Digital games in the context of adolescent media behavior

Abstract

The market for computer and video games (digital games) has evolved continuously over the last 40 years. New technical options, target groups, and social fields of activity are constantly being incorporated by, for example, mobile gaming, graphically perfected virtual gaming worlds, learning and exercise games, and expansion in the direction of serious gaming. Today’s reception-oriented research focuses both on the content as well as the use of the games and their effect on the gamers. The discussion about the various aspects of use and effect is extended in this chapter by examining the social, youth-cultural significance and the contexts of gaming with regard to media activities in general. Based on the data of a large-scale empirical adolescent media study, we investigate in which way digital games are integrated into the overall media activity and the social setting of adolescents in Germany, especially in light of a significant increase in its importance in the overall media canon. The aim is to integrate the disputes surrounding digital games in the overall discussion on the media activity of adolescents and, therefore, gain an objective or more objective view in contrast to an often emotionalized evaluation by both proponents and critics.