Date of Award

2023

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Barton, Michelle

Area of Concentration

Psychology

Abstract

Age of initiation has been a variable previously studied with social media but has yet to be studied with video games. This study examined if the age of initiation to video games affected video game genre preference. It was hypothesized that initiated genre preference and current genre preference would not be the same preference. There was also an additional question following previous research regarding the pandemic and genre preference that explored the impact of genre preference from during the pandemic to post-pandemic. Participants were around 18 to 25 years old and took a 20-item online survey that consisted of demographics, age of initiation to video games, genre preference, COVID-19 genre preference, and video game behaviors. There was a significant difference found between initiated and current genre preference: most participants shifted genre preferences rather than staying in the same preference. In addition, it was found that more than half of the participants did not report a genre preference shift between pre-pandemic and during the pandemic. For participants who did report experiencing a genre preference shift during the pandemic, the highest frequency of shifting during the pandemic to post-pandemic was with action and adventure genres. The highest frequency of staying in the same genre since the pandemic was role-play games. The findings within the current study can help to build off age of initiation as a variable in video games.

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