Introduction - White Rose University Consortium



AbstractA common argument in the violent video game (VVG) literature is that the greater the realism of a game, the more it activates aggressive concepts, and the greater antisocial effects it will have on its players.Several experiments have therefore looked into whether the graphical realism of VVGs might influence their effects. These experiments have returned mixed results. However, there are other ways that a VVG can be realistic besides looking like the real world. More specifically, things in VVGs can not only look realistic, they can also behave realistically. It may be the case that this kind of realism leads to increases in the activation of aggressive concepts, rather than increases in graphical realism. In this paper, we therefore present two large-scale online experiments (n=898 and n=1880) which investigate the effects of two different manipulations of behavioural realism on the activation of aggressive concepts in VVGs. In neither experiment did increasing realism increase the activation of aggressive concepts.Realism is often described as increasing the effects of VVGs. These results contradict this perspective, and instead suggest that realism may not lead to increases in aggression-related variables.IntroductionRealism is a game’s ability “to mimic things that exist, or events that have happened in real life” ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"1e8kmt7s9","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Malliet, 2006)","plainCitation":"(Malliet, 2006)"},"citationItems":[{"id":115,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":115,"type":"article-journal","title":"An exploration of adolescents’ perceptions of videogame realism","container-title":"Learning, media and technology","page":"377–394","volume":"31","issue":"4","source":"Google Scholar","author":[{"family":"Malliet","given":"Steven"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2006"]]}}}],"schema":""} (Malliet, 2006). Since the early 1970s, researchers have argued that the more ‘real’ on-screen violence in television and film seems, the more aggressive viewers themselves are likely to become (e.g. ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"22vscoj75d","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Geen, 1975)","plainCitation":"(Geen, 1975)"},"citationItems":[{"id":299,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":299,"type":"article-journal","title":"The meaning of observed violence: Real vs. fictional violence and consequent effects on aggression and emotional arousal","container-title":"Journal of Research in Personality","page":"270–281","volume":"9","issue":"4","source":"Google Scholar","shortTitle":"The meaning of observed violence","author":[{"family":"Geen","given":"Russell G."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["1975"]]}}}],"schema":""} (Geen, 1975)). This link between realism and aggressive behaviour has extended into accounts of the potential effects of VVGs. For instance, ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"25jmnjqruq","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(C. Barlett et al., 2008)","plainCitation":"(C. Barlett et al., 2008)"},"citationItems":[{"id":360,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":360,"type":"article-journal","title":"The effect of advances in video game technology and content on aggressive cognitions, hostility, and heart rate","container-title":"Media Psychology","page":"540–565","volume":"11","issue":"4","source":"Google Scholar","author":[{"family":"Barlett","given":"Christopher"},{"family":"Rodeheffer","given":"Christopher D."},{"family":"Baldassaro","given":"Ross"},{"family":"Hinkin","given":"Michael P."},{"family":"Harris","given":"Richard J."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2008"]]}}}],"schema":""} (C. Barlett et al., 2008) links the increased realism of modern VVGs to potentially increased effects, writing that “theoretically, violent video game graphics quality could be related to aggression-related variables, as they are more graphically enhanced to depict violent acts and blood in great detail and quality.”. This view, that greater realism may lead to more aggressive behaviour, is echoed throughout the VVG literature (e.g. ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"CLwjMXyE","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Krcmar et al., 2011)","plainCitation":"(Krcmar et al., 2011)"},"citationItems":[{"id":450,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":450,"type":"article-journal","title":"The effects of video game realism on attention, retention and aggressive outcomes","container-title":"Computers in Human Behavior","page":"432–439","volume":"27","issue":"1","source":"Google Scholar","author":[{"family":"Krcmar","given":"Marina"},{"family":"Farrar","given":"Kirstie"},{"family":"McGloin","given":"Rory"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2011"]]}}}],"schema":""} (Krcmar et al., 2011)). Despite this theoretical rationale, experimental evidence for a link between realism and VVG effects has thus far proved weak. Several experiments have attempted to clarify the effects of realism on the players of VVGs. These experiments have produced mixed or otherwise inconclusive results. However, it is important to note that previous research has largely focused on the effects of graphical realism in VVGs (e.g. ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"55l5f8ev","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Jeong et al., 2012; Zendle et al., 2015)","plainCitation":"(Jeong et al., 2012; Zendle et al., 2015)"},"citationItems":[{"id":451,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":451,"type":"article-journal","title":"Sensory realism and mediated aggression in video games","container-title":"Computers in Human Behavior","page":"1840–1848","volume":"28","issue":"5","source":"Google Scholar","author":[{"family":"Jeong","given":"Eui Jun"},{"family":"Biocca","given":"Frank A."},{"family":"Bohil","given":"Corey J."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2012"]]}}},{"id":107,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":107,"type":"paper-conference","title":"Higher Graphical Fidelity Decreases Players' Access to Aggressive Concepts in Violent Video Games","container-title":"Proceedings of the 2015 Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play","publisher":"ACM","page":"241–251","source":"Google Scholar","URL":"","author":[{"family":"Zendle","given":"David"},{"family":"Cairns","given":"Paul"},{"family":"Kudenko","given":"Daniel"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2015"]]},"accessed":{"date-parts":[["2016",9,12]]}}}],"schema":""} (Jeong et al., 2012; Zendle et al., 2015)). Graphical realism refers to the ability of video games to visually resemble real people, places and things. This is not the only way that video games can be realistic. By contrast, behavioural realism refers to the ability of things in a video game to behave like things in the real world ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"95jlvgiml","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Cheng and Cairns, 2005)","plainCitation":"(Cheng and Cairns, 2005)"},"citationItems":[{"id":98,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":98,"type":"paper-conference","title":"Behaviour, Realism and Immersion in Games","container-title":"CHI '05 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems","collection-title":"CHI EA '05","publisher":"ACM","publisher-place":"New York, NY, USA","page":"1272–1275","source":"ACM Digital Library","event-place":"New York, NY, USA","abstract":"Immersion is recognised as an important element of good games. However, it is not always clear what is meant by immersion. Earlier work has identified possible barriers to immersion including a lack of coherence between different aspects of the game. Building on this work, we designed an experiment to examine people's expectations of how a game should behave and what would happen if that behaviour was deliberately made to be incoherent. The idea then is to understand immersion through seeing how immersion can be broken. The main manipulation was to alter the behaviour and realism of the graphics in the course of a simple game situation. Surprisingly, results indicated that participants could be so immersed within a simple environment such that even significant changes in behaviour had little effect on the level of immersion. In some cases, the attempted disruptions went completely unnoticed. These results suggest that immersion within an application can overcome effects which are completely against user expectations.","URL":"","DOI":"10.1145/1056808.1056894","ISBN":"978-1-59593-002-6","author":[{"family":"Cheng","given":"Kevin"},{"family":"Cairns","given":"Paul A."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2005"]]},"accessed":{"date-parts":[["2016",7,29]]}}}],"schema":""} (Cheng and Cairns, 2005). The effects of behavioural realism on aggression-related variables have not yet been investigated in an experimental context. The experiments presented here address this important gap in the literature.Experiment 1 investigated whether making in-game enemies behave realistically via the use of ragdoll physics increased the activation of aggressive concepts in players. A bespoke first-person shooter (FPS) game was made, and then manipulated so that it formed two different experimental conditions. In one of these conditions, the implementation of ragdoll physics gave enemies dynamic and physically realistic death behaviours. In the other condition, these deaths were instead animated via less realistic (and non-dynamic) pre-recorded animation sequences. The results of a large online experiment (n=898) indicated that the use of ragdoll physics did not increase the activation of aggressive concepts.Experiment 2 investigated the effects of a different form of behavioural realism. This experiment looked at the effects of realistic non-player character (NPC) tactics on the activation of aggressive concepts in VVGs. In this game, two versions of a bespoke FPS game were again created. In one condition NPC enemies behaved according to realistic squad-based