Children’s Tendencies Toward Engaging in Multiplayer Video Games: A Comparative Study Between Sports Games (FIFA) and Combat Games (Free Fire)

Abstract

Our study aims to investigate children’s tendencies toward engaging in multiplayer video games, specifically sports games such as FIFA and combat games such as Free Fire, among fourth-year middle school male students.
In this research, we adopted the descriptive method to examine and compare children’s tendencies toward practicing multiplayer video games. The study targeted a sample drawn from Mohamed Bedou Middle School in Khemis Miliana as a case study. The research sample initially consisted of 61 fourth-year middle school students during the 2023/2024 academic year.
After identifying the research population in February and selecting the middle school as a case study—given our direct engagement with it during the training internship period—an exploratory study was conducted. The questionnaire was selected as the primary data collection instrument. Subsequently, six students were excluded in the third exploratory phase due to their non-participation in video games, resulting in a final sample of 55 students.
Data were then collected and analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS).