How behavior in mobile games relates to psychological indicators

Abstract

Besides being one of the most popular forms of entertainment among younger generations, video games have been exploited in education for their potential to engage learners. However, a quantitative appraisal of the mechanisms behind their effectiveness is still in progress. This paper investigates the relation between psychological variables and behavior while playing on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. A mobile implementation of the Connect 4 game (“Addiction 4”) was designed to engage users while collecting data in the background. The app was then given to a group of students, who were also separately administered a battery of psychological tests. By merging the data from tests and gameplay, some noteworthy relations were discovered between indicators of psychological characteristics and metrics derived from the game.