It's All Fun and Games Until Somebody Dies: Grief, Mortality Salience, And
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Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports 2020 It’s All Fun and Games until Somebody Dies: Grief, Mortality Salience, and Coping in Meaningful Permadeath Mckay Steven West West Virginia University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd Part of the Communication Technology and New Media Commons Recommended Citation West, Mckay Steven, "It’s All Fun and Games until Somebody Dies: Grief, Mortality Salience, and Coping in Meaningful Permadeath" (2020). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 7614. https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/7614 This Dissertation is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by the The Research Repository @ WVU with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Dissertation in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you must obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself. This Dissertation has been accepted for inclusion in WVU Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports collection by an authorized administrator of The Research Repository @ WVU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. It’s All Fun and Games until Somebody Dies: Grief, Mortality Salience, and Coping in Meaningful Permadeath Mckay Steven West Dissertation submitted to the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences at West Virginia University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Communication Studies Elizabeth L. Cohen, Ph.D., Chair Jaime Banks, Ph.D. Alan K. Goodboy, Ph.D. Liesel L. Sharabi, Ph. D. Department of Communication Studies Morgantown, West Virginia 2020 Keywords: Permadeath, Grief, Mortality Salience, Meaning Making, Appreciation Copyright 2020 Mckay Steven West ABSTRACT It’s All Fun and Games until Somebody Dies: Grief, Mortality Salience, and Coping in Meaningful Permadeath Mckay Steven West Because part of the enjoyment of video game experiences is rooted in their ability to afford players to fail but still reattempt gameplay with relatively little consequence, the appeal of playing games with permadeath seems paradoxical. This dissertation proposed that players’ motivations for playing these games with permadeath stem from an enhanced sense of appreciation garnered by players through the meaningfulness of permanent character death, rather than just through simple, hedonic enjoyment. Enhanced appreciation was expected to arise from permadeath through the grief players experienced toward the loss of their characters and through their contemplation of their own mortality. Grief was anticipated to be higher for players with stronger parasocial relationships to their characters while mortality salience was anticipated to be higher for players who identified with those game characters, and all indirect effects were expected to be moderated by players’ trait meaning making coping style. Participants (N = 394) were players recruited from various gaming subreddits on Reddit.com who had previous experiences playing permadeath games. In an online survey, they were assigned to either report on their impressions of a permadeath or a temporary character death that they had experienced in the past year. Two conditional process analyses revealed that players did report increased appreciation—through their grief for their characters—upon experiencing permadeaths, and this effect was strengthened for those attached to their characters and who were lower in trait meaning making. However, there was not parallel evidence of such an effect through mortality salience. Players’ mortality salience did increase their appreciation for playing—for players low meaning making players—but there was no indication that permadeath or identification with one’s character impacted this relationship. Theoretical implications from these findings are discussed regarding how they contribute to the literature on character attachments and uses and gratifications, as well as how games can serve as experimental playgrounds for players. A practical implication is also presented that recommends game developers work to implement PD mechanics within their own games based on the increased replayability and appreciation PD can offer to players. iv Table of Contents Page ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................ ii LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................... v LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................... vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................... vii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................... 1 Second Chances and Video Game Enjoyment................................................... 3 Grief in Permadeath Games ............................................................................... 6 Parasocial attachment and permadeath grief .......................................... 7 Mortality Salience in Permadeath Games .......................................................... 10 Media and mortality salience ................................................................. 14 Identification and permadeath mortality salience .................................. 15 Permadeath as a Safe Space to Experience Meaningful Gameplay ................... 17 The eudaimonic appeal of entertainment media .................................... 18 Eudaimonic gratifications of permadeath games ................................... 22 Coping Styles and Meaning Making on Grief and Mortality Salience Outcomes ........................................................................................................... 24 Summary and Predicted Model .......................................................................... 27 Hypothesis 1 and Hypothesis 2 .............................................................. 28 Chapter II: METHODOLOGY ...................................................................................... 30 Participants ......................................................................................................... 30 Data Collection Procedures ................................................................................ 30 Instrumentation .................................................................................................. 32 Parasocial relationship strength ............................................................. 33 Identification .......................................................................................... 34 Mortality salience................................................................................... 35 Grief ....................................................................................................... 35 Appreciation ........................................................................................... 36 Meaning making .................................................................................... 37 CHAPTER III: RESULTS ............................................................................................. 39 Exploratory Analyses ......................................................................................... 39 Hypothesis Tests ................................................................................................ 41 Hypothesis 1 and Hypothesis 2 .............................................................. 43 CHAPTER IV: DISCUSSION ...................................................................................... 46 Theoretical and Practical Contributions............................................................. 51 Limitations and Future Directions for Research ................................................ 55 4 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 62 REFERENCES .............................................................................................................. 66 APPENDICES ............................................................................................................... 88 Appendix A. Reddit Recruitment Post............................................................... 88 Appendix B. Consent information page............................................................. 90 Appendix C. Survey Instrument ........................................................................ 92 v LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1. 1st Proposed Conditional Process Model ........................................................ 29 Figure 2. 2nd Proposed Conditional Process Model ....................................................... 29 vi LIST OF TABLES Page Table 1. Correlation Residuals for Parasocial Attachment ............................................ 34 Table 2. Correlation Residuals for Identification .......................................................... 35 Table 3. Correlation Residuals for Grief........................................................................ 38 Table 4. Correlation Residuals for Meaning Making .................................................... 38 Table 5. Summary of Descriptive Statistics