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Study: Video Gamer Aggression Result of Game Experience, Not Violent Content
An anonymous reader writes "A new study published in the March edition of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology indicates that a gamer's experience of a video game and not the content of the game itself can give rise to violent behavior. In other words, 'researchers found it was not the narrative or imagery, but the lack of mastery of the game's controls and the degree of difficulty players had completing the game that led to frustration.' Based on their findings, researchers note that even games like Tetris and Candy Crush can inspire violent behavior more so than games like World of Warcraft or Grand Theft Auto if they are poorly designed and difficult to play."
The original NES must have raised a generation of cold-blooded killers.
It's lack of self-control that inspires violent behaviour. Whether it's a game or a nagging spouse that sends a person into a rage, the problem still resides with the individual, so enough with the scapegoating.
And that's exactly what the article says. This is Slashdot, not Simon Says.
I should know: I've played Assassin's Creed.
fucking camera. fucking ezio, going in the wrong fucking direction. running into fucking walls. jumping off fucking roofs. fucking FUCK.
I think this article brings up something really interesting that I was actually prodding my friend about the other day regarding UI design. See, he was playing a game with a friends list, and he was telling me that he needed to delete friends. His list is far smaller than mine on this game, only around 40 people. I eventually dug down to his original experience with friend systems for video games - the original XBox. The XBox had an awful UI for sorting, displaying, and finding friends - you could only see 4 or 5 friends at a time, and it would never get a passing grade under today's UI standards. This was a system from nearly a decade ago, and there's a non-zero chance that his experience with the UI still affects his behavior a decade later, manifesting as a vague compulsion to keep his friends lists short.
So, how does this relate to the article? If a UI can train people into long-term compulsive behaviors, it's not unreasonable to research whether they can also nudge people's behavior in other directions on a shorter timescale.
leading to even more frustration...
Watching sad movies makes you sad. Listening to happy music can cheer you up. Reading a sad book can make you unhappy.
Video games are just another entertainment form.
I appreciate that TFA is referring to a lack of mastery of the controls makes you aggressive (or frustrated)...but so does lack of mastery of anything you spend time on.
And my bugbear is XCOM classic ironman... damn those aliens.
"The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes" - Winston Churchill
That is what difficulty settings are supposed to be for.
I would also say that everyone has limits. Backing individuals into impossible situations passive aggressively is something that modern society has become very good at. Since some people have more control than others for a given type of situation, those with less end up as canaries in the coal mine. Eg, the rise in school shootings probably has to do with how our society/school system increasingly treats individuality negatively. Those who feel it most, feel it first. Boom.
Nope. Lack of self control causes violence. But lack of game control causes the anger and frustration that leads to a need for self control.
Basically this, if proven as opposed to found once and reported, explains why all studies that blamed video games found the same results consistently. Not because it was bad science, but poor design.
Prior studies were missing basic control groups that had input requirements similar to violent games with only the content different.
Every such study is now suspect at best, and more likely invalid. And, unless you see a flaw, this result means that anyone blaming purely the individual's self control is just as ignorant as blaming purely the game's violent content.
That's why I always bring two pistols to a Monopoly game. One for the banker - you give a guy a position of power like that, sooner or later his inner nature will get the better of him and he starts skimming off the top.
The other's for that guy that sets his sights on developing Park Place and Boardwalk. You can't abide that shit. You know that it's just a matter of time before those houses turn into hotels and it will not end well.
You really think it's lack of self-control that's the problem? How the fuck would you know, you fucking little prick? How fucking dare you! You think you're better than the rest of us you godamn fuckface? SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH YOU FUCKING...
Sorry. I don't know what came over me!
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Torture an animal long enough and it will bite you. Humans are no different, we're just better at it.
The biting or the torturing?
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon