Digital Game Playing Profiles of Gifted Students

Abstract

1. Beyond their entertainment value, games offer valuable learning experiences. The current study seeks to explore digital games as more than just tools for entertainment consumption; instead, they are seen as a medium for life experiences. The study aims to uncover the gaming behaviors and preferences of gifted individuals. Participants in this study include gifted primary and secondary school students who attend a science and art center in Ankara. A survey-type study was carried out to reveal the students' digital game-playing profiles. The survey started with questions including demographic information, and asked participants questions such as what age they started playing games, how often they played games, how long they played games, their preferred devices, their favorite games, spending money on the game, and producing videos. The five favorite games were asked as open-ended questions, making game videos closed-ended and cascade questions. The findings are presented as frequency and percentage. Whether the profile difference according to gender was significant or not was determined by the chi-square test. As a result of the study, the gender factor had significant effects on the participants' digital game-playing profiles. Accordingly, the duration of playing games, frequency of playing games, paying for games, and recording game videos differ according to gender. Although there are differences in the types of games preferred by male students and female students, the sandbox game Minecraft and card games are at the top of the list of the most popular games for both female students and male students. Considering the game-playing preferences of students, the most appropriate digital game types that can be integrated into the education of gifted students are sandbox and card game types.