Does game violence make you aggressive or is it competition?

[J T]

An interesting study just came out that challenges some of the notions about videogame violence promoting aggression. They claim that the studies on videogame violence neglect to account for the potential confounding effects of how competitive the game is (since the violent games in these studies are usually more competitive). They have evidence to back themselves up.

Here's the full article:
http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releas ... adachi.pdf

MY QUICK SUMMARY:

The study is a 2x2 design with Violent VS Nonviolent games as one independent variable and Competitive VS Noncompetitive games as the second independent variable. The games they used are:

Condition 1: Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe (Violent & Competitive)
Condition 2: Left 4 Dead 2 (Violent & Less-competitive)
Condition 3: Fuel (Nonviolent & Competitive)
Condition 4: Marble Blast Ultra (Nonviolent & Non-competitive)

The dependent variable was aggression as measured by a scenario where they are asked to prepare a hot sauce for another participant to drink that they are told does not like hot sauce. They choose out of 4 different intensities. The higher the intensity they choose, the more aggression seen.

(For those unfamiliar, tasks like this are commonly used to represent aggression because of an inability to ethically conduct research on aggression where real harm is done to another individual. No one is actually required to drink any hot sauce, but the participant does not know that at the time.)

MAJOR FINDINGS:
There are higher levels of aggression seen in the competitive games, and lower levels of aggression in the non-competitive games. Overall, the effects of violence were negligible. The increase in aggression appears to be driven almost entirely by the competitiveness of the game.


This means that prior research on video game violence leading to aggression needs to be re-examined and interpreted with greater skepticism whenever they compare only a violent game (that happens to be competitive) to a nonviolent game (that happens to be less competitive). The effect of violent games on aggression may be even less dramatic than was previously thought because of the counfounding influence of competitiveness that is present in most of these prior studies.

[MrPopo]

I don't know about competition, but the drivers of the Seattle metropolitan area make me aggressive. You've lived here longer than I have JT; do they actually require you to pass a driving test to get your license?

[AppleQueso]

I'm pretty sure MK vs DC would make most people more aggressive because of how much of a terrible game it is.

[Stark]

I don't know about competition, but the drivers of the Seattle metropolitan area make me aggressive. You've lived here longer than I have JT; do they actually require you to pass a driving test to get your license?

Based on driving I would say ... no.

[J T]

I don't know about competition, but the drivers of the Seattle metropolitan area make me aggressive. You've lived here longer than I have JT; do they actually require you to pass a driving test to get your license?

Yes. You have to drive 15 mph under the speed limit in a sidewinding forward motion while on a cellphone. If other slow drivers are on the road, you must stay to the immediate left or right of them so no drivers can get past you. Pretty much everyone is very good at this.

[MrPopo]

I don't know about competition, but the drivers of the Seattle metropolitan area make me aggressive. You've lived here longer than I have JT; do they actually require you to pass a driving test to get your license?

Yes. You have to drive 15 mph under the speed limit in a sidewinding forward motion while on a cellphone. If other slow drivers are on the road, you must stay to the immediate left or right of them so no drivers can get past you. Pretty much everyone is very good at this.

I think I remember some citizens trying to get Synchronized Driving classified as an Olympic event.

[AznKhmerBoi]

no does not make you a violent person, personally i think it helps out venting the violence or rage in you.

I think the negative effects of modern games is the foul language specially in a game that uses it constantly to make it aka mature.

[saturnfan]

I have never been that much of a competive gamer, more of a single player type of guy. But I did participate in a Halo match that ended up with someone being stabbed and rushed to the hospital.

[CFFJR]

@Seattle driving test.

@saturnfan - Details please?

As for the study, it doesn't surprise me at all. I never bought into the violence thing, and considering how ridiculously competitive (and as a result, bitchy and annoying) some people get over things as stupid as beer pong, I think it makes perfect sense.

[NintendoLegend]

I would agree that competition gives rise to violence, and this is only a natural, logical conclusion. After all, violence is a means to an end -- in society, it is an action taken under desperation (i.e., competition for resources, resulting in the necessity of harming people ot obtain them). Besides, even the violence represented in video games had to come from somewhere, and often represents merely an interesting reflection of competition. Additionally, you can cite non-game sources of violence that are steeped in competition; actually, the example of driving is a great example, where a non-violent activity gives rise to violence as everyone competes to get everywhere on a time limit.