Bastian Krupp recently completed his M.A. in action-oriented media pedagogy at the Danube-University Krems. He wrote his Master-Thesis on the connection between the development of emotional intelligence and gaming. As a trained educator and studied social worker, he is interested in the effect of digital games as a methodical instrument for initialising educational processes. Since 2017 he has been working as a social pedagogical director in open youth work, where he has been able to realise numerous projects with and through games, such as eSport.
On the connection between the development of emotional intelligence and gaming
FROG 2020 – Short Talk
Digital games have been an integral part of individual media biographies for half a century now. More than one third of Germans play regularly. For society as a whole and for media education in particular, this raises the question of the “right” way to deal with digital games in educational activities. Up to now, social evaluation has been primarily based on the consideration of ascribed risks (see discourse on “killer games” and the loss of empathy through glorification of violence and social isolation). If the potential risks are made the central origin of a social debate, they also control pedagogical action. A benevolent societal attitude toward digital games helps media education to gain greater recognition for its pedagogical use, which has already produced impressive successes for learning and educational processes. Scientifically, there are few relevant research results on the effect of digital games on the development of empathy. Emotional intelligence (EQ) is still a young field of research but is not being considered in the context of digital games. This thesis deals with the question of the effect of digital games on emotional intelligence by means of a quantitative survey of gamers. The results show that gamers, in principle, have no differences in the development of emotional intelligence compared to non-gamers. Thus, they represent an important finding for a social as well as a scientific debate about their recognition as cultural assets. The identification of gender-specific differences also draws attention to the lack of diversity in gaming, which is still characterized by ideals of masculinity and in whose environment women are repeatedly confronted with sexism. In society, as in media education, there is a need for a reformation that allows for a sharpening of the view for the positive effects of digital games and addresses problematic conditions in the gaming scene.
0
