Patterns of digital game-play in Australian high school students

This paper examines the varieties of digital play practices among students in two high schools in Victoria, Australia, in order to get a situated understanding of the patterns of youths' out-of-school gaming practices, and the role the respondents perceived these practices have in their lives. In this study we analysed survey questions that were administered to approximately three hundred and thirty respondents across the two schools. The questions focused on the technical details of play, particular games played, and students' attitudes towards games. The questions dealing with students' attitudes and perceptions of their play practices were analysed using factor analysis and cluster analysis. The factor analysis revealed three factors, interpreted as: Competition, Creation and Socialization. The cluster analysis on these three dimensions revealed five clusters - primarily social, primarily creative, primarily competitive, overall positive, and overall negative. The clusters were associated with other variables, in particular, students' gender, amount of time they spent playing games, and access to technology.