Journal of Information Technology and Applications
Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 31-40 2016
Investigation of the Influence of Gameplay Anonymity and Cooperation
Mode on an English Vocabulary learning Game
Jia-Jiunn Lo* and Yu-Jun Lin
Department of Information Management, Chung Hua University, Taiwan ([email protected])
Abstract
Recently, digital game-based learning has got more interest. Its effect is highly determined by the way how
students perceive educational games. Students as players may have different perceptions of educational games
depending on contextual factors such as gameplay anonymity and cooperation. Anonymous environments hide
players’ personal profiles, hence decrease social pressure which in turn may influence players’ behaviors. The
existence of cooperation between players may have impacts on players’ behaviors, too. These factors may in turn
influence players’ learning and motivation in the game-based learning environment. As a consequence, this study
investigated the influence of gameplay anonymity for different competition/cooperation modes of an multiplayer
English vocabulary learning game. A class of twenty six fourth grade elementary school students were recruited
and exposed to four gameplay modes including anonymous/cooperation, non-anonymous/cooperation,
anonymous/no cooperation, and non-anonymous/no cooperation. An English vocabulary learning attitude
questionnaire and a game attitude questionnaire were completed by the participants. Though there were no
significant differences of participants’ English vocabulary learning attitude before and after the experiment, the
experimental results revealed that the game used in this study is a well-designed digital game-based English
vocabulary learning program with both high “education” and “entertainment” ingredients. The results also
showed that both gameplay anonymity and cooperation did have impacts on participants’ attitude toward the
game.
Keyword: gameplay anonymity, gameplay cooperation, English vocabulary learning game, English vocabulary
learning attitude, game attitude
grew up with the computer and the applications of
information technologies on educational contexts are
increasingly getting popular worldwide. One
characteristic of computers is their “patience” in
repetition and recycling tasks which conform to the
repeated exposure and practice requirements of
vocabulary learning (Chen & Lo, 2011). Digital
educational games suggest a new learning paradigm
of learning by playing within visual and interesting
environments to capture learners’ interests, encourage
active learning, develop learning by doing, and
trigger motivation and enjoyment (Regueras et al.,
2009) and have been broadly integrated into language
learning applications. They are particularly effective
in learning boring materials such as vocabulary
learning (Prensky, 2001). While playing games,
players as learners take control of the learning
processes so that they are more willing to learn
actively (Chen & Lo, 2011).
Games are primarily social processes and
learning mechanisms common to all cultures. They
are usually designed to compete with people or with
time to stimulate players (Hwang, et al., 2013).
Vandercruysee et al. (2013) stated that including
1. Introduction
Comparing to other EFL (English as a Foreign
Language) learners, English learning is particularly
challenging for Taiwanese students because Chinese
and English are vastly different languages. The most
serious obstacle is not lack of various reading
strategies but insufficient English vocabulary (Chen
& Lo, 2011; Smith et al., 2013). Shemesh & Waller
(2000) pointed out that to enhance vocabulary
acquisition abilities, practice is indispensable. They
even stated that “No practice, no learning!” However,
vocabulary learning is a terrible experience for most
learners in Taiwan. They usually think it is boring to
memorize vocabulary and the outcome is often
limited and even frustrating (Chen & Lo, 2011; Smith
et al., 2013). Therefore, how to improve people’s
English vocabulary learning abilities has become an
unavoidable issue in Taiwan.
It has been acknowledged that the effect of
instruction is highly determined by the way how
students perceive the instruction (Vandercruysee et al.,
2013). Contemporary students are digital natives who
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Journal of Information Technology and Applications
Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 31-40 2016
competition in educational games may not only affect
players’ learning results but also their engagement or
motivation by providing additional challenge,
attention, motivational and active participation.
Incorporating competition into educational games has
both positive and negative effects (Lin et al., 2010).
The positive effects of competition include
stimulating the learning motivation which in turn
promotes learning and sometimes shorten the whole
learning processes (Burguillo, 2010; Regueras et al.,
2009). In multiplayer games, players can achieve
better comprehension, retain the information longer,
and enjoy learning more with active learning
methodologies which can be structured to force
learners to compete each other. The potential negative
effects include the less trust between peers with the
stress from competition and the reduction of
motivation of incapable learners (Lin et al., 2010).
