No evidence to support
link between violent video games and behavior
University of York
Researchers at the
University of York have found no evidence to support the theory that video
games make players more violent.
In a series of
experiments, with more than 3,000 participants, the team demonstrated that
video game concepts do not 'prime' players to behave in certain ways and that
increasing the realism of violent video games does not necessarily increase
aggression in game players.
The dominant model of
learning in games is built on the idea that exposing players to concepts, such
as violence in a game, makes those concepts easier to use in 'real life'.
This is known as
'priming', and is thought to lead to changes in behaviour. Previous experiments
on this effect, however, have so far provided mixed conclusions.
Researchers at the University of York expanded the number of participants in experiments, compared to studies that had gone before it, and compared different types of gaming realism to explore whether more conclusive evidence could be found.
In one study,
participants played a game where they had to either be a car avoiding
collisions with trucks or a mouse avoiding being caught by a cat.
Following the game, the players were shown various images, such as a bus or a dog, and asked to label them as either a vehicle or an animal.
Following the game, the players were shown various images, such as a bus or a dog, and asked to label them as either a vehicle or an animal.
Dr David Zendle, from
the University's Department of Computer Science, said: "If players are
'primed' through immersing themselves in the concepts of the game, they should
be able to categorise the objects associated with this game more quickly in the
real world once the game had concluded.
"Across the two
games we didn't find this to be the case. Participants who played a car-themed
game were no quicker at categorising vehicle images, and indeed in some cases their
reaction time was significantly slower."
In a separate, but
connected study, the team investigated whether realism influenced the
aggression of game players. Research in the past has suggested that the greater
the realism of the game the more primed players are by violent concepts,
leading to antisocial effects in the real world.
Dr Zendle said:
"There are several experiments looking at graphic realism in video games,
but they have returned mixed results. There are, however, other ways that
violent games can be realistic, besides looking like the 'real world', such as
the way characters behave for example.
"Our experiment
looked at the use of 'ragdoll physics' in game design, which creates characters
that move and react in the same way that they would in real life. Human
characters are modelled on the movement of the human skeleton and how that
skeleton would fall if it was injured."
The experiment
compared player reactions to two combat games, one that used 'ragdoll physics'
to create realistic character behaviour and one that did not, in an animated
world that nevertheless looked real.
Following the game the
players were asked to complete word puzzles called 'word fragment completion
tasks', where researchers expected more violent word associations would be
chosen for those who played the game that employed more realistic behaviours.
They compared the
results of this experiment with another test of game realism, where a single
bespoke war game was modified to form two different games.
In one of these games, enemy characters used realistic soldier behaviours, whilst in the other game they did not employ realistic soldier behaviour.
In one of these games, enemy characters used realistic soldier behaviours, whilst in the other game they did not employ realistic soldier behaviour.
Dr Zendle said:
"We found that the priming of violent concepts, as measured by how many
violent concepts appeared in the word fragment completion task, was not
detectable.
There was no difference in priming between the game that employed 'ragdoll physics' and the game that didn't, as well as no significant difference between the games that used 'real' and 'unreal' solider tactics.
There was no difference in priming between the game that employed 'ragdoll physics' and the game that didn't, as well as no significant difference between the games that used 'real' and 'unreal' solider tactics.
"The findings
suggest that there is no link between these kinds of realism in games and the
kind of effects that video games are commonly thought to have on their players.
"Further study is
now needed into other aspects of realism to see if this has the same result.
What happens when we consider the realism of by-standing characters in the
game, for example, and the inclusion of extreme content, such as torture?
"We also only
tested these theories on adults, so more work is needed to understand whether a
different effect is evident in children players."