Bianca Haun,
"Let's (watch me) play. Which factors relate to Let?s Play addiction?"
, 2016
Original Titel:
Let's (watch me) play. Which factors relate to Let?s Play addiction?
Sprache des Titels:
Englisch
Original Kurzfassung:
With the growing popularity of Let?s Plays, the question arises if this phenomenon carries a similar addictive potential like playing video games or watching TV, as Let?s Plays pose a link between those two pastime activities. Video games, as a traditionally active medium, are transformed into a passive medium through the addition of spectatorship and live streams, whereas the passivity of watching a video or someone else play gets the added possibility of interaction and communication. In order to measure Let?s Play addiction, a Let?s Play Addiction Scale was developed by modifying Lemmens?, Valkenburg?s, and Peter?s (2009) Video Game Addiction Scale. The scale was then used to measure not only Let?s Play addiction but also TV addiction and video game addiction. Through the use of one basic scale, the different addiction potentials can be easily compared. An online survey among 369 participants who watched Let?s Plays in the last three months was conducted. Findings include the participants? categorization into risk groups, viewers? motivations for watching Let?s Plays and a viewers? personality traits breakdown. While more time spent watching Let?s Plays correlates with a higher Let?s Play addiction score, Let?s Play usage alone is not necessarily a predictable indicator for Let?s Play addiction. Let?s Plays were found to pose a higher addiction potential than TV but a lower addiction potential than video games. The results are interpreted and discussed, and future research direction is suggested.