Positive Effects of Entertainment Technology on Human Behaviour

In: Rene Jacquart (Ed.) Building the Information Society. © IFIP, Kluwer Academic Press, 2004, pp. 51-58

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POSITIVE EFFECTS OF ENTERTAINMENT TECHNOLOGY ON HUMAN BEHAVIOUR

Matthias Rauterberg
Technical University Eindhoven (The Netherlands)

Abstract: Worldwide the pros and cons of games and social behaviour are discussed. In Western countries the discussion is focussing on violent game and media content; in Japan on intensive game usage and the impact on the intellectual development of children. A lot is already discussed on the harmful and negative effects of entertainment technology on human behaviour, therefore we decided to focus primarily on the positive effects. Based on an online document search we could find and select 393 online available publications according the following categories: meta review (N=34), meta analysis (N=13), literature review (N=38), literature survey (N=36), empirical study (N=91), survey study (N=44), design study (N=91), any other document (N=46). In this paper a first preliminary overview over positive effects of entertainment technology on human behaviour is presented and discussed. The drawn recommendations can support developers and designers in entertainment industry. Key words: Meta review, entertainment, positive effect, behaviour, recommendations.

1.

INTRODUCTION

This paper focuses on users’ growing use of entertainment technology at work, in school and at home, and the impact of this technology on their behaviour. Nearly every working and living place has computers, and over two-thirds of children in high industrialized countries have computers in their homes as well [7] [12]. All of us would probably agree that adults and children (normal, impaired and disabled) need to become competent users to be prepared for life and work in the future. Especially children’s growing use of entertainment technologies brings with it both the risk of possible harm and the promise of enriched learning, well-being and

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