TY - JOUR
T1 - The common player-avatar interaction scale (cPAX)
T2 - Expansion and cross-language validation
AU - Banks, Jaime
AU - Bowman, Nicholas David
AU - Lin, Jih Hsuan Tammy
AU - Pietschmann, Daniel
AU - Wasserman, Joe A.
N1 - Funding Information:
All authors contributed equally to this manuscript and share first authorship: JB designed the study and collected U.S. data; JHL and DP completed translations and led data collection in Taiwan and Germany, respectively; NDB and JAW conducted analyses. The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Yu-Fan Chen and Cheng-Yi Liu in the Chinese-language translation and validation. A portion of this work was supported by Ministry of Science and Technology, R.O.C. grant #103-2628-H-009-002-SS4.
Funding Information:
All authors contributed equally to this manuscript and share first authorship: JB designed the study and collected U.S. data; JHL and DP completed translations and led data collection in Taiwan and Germany, respectively; NDB and JAW conducted analyses. The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Yu-Fan Chen and Cheng-Yi Liu in the Chinese-language translation and validation. A portion of this work was supported by Ministry of Science and Technology, R.O.C. grant #103-2628-H-009-002-SS4 .
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019
PY - 2019/9
Y1 - 2019/9
N2 - The connection between player and avatar is understood to be central to the experience and effects of massively multiplayer online (MMO) gaming experiences, and these connections emerge from the interplays of both social and ludic characteristics. The comprehensive social/ludic measure of this player-avatar interaction (PAX), however, features some dimensions with theoretical/operational gaps and limited reliability, and is available only in English (despite evidence of potential cultural variations in player-avatar relations). The present study aimed to a) enhance and refine the PAX metric, and b) translate and validate a common metric that bridges English, German, and traditional Chinese languages to facilitate future comparative research. Through exploratory factor analysis of data from MMO players in each of these language-based populations, an improved 15-item common Player Avatar Interaction (cPAX) scale is presented, with four dimensions: relational closeness, anthropomorphic autonomy, critical concern, and sense of control. The metric is shown to be reliable within and across populations, and construct validity tests show expected associations between scale dimensions and both player-avatar relationship types and senses of human-like relatedness.
AB - The connection between player and avatar is understood to be central to the experience and effects of massively multiplayer online (MMO) gaming experiences, and these connections emerge from the interplays of both social and ludic characteristics. The comprehensive social/ludic measure of this player-avatar interaction (PAX), however, features some dimensions with theoretical/operational gaps and limited reliability, and is available only in English (despite evidence of potential cultural variations in player-avatar relations). The present study aimed to a) enhance and refine the PAX metric, and b) translate and validate a common metric that bridges English, German, and traditional Chinese languages to facilitate future comparative research. Through exploratory factor analysis of data from MMO players in each of these language-based populations, an improved 15-item common Player Avatar Interaction (cPAX) scale is presented, with four dimensions: relational closeness, anthropomorphic autonomy, critical concern, and sense of control. The metric is shown to be reliable within and across populations, and construct validity tests show expected associations between scale dimensions and both player-avatar relationship types and senses of human-like relatedness.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85064007838&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ijhcs.2019.03.003
DO - 10.1016/j.ijhcs.2019.03.003
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85064007838
SN - 1071-5819
VL - 129
SP - 64
EP - 73
JO - International Journal of Human Computer Studies
JF - International Journal of Human Computer Studies
ER -