Therefore, it is worthy to find solutions to take
advantage from competitive learning with
minimizing the negative effects.
In multiplayer games, players’ social behaviors
are to maximize their own rewards and minimize
their costs (Hong et al., 2012). It is important to
realize
inter-individual
and
intra-individual
differences of how students act in educational games
(Vandercruysee et al., 2013). Researchers have paid
more attention on designing game-based learning by
combining competition and cooperation to moderate
the negative effects of competitive learning and take
the advantages of collaborative learning (Alessi &
Trollip, 2001; Fu et al., 2009). The competition type
and in-group cooperation may have impacts on
players’ behaviors in the game-based learning
environment, which in turn influence their learning
performances and motivation (Bailey et al., 2012;
Vandercruysee et al., 2013).
Anonymity
may
regulate
individual
psychological states and perceptions, hence has an
important impact on the individual behavior (Blau &
Caspi, 2008; Dufwenberg & Muren, 2006). In the
context of digital game-based learning, especially
multiplayer games, in which competition is usually
embedded, the moderating effect of anonymity may
have important implications (Yu et al., 2008). By
asking thirty six junior high school students to be
exposed to different competitive modes in an
educational board game, Yu et al. (2002) found that
players preferred anonymous mode and disliked
non-anonymous (face-to-face) mode. Players
indicated that anonymous mode is more exciting,
more stimulating because it is mysterious, more
challenging, less stressful, less harmful to friendships,
and easier to overcome stereotyping usually
prevailing in the classroom as to who is performing
well and bad. Blau & Caspi (2008) also addressed
that anonymity in cyberspace may serve as a shield to
decrease the fear of criticism, therefore enhances
participation and leads to a more risky behavior such
as answering questions. On the other hand, in
non-anonymous mode, players are easier to quarrel
with opponents which may have a negative effect on
interpersonal relationships, stressful to compete with
those generally perform well in class, feeling
terrifying
and
strained.
Moreover,
in
a
non-anonymous game, players may face those who
they dislike in real life (Yu et al., 2002).
There must be some minimal level of trust if
players mutually succeed in playing a game in which
they are engaged (Reynolds, 2012). Though Yu et al.
(2002) addressed that anonymity may have
advantages players prefer, it may not generate
genuine trust through interactions in that anonymity
lacks of identity, personal characteristics, and
inscrutable social setting and clear roles (Reynolds,
2012). Massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs)
usually possess a degree of identification with the
created characters, hence mutual trust can be
generated.
Recently, the impacts of anonymity on
behaviors have been investigated by researchers in
areas such as social psychology and group decision
making process (Dufwenberg & Muren, 2006; Knight
& Chao, 1989). However, the impacts of anonymity
in the context of multiplayer educational games
which integrate different group cooperation levels
into competition has rarely been investigated. It is
therefore important to explore how players play in
multiplayer educational games with different
anonymous conditions under different competition
and cooperation contexts to have a better
understanding of how to implement digital
game-based learning in practice. As a consequence,
this study investigated the influence of gameplay
anonymity and cooperation modes on a multiplayer
educational game.
2. Methodology
2.2.1 VocaMono Game
This study was conducted with a multiplayer
English vocabulary learning game, VocaMono (Lo &
ALMaghalsah, 2014; Lo & Hsin, 2014). VocaMono is
a multiplayer competitive game which effectively
integrated the gameplay and pedagogy designs for
English vocabulary learning. This game is adapted
from famous family-friendly games, Monopoly,
Unscramble, and Scrabble. It takes the advantages of
competitive learning to stimulate players’ motivation
to learn English vocabulary. Being adapted from the
famous game Monopoly, though being added with
vocabulary learning activities, VocaMono is designed
as a competitive multiplayer game which has similar
gameplay rules with which players are familiar.
Figure 1 illustrates the no cooperation mode
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Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 31-40 2016
VocaMono game board interface.
