Examining the psychological influences of playing interactive electronic games

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Examining the psychological influences of playing
interactive electronic games
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Why study interactive games?

• The game industry is quickly surpassing movie,
  and even television, in terms of profitability
  and market reach.
• The generation born after the birth of
  interactive games are now entering adulthood.
  However, we know very little about what it meant
  to grow up with this new medium.
• The need for producing better and more profitable
  electronic games is often the driving force
  behind many innovations in IT.
• Recent incidents in the U.S. and China have
  attracted a lot of public concern and media
  attention on various negative influences of
  electronic games.
• Politicians and lawmakers (in the U.S.) are
  starting to pay close attention to possible
  negative social influences of Interactive
  electronic game. Yet their efforts are hindered
  by the lack of scientific evidence.

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What do we know about interactive games?

• What is interactive electronic game?
• This question is not as easy to answer as it
  seems.
• Should we group computer games and video games
  together?
• Are online games the same as PC games?
• What about handheld games?
• What about Interactive TV?
• What about online gambling?
• Are we talking about software or hardware?
• Thus far, the research community has been
  treating these different formats of electronic
  game separately.
• Lack of consistent approach
• Lack of theoretical utility
• No theoretical framework to examine all
  electronic games as a whole

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What do we know about interactive games?

• Who are studying interactive games?
• Computer engineers/Industry
• Economists
• Psychologists/Communication scholars
• Medical Doctors
• Cultural observers/Social commentators
• Historians
• The Military
• but
• There is very little, if not no, communication
  and integration among researchers from these
  different fields.

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What do we know about interactive games?

• The most cited studies in game research (also the
  most relevant to communication scholars) are
  deeply rooted in the traditional media effects
  paradigm. They can be roughly organized along two
  dimensions
• Content
• Violence
• Sex
• Violence sex
• Health information
• Narratives
• Types of effect
• Cognitive
• Affective
• Developmental
• Physiological neurological

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The influence of violent content in games
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The content of video games is mostly violent

• Most popular arcade games force the player to
  perform violent acts to meet the goals of the
  game
• 85 Bowman Rotter, 1983
• Most video arcade games contain violent
  portrayals
• 71 Braun Giroux, 1989
• Most home-console video games contain violent
  portrayals
• 85 Provenzo, 1991
• More recent findings
• Most popular home-console video games feature one
  or more instance of violence
• 68 Smith, Lachlan Tamborini, 2003
• Half of popular home-console video games involve
  violence or aggression directed specifically at
  other characters
• 50 Dietz, 1998, p. 437

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The Effects of Video Game Violence

• Three psychological theories support the view
  that repeated exposure to video game violence may
  lead to real life aggression
• Social cognitive theory
• Priming theory
• GAM

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Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura)

• Individuals model the aggressive acts portrayed
  in media
• They see aggressors that are not punished for
  their crimes
• This creates disinhibition, individuals believe
  that if they commit aggression they will not be
  punished
• The process
• attention ? retention ? production ? motivation
• Limitation Social Cognitive Theory only explains
  long-term aggression

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Priming (Berkowitz)

• Memory is a collection of networks consisting of
  nodes representing thoughts and feelings

jail

criminals

action

crime

strategy

thief

Video games

violent

death

entertaining

killer

murder

relaxing

aggression

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The General Aggression Model (GAM)

• A basic overview (Anderson and Bushman, 2002)

Short-term Effects
Long-term Effects
Aggressive thoughts ?
Aggressive thoughts
Media Violence
?
Increase in Aggressive personality
Aggressive feelings ?
Repeated Exposures
Aggressive feelings
Media Violence
?
?
?
?
Aggressive behaviors ?
Aggressive behaviors
Media Violence
?
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Short-term effects of VG violence as predicted by
GAM(Revised by Mahood Yao, 2005)
Previous Gaming Experience
Trait Aggression
Gender
Exposure to Violence
Inputs
Person
Amount of violence
The Game Play Experience
Moderators
Provocation
Frustration
Affect
Internal State
Routes
Cognition
Arousal
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Research on the Aggressive Effects of Video Game
Violence

• Meta-Analysis Findings
• Anderson et al. (2004)
• 35 studies examined
• Found that video game violence exposure is
  related to
• increases in aggressive affect, cognition and
  behavior
• increases in physiological arousal
• decreases in helping behavior
• Recent laboratory studies focusing on the role of
  individual differences (Yao Mahood, 2005, 2006,
  etc.)

