Pokemon Project
The Pokemon Project is a project that investigated whether game players actually acted unethically in ethically ambiguous situations through a survey. It has analyzed 2023 big data and is currently preparing a paper for publication in a journal.
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A Study of Ethical Decision Making for Pokémon GO Players Across Age and Gender
Abstract
This Pokémon GO study is a study of how age and gender differences affect ethical decision-making. We surveyed a total of 2023 Pokémon GO players to investigate whether they actually behaved in 25 ethically questionable situations and why they perform these actions. In conclusion, males had a tendency to compete and were willing to take risks, while females showed more sensitivity to their surroundings. Generation Z as the youngest generation seemed to know how to use and access technology. On the other hand, Generation Y tends to take advantages other than gaming, and Generation X showed more generosity than other generations in terms of ethics. This discovery, along with ethical considerations, will serve as an important criterion for not only fostering a healthy Pokémon GO game environment but also designing location-based augmented reality games that are closely related to real-life in the future.
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Research Questions
1. What are the primary motivations for Pokémon GO players by age and gender?
2. How does engagement in ethically questionable actions compare across age and gender?
3. Why do age and gender behave differently in potentially unethical situations?
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Procedure
In January of 2019, we distributed 26 survey questions concerning ethics related to player actions to 187 online communities.[1] Some examples of online communities involved include The Silph Road, Facebook groups, and Discord servers. The survey screened participants so that they were over the age of 18 years old and incentivized them with the chance to win one of five Amazon Gift Cards. A month after the survey was deployed, the response data set was cleaned to remove illegitimate responses such as underage participants, missing data, and inconsistent responses, leaving 2023 responses from the original data set of 2207 responses. The cleaned survey data allowed us to compare ethical stances and game actions by gender and age group. Thus, in ethical stances, comparing males and females was used to analyze three age groups: generations X, Y, and Z.
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Participants
While the majority of responses were in English, there were some Spanish responses that were interpreted by a member of the research team. Regarding gender, the number of male participants was twice as high as the number of female respondents. Similarly, regarding age groups, Gen Y is composed of almost 60% of the respondents. One possible explanation for this is that the survey was deployed to a randomized population group, so age and gender were not controlled.
Questionnaire
The survey was divided into two main parts: one for motivations and another for unethical situations. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the ethical differences of age and gender across Pokémon GO players. In order to better understand the players, the first step was to investigate the main reasons why people play Pokémon GO (select all that apply). Thus, the motivation questions consisted of 10 reasoning core questions extracted from other academic Pokémon GO literature [28]. The choices were as follows, “I like collecting Pokémon”, “ It encourages me to go outside and walk more”, “I enjoy playing with friends and family”, “I like Pokémon games and/or the franchise”, “I like exploring new areas/discovering interesting physical locations”, “It helps me de-stress”, “I like leveling up and/or obtaining badges”, “I enjoy meeting new people through playing this game, “I like battling with Pokémon”, “ I like playing new types of games and wanted to try LBMG”. The respondents could select multiple options if there were multiple reasons why they play Pokémon GO.
The study conducted pilot interviews to investigate which questionable situations Pokémon GO players consider cheating or unethical. After pilot interviews with several Pokémon GO players, we compiled a list of 25 ethically questionable situations that Pokémon GO players may or may not think are ethical (see Table 1). Based on the 25 unethical situations, we asked respondents the multiple selection questions, “Which of these game-related actions have you performed before?”. Following open-ended questions, we also asked the question, “Of the actions above, can you explain what makes it okay in some situations?”, “Can you pick one of the most ethically problematic issues related to playing Pokémon GO and tell us more about your thoughts or reasoning?”.
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Result
4.1 Characteristics
In order to understand the participants in-depth, we asked how they play Pokémon GO. Generally, both genders spend more than 7 hours playing Pokémon GO per week. However, males were more likely to play the game for longer amounts of time than females (58.76% of females play for more than 7 hours a week) with males playing more than seven hours a week at a higher rate (68.48% of males). Males also spend more money on in-game purchases with an average of $244.58 compared to $222.74 spent by females. Also, a higher percentage of females (56.59%) considered themselves free-to-play players than males. Both male and female respondents had high levels in the game with the median being close to max level. Lastly, both genders responded similarly to the question, “how important is this game to you?” (More than 80% of both genders responded that the game was important for them).
For age groups, 67.66% of Gen Y and 68.39% of Gen X played over 7 hours a week compared to only 52.43% of Gen Z. Gen X spent the most money purchasing Pokémon GO items compared to other generations. The average amount of money spent on the game for Gen Z was only $94.99, while Gen Y had a mean of $225.09 and Gen X had a mean of $374.38. In a similar vein, Gen Z had the highest rate of Free-to-Play players (58.82%). On the other hand, when it comes to the importance of the game, Gen Z had the highest percentage of respondents claiming the game was important to them at 87.98%, Gen Y was the second-highest at 85.99%, and then Gen X at 80.46%. In summary, age demographics suggest that older generations spend more money and more time on the game, but the younger generation finds the game to be the most important out of all generations.