tactics, whilst in the other condition they used less realistic, simpler behaviours. Results of a large online experiment (n=1880) indicated that more realistic NPC tactics may lead to marginally less activation of aggressive concepts in VVGs, but they certainly do not lead to more. When taken together, these experiments suggest that greater behavioural realism does not necessarily lead to greater amounts of the activation of aggressive concepts in VVGs. This provides further evidence that increases to the realism of VVGs may not necessarily lead to similar increases in their antisocial effects.BackgroundGraphical realism and behavioural realismRealism refers to a game’s ability to imitate the real world. This term is often used to describe the quality of a game’s graphics. A variety of technological innovations in modern VVGs can be used to make these games look more like their real world counterparts. For instance, the increasing processing power of modern computers allows them to render 3D models which use ever larger numbers of polygons. This has allowed the transition of objects in VVGs from simple geometric shapes to “more realistic or organic” ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"ceJNpS65","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Tavinor, 2009)","plainCitation":"(Tavinor, 2009)"},"citationItems":[{"id":129,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":129,"type":"book","title":"The Art of Videogames","publisher":"John Wiley & Sons","number-of-pages":"242","source":"Google Books","abstract":"The Art of Videogames explores how philosophy of the arts theories developed to address traditional art works can also be applied to videogames. Presents a unique philosophical approach to the art of videogaming, situating videogames in the framework of analytic philosophy of the arts Explores how philosophical theories developed to address traditional art works can also be applied to videogames Written for a broad audience of both philosophers and videogame enthusiasts by a philosopher who is also an avid gamer Discusses the relationship between games and earlier artistic and entertainment media, how videogames allow for interactive fiction, the role of game narrative, and the moral status of violent events depicted in videogame worlds Argues that videogames do indeed qualify as a new and exciting form of representational art","ISBN":"978-1-4443-1018-4","note":"Google-Books-ID: LM3hnwGb8xUC","language":"en","author":[{"family":"Tavinor","given":"Grant"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2009",11,19]]}}}],"schema":""} (Tavinor, 2009) forms. However, it is important to note that changes in the dimensions of texture maps and the number of polygons in 3D models are not the only factors which are relevant to the realism of video games. When discussing the realism of a game, it does not “suffice to observe what is visible on the computer or television screen”, but “in addition, one must look at the program rules that govern the pace of the game” ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"di9imp339","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Malliet, 2006)","plainCitation":"(Malliet, 2006)"},"citationItems":[{"id":115,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":115,"type":"article-journal","title":"An exploration of adolescents’ perceptions of videogame realism","container-title":"Learning, media and technology","page":"377–394","volume":"31","issue":"4","source":"Google Scholar","author":[{"family":"Malliet","given":"Steven"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2006"]]}}}],"schema":""} (Malliet, 2006) as well. In other words, when it comes to realism in video games the way things behave as well as how they look matters. This idea that a game’s realism is also to do with how closely its “objects and characters act in comparison to the same object in the real world” ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"1l6uu1ddt","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Cheng and Cairns, 2005)","plainCitation":"(Cheng and Cairns, 2005)"},"citationItems":[{"id":98,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":98,"type":"paper-conference","title":"Behaviour, Realism and Immersion in Games","container-title":"CHI '05 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems","collection-title":"CHI EA '05","publisher":"ACM","publisher-place":"New York, NY, USA","page":"1272–1275","source":"ACM Digital Library","event-place":"New York, NY, USA","abstract":"Immersion is recognised as an important element of good games. However, it is not always clear what is meant by immersion. Earlier work has identified possible barriers to immersion including a lack of coherence between different aspects of the game. Building on this work, we designed an experiment to examine people's expectations of how a game should behave and what would happen if that behaviour was deliberately made to be incoherent. The idea then is to understand immersion through seeing how immersion can be broken. The main manipulation was to alter the behaviour and realism of the graphics in the course of a simple game situation. Surprisingly, results indicated that participants could be so immersed within a simple environment such that even significant changes in behaviour had little effect on the level of immersion. In some cases, the attempted disruptions went completely unnoticed. These results suggest that immersion within an application can overcome effects which are completely against user expectations.","URL":"","DOI":"10.1145/1056808.1056894","ISBN":"978-1-59593-002-6","author":[{"family":"Cheng","given":"Kevin"},{"family":"Cairns","given":"Paul A."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2005"]]},"accessed":{"date-parts":[["2016",7,29]]}}}],"schema":""} (Cheng and Cairns, 2005) is sometimes referred to as that game’s ‘behavioural realism’ or ‘simulational realism’ ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"1blde45pt8","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Ribbens and Malliet, 2010)","plainCitation":"(Ribbens and Malliet, 2010)"},"citationItems":[{"id":472,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":472,"type":"article-journal","title":"Perceived digital game realism: A quantitative exploration of its structure","container-title":"Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments","page":"585–600","volume":"19","issue":"6","source":"Google Scholar","shortTitle":"Perceived digital game realism","author":[{"family":"Ribbens","given":"Wannes"},{"family":"Malliet","given":"Steven"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2010"]]}}}],"schema":""} (Ribbens and Malliet, 2010) as opposed to its ‘graphical realism’. Ragdoll PhysicsJust as there are a variety of ways that VVGs can be made more graphically realistic, there are several different methods that can be used to make them more behaviourally realistic. One key way that behavioural realism can be increased is through the use of ragdoll physics. Physics is thought to play an important role in “conveying realistic fictional worlds” ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"2d8rm05228","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Tavinor, 2009)","plainCitation":"(Tavinor, 2009)"},"citationItems":[{"id":129,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":129,"type":"book","title":"The Art of Videogames","publisher":"John Wiley & Sons","number-of-pages":"242","source":"Google Books","abstract":"The Art of Videogames explores how philosophy of the arts theories developed to address traditional art works can also be applied to videogames. Presents a unique philosophical approach to the art of videogaming, situating videogames in the framework of analytic philosophy of the arts Explores how philosophical theories developed to address traditional art works can also be applied to videogames Written for a broad audience of both philosophers and videogame enthusiasts by a philosopher who is also an avid gamer Discusses the relationship between games and earlier artistic and entertainment media, how videogames allow for interactive fiction, the role of game narrative, and the moral status of violent events depicted in videogame worlds Argues that videogames do indeed qualify as a new and exciting form of representational art","ISBN":"978-1-4443-1018-4","note":"Google-Books-ID: LM3hnwGb8xUC","language":"en","author":[{"family":"Tavinor","given":"Grant"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2009",11,19]]}}}],"schema":""} (Tavinor, 2009) in video games. Therefore, a common way to make in-game characters “realistically interact” ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"ndjvikxk","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Schell, 2014)","plainCitation":"(Schell, 2014)"},"citationItems":[{"id":384,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":384,"type":"book","title":"The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses, Second Edition","publisher":"CRC Press","number-of-pages":"604","source":"Google Books","abstract":"Good game design happens when you view your game from as many perspectives as possible. Written by one of the world's top game designers, The Art of Game Design presents 100+ sets of questions, or different lenses, for viewing a game’s design, encompassing diverse fields such as psychology, architecture, music, visual design, film, software engineering, theme park design, mathematics, puzzle design, and anthropology. This Second Edition of a Game Developer Front Line Award winner: Describes the deepest and most fundamental principles of game design Demonstrates how tactics used in board, card, and athletic games also work in top-quality video games Contains valuable insight from Jesse Schell, the former chair of the International Game Developers Association and award-winning designer of Disney online games The Art of Game Design, Second Edition gives readers useful perspectives on how to make better game designs faster. It provides practical instruction on creating world-class games that will be played again and again.","ISBN":"978-1-4665-9864-5","note":"Google-Books-ID: kRMeBQAAQBAJ","shortTitle":"The Art of Game