Date of Award

2012

Degree Type

Thesis

Department

Communication

First Advisor

Skalski, Paul

Subject Headings

Video games, Video games -- Political aspects, War games, video games, military, gaming, games, military games, cultivation, cultivation theory, cultivation effects, self-efficacy, first-order effects, second-order effects, first-order judgments, second-order judgments

Abstract

The goal of this study is to add to the literature that extends the theory of cultivation into the realm of video games. Video game studies incorporating cultivation stress the importance of specifying a single genre of video games and measuring the cultivation effect, due to the lack of homogenous content between video games. It is possible that video games are actually an antithesis to the theory of cultivation because of content that is user-generated, which not only dissolves homogeneity between different games, but also the same game. Cultivation research has also suggested that second- order cultivation effects (on attitudes and beliefs) are moderated by factors that affect the experience during the encounter of information. This study looks at exposure to military-style video games to help better understand how video games may lead to a variety of cultivation effects. It includes measures of the independent variables of video game habits, gaming skill, traditional media use, political orientation, and contact with the military, and the dependent variables of first- and second-order cultivation effects, and self-efficacy

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