Communication Research 1–19 © The Author(s) 2015 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0093650214565895 crx.sagepub.com Article Competitive Video Game Play: An Investigation of Identification and Competition Robert P. Griffiths 1 , Matthew S. Eastin 2 , and Vincent Cicchirillo 2 Abstract Sports often go beyond simple games to something that individuals identify and relate to throughout their lives. Furthermore, passive and active sports consumption (i.e., video games) allows individuals to further create a sense of fanship and identification with their favorite teams. The following study manipulates player saliency to team, saliency to opponent, and competitive outcome to examine those impacts on enjoyment and hostility. A 3 (opponent saliency) × 2 (team identification) × 2 (competitive outcome; win vs. loss) experimental design was invoked to study these effects. Results indicate that competitiveness was significantly related to both enjoyment and hostility. Furthermore, data suggest a significant interaction between identification and competitive outcomes on hostility. Keywords video game play, violence, competition, game enjoyment, hostility, sports games, identification, enjoyment, aggression, competitive outcome Sports games are noted as one of the most popular genres of video games (Stein, Mitgutsch, & Consalvo, 2012); yet, research looking into the effects of play are lim- ited. According to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA; 2011) the sports video game genre represents one of the highest selling categories at 16%, second only 1 Ohio State University, Columbus, USA 2 The University of Texas at Austin, USA Corresponding Author: Matthew S. Eastin, The University of Texas at Austin, Stan Richards School of Advertising and Public Relations, 300 West Dean Keeton, A1200, Austin, TX 78712, USA. Email: matt.eastin@utexas.edu 565895CRX XX X 10.1177/0093650214565895Communication ResearchGriffiths et al. research-article 2015 at University of Texas Libraries on September 3, 2015 crx.sagepub.com Downloaded from