Consolation Points
A recent study was done by students at Helsingin Yliopisto (University of Helsinki) about the emotional effects violent video games have. The students wanted to look not at the long term effects or even just averaged effects, but rather to look at the instantaneous effect certain in game events had. The results turned out to be counter intuitive.
Apparently when your character in the first-person shooter (FPS) game scores a kill, it illicits a response close to anger and anxiety. The counter event, when your character is killed, illicited a positive emotional response.
One key point I noticed while reading the article was that they played the game on a 56" screen while sitting only 78" away from it. To me that alone can skew the study. I'm not sure what the research is, but I was always told growing up not to sit too close to the TV because it would rot my brain. I'm pretty sure the action packed graphics and lights of a video game when viewed that close can cause some emotional responses.
Another blogger noticed the conclusion that possibly the pleasure response to dying is a result of finally getting a break from all the intense action. This may be true, in the sense that during gameplay your focus is on the game and your muscles are tense, ready to react to the slightest movement on the screen. When your character dies, you can take your hands off the controller for a second and you get a chance to look away from the screen. Personally I think the pleasure response when dying is more of a shear physical response to being allowed to drop your focus for the moment.
I have to wonder what the results would be if the study had taken multiplayer gaming into account, where your opponent isn't just another computer generated artificial intelligence controlled graphic, but rather a representation of another actual human being. Another thing I wonder is what it would be if that opponent were actually in the same room with you. Multiplayer games, in my opinion, have brought out much stronger emotions and tension while playing than those when playing in a single player campaign mode against the computer.
At least now I know I'm not the only one who enjoys watching my dead body float down a river in Halo 3 after I die...
VideoGameStudy.pdf
Apparently when your character in the first-person shooter (FPS) game scores a kill, it illicits a response close to anger and anxiety. The counter event, when your character is killed, illicited a positive emotional response.
One key point I noticed while reading the article was that they played the game on a 56" screen while sitting only 78" away from it. To me that alone can skew the study. I'm not sure what the research is, but I was always told growing up not to sit too close to the TV because it would rot my brain. I'm pretty sure the action packed graphics and lights of a video game when viewed that close can cause some emotional responses.
Another blogger noticed the conclusion that possibly the pleasure response to dying is a result of finally getting a break from all the intense action. This may be true, in the sense that during gameplay your focus is on the game and your muscles are tense, ready to react to the slightest movement on the screen. When your character dies, you can take your hands off the controller for a second and you get a chance to look away from the screen. Personally I think the pleasure response when dying is more of a shear physical response to being allowed to drop your focus for the moment.
I have to wonder what the results would be if the study had taken multiplayer gaming into account, where your opponent isn't just another computer generated artificial intelligence controlled graphic, but rather a representation of another actual human being. Another thing I wonder is what it would be if that opponent were actually in the same room with you. Multiplayer games, in my opinion, have brought out much stronger emotions and tension while playing than those when playing in a single player campaign mode against the computer.
At least now I know I'm not the only one who enjoys watching my dead body float down a river in Halo 3 after I die...
VideoGameStudy.pdf
~CodeMonkey at
2/25/2008 05:43:00 PM
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