The number of alphabet tiles is seven. In each
turn, the system firstly randomly selects a word,
whose length does not exceed seven alphabets, from
the vocabulary database. If the length of a selected
word is less than seven, the remaining tiles are
randomly chosen. These selected alphabet tiles are
randomly ordered. For example, if the word PLAY is
selected and the remaining three alphabets I, G, and
N are randomly selected with the order A1, P3, Y4, G2,
N1, I1, L1. Players can find words with any
combination of alphabet orders. With this design,
players can find the target word, PLAY (3+1+1+4=9
points), or other words, e.g. LIP (1+1+3=5 points),
PAY (with 3+1+4=8 points).
In VocaMono, three pedagogical scaffolding
tools, Class vocabulary book, Personal vocabulary
book, and Dictionary, are developed to facilitate
learning. Class vocabulary book includes target
words corresponding to class progress and the current
learning goal is to facilitate players to acquire these
words. Higher selection probabilities are assigned to
words in Class vocabulary book than other words to
make players have more opportunities to practice.
Furthermore, to encourage players to practice words
in Class vocabulary book to achieve the learning goal,
if a word in Class vocabulary book is correctly
spelled, double credit points will be rewarded for this
word. All players share the same Class vocabulary
book and they can always look up Class vocabulary
book as references to find words. Class vocabulary
book lists the target words to be learnt and raises
players’ interests by doubling the credit points, hence
enhance their adherence to learn target words. Unlike
Class vocabulary book is shared by all players,
Personal vocabulary book records the correctly
spelled words of an individual player during the
gameplay. The player can review his/her own
Personal vocabulary book. At the end of the
gameplay, Personal vocabulary book provides
summary of players’ learning report, which can be
used to estimate their competence of vocabulary
learning. Dictionary is designed to facilitate players
to implement the trial and error process in spelling
and recognizing words.
VocaMono has been designed to have unique
educational game characteristics that are of interest to
vocabulary learning. (1) Word spelling practices in
VocaMono are embedded micro winning rules to
achieve the ultimate goal of becoming the richest
player. Players are motivated to find higher-point
words which are target words to be learnt and are
usually more difficult than words with lower points.
(2) Players need to simultaneously integrate four
cognitive abilities, verbal, visuospatial, numerical,
and strategic, to successfully play the game. (3)
Requiring players to spell words by dragging and
dropping from alphabet tiles is consistent to the
Figure 1: Illustration of VocaMono Game Board (no
cooperation mode)
In this game, each player has two attributes:
money and credit. The ultimate game goal of a player
is to become the richest player. Players play the game
synchronously. The player first clicks two rolling
dices to show the number of steps which his/her
token moves forward along the path on the game
board. Conati & Manske (2009) addressed that games
have limited pedagogical effects unless they are
integrated with instructional activities. The
vocabulary learning activities are integrated into the
gameplay rules by requiring the player to find a
correctly spelled word by dragging and dropping a
series of alphabet tiles. Spelling words correctly can
increase players’ credit points which can be used to
trade cards to play the game strategically. Two types
of cards are designed: Self-reinforcement cards to
increase self-competitiveness (e.g., “controlling dice
numbers”) and Trap cards to attack others (e.g.,
“destroying a house”). The player may choose to use
cards before spelling words. Players find words either
by recalling from memory or by trial and error with
any combination of alphabets. If a word is correctly
spelled, the word’s Chinese translation and type
(noun, verb,…) will be shown and the player’s credit
points increase based on the sum of each alphabet’s
point. Adopted from the spelling game Scrabble,
alphabets’ points are based on alphabets’ possibilities
to form words so that players are encouraged to spell
more difficult words (Table 1).
Table 1: The alphabet points
Point
Alphabet
1
A, E, I, L, N, O, R, S, T, U
2
D, G
3
B, C, M, P
4
F, H, V, W, Y
5
K
8
J, X
10
Q, Z
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Journal of Information Technology and Applications
Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 31-40 2016
players’ identities were shown in non-anonymous
modes.
