The Influence of Social Competition and Maths Anxiety on Game Performance

This study examines how social competition and mathematics anxiety (MA) affect children's performance in 'Seven Spells', a digital maths game designed for primary education. Forty-three 9- to 10-year-old students from two third-class groups at a Dublin primary school played the game over four sessions, with one class competing against computer-controlled characters (vs. CPU) and the other against classmates (vs. Human). Participants completed a modified Abbreviated Mathematics Anxiety Scale and a maths fluency test beforehand, and gameplay logs from 3,875 individual moves were analysed through multiple linear regression, supplemented by focus groups.

The results show that move optimality was positively associated with gameplay duration (captured as an incremental move variable) and with the number of cards used per move, while higher MA was associated with lower optimality. Game mode alone was not a significant predictor. However, a significant interaction emerged: MA had a substantially stronger negative effect in the vs. Human mode and was not significant in the vs. CPU mode. Focus group feedback supported this pattern, with some vs. Human players expressing concern about upsetting classmates and a sense of social pressure, while vs. CPU players focused on the fantasy martial arts progression and reward structure.

The authors acknowledge important limitations. The sample was small, the vs. Human group had higher baseline MA, and the two modes differed in additional ways, including a storyline and reward system in the vs. CPU mode, differences in match initiation, and variation in session length. Consequently, the findings are preliminary and the authors call for larger studies and a redesigned experimental protocol to clarify how competition type and anxiety jointly shape learning outcomes in maths-based serious games.