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Power Play: How the Need to Empower or Overpower Other Players Predicts Preferences in League of Legends

Published: 23 April 2020 Publication History

Abstract

The power motive describes our need to have an impact on others. Relevant in contexts such as sports, politics, and business, the power motive could help explain experiences and behaviours in digital games. We present four studies connecting the power motive to role and champion type choices in the MOBA game League of Legends (LoL). In Study1 we demonstrate that overall power motive does not predict role preferences. In Study2 we develop a 6-item-scale distinguishing between two facets of power in game settings: prosociality (empowering others) and dominance (overpowering others). In Study3 we show that prosociality and dominance uniquely predict role preferences for Support and Top Lane. In Study4 we demonstrate that champion type choice (tank, fighter, slayer, controller) is uniquely predicted by dominance and prosociality. We provide insight on how the wish for vertical interactions with other players-the power motive-can influence player interactions in multiplayer games.

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References

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cover image ACM Conferences
CHI '20: Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
April 2020
10688 pages
ISBN:9781450367080
DOI:10.1145/3313831
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Published: 23 April 2020

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  1. digital games
  2. explicit motives, power motive
  3. motive disposition theory
  4. player preferences
  5. player types

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  • (2024)Individual Differences in Cognitive Abilities and Personality Traits Predict Car-Soccer Video Game PerformanceJournal of Electronic Gaming and Esports10.1123/jege.2023-00442:1Online publication date: 1-Jan-2024
  • (2023)Playing a Flawless Character? Exploring Differences Between Experts and Novices in Tabletop Role-Playing Games and Potential Benefits for Well-BeingProceedings of the 18th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games10.1145/3582437.3587180(1-7)Online publication date: 12-Apr-2023
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