The cooperation modes were implemented by
exchanging the alphabet tiles between players (Figure
2). Players can see their partners’ alphabet tiles on the
game board. A player can negotiate with his/her
partners through the system embedded chat room for
exchanging alphabet tiles or discussing gameplay
strategies. The partner may or may not agree to
exchange alphabets subject to his/her own interests or
benefits. The compete between teams/cooperate
within team strategy and team-based winning
condition were applied in cooperation modes (Figure
3). Players form teams and alphabet tiles exchange
can take place only within the same team. Each team
included two players. Team partners share the same
ultimate game goal. Their gaming scores will be
summed and the winning condition will be based on
the summed scores. If a team has the highest scores
as the game terminates, the honor will belong to the
whole team, that is, both team partners will win or
lose together.
results as surveyed by Halpern and Wai (2007): most
Scrabble players, both experts and novices, think
about forming words by physically moving the tiles.
(4) It can facilitate players to tell apart words and
non-words hence find spelling patterns. As noted by
Halpern and Wai (2007), “the visualization of
spatially aligned letters that create partial word
combinations using implicit rules of how letters
combine in English to create words (e.g., thr is a
common alignment of letters; rht is not)…” (5)
Players find words from disordered alphabet tiles.
The alphabets must be arranged in correct order.
Though the alphabet tiles are disordered, incorrect
words are not shown to players. It fulfills the design
requirement of avoiding visual learning of
misspellings (Garcia et al., 2008). (6) The design of
Class vocabulary book, Personal vocabulary book,
and Dictionary conforms to what Halpern and Wai
(2007) addressed that in the context of vocabulary
learning, most people learn and retrieve words by
relying on their stored lexicon of word meanings and
they have relatively few words in their lexicon. (7) It
includes the three design tactics of board games,
choice, combination, and creation, to facilitate
players’ thinking and pleasure (Cheng, 2014).
VocaMono allows players to choose one action in
their turn, such as trading or using a card, to deduce
the best strategic thinking to win. Players spell words
by combining alphabet titles with the ability to
recognize, specify, and generalize patterns. Players
also find new words by trial and error which is a type
of creation process with which players can discover
spelling patterns. (8) Class vocabulary book includes
predefined words fitting class progress and players’
knowledge level. It allows players to be challenged at
their current skill levels to maintain their motivations
and enhance their vocabulary acquisition abilities
from the gaming experience.
Figure 2: Illustration of VocaMono Game Board
(cooperation mode)
2.2 Experimental Setting
competition
A class of twenty six fourth grade elementary
school students was involved in this study. They were
randomly divided into seven groups, six groups with
four players and one group with two players. Before
the experiment, there was a ten-minute introduction
for VocaMono. After that, participants played the
game for ten minutes to get acquainted with the
gameplay rule. Then they played the game four times,
each with a different gameplay mode. The intervals
between gameplays were two or three days and each
gameplay took thirty minutes. The sequence of
playing
the
four
gameplay
modes
was
anonymous/cooperation, non-anonymous/cooperation,
anonymous/no cooperation, and non-anonymous/no
cooperation. Players’ identities were hidden and used
symbols such as “A”, “B” in anonymous modes and
cooperation
A
B
A
B
C
D
C
D
(a) No cooperation
(b) Cooperation
Figure 3: Illustrations of competition/cooperation
modes
2.3 Research Instruments
In this study, two instruments were used: an
English vocabulary learning attitude questionnaire
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Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 31-40 2016
and a game attitude questionnaire.
causes gameplay anxiety. Goal commitment refers to
the extent to which a player intends to win the game.
Cognitive load refers to the mental loading to
implement a particular task imposed on the game. It
is the player’s expectation of the amount of
information processing to complete tasks in the game.
Attack behavior refers to the intention of a player to
use Trap cards during the gameplay.
2.3.1 English Vocabulary Learning Attitude
Questionnaire
In this study, the English vocabulary learning
attitude questionnaire (Lo & ALMaghals, 2014) was
completed before and after the experiment to measure
the change of students’ English vocabulary learning
attitude. It included three variables: cognition,
affection, and behavior. Cognition refers to players’
belief on their English vocabulary ability and
perceived usefulness of English vocabulary. Affection
refers to players’ feeling or emotional status on
motivation and anxiety when they learn English
vocabulary. Behavior refers to players’ behavior or
tendency when they learn English vocabulary (Lo &
Lin, 2012).
