Examination of digital game playing motivations of physical education and sports teachers in terms of different variables

Play emerges as an action that has been in our lives since the existence of the world and people of all ages, young and old, spend most of their time. With the convenience of technology in all areas of our lives, it has also become widespread especially in the field of entertainment and games. It is seen that people turn to digital games as they move away from traditional games. With the increase in digitalization, games have become an indispensable occupation in the daily lives of children and young people. Although digital games are a tool that is mostly used in terms of making use of free time and reducing daily stress and fatigue, it is a fact that individuals are afflicted like a disease day by day. It is seen that digital games are one of the indispensable pursuits of the society, which are frequently used day by day. Both adults and children can play these games comfortably and intensely in all areas of life. They even disrupt their own duties while playing these games. In this sense, the existence of digital games has become widespread in society day by day, causing people to spend a lot of time. The aim of this study is to examine the motivation of physical education and sports teachers to play digital games in terms of different variables. The population of the research consists of physical education and sports teacher candidates working in Gaziantep, and the sample group consists of 272 teachers (169 male, 103 female) selected on a voluntary basis. As a data collection tool in the research; "Digital Gaming Motivation Scale (DOOMÖ)" developed by Demir and Hazar (2018) was used. SPSS 22.0 program was used in the analysis of the data. After testing for normality and homogeneity, t-test for independent groups in paired groups, one-way analysis of variance and LSD post-hoc test correction were performed for variables with more than two groups. Values were presented as mean and standard deviation, and were analyzed at a significance level of 0.05. As a result of the research; In the motivation of physical education and sports teachers to play digital games, there is a significant difference in favor of men in the sub-dimensions of success and revitalization and curiosity and social acceptance according to gender. In terms of the marital status variable, there was a significant difference in favor of the single students in the total score, achievement and vitality, curiosity and social acceptance sub-dimensions, while there was a significant difference in the total score, achievement and revival, curiosity and social acceptance sub-dimensions of the graduates compared to the undergraduates in terms of educational status. detected. While there was no significant difference in the sub-dimension of uncertainty in achievement and revival and the desire to play, a significant difference was found in the sub-dimensions of curiosity and social acceptance in favor of those who were in secondary school. It was observed that there was a significant difference between the groups in terms of professional seniority variable. In terms of the weekly course load variable, a significant difference was found in favor of the group with a course load of 25-30 hours when the groups with a course load of 25-30 hours were compared with a course load of 20-24 hours in the sub-dimension of curiosity and social acceptance. It was concluded that there was no significant difference between the groups in the sub-dimensions of total score, uncertainty in game desire, and success and revival.