An Investigation to Determine if Sport Video Games Helps Community College Students Become Interested in Real-life Sports

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Authors: Dr. Daniel Kane

Affiliations: CUNY Kingsborough Community College and United States Sports Academy  

Corresponding Author:
Dr. Daniel Kane
Danielskane@gmail.com
917-545-9179

Dr. Daniel Kane is an Assistant Professor of Tourism and Hospitality at CUNY Kingsborough Community College.  Dr. Kane is also an alumnus of the United States Sports Academy.

An Investigation to Determine if Sport Video Games Helps Community College Students Become Interested in Real-life Sports.

ABSTRACT

This study attempted to determine if community college students learned, became interested in, or play a real-life sport by playing sport video games.  The study was Institutional Review Board (IRB) approved and conducted at the City University of New York Kingsborough Community College.  A new questionnaire was developed called the Sports Video Games Questionnaire.  The researcher worked with a panel of experts and ran two pilot studies to develop the Sports Video Games Questionnaire.  A total of 101 students that have played or are currently playing sport video games participated in the study.

The results were positive and reveled that community college students felt that playing sport video games helped build a connection to real-life sports.  The majority of the subjects felt that playing sport video games taught them about the rules, real-life players or teams (in a league), and enhanced their knowledge of real-life sports.  Also, the majority of the subjects felt that sport video games helped them become a fan of a real-life sport team, a real-life sport, a real-life athlete, and increased their interest in playing a real-life sport.  Sport video games can be a tool that helps connect people to real-life sports.

Keywords: Esports, sport video games

INTRODUCTION

In 1983, Electronic Arts licensed Julius Erving’s name and likeness and created a game for the Apple II computer called Dr. J and Larry Bird Go One-on-One (10).  Although the graphics are subpar by current graphics standards, the game introduced people to Julius Irving (Dr. J) and Larry Bird.  The game also introduced people to one-on-one basketball.  A person that played the game was able to see the concept of dribbling and shooting a basketball into the hoop to gain points.  Players could associate the video game with the players on television in the National Basketball Association (NBA). 

The game Dr. J and Larry Bird Go One-on-One was unique at the time as the game was the first video game to obtain the rights to use real athlete’s name and likeness in a sports game (10).  In the same year (1983) the game was released, Dr. J and the Philadelphia 76ers swept the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA finals (4).  People could identify the names Dr. J and Larry Bird from the video game when watching the NBA.  By 1988, Dr. J and Larry Bird Go One-on-One sold more than 400,000 units and was rated as one of the best-selling sport video games (SVG) on the computer at the time (15).

Due to the success of Dr. J and Larry Bird Go One-on-One, in 1986 Electronic Arts created the first John Madden Football game and was extremely successful that the game received playbook and roster updates (10).  Electronic Arts recognized that players were interested in a simulation football game that included more detail and functions than the typical arcade game where players would play for a high score.  By 1990, the John Madden Football game included 28 National Football League (NFL) teams and playbooks that were designed by John Madden (10). The overall success of the John Madden Football series continued to grow over the years.

As of 2019, Madden video games(formerly known as John Madden Football), has become synonymous with football video games.  In addition to the Madden series, Electronic Arts creates sports games that simulate the National Basketball Association (NBA), the National Hockey League (NHL), the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) (7).  Electronic Arts are not the only sports game publisher in the video game market.  Video game developers such as 2K, which create the NBA2k series (1) and video game publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment which creates MLB (Major League Baseball) The Show series (18).  Although the developers and publishers may be different, SVG that have sport leagues licenses are becoming more realistic each year with the advancement of technology.

As SVG popularity increases, opportunities arise to use SVG to teach people about sports.  An SVG such as Madden NFL 19 is attempting to create a video game that mimics the real-life sport.  From the stadium to the players, developers such as Electronic Arts are attempting to capture every detail within an SVG.  This paper investigated the concept that SVG has helped community college students learn about a real-life sport and helped community college students become interested in a real-life sport.  Also, playing an SVG can help transition a community college student from playing video games to watching or playing the sport in real life.

METHODS

The foundation for this study was based on the research question that sport video games are tools that introduced or enhanced a community college student’s interest in sports.  The researcher felt that sport video games could be beneficial for the sports industry.  SVG can be used as a tool to create and enhance people’s interest in real-life sports.  In order to structure the study, research questions helped determine if people learned and gained interest in real-life sports through sport video games.

