In recent times, digital games are played on various platforms such as video game hardware and smartphone. This study clarifies the phenomenon of digital-game-play at present, based on a semi-structured interview survey conducted on 12 parents whose children play digital games. The results indicate the following: (1) it is different that game-play age for the first time between parents and children; (2) parents with elementary-school children adopt a “co-playing” style, and parents with middle- and high-school children use “restrictive mediation”; (3) parents evaluate contents of games in various ways to protect children from the negative effects of games; and (4) it is required to be accepted the game rating systems in the society, and to become proactively involved in games among consumers.

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A novel concept of physiological measurement that has high compatibility with game devices is proposed for unconstraint measurement during game playing; what is called player metrics. As first demonstration experiments of this concept, photopletysmography; arterial pulse measurement by light, with using embedded sensor in two types of VR (Virtual Reality) head mounted displays is attempted, then evaluated. As VR display, PlayStationVR and VR glasses for smartphone were adopted. For photopletysmography, green LED and photo-transistor having sensitivity in green were finally applied to reflection mode measurement. Reflection photopletysmogram was derived from subject's center of forehead. Then, photopletysmographic measurement was robust for simulated ordinary eye blink, cardiac pulse status change by Valsalva maneuver and also displays blinking. Finally, photopletysmogram during VR movie watching in about 6 minutes was successfully obtained. Evaluation results suggested the possibility of stable measurements during gaming with using VR headset.

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In this study, a content analysis and a survey were conducted to clarify the correlation between the frequency and duration of prosocial behavior in digital games and prosocial tendencies of players. First, this study adopted Eisenberg’s definition of prosocial behavior[7] and Carlo & Randall’s classification of prosocial behavior based on contexts[8]. A content analysis of popular digital games was conducted based on the definition. The average frequency of prosocial behaviors in 27 digital games analyzed was 3.59. In the second part of the study, a survey was conducted to see the correlation between the play time of top nine prosocial digital games based on the result of the content analysis and players’ prosocial tendencies. As a result, there was a weak, marginally significant correlation between prosocial digital game play time and players’ prosocial tendencies.

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