Design","language":"en","author":[{"family":"Schell","given":"Jesse"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2014",11,6]]}}}],"schema":""} (Schell, 2014) with each other is through the use of ragdoll physics. In this approach, game developers build a physical simulation of each of a game’s characters as a collection of jointed bodies joined together into a skeleton. They then simulate the reaction of this ‘ragdoll’ to whatever force killed them, and animate the character accordingly. When ragdoll physics is used, in-game characters therefore react to collisions in a way which is in keeping with how they would behave the real world. This technique is commonly used in VVGs to animate the deaths of in-game characters in physically realistic ways ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"f7blijufh","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Hertzmann and Zordan, 2011)","plainCitation":"(Hertzmann and Zordan, 2011)"},"citationItems":[{"id":1366,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":1366,"type":"article-journal","title":"Physics-based characters","container-title":"IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications","page":"20–21","volume":"31","issue":"4","source":"Google Scholar","author":[{"family":"Hertzmann","given":"Aaron"},{"family":"Zordan","given":"Victor"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2011"]]}}}],"schema":""} (Hertzmann and Zordan, 2011).NPC TacticsBy contrast, a very different way to add behavioural realism to a VVG is through the tactics which non-player characters (NPC) use. VVGs such as Far Cry feature NPC characters who are deliberately programmed to act in ways which realistically reflect how combatants behave in real-life combat situations. For instance, in 1998’s Half Life, one early reviewer noted that “the infantry squads will split up, trying to hit you from several sides while one guy keeps you pinned or lobs grenades” ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"3i3k7d5tj","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Bates, 1998)","plainCitation":"(Bates, 1998)"},"citationItems":[{"id":496,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":496,"type":"webpage","title":"Half-Life Review - IGN","URL":"","author":[{"family":"Bates","given":"Jason"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["1998",11,25]]},"accessed":{"date-parts":[["2016",8,30]]}}}],"schema":""} (Bates, 1998).Similarly, in the recent VVG The Last of Us, enemy characters used ‘flanking’ tactics on the player ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"bcgvcfb73","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Rabin, 2015)","plainCitation":"(Rabin, 2015)"},"citationItems":[{"id":165,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":165,"type":"book","title":"Game AI Pro 2: Collected Wisdom of Game AI Professionals","publisher":"CRC Press","number-of-pages":"765","source":"Google Books","abstract":"Game AI Pro2: Collected Wisdom of Game AI Professionals presents cutting-edge tips, tricks, and techniques for artificial intelligence (AI) in games, drawn from developers of shipped commercial games as well as some of the best-known academics in the field. It contains knowledge, advice, hard-earned wisdom, and insights gathered from across the community of developers and researchers who have devoted themselves to game AI. In this book, 47 expert developers and researchers have come together to bring you their newest advances in game AI, along with twists on proven techniques that have shipped in some of the most successful commercial games of the last few years. The book provides a toolbox of proven techniques that can be applied to many common and not-so-common situations. It is written to be accessible to a broad range of readers. Beginners will find good general coverage of game AI techniques and a number of comprehensive overviews, while intermediate to expert professional game developers will find focused, deeply technical chapters on specific topics of interest to them. Covers a wide range of AI in games, with topics applicable to almost any game Touches on most, if not all, of the topics necessary to get started in game AI Provides real-life case studies of game AI in published commercial games Gives in-depth, technical solutions from some of the industry’s best-known games Includes downloadable demos and/or source code, available at ","ISBN":"978-1-4987-6042-3","note":"Google-Books-ID: TwIZCwAAQBAJ","shortTitle":"Game AI Pro 2","language":"en","author":[{"family":"Rabin","given":"Steven"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2015",9,15]]}}}],"schema":""} (Rabin, 2015). In this tactic, one group of NPCs ‘pins down’ the player with bursts of continuous fire, whilst a second group “maneuvers around to their flank and then cuts across from the side to finish them off” ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"29b9s7gkf8","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Rabin, 2015)","plainCitation":"(Rabin, 2015)"},"citationItems":[{"id":165,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":165,"type":"book","title":"Game AI Pro 2: Collected Wisdom