Research Question 1: Did community college students learn about a sport by playing sport video games?

Research Question 2: Do playing sport video games enhance a community college student’s knowledge about a real-life sport?

Research Question 3: Did community college students become a fan of the real-life sport by playing sport video games?

Research Question 4: Does playing sport video games increase interest in playing the real-life sport?

Selection of Subjects

The research subjects for the study consisted of students from CUNY Kingsborough Community College (KCC).  KCC is located in Brooklyn, New York, and is one of seven community colleges within the City University of New York system.  KCC has an enrollment of around 15,000 students, offers 38 associate degrees, and the student population represents around 142 different countries (5).  The diverse student population provided a valid population for the study.

In order to determine the subjects for the study, the questionnaire’s first question asked if the student is currently or has ever played a sport video game.  If the student responded no to the question, the student did not qualify to participate in the study.  If the student responded yes to the question, the student was able to complete the survey.  Having a yes or no question as the first question of the questionnaire helped to determine which students qualified for the study.  The students at KCC that responded to the survey become the study population.  Gratton and Jones (9) state that a minimum of thirty subjects should be used for descriptive statistics.  Panacek & Thompson (17) explain that when creating the study population, the target population are the subjects that will qualify for the study.

Instrumentation

The research instrument was developed by the researcher, reviewed by a panel of experts and tested in two pilot studies.  The survey instrument is a 22-item questionnaire that received IRB approval from the United States Sports Academy.  The questionnaire consisted of Likert scale (13) questions as well as fill-in questions in which the subjects provided their own answers.  Leedy and Ormrod (12) state using a rating scale is an effective way to capture an individual’s behavior or phenomenon of interest.  The Likert scale has become a very popular tool to capture subjects’ answers on questionnaires. 

The questionnaire has three sections, which are general information, video game identification, and survey.  In the first section, the general information consists of three questions that ask the subject to provide demographic information.  In the second section, video game identification consists of two questions and collects information about which sport video game series the subject plays or played and which video game system the student currently owns.  In the third section, the survey, which consists of 16 questions, collects information on sport video games and real-life sports.  The goal of the survey is to capture three different topics, which are if playing sport video games helped the subject learn about a sport, become a fan of a real-life sport, and interest in watching or playing the real-life sport.  Adelson and McCoach (2) explain previous researchers recommend using two to three categories when using a multi-point Likert scale.

RESULTS

The survey was conducted at KCC’s cafeteria.  A total of 101 students qualified and participated in the study.  The survey was offered as a pen and paper option or through two tablets set up to SurveyMonkey’s kiosk mode.  All 101 subjects chose the pen and paper option when completing the questionnaire.  The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics to determine if SVG helped community college students learn about real-life sports by playing video games.  McEvoy (14) states descriptive statistics can be used to show a visual of the data and describe the central tendencies.  A Cronbach’s alpha with a confidence level of 95% determined the reliability of the questionnaire.  Cronbach’s alpha is a common tool for measuring reliability when using a Likert scale questionnaire (11).  Cronbach’s alpha = .8368.

General Information Results

The first part of the survey asked three demographic questions.  The first question asked the subject to identify their gender.  A total of 100 subjects responded to the question, and 87% identified as male, 12% identified as female, 1% stated other, and one person skipped the question.  Question two asked the subjects to write in their age.  The question about age releveled that 79% of the subjects were between the ages of 18-21 (n = 80).  Question three asked the subjects to identify their major.  A total of 98 subjects responded, and three people skipped the question.  The top four majors were Liberal Arts (19%), Criminal Justice (14%), Business Administration (9%), and Sports Management (7%).

Video Game Identification Results

The second part of the survey asked the subjects to identify which video games they are currently playing or have played in the past.  The top four sport video games that are being played or have been played in the past are NBA 2K19 (18%), NBA 2K20 (16.67%), FIFA 19 (12.67%), and UFC 3 (11.67%).  The subjects were asked about which video game system do they own.  The top three video game systems are the PlayStation 4 (49.34%), Xbox One (20.39%), and the PC (13.16%).

Survey Results

The third part of the survey identified the subject’s opinions about sport video games, and the responses are used to answer research questions one to four.  For questions nine – 17, the subjects were asked questions based on a Likert scale.  The Likert scale choices were strongly agree, agree, neither agree nor disagree, disagree, strongly disagree.  The choices were then converted into numerical responses when analyzing the data.  Strongly agree = 5, agree = 4, neither agree nor disagree = 3, disagree = 2, and strongly disagree = 1.

