Article in International Journal of Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations · October 019 doi: 10. 4018/ijgcms. 2019100103 citations reads 105 authors: Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects

International Journal of Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations

Volume 11 • Issue 4 • October-December 2019

44

Whenattitudesarequestioned,itisexpectedthatthenumberofbrandsbeingpromotedwould

causedifferentresponses.Therefore:

Hypothesis One:Theplayer’sattitude(a)towardsthebrandand(b)towardstheadvergameisexpected

tobedifferentwhenexposedtoSBandMB.

Information Processing Theories and the Branded Entertainment Setting

Manytheoriesintheliteraturedefinetheinformationprocessingabilityofhumans.Amongthem,

limitedcognitivecapacitytheory(Kahneman,1973),positsthathumanattentionandcognitive

capacityarelimitedatagiventime.Thus,theallocationofthiscapacityinfluencestheprocessing

andoutcomesofstimuliweencounter.Further,Lang(2000)proposedthelimitedcapacitymodel

ofmediatedmessageprocessing(LCMP).TheLCMPaddressestheexplicitcognitiveprocessingof

themediacontentbyaudiencesandresultingoutcomes.Thetheorystatesthatdifferentmediatypes

presentinformationindifferentformatsthatrequirementalresources,whicharelimitedinhumans.

Lang(2000)proposedseveralmedia-specificcharacteristicsthatinfluencecognitiveprocessing

andoutcomes.Someofthemaremodality,interactivity,involvement,andlevelofcognitivedemand.

InadditiontoLMCP,dual-processtheoriesofpersuasion(Chaiken,1980;Pettyetal.,1981;Petty

andCacioppo,1986),likeElaborationLikelihoodModel(ELM;PettyandCacioppo,1986),predict

thatwhenauserisunabletoprocesstheinformation,hereliesonheuristic-drivenprocessingrather

thanelaboration-drivenprocessing.

Whenadvergamesareinconcern;twodifferenttasksarecompetingforthecognitiveattention:

1)game-play(mission),2)commercialcontent(brandnames,logo,etc.)(EvansandHoy,2016).

ThelevelofCLisexpectedtobedifferentinSBandMB.InMB,playersarefacingmorethanone

brandwhiletryingtoachievegameobjectives.Astheplayerallocatesmorecognitiveresources

playingthegame,thereremainslesssparecapacityforprocessingthecommercialcontent(Nelson

andWaiguny,2012).Theresearchersofthesubjectsuggestthatwhentheusernoticesthebrandunder

suchconditions,theattitudeturnsouttobemorepositivebecauseoftheheuristicdrivenprocessing

(JaniszewskiandMeyvis,2001;WangandDuff,2016).Therefore:

Hypothesis Two:Underhighcognitiveloadplayershaveamorepositiveattitudetowards(a)the

advergameand(b)themainbrandcomparedtolowcognitiveload,bothinSBandMB.