684 Copyright © 2013, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. Chapter 35 INTRODUCTION It comes as no surprise that students choose activi- ties they find pleasurable (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990; Smith & Wilhelm, 2002) and that their personally relevant experiences beget meaningful learning (Dewey, 1916; Rousseau, 1911/2003). Part of the call to bridge students’ literacies (Alvermann, 2002; Goodson & Norton-Meier, 2003; Hull, 2003; Norton-Meier, 2005; Smith & Wilhelm, 2002) is to sanction these personally relevant experiences and help students connect what they learn outside school to what they learn inside school. Doing so inherently involves recognizing the value of stu- dents’ outside-of-school knowledge and the forces shaping text choice and perception. In other words, bridging the gap requires an understanding and an espousal of students’ traditional and multimodal Sandra Schamroth Abrams St. John’s University, USA The Dynamics of Video Gaming: Inluences Affecting Game Play and Learning ABSTRACT The idea of bridging literacies has been a topic of much research and theory, and educators continue to struggle to help students understand how their learning transcends the classroom walls. Contributing to the discussion, this chapter focuses on factors inluencing video game learning, examining the deci- sions and game play of eight academically struggling eleventh-grade males. Data from two related qualitative studies suggest that direct and peripheral factors inluenced students’ game play. Findings from these two studies are important to the discussion of educational gaming because they can inform educators of students’ struggles and successes in learning outside the classroom. Overall, the evaluation of students’ video gaming can provide educators insight into the affordances of this digital literacy and issues affecting student learning outside the classroom. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-1852-7.ch035