Question nine of the survey asked the subjects if playing a sport video game taught the subject about the rules of a real-life sport.  All the subjects answered the questions (N =101, M = 4.1683, SD = .8133).  Strongly agree (36.63%), agree (49.50%), neither agree or disagree (7.92%), disagree (5.94%), and no subjects strongly disagree. 

Question ten of the survey asked the subjects if playing a sport video game taught them about players on a team or in a league of a real-life sport.  All the subjects answered the question (N =101, M =4.3069, SD =.7313).  Strongly agree (42.57%), agree (49.50%), neither agree or disagree (3.96%), disagree (3.96%), and no subjects strongly disagree. 

Question 11 of the survey asked the subjects if playing a sport video game enhanced their knowledge of a real-life sport.  A total of 100 subjects answered the question, and one subject skipped (M = 4.31, SD = .7875).  Strongly agree (47%), agree (41%), neither agree or disagree (8%), disagree (4%), and no subjects strongly disagree. 

Question 12 of the survey asked the subjects if playing a sport video game helped them to become a fan of a real-life sport team.  All the subjects answered the question (N =101, M = 4.0297, SD = .9945).  Strongly agree (40.59%), agree (31.68%), neither agree or disagree (17.82%), disagree (9.90%), and no subjects strongly disagree. 

Question 13 of the survey asked the subjects if playing a sport video game helped them become a fan of a real-life athlete.  All the subjects answered the question (N =101, M = 4.020, SD = 1.068).  Strongly agree (42.57%), agree (30.69%), neither agree or disagree (13.86%), disagree (11.88%), and strongly disagree (0.99%).  The mean is 4.020, and the standard deviation is 1.068. 

Question 14 of the survey asked the subjects if playing a sport video game increased their interest in playing a real-life sport.  All the subjects answered the question (N =101, M = 4.3366, SD = .8280).  Strongly agree (51.49%), agree (35.64%), neither agree or disagree (7.92%), disagree (4.95%), and no subjects strongly disagree. 

Question 15 of the survey asked the subjects if playing a sport video game increased their interest in watching sports on television.  A total of 100 subjects answered the question, and one subject skipped (M = 3.98, SD = .9947).  Strongly agree (34%), agree (43%), neither agree or disagree (11%), disagree (11%), and strongly disagree (1%). 

Question 16 of the survey asked the subjects if a real-life sport increased their interest in playing a sport video game.  A total of 99 subjects answered the question, and two subjects skipped the question (M = 4.3030, SD = .8743).  Strongly agree (51.52%), agree (33.33%), neither agree or disagree (9.09%), disagree (6.06%), and no subjects strongly disagree. 

Question 17 of the survey asked the subjects if playing a sport video game increased their interest in more than one sport.  A total of 98 subjects answered the question, and three subjects skipped the question (M = 4.0102, SD = .9138).  Strongly agree (30.61%), agree (50%), neither agree or disagree (10.20%), disagree (8.16%), and strongly disagree (1.02%). 

Question 18 of the survey was a yes or no question to determine if the subjects ever played a sport video game before ever watching the real-life sport on television.  A total of 99 subjects answered the question, and two subjects skipped the question.  The results showed that 74.75% of the subject answered yes, and 25.25 of the subjects answered no. 

Question 19 asked the subjects to fill in the average amount of time that they spend playing a sport video game in one session.  A total of 97 subjects answered the question, and four subjects skipped the question.  The results are 30 mins to 3 hours and 59 mins (N = 66), four hours to nine hours and 59 mins (N = 25), and 10-15 hours (N = 6). 

Question 20 of the survey asked the subjects how often do they play sports video games based on a 10-point Likert scale.  A total of 100 subjects answered the question, and one subject skipped the question.  Everyday (17%), a few times a week (38%), about once a week (15%), a few times a month (11%), once a month (5%), a few times a year (12%), and 5+ years (2%). 

Question 21 of the survey asked the subjects in the past week, how many times did they play any sport video games.  A total of 99 subjects answered the question, and two subjects skipped the question.  None (22.22%), 1-4 (41.41%), 5-9 (21.21%), 10-14 (6.06%), 15-20 (4.04%), and 21 and up (5.05%).