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Neurological effects (Weber, 2006)
Game players who committed virtual violence
displayed the same kind of brain activity pattern
as those who commit real-life violence!
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The positive influence of games
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Positive Effects of Video Game Play

• Positive Effects Survey
• Durkin Barber, 2002
• Examined 10th graders
• Results Video game play is positively related
  to
• family closeness
• E.g., family enjoys doing things together
• activity involvement
• E.g., school clubs
• positive school engagement
• E.g., GPA
• positive self-concept
• E.g., confidence in ones intelligence,
  leadership abilities, etc.

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Positive Effects of Video Game Play

• Positive Effects Experiment
• Green Bavelier, 2003
• Teenagers randomly assigned to play either
• violent games (action) or non-violent games
  (puzzle)
• Results
• Violent game players experienced more increases
  in visual skills than did non-violent players
• E.g., ability to identify objects in their
  peripheral vision
• E.g., track multiple items at once
• Discussion
• The story elements in the action games allowed
  for increased visual skills
• E.g., finding hidden bad guys to shoot in a
  1st-person shooter

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Positive Effects of Video Game Play

• Lieberman and Yao (2006)
• Cancer education game
• Students learned about cancer treatment and
  prevention after playing the game for only 45
  minutes.

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Online Games
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Online Gaming

• Online games differ in terms of social immersion
• Social immersion
• the extent to which an online game allows player
  to (a) engage in communication and (b) change the
  overall game narrative based on their cooperative
  actions

Immersive
vs.
Non-Immersive

• Stand Alone Games
• LAN and WAN Games
• MMORPGs

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Stand Alone Games

• Single player oriented games with the option to
  go online to seek a human opponent
• Example games Diablo II Dungeon Siege II
• Low social immersion
• player can text message
• each other but the game
• narrative is fixed
• online players cannot work
• together to change the
• overall game narrative

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LAN or WAN Games

• These games focus on tactical game play
• Example games Halo 2 Doom 3
• Medium social immersion
• Text messaging allows players to form teams or
  clans, which meet online to play out scenarios
  against other clans
• Can exchange email addresses and communicate
  outside the game to schedule game play times
• Latest games are voice compatible
• But players do not contribute to a complex game
  narrative (the usual plot is simply us vs. them)

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LAN Parties

• Typically, a large room or warehouse is rented
  out, people bring their own computers, hook them
  together, and play tournaments
• LAN parties have also become popular at a few
  universities
• Student organizations are formed use computer
  labs
• In fact, they have tried to have them here at OSU

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MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role
Playing Games )

• An online game with a large, sophisticated,
  detailed and evolving world
• Example games EverQuest World of Warcraft
• High Social Immersion
• Players engage in text messaging
• to form teams and complete quests
• Player can also emote by kneeling,
• saluting, waving, etc.
• The overall game narrative is based
• on what the players do
• (e.g., players can become leaders, form guilds,
• guilds can go to war, etc.)

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MMORPGs

• It generates a lot of public debate
• It is a perfect medium for studying video games,
  because to understand this medium, we must
  integrate the following three areas of research
• Media effects (influence of content)
• Human Computer Interaction (HCI)
• Computer-mediated communication (CMC)
• these areas of research were traditionally
  segregated.
• Very little empirical research has been done in
  this area.

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Online Aggression Study

• Williams Skoric (2005)
• Game a violent MMORPG, Asherons Call 2
• Subjects
• 213 video gamers with no prior MMORPG experience
• Random Assignment
• Treatment group played game at home for 1 month
  (avg. 56 hrs)
• Control group no game
• Results
• At the end of the month the treatment group was
  no more aggressive than the control group
• Problems
• This was a field study done at home
• No control, therefore a potential for 3rd
  variable problems
• E.g., What other violent games were the control
  group playing?

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MMORPGs

• Some unanswered questions
• Will it lead to addiction? How?
• Why do some get addicted but others dont?
• Game addiction vs. Internet addiction?
• Is it therapeutic?
• Does it have positive social influence?