This article introduces a new instrument called the game communities of inquiry scale (GCoIS). It was inspired by the community of inquiry framework and its related questionnaires. The purpose of the scale is to explore game communities from an educational perspective. It was validated with 1,275 players inhabiting digital outlets like Twitch.tv, Reddit, and Discord. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were completed, leading to a final scale composed of 14 items subdivided in three subscales: 1) community attractiveness, 2) community receptiveness, and 3) community cognition. The paper describes the development and testing of the instrument. It concludes with implications for scholars and practitioners who can employ this instrument for understanding game communities and their traits.
TopIntroduction
Video games represent the leading entertainment sector in terms of revenues and technological innovations (Wijman, 2019). Despite its prevalence, debates still exist concerning its overall impact (Markey & Ferguson, 2017; Przybylski & Weinstein, 2019). Some point to negative behavioral outcomes like violence and aggression (Anderson et al., 2017) while others suggest that it can be used positively to impact outcomes like teaching and learning (Mayer et al., 2019). The recent events related to the so-called gamergate (Mortensen, 2016) and internet game disorder (Gentile et al., 2017) are counterbalanced by an increased adoption of digital games for instruction and education at multiple grades and levels, highlighting their benefits in terms of critical thinking and problem solving (Gandolfi, 2018; Ferdig, 2014).
Outside of these ongoing debates, it is increasingly evident that game play is a social event surrounded by communities of players (Rogers, 2017). Current hits like Fortnite (2017) and League of Legends (2009) have continued to change the social dimension of game play. An increasing number of people live multiplayer video games as social and shared experiences, playing with others, watching e-athletes in esports competitions, and debating their passion on social media platforms like Reddit (2005) and Twitch.tv (2006).
Due to the increase in social aspects of gaming, there has been a related growth of research exploring positive and negative aspects of game-based, social interaction. For instance, these online environments have been accused of hosting disruptive behaviors, requiring measures from publishers and developers to mitigate such media toxicity with features like reporting negativity (Euteneuer, 2019). Conversely, these settings have been promoted for inclusion and social capital (Tseng et al., 2015). However, very little is known about other important aspects like how education is impacted in multiplayer games and their related social communities. This could be due, in part, to a lack of properly aligned instruments aimed at studying such dimensions.
With this gap in mind, this article presents an investigation of learning via social gaming. More specifically, this article reports on a research study aimed at the creation and validation of an instrument used to measure game communities, social interactions, and learning. The scale that was developed is called the Game Communities of Inquiry Scale (GCoIS). It was built upon the well-established community of inquiry framework and associated instruments (Arbaugh et al., 2008). The research study investigated the psychometric properties of the GCoIS using a diverse sample of adult gamers from different game communities. Measurement invariance was also used to examine if the validated scale was relevant and meaningful for gamers in different age groups (i.e., gamers who are between 18 and 25 vs. gamers who are 25 and older). The following research questions were addressed in this investigation:
- 1.
What is the factor structure of the GCoIS?
- 2.
What construct validation evidence exists for the GCoIS factor structure?
- 3.
Is the GCoIS invariant across gamers who are between 18 and 25 and gamers who are 25 and older?