Improving Social Skills Through Game Jam Participation

Keywords

Game jams; Jam outcomes; Jam participation; Self-efficacy; Skill zcquisition; Social skills

Abstract

As game jams become more popular among both game developers and people interested in becoming one, the number of jams that occur each year has grown at an astronomical pace. Given this popularity, it is clear that participants are gaining some intrinsic value from participation. This appears to come in many forms including new friends, business partnerships, portfolio pieces, development practice, skill acquisition, and improved confidence in personal abilities. This research set out specifically to explore the effects of game jam participation on personal self-efficacy related to the skills required to successfully perform at a jam. Game jams tend to be social events and participants are often times less social individuals. Putting participants in the situation of having to communicate their ideas with others and express themselves under the stress of a deadline while the entire team is acquiring new skills sounds like a recipe for disaster, however, this is not the case. A pre and post-event self-efficacy measure was administered at the 2016 Global Game Jam site in Orlando Fl. The results of this research show significant improvements in self-efficacy related to the social skills required to be successful at a game jam. It is possible that the excitement and challenge of developing a game helps facilitate breaking down of social walls and provides an opportunity to practice socialization skills with purpose that is motivating to participants.

Publication Date

3-13-2016

Publication Title

Proceedings of the International Conference on Game Jams, Hackathons, and Game Creation Events, GJH and GC 2016

Number of Pages

8-14

Document Type

Article; Proceedings Paper

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1145/2897167.2897172

Socpus ID

84968854034 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/84968854034

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