3. Results
3.1 Results of English Vocabulary
Learning Attitude Questionnaire
Table 2 shows the descriptive statistics of the
English vocabulary learning attitude questionnaire.
Paired sample t-tests were conducted to evaluate
whether playing a vocabulary learning game such as
VocaMono can enhance participants’ attitude in
learning English vocabulary. Table 3 shows the
comparison results of the English vocabulary learning
attitude before the experiment and after playing
VocaMono. According to Table 3, there were no
significant differences of all three vaiables of
participants’ English vocabulary learning attitude
before and after the experiment.
2.3.2 Game Attitude Questionnaire
After playing all gameplay modes, participants
completed a questionnaire to investigate which
gameplay mode they perceive the most on vocabulary
learning and gameplay experiences with respect to
gameplay anonymity and cooperation. This
questionnaire included six variables, learning,
enjoyment, gameplay anxiety, goal commitment,
cognitive load, and attack behavior.
Learning is one’s beliefs and feelings regarding
the learning that has occurred through a retrospective
evaluation of the learning experience. It reflects
learners’ sense of acquiring new knowledge and
degree of involvement in the learning process
(Barzilai & Blau, 2014). Barzilai & Blau (2014)
addressed that in the context of game-based learning,
self-assessment of learning is important because it
not only involves metacognitive monitoring and
evaluation, which might lead them to spend more
time to play the game and recruit more cognitive
resources but also relates to players’ satisfaction with
the environment. Enjoyment refers to “a positive
reaction to an experience that involves intertwined
physiological, affective, and cognitive dimensions”
(Barzilai & Blau, 2014). Games provide joyful
experiences involving hard but rewarding tasks. The
most important element for educational games is to
keep players motivated. Enjoyment may stimulate
players’ motivation to play the game which in turn
enhance their learning. A general principle to be
successful in digital game-based learning therefore is
leading players to enjoyment during the gameplay.
Gameplay anxiety refers to a feeling of apprehension
and tension during the performance of the game. In
multiplayer games such as VocaMono, players
compete for resources, rewards, and the possibility to
win. The imbalance between players’ perceived
demands and the perceived corresponding capability
Table 2: Descriptive Statistics of the English
vocabulary learning attitude questionnaire
Variable
N
Mean
S.D.
Cognition
Pretest
26
2.9231 1.31676
Posttest
26
2.9038 1.36396
Affection
Pretest
26
3.6923 0.90393
Posttest
26
3.7564 0.79754
Behavior
Pretest
26
3.8718 0.87978
Posttest
26
3.7821 0.89414
Table 3: Paired t-test of English vocabulary learning
attitude (Pretest – Posttest)
Variable
d.f.
Mean
S.D.
t
p
Cognition
25
.01923 .49962 .196 .846
Affection
25
-.06410 .65333 -.500 .621
Behavior
25
.08974 .73368 .624 .538
3.2 Results of Game Attitude
Questionnaire
The game attitude questionnaire was completed
after participants had experienced all gameplay
modes to ask them which mode they perceive the
most on each variable. The results of participants’
perceptions among all gameplay modes are listed in
Table 4. The results revealed that VocaMono is a
well-designed digital game-based learning program
with both high “education” and “entertainment”
ingredients. For Learning, no participants responded
no mode helped them learn vocabulary. It implied
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Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 31-40 2016
that all participants think that the game was beneficial
to their vocabulary learning for both learning new
words and memorizing taught words. Similarly, for
Enjoyment, no participants responded that they did
not enjoy the game, want to recommend the game to
others, and want to play again. It implied that all
participants liked to play the game.
Gameplay
anxiety
Table 4: Participants’ perceptions among all
gameplay modes
Variable
Learning
Enjoyment
Gameplay
anxiety
Goal
commitment
Cognitive
load
Attack
Behavior
Item
The mode I learned
the most new words
The mode helped me
memorize the most
words
The mode I enjoyed
the most
The mode I have the
most willingness to
recommend to others
The mode I have the
most willingness to
play again
The mode I felt the
most nervous
The mode I worried
most about losing
The mode I had the
most intention to win
The mode I felt the
hardest to spell words
The mode I felt the
easiest to operate
The mode I had the
most intention to use
Trap cards
Goal
commitment
Cognitive
load
A B C D E F
5 7 6 3 5 0
2 5 11 2 6 0
1 7
8 2 8 0
3 3
7 3 10 0
Attack
Behavior
3 1 11 6 2 3
8 5 6 2
3 2
7 2 6 6
2 10 3 3 7 1
3 2 10 5 2 4
A: Anonymous/Cooperation;
B: Non-Anonymous/Cooperation;
C: Anonymous/No Cooperation;
D: Non-Anonymous/No Cooperation
E: The same for all modes;
F: No mode fit the item.
3.2.1 Influence of Gameplay Anonymity
Table 5 illustrates participants’ responses with
respect to gameplay anonymity. The frequencies of
anonymous
modes
are
summed
with
anonymous/cooperation
and
anonymous/no
cooperation modes and the frequencies of
non-anonymous
modes
are
summed
with
non-anonymous/cooperation and non-anonymous/no
cooperation modes.
Table 5: Participants’ perceptions with respect to
gameplay anonymity
Variable
Learning
Enjoyment
Item
The mode I learned the
most new words
The mode helped me
memorize the most words
The mode I enjoyed the
A B C D
11 10 5 0
13
7
6
0
9
9
8
0
6
10 0
12
8
6
0
16
5
4
4
14
7
2
3
9
9
6
2
10
4
6
6
5
13
7
1
13
7
2
4
The results revealed that gameplay anonymity
can enhance players’ enjoyment. Ten participants had
the most willingness to recommend anonymous
modes to others and twelve participants had the most
willingness to play anonymous modes again.
However, only six participants had the most
willingness to recommend non-anonymous modes to
others and eight participants had the most willingness
to play non-anonymous modes again. This result is
consistent with Yu et al. (2002). The results also
revealed that anonymous modes were more
challenging. Sixteen participants felt the most
nervous in anonymous modes and fourteen
participants worried the most about losing in
anonymous modes. However, only five participants
felt the most nervous and seven participants worried
the most about losing in non-anonymous modes.
Playing games without knowing other players may
increase the mental loading to implement both
pedagogy and gameplay tasks on the game. Ten and
five participants felt hard to spell words and easy to
operate in anonymous modes, respectively. Four and
thirteen participants felt hard to spell words and easy
to operate in non-anonymous modes, respectively.
Gameplay anonymity has an important impact on
players’ behavior, too. More participants had the most
intention to use Trap cards in anonymous modes. It is
consistent with Blau & Caspi (2008) who addressed
that anonymity in cyberspace may serve as a shield to
decrease the fear of criticism, therefore enhances
participation and leads to a more risky behavior such
as attacking others.
9 5 4 4
1 4
10
A: Anonymous;
B: Non-Anonymous;
C: All;
D: Neither
2 6 10 2 6 0
7 0
most
The mode I have the most
willingness to recommend
to others
The mode I have the most
willingness to play again
The mode I felt the most
nervous
The mode I concerned
most about losing
The mode I had the most
intention to win
The mode I felt the hardest
to spell words
The mode I felt the easiest
to operate
The mode I had the most
intention to use Trap cards
3.2.2 Influence of Gameplay Cooperation
Table 6 illustrates participants’ responses with
respect to gameplay cooperation. The frequencies of
cooperation
modes
are
summed
with
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Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 31-40 2016
anonymous/cooperation
and
non-anonymous/cooperation
modes
and
the
frequencies of no cooperation modes are summed
with
anonymous/no
cooperation
and
non-anonymous/no cooperation modes.
partners because their gaming scores would be
summed and the winning condition was based on the
summed scores. Cooperation during gameplay also
reduced players’ attack behavior. Only five
participants had the most intention to use Trap cards
in cooperation modes, however, fifteen participants
had the most intention to use Trap cards in no
cooperation modes.
Table 6: Participants’ perceptions with respect to
gameplay cooperation
Variable
Learning
Enjoyment
Gameplay
anxiety
Goal
commitment
Cognitive
load
Attack
Behavior
Item
A B C D
The mode I learned the
12 9 5 0
most new words
The mode helped me
7 13 6 0
memorize the most words
The mode I enjoyed the
8 10 8 0
most
The mode I have the most
6 10 10 0
willingness to recommend
to others
The mode I have the most
8 12 6 0
willingness to play again
The mode I felt the most
7 14 4 4
nervous
The mode I concerned
4 17 2 3
most about losing
The mode I had the most
5 13 6 2
intention to win
The mode I felt the hardest 5 9 6 6
to spell words
The mode I felt the easiest 12 6 7 1
to operate
The mode I had the most
5 15 2 4
intention to use Trap cards
4. Conclusions
Though vocabulary learning is critical, it is
tremendously tough for EFL learners, particularly for
Taiwanese learners. Contemporary learners are digital
natives growing up with computers (Prensky, 2001).
Computers are good at their “patience” in repetition
and recycling tasks which conform to the repeated
exposure and practice requirements of vocabulary
learning so that educational games can be particularly
effective in learning boring materials such as
vocabulary learning (Chen, 2001; Prensky, 2001).
Multiplayer games can stimulate learners’ motivation
by taking the advantages of competitive learning
(Burguillo, 2010; Regueras et al., 2009).
Recently, digital game-based learning has got
more interest. Its effect is highly determined by the
way how students perceive educational games.
Students as players may have different perceptions of
educational games depending on contextual factors
such as gameplay anonymity and cooperation level.
Anonymous environments hide players’ personal
profiles, hence decrease social pressure which in turn
may influence players’ behaviors. The cooperation
level may have impacts on players’ behaviors, too.
These factors may in turn influence players’ learning
and motivation in the game-based learning
environment. As a consequence, based on the
multiplayer English vocabulary learning game
VocaMono (Lo & Hsin, 2014), this study investigated
the influence of gameplay anonymity and cooperation.
A class of twenty six fourth grade elementary school
students were recruited and exposed to four gameplay
modes
including
anonymous/cooperation,
non-anonymous/cooperation,
anonymous/no
cooperation, and non-anonymous/no cooperation.
Though there were no significant differences of
participants’ English vocabulary learning attitude
before and after the experiment, the results revealed
that VocaMono is a well-designed digital game-based
English vocabulary learning program with both high
“education” and “entertainment” ingredients. The
results also showed that gameplay anonymity did
have impacts on participants’ attitude toward the
game. Gameplay anonymity can enhance players’
enjoyment. Anonymous gameplay modes were more
challenging. Playing games without knowing other
players may increase the mental loading to
A: Cooperation
B: No cooperation
C: All
D: Neither
The results revealed that cooperation during
gameplay enables players to discuss with the partner
or even get helps from the partner which may in turn
reduce the imbalance between players’ perceived
demands and the perceived corresponding capability.
For Gameplay anxiety, seven participants felt the
most nervous and four participants worried the most
about losing in cooperation modes. However, there
were fourteen participants felt the most nervous and
seventeen participants worried the most about losing
in no cooperation modes. Participants had lower
Cognitive load in cooperation modes. Five and
twelve participants felt hard to spell words and easy
to operate in cooperation modes, respectively. Nine
and six participants felt hard to spell words and easy
to operate in no cooperation modes, respectively. The
experimental results showed that participants had
lower Goal commitment in cooperation modes. Only
five participants had the most intention to win in
cooperation modes, however, thirteen participants
had the most intention to win in no cooperation
modes. It might be resulted from the sharing of the
same ultimate game goal of team partners in
cooperation modes. Players might rely on their
7
Journal of Information Technology and Applications
Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 31-40 2016
implement both pedagogy and gameplay tasks on the
game. More participants had the most intention to
attack others in anonymous modes. The existence of
gameplay operation did have impacts on participants’
attitude toward the game, too. Cooperation during
gameplay enables players to discuss with the partner
or even get helps from the partner which may in turn
reduce the gameplay anxiety and cognitive load.
Participants had lower goal commitment in
cooperation modes. Cooperation during gameplay
also reduced players’ attack behavior.
[9]
[10]
[11]
Acknowledgment
This research is supported by Ministry of
Science and Technology, Taiwan, R.O.C. (Grant No:
MOST 103-2511-S-216-001).
[12]
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