Perceived Digital Game Realism: A Quantitative Exploration of its Structure

A quantitative exploration is presented of the concept of perceived digital game realism, based upon the frameworks described by Malliet (2006), and Shapiro, Peña-Herborn, and Hancock (2006). The concepts and categories outlined in both studies are complemented with an additional literature study and subjected to an exploratory factor analysis. Principal axis factoring was performed on items completed by 385 respondents whose ages ranged between 15 and 19 years. Seven factors of perceived game realism were identified: simulation, freedom of choice, character involvement, perceptual pervasiveness, authenticity regarding subject matter, authenticity regarding characters, and social realism. These findings are to a considerable extent congruent with the theoretical framework.