Motivation
Gender Differences. The highest rate of motivation for both genders was collecting Pokémon (Male: 82.90%, Female: 85.12%). The following reasons for both genders were health and social related reasons. The second highest was going outside and walking more (Male: 76.23%, Female: 78.76%) and playing with friends and family (Male: 68.94%, Female: 74.11%). In contrast, the lowest rates for both were playing new types of games and wanting to try location-based mobile games (Male: 17.25%, Female: 13.64%). It is a reasonable result since the majority of respondents have played more than 7 hours. They might have already reduced novelty effects and became more dedicated players for their specific goal.
Among the ten options, the result shows that female is higher than male for six of the options (From highest to lowest: collecting, going outside and walking more, playing with friends and family, exploring new areas, helping de-stress, leveling up and obtaining badges). While females enjoyed collecting Pokémon and leveling up more than males, males showed more attachment to Pokémon games and the franchise overall, preferring the competitive battling aspect of the game. Additionally, while females enjoyed the social aspects of playing with friends and family, a higher percentage of males cited using the game to meet new people. From this, we can infer the females enjoy the core gameplay of collecting Pokémon, but also enjoy the social features surrounding it to a higher degree than having a strong affinity for the franchise. An important distinction to make is that females generally enjoyed playing with friends and family more than males, but they did not play to meet new people through the game.
The largest differences in motivation across genders were for battling with Pokémon and liking Pokémon games, for which males had a 13.51% and 12.92% increase compared to females, respectively. The next largest difference was using the game to destress, for which females had a 9.68% increase compared to males. In terms of motivations with the highest differences, females generally liked the physical and social aspects of the game, whereas males used the game to battle, meet new people, and try out new technology. From this, we can infer that the main reasons males play the game are for overall gameplay reasons and an affinity for Pokémon games in general. males tend to be less concerned about social reasons or health reasons compared to females.
Age Differences. In terms of motivations for different generations to play Pokémon GO, all age groups selected collecting Pokémon as the highest motivation for playing the game (Gen Z: 88.75%, Gen Y: 85.66%, Gen X: 72.70%). The lowest motivation for all age groups was playing new types of games and trying location-based mobile games (LBMG) (Gen Z: 12.02%, Gen Y: 16.67%, Gen X:18.39%). The largest difference in motivation across age categories was for liking Pokémon games/franchises. Gen X (32.47%) is relatively much lower than Gen Z (88.24%) and Gen Y (75.87%), for which there was a 55.77% difference between Gen Z and X. The next largest differences were for collecting Pokémon and battling with Pokémon, with a 16.05% and 13.91% increase for Gen Z over Gen X, respectively.
Gen Z enjoys traditional Pokémon gameplay as seen in motivations such as collecting Pokémon (88.75%), liking Pokémon games/the franchise (88.24%), playing with friends and family (73.40%), leveling up/obtaining badges (51.66%), and battling with Pokémon (38.62%). It is important to note that three of these categories were in the top 4 motivations to play the game for all participants. For Gen Z, liking the franchise and collecting Pokémon are equally important reasons for playing, with a 0.48% difference.
Gen Y appears to play the game for health benefits such as walking more (78.94%), exploring new locations (59.90%), and de-stressing (54.81%). Compared to Gen Z, only one of these categories was in the top 4 reasons to play the game. The largest difference in motivation was for liking Pokémon games/the franchise, for which Gen Y had a 43.4% increase compared to Gen X. The next largest differences in motivation were for helping de-stress, encouraging them to go outside more, and discovering new locations, with differences of 8.26%, 7.10%, and 6.83% to Gen X, respectively. Similar to the motivations for which Gen Z was highest, the percentages reported by Gen Y for each of these motivations were closer to Gen Z than to Gen X.
Gen X totaled the two highest motivation categories. These motivations were for (1) enjoying meeting new people through the game (47.41%) and (2) playing new types of games (18.39%). The largest differences in motivation were for trying new types of games and meeting new people, with differences of 6.37% and 3.68% respectively. For each of these motivations, the largest differences were to Gen Z, with more similar percentages to Gen Y.
Overall, Gen Z is more interested in the game itself and playing with friends, whereas Gen Y is more interested in the physical and mental benefits. Gen X plays the game to meet new people and try out new technology. Gen Y and Z have likely experienced more of the Pokémon franchise as a whole while growing up than Gen X players who were already adults when the franchise started.
Ethical related Game Actions
Gender differences. The actions that have more than 10 percentage differences are: taking a gym at midnight (-18.16%), using 3rd party apps to find raids (-16.55%), multi-accounting (-13.64%), changing time (-12.51%), and going to a business (-12.23%) by order. Among these large differences between genders, only going to a business was the action that females performed higher than males. Compared to larger differences, the actions that were performed at nearly the same rate include using social media, playing for others, and using a bot. Also, social media information, 3rd-party application statistics, taking a gym after a short amount of time, playing for others, and playing in sensitive locations are performed by both genders at over 50%.
Overall, for the vast majority of actions, males performed 23 actions more than females. The top three actions for males were using social media information (85.58%), 3rd-party application statistics (84.97%), and taking a gym after a short amount of time (76.07%), whereas the lowest three actions were spoofing (10.35%), using a Gocha(1.76%), and financial incentives (1.30%).
On the other hand, there were only two actions that females performed more than males. These actions were going to a business (60.31%) and playing for children (16.74%). Of the two, going to a business had a larger difference than playing for children, which was performed at nearly the same rate for both genders. This could be because females enjoy playing the game for social reasons and center their playing experience around businesses they frequent with friends and family.
Age differences. There were six actions Gen Z performed more than Gen Y or Gen X. These actions were trespassing on public property (29.92%), changing time (18.16%), trading a spoofed Pokémon with explicit knowledge (17.14%), spoofing (10.23%), using a Gotcha (2.05%), and playing for financial incentives (1.28%). While Gen Z only trespasses on public property slightly more than Gen Y (29.68%), they are still the age group that performs this action the most. This may be because they are more willing to trespass to achieve what they want in the game, do not view public trespassing as more serious as other age groups, or have different views about the temporal aspect of trespassing (i.e. only going in to catch one Pokémon for a few minutes). Gen Z may have a higher willingness to perform these actions due to their familiarity with technology and perhaps videogames throughout their lives and do not view them as ethically challenging.
Gen Y comprised the bulk of actions (14 actions) performed among the three age groups. The actions with the largest differences were playing for others (59.95%), using 3rd party maps for raids (52.99%), and creating a private lobby against spoofers (46.85%). The actions with nearly the same rates are using 3rd-party maps for raids, using 3rd-party maps for Pokémon, and gym shaving. The first two of these actions were closest to Gen X, but gym shaving was closer to Gen Z. The action with the highest difference, playing for others, was the most different with respect to Gen X. The action was performed somewhat similarly by Gen Z, indicating that older age groups do not play for others as much as younger ones. This may be due to the more social aspects of the game enjoyed by younger age groups and more opportunities to play for other people. The next two actions of using 3rd-party maps for raids and creating a private lobby against spoofers were closer to Gen X than Gen Z, indicating that older age groups are more familiar with using the information to their advantage and are more aware of the presence of spoofers. The two actions of using 3rd-party maps for raids and Pokémon are both extremely similar in performance rate for Gen Y and Gen X, with Gen Y barely performing the actions more. Lastly, while Gen Z was more familiar with public trespassing, Gen Y appears to be the age group most conductive of private trespassing.
There were five actions Gen X performed more than other age groups, including playing while driving (62.64%), playing in a sensitive location (60.06%), going to a business (59.48%), using a bot (40.80%), and playing for children (31.32%). The actions with the highest differences were playing while driving and playing for children, both of which were with respect to Gen Z. Some possible explanations for this include access to vehicles and children, both of which Gen Z would have the least of. Between Gen Y and Gen X, the amount of time spent in cars is probably around the same, with Gen X being less concerned about playing the game while operating a vehicle. There is a larger difference between Gen Y/Z and Gen X for playing for children, indicating that younger age groups do not play for children as often as older ones.
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Conclusion
Overall, the study was conducted as a mixed method combining quantitative and qualitative research to examine how the characteristics of individual factors (i.e., age and gender) present ethical stances differently in Pokémon GO players. Among many causes affecting ethical decision-making, in this paper, motivation and open-ended questions allowed us to understand why players of different ages and genders feel it's okay to perform the action in ethically questionable situations. We have seen that behavioral outcomes can vary depending on age and gender characteristics.
The results revealed that males are more likely to be competitive and adventurous than females when they play Pokémon GO. Also, they often justify ethics because they value playing the game itself more than ethical stances. For that reason, it is not surprising that the males conducted most actions. Conversely, females only performed two actions the most: going to a business and playing for children. It can be interpreted that females are more prudential in terms of ethical decision-making. Many of the results supported gender difference arguments from other scholars' literature. For example, males like competition, achievement, and a new palace. Females play games for socialization and exercise. However, our results did not reveal explicitly the correlation between motivation and ethical actions for females.
In age, Gen Z showed they focus more on technology and gameplay itself rather than ethical stances. Gen Y cares more for efficiencies such as with health and time. Lastly, Gen X was more lenient and likely to make relationships with people. There were motivations that applied for each age group and the actions they performed the most, showing some correlation. The lived experiences of each group seemed to affect the actions they were willing to perform.
Most importantly, it is inevitable for Pokémon GO as a location-based augmented reality game to avoid gameplay impacting the real world. For that reason, players need to be more cautious than when playing other games. Game designers also need to be more conscious of their design choices and what they might promote. As we described in this study, there are many ethically gray areas that obscure the boundaries of the game and real life. From this perspective, this paper contributes to analyzing which actions and why they did with a large data set.
For the future, the study needs to be continued to investigate how to prevent unethical actions in terms of the game system or societal policies. A possible direction could be to conduct in-depth interviews with the victims who have suffered from Pokémon GO players or to conduct a user experience design to develop game solutions toward the various unethical actions. To make a healthy game environment, this study is meaningful as it goes one step further in understanding the ethical position of various Pokémon GO players.
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