GamCog: A measurement instrument for miscognitions related to gamblification, gambling, and video gaming

"Gamblification" is a rapidly emerging form of media convergence between the more chance-based activity of gambling and the more skill-based activity of (video) gaming, for example in the competitive video gaming known as esports. The marriage of video gaming and gambling has been theorized as bringing about new forms of gambling-related cognitive processes in individuals and affecting the ways in which they approach and evaluate gambling situations. As such, a pertinent research problem is whether existing measurement instruments designed to identify gambling related cognitions can be employed in this new context and population, and if not, how they can be adapted. Therefore, in this study, we investigate the psychometric properties of Gambling Related Cognitions Scale (GRCS) and a series of items developed following a review of existing literature. We employ 3 separate data sets gathered from video game players who also gamble (N = 442; 391; and 335). The results indicate that the GRCS is not a robust measure to use for video game players who gamble; the new GamCog measure was, therefore, developed to address this gap. The study implies that the most significant cognitive differences between video game players and the wider population are the ways in which concepts of skill and luck are perceived, potentially due to the sense of personal agency engendered by video games. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).