Paper presented at IR12, Seattle, october 2011 User-generated videogaming: Little Big Planet and participatory cultures

1. Francesca Comunello and Simone Mulargia IR12, Seattle User-generated videogaming: Little Big Planet and participatory cultures in Italy

2. User-generated videogaming: Little Big Planet 1 and participatory cultures in Italy LBP is a PlayStation platform videogame that encourages users to create and share their own gaming levels (easy-to-use editor) . The interactive environment offered by the PlayStation Network (PSN) plays a major role in sharing user's creations, while hundreds of videos showing user-generated levels are to be found on different online environments. Our contribution refers to the empirical findings of a broader research project, conducted by Sapienza University of Rome in partnership with Sony Computer Entertainment Italy, which aimed at studying the relations between gaming and Social Network Sites.

13. (RQ3): familiarity with digital technology and active LBP use Technology familiarity index Active LBP use index Correlation between tech familiarity index and active LBP use: r= 0.525; p=0.01 R 2 = 0.28 49,4% 49,4% 49,4% 49,4% 48% minimum or low medium low medium high high or maximum None or low 36,0% 20,4% 7,9% Medium-low 26,9% 25,5% 24,3% 15,4% Medium-high 18,9% 27,1% 32,5% 28,6% High or maximum 4,8% 11,4% 22,8% total 100,0% 100,0% 100,0% 100,0%

14. (RQ4): social-oriented attitude to technology and active LBP use Active LBP use index Social-oriented attitude to technology index Correlation between social-oriented and active LBP use: r= 0.488, p=0.01 R 2 = 0.24 57,6% 42,7% minimum or low medium low medium high high or maximum None or low 36,2% 25,4% 10,5% Medium-low 22,8% 29,5% 23,2% 16,7% Medium-high 15,5% 22,6% 31,0% 30,1% High or maximum 4,0% 11,8% 20,4% total 100,0% 100,0% 100,0% 100,0%

21. Thank you! [email_address] @fcomun [email_address]