlation between the duration of gaming experience and the motivation to engage in such activities, indicating that the longer individuals have been involved in gaming, the stronger their motivation becomes. Notably, students who have played for over four years exhibited a higher level of motivation towards video games, followed by those who have engaged in gaming for a period of two to three years, as opposed to individuals who have played for less than a year or have never engaged in video game activities.…”

“…Engaging in a higher number of video games is associated with the exploration of imaginative realms. In contrast, a lower frequency of video game involvement suggests that such games are used as a means of problem avoidance, player skill testing or facilitating interactions with others (Núñez-Pacheco et al, 2023).…”

“…Shooters, conversely, encompass shooting games that often feature realistic war scenarios. Núñez-Pacheco et al (2023) observed that female participants predominantly engage in adventure games involving character management within a narrative structure. Baloch et al (2023) discovered that male students were more motivated to play online games than female students.…”

“…Males tended to play action-oriented games, while their female counterparts demonstrated a preference for skill-oriented games (Rehbein et al, 2016; Scharkow et al, 2015). According to Núñez-Pacheco et al (2023), male students primarily engage in strategy games (39.1%) and shooters (21.0%), with the remaining genres accounting for less than 10% of their overall gaming repertoire. Women mostly participated in games belonging to the strategy genre (22%), followed by shooters (18.3%) and adventure genres (14.7%).…”