of Game AI Professionals","publisher":"CRC Press","number-of-pages":"765","source":"Google Books","abstract":"Game AI Pro2: Collected Wisdom of Game AI Professionals presents cutting-edge tips, tricks, and techniques for artificial intelligence (AI) in games, drawn from developers of shipped commercial games as well as some of the best-known academics in the field. It contains knowledge, advice, hard-earned wisdom, and insights gathered from across the community of developers and researchers who have devoted themselves to game AI. In this book, 47 expert developers and researchers have come together to bring you their newest advances in game AI, along with twists on proven techniques that have shipped in some of the most successful commercial games of the last few years. The book provides a toolbox of proven techniques that can be applied to many common and not-so-common situations. It is written to be accessible to a broad range of readers. Beginners will find good general coverage of game AI techniques and a number of comprehensive overviews, while intermediate to expert professional game developers will find focused, deeply technical chapters on specific topics of interest to them. Covers a wide range of AI in games, with topics applicable to almost any game Touches on most, if not all, of the topics necessary to get started in game AI Provides real-life case studies of game AI in published commercial games Gives in-depth, technical solutions from some of the industry’s best-known games Includes downloadable demos and/or source code, available at ","ISBN":"978-1-4987-6042-3","note":"Google-Books-ID: TwIZCwAAQBAJ","shortTitle":"Game AI Pro 2","language":"en","author":[{"family":"Rabin","given":"Steven"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2015",9,15]]}}}],"schema":""} (Rabin, 2015). This is not the only way that NPC tactics in VVGs can mimic the way that real-world combatants fight. As game designer Ernest Adams points out in ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"GFCEozcP","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Adams and Rollings, 2007)","plainCitation":"(Adams and Rollings, 2007)"},"citationItems":[{"id":420,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":420,"type":"book","title":"Fundamentals of Game Design","publisher":"Pearson Prentice Hall","number-of-pages":"726","source":"Google Books","abstract":"Game design is the most fundamental skill you need for a career in the video game industry. Noted authors and game developers Ernest Adams and Andrew Rollings lead you through the concepts, principles, and techniques for designing an entire video game. The first half of the book gives you the necessary groundwork for creating worlds, characters, stories, gameplay, core mechanics, and a user interface. It also shows you a process by which to approach the task. The second half of the book applies the principles of the first half to the most common game genres on the market today including action games, strategy games, role-playing games, and vehicle simulations.","ISBN":"978-0-13-168747-9","note":"Google-Books-ID: jHghAQAAIAAJ","language":"en","author":[{"family":"Adams","given":"Ernest"},{"family":"Rollings","given":"Andrew"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2007"]]}}}],"schema":""} (Adams and Rollings, 2007), there are a plethora of tactics which can influence the behavioural realism of a VVG:“Depending on the degree of realism offered, tactics can include flanking maneuvers, sneak attacks, creating diversions, cutting off enemy supply lines, killing the superior officers to leave the troops without leadership, taking advantage of the effects of bad weather, and so on. “The effects of playing VVGsA fierce debate rages over the potential effects of violent video games (VVGs). Some academics passionately argue that these games lead to antisocial behaviour (e.g. ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"1jtdlik87o","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Anderson and Bushman, 2001)","plainCitation":"(Anderson and Bushman, 2001)"},"citationItems":[{"id":447,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":447,"type":"article-journal","title":"Effects of violent video games on aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition, aggressive affect, physiological arousal, and prosocial behavior: A meta-analytic review of the scientific literature","container-title":"Psychological science","page":"353–359","volume":"12","issue":"5","source":"Google Scholar","shortTitle":"Effects of violent video games on aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition, aggressive affect, physiological arousal, and prosocial behavior","author":[{"family":"Anderson","given":"Craig A."},{"family":"Bushman","given":"Brad J."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2001"]]}}}],"schema":""} (Anderson and Bushman, 2001)). By contrast, others claim that the proposed effects of VVGs are unsupported by empirical evidence (e.g. ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"X3nGYxok","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Elson and Ferguