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The Gamer Culture: an Exploration of Gamer Archetypes And Duquesne University Duquesne Scholarship Collection Electronic Theses and Dissertations Fall 2014 The aG mer Culture: An Exploration of Gamer Archetypes and Their Relationship with Coping Strengths Stephen Frank Kuniak Follow this and additional works at: https://dsc.duq.edu/etd Recommended Citation Kuniak, S. (2014). The aG mer Culture: An Exploration of Gamer Archetypes and Their Relationship with Coping Strengths (Doctoral dissertation, Duquesne University). Retrieved from https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/792 This Immediate Access is brought to you for free and open access by Duquesne Scholarship Collection. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Duquesne Scholarship Collection. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE GAMER CULTURE: AN EXPLORATION OF GAMER ARCHETYPES AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH COPING STRENGTHS A Dissertation Submitted to the School of Education Duquesne University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Stephen Frank Kuniak December 2014 Copyright by Stephen Frank Kuniak 2014 DUQUESNE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF EDUCATION Department of Counseling, Psychology and Special Education Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Executive Counselor Education and Supervision Program Presented by: Stephen Frank Kuniak Saint Vincent College, B.A., 2005 Duquesne University, M.S.Ed., 2008 October 20, 2014 THE GAMER CULTURE: AN EXPLORATION OF GAMER ARCHETYPES AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH COPING STRENGTHS Approved by: _____________________________________________, Chair David L. Delmonico, Ph.D. Professor of Counselor Education ___________________________________________, Member Maura Krushinski, Ph.D. ___________________________________________, Member Bryson Bresnahan, Ph.D. ___________________________________________, Member William Casile, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Counselor Education iii ABSTRACT THE GAMER CULTURE: AN EXPLORATION OF GAMER ARCHETYPES AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH COPING STRENGTHS By Stephen Frank Kuniak December2014 Dissertation supervised by Dr. David L. Delmonico The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between gamer personality types, preferred coping strategies, and levels of resiliency as a means of beginning to understand the psychological factors making up the gamer culture. This study used a demographic questionnaire, the BrainHex Gamer Personality Test, the Coping Strategies Inventory Short Form, and the ER-89 Ego Resiliency Scale to assess participants. Chi Square analyses were used to explore gamer personality types relationship with coping strategies, a Median Test was used to compare personality types to resiliency levels, and Multiple Regressions were used to explore whether a person’s coping style mediated the relationship between personality and resiliency level. The result of these analyses was that there was no significant relationship between personality iv type, coping strategy, and resiliency levels, with the exception of a moderate negative relationship between engagement coping and resiliency. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Dr. David Delmonico, words cannot express my appreciation for your help on this endeavor. You picked up this project with me after it had already begun, but without breaking stride worked with me every step of the way to carve out something with which I am so proud. You were always there when I needed an encouraging word, a reassurance, or the push to "get this thing done." Thank you for everything you have taught me. I know that without you I would not have shifted the way in which I look at research, and made the necessary steps to begin what I hope is the first step of a continuing career in scholarship. Since my early classes with you in the Masters program, to my time as your Teaching Assistant in the sexuality class, and now through this research process I have learned so much from you and have been blessed with the opportunity to work with you. Dr. Maura Krushinski, I owe you my gratitude for helping me to take my ideas from their nebulous infancy into fully formed directions. Thank you for your role in pushing me to stop thinking small, and begin to explore how far I could take this study. I appreciate too your efforts in reminding me to stay focused on sharing what I know about this culture, and in believing in me when I needed someone in the field to help me look past all of the naysayers. Dr. Bryson Bresnahan, thank you so much for your unwavering patience with me as we worked through the processing of data and the examination of statistics. I appreciate the hours of time spent on the phone, at Starbucks, and via email that you put in to ensure that I really understood not just what was being suggested, but why the stats vi were being used, and why this information was important. Thank you for this continued effort from the beginning of the study to the very end. Dr. Bill Casile, I have to thank you for your willingness to join in on this research somewhat late in the game. Your efforts in helping me to better understand the writing process are so appreciated. Your ability to at once challenge me to work harder on my writing style and as well support me in communicating my ideas was a much needed experience. I was sharing with Dr. Delmonico before the defense that I appreciated your feedback on my writing, because I think that you helped me to construct a more fluid document. Thank you for everything. To Kyle Marsden-Kish, Larry Settembrini, Jason Scorrano and all of the wonderful people of ReedPop who have supported my success by helping me to be present at their conventions. This was most centrally at PAX East for this study, but also at New York Comic Con where I have continued to try and reach out to this gamer and geek community. Thank you all for providing such great events so that we in the community can attend them and interact with one another. To Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins, I share my appreciation for what you've done for the gaming community. You have, inadvertently, but directly helped to make my research possible by creating the PAX Conventions, and have indirectly continued to inspire me through your compassion for your fans and your unwavering passion for all of the gamer centric and geeky things you shamelessly love. You may not know it, but you both contributed significantly to this work, as well as a portfolio of continued efforts on my part. Thank you. I also want to specifically thank Jamie Dillion for being a point of vii contact at Child's Play, and continuing to show interest in this study as well as the rest of my work. To Sue and Kelli, for your support and patience over the years in my many academic endeavors. Thank you for your understanding when I lacked time and energy after long days of classes. Thank you for your encouragement and support at all the conventions and lectures when I worked to present all of my crazy ideas. Thank you specifically to Kelli for helping me log onto her schools computers so that I could get my SPSS work done as well. Dr. Paul Niemiec, I want to thank you for your continued efforts to shape me into the clinician I have become. Thank you for the friendly ear, and the sense of humor every time I needed it to move on. You've been that unwavering constant through my academic endeavors, and your support over the years has meant everything to me. Thank you so much for believing in me, and encouraging me through all these many years. To Megan Blink, for your support of my geek and gamer related work, and your assistance in the development of future projects. Thank you for your time in reading this study in advance, pointing out areas for work, advising from the perspective of a fellow geek/gamer mental health professional, and generally being a constant ear through what have been some challenging times. Your perspective on so many topics has meant a great deal to me, and I know I wouldn't have come along so far so quickly without your help. I appreciate your friendship and am proud to call you a colleague and partner in all of my future endeavors. To Abra McClure I want to share my gratitude for your friendship and your support through the challenging last legs of this journey. Thank you for reviewing my viii work and constantly offering me your encouragement. I can't put into words my appreciation for this connection we share. Being able to bounce ideas back and forth with someone so like minded has made me come to know you as a bright spot in, what has sometimes been, a rather gray experience. To my friends, Greg, Cody, Chris, and Al specifically, thank you for your encouraging words, support, and understanding all the times I couldn’t be there. Thank you for the long game sessions online when I needed to blow off steam, and for always taking my phone calls when I needed an ear. You guys have always been like an extended family, and I’m grateful to have you in my life. Last, but by no means least, I want to express my gratitude to my family. My whole life you've all supported my various passions, and taught me to feel proud of who I was. Specifically to my uncles who spent hours helping me assemble toys and keeping my love of play alive year after year. To my Grandma MaryEllen who always believed in my ability to pursue my dreams, and who encouraged the child in me, even as I grew into an adult. To Sis, who taught me so much about never taking myself so seriously that I couldn't go out of my way to make someone else's day special.
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