The final three questions of the survey analyzed real-life sports and asked the questions using an eight-point Likert scale (question 22 and question 24), and a seven-point Likert scale (question 23).  The responses were never, every day, a few times a week, about once a week, a few times a month, once a month a few times a year, and once a year.  All the subjects (n = 101) answered questions 22, 23, and 24.  Question 22 asked how often do the subjects play a real-life physical sport that is similar to the video games that they typically play.  The response a few times a week (29.70%) was selected the most often.  Question 23 asked how often do they watch a real-life sporting event on television.  The response a few times a week (33.66%) was selected the most often.  Question 24 asked how often do they attend a live sporting event.  The response a few times a year (37.62%) was selected the most often.

Mann-Whitney U Test

In addition to descriptive statistics, a Mann-Whitney U test was run to determine if there was a significant difference between males (N = 87) and females (N = 12) and their responses.  The subject that responded other when asked about gender was omitted from the Mann-Whitney U test as the size of the sample has to be a minimum of 10.  The confidence level = 95%.  H0: There is no difference in responses between gender among community college students.  H1: There is a difference in responses between gender among community college students.  The results showed that question nine was the only significant difference between genders (p = .043).

Another Mann Whitney U test was run to analyze if there was a difference between people that played a sport video game prior to watching the real-life sport on television.   The confidence level = 95%.  H0: There is no difference in responses from people that have and have not played a sport video game prior to watching the real-life sport on television.  H1: There is a difference in responses from people that have and have not played a sport video game prior to watching the real-life sport on television.  The results showed that question 13 was the only significant difference between subjects that have or have not played sport video games prior to watching the real-life sport on television (p = .017).

DISCUSSION

The study can be considered a foundation for determining if community college students felt that sports video games either helped them learn, became interested in, or play a real-life sport.  Prior research is limited that has directly asked community college students their opinions about the influence that sport video games had on their interest with real-life sports.  Since research is limited, the researcher created the Sports Video Games questionnaire to help determine if community college students felt that sport video games influenced their interest in real-life sports.  The study produced positive results that can help build on future research.

All of the participates in the study felt that sport video games had influenced some aspects of their interest in real-life sports.  Questions nine through 17 had means over four, with the exception of question 15 (M = 3.98).  Students agree that sport video games have played a role in either learning about or enhancing their knowledge of a real-life sport.  In addition to questions nine through 14 (which showed positive results for the research questions), the subjects were asked additional questions to help determine if community college students felt that sport video games influenced their experience with real-life sports.  Question 15 asked the subjects (N =100) if playing a sport video game increased their interest in watching sports on television.  The majority of the subjects either agreed or strongly agreed with the question (77%).  Question 17 asked the subjects (N = 98) if playing a sport video game increased their interest in more than one sport (80.61%).

The results of the study can help to advance the concept that playing video games can have a positive result rather than a negative result on the players.  Previous research has attempted to demonstrate the negative aspects of playing video games.  However, the results of the study are positive for sport video game players and the sports industry.  People that play sport video games identified that they have learned about and became interested in real-life sports from playing sport video games.  Doyle et al. (6) highlight that sport fans gain positive emotions, relationships with friends and families, gain meaning and a feeling of a connection, and a sense of accomplishment.  People that play sport video games may also be gaining the benefits that sports have on their fans.

The sports industry can benefit from the results of the study, as well.  Community college students identified that sport video games had been a link to real-life sports.  Sport organizations can attempt to connect with local community colleges and create promotions or sponsorships.  A sport organization may be interested in hosting an eSports tournament or sponsor an eSports team.  Creating a connection between sport video game players at a community college and the sport organization can help to build fan identification.

Sport organizations should also consider the amount of time the subjects are playing sport video games.  The average amount of time a subject would play a sport video game is 3.5 hours per session.  A total of 38% of the subjects stated that they would play sport video games a few times a week.  Sport organizations can work with video game designers to create special modes that can be used to educate and teach about the real-life sport.  If people are willing to spend 3.5 hours a few times a week playing a sport video game, the sport video game can be used as an educational tool.

An interesting decision that resulted from the study was the lack of students that wanted to complete the survey on a tablet when a pen and paper questionnaire was also presented as an option.  The students at KCC’s cafeteria were receptive when they were approached and asked to participate in a study.  When the student agreed to participate and presented the option of a tablet or pen and paper questionnaire, all the students chose the pen and paper option.  An observation the researcher made was the students did not seem to trust the tablet option and felt more comfortable answering a pen and paper questionnaire.

CONCLUSIONS

The study resulted in all positive responses on the Sports Video Games Questionnaire, demonstrating that community college students felt that sport video games had a positive effect on them learning about real-life life sports.  The first research question, did community college students learn about a sport by playing sport video games?  Question nine asked the students (N =101) if playing a sport video game taught them about the rules of a real-life sport. The majority of the subjects either agreed or strongly agreed with the question (86.13%).  Question ten asked the students (N =101) if they learned about real-life players or teams or in a league by playing sport video games.  The majority of the subjects either agreed or strongly agreed with the question (92.07%). 

The second research question, does playing sport video games enhance a community college student’s knowledge about a real-life sport?  Question 11 asked the students (N = 100) if playing a sport video game enhanced their knowledge about a real-life sport.  The majority of the subjects either agreed or strongly agreed with question 11 (88%).  The result demonstrates that the subjects identified that playing sport video games enhanced their knowledge about a real-life sport.

The third research question, did community college students become a fan of the real-life sport by playing sport video games?  Question 12 asked the subjects (N = 101) if playing a sport video game helped them become a fan of a real-life sport team.  The majority of the subjects either agreed or strongly agreed with the question (72.27%).  Question 13 asked the subjects if playing a sport video game helped them become a fan of a real-life athlete.  The majority of the subjects either agreed or strongly agreed with the question (73.56%).

The fourth research question, do sport video games increase interest in playing the real-life sport?  Question 14 asked the subjects (N = 101) if playing a sport video game increased their interest in playing a real-life sport.  The majority of the subjects either agreed or strongly agreed with the question (87.13%).  All four research questions results were positive, which demonstrates that community college students felt sport video games had had a positive effect on their interactions with real-life sports.

APPLICATIONS IN SPORT

The results of the study demonstrate that community college students recognize that sport video games have had a positive influence on their interactions with real-life sports.  A future study can test the concepts presented in this study.  A professor teaching Introduction to Sports Management class can attempt to gauge which sport the class may lack knowledge about and be interested in learning.  The students then can fill out a pre-test questionnaire gauging their knowledge of a sport.  The professor can bring in a video game system and have the students play exhibition matches against each other.  Then a post-test can attempt to determine if after playing the sport video game helped.

An example is soccer.  The researcher has taught Introduction to Sport Management at KCC for over seven years, and the class would state that they had limited knowledge about soccer.  The researcher could bring in FIFA on a video game system and let the students play and watch the matches.  A pretest-posttest can attempt to determine if the students learn about the rules (such as offside), players, and the teams.  If the results are positive, video games can be used to teach students about sports.

Another future study can analyze the difference between males and females when playing a sport video game and learning the rules of a real-life sport. The Mann Whitney U test was run analyzing if any significant differences existed in the responses between males and females.  Question nine was the only question that showed a significant difference (p = .043) between males and females.  Similar to the first pretest-posttest suggestion, a future researcher can analyze how males and females learn about real-life sports from playing video games.

The third recommendation is to analyze if sports video games being shown on television is enhancing a subject’s interest in real-life sports.  As of April 2020, no major sporting events are occurring in the United States due to Coronavirus (COVID-19) (19).  Instead, sports such as NASCAR (3) and tennis (8) are being played using simulations similar to video games and being shown on national television.  This is the first time major sports are being played virtually in lieu of real-life sports.  A future study can attempt to determine if seeing major sports being played virtually helped to enhance a person’s interest in real-life sports.

The results of the questionnaire can also be used as a foundation to analyze eSports leagues.  An example is how major sport leagues are interested in starting an eSports leagues.  In 2017, The NBA announced a collaboration with Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc to create an NBA 2K eLeague (16).  The top two sport video games played by the subjects were NBA 2K19 (18%) and NBA 2K20 (16.67%).  The subjects (N= 65) stated they play(ed) either NBA 2K19, NBA 2K20, or both felt that they learned about a real-life sport by playing sport video games (M = 4.2, SD = .0961).  A study can analyze if ESports leagues can be a starting point for people to learn about real-life sport leagues.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I will like to thank Dr. Anthony Borgese, Dr. Fred Cromartie, and Dr. Brandon Spradley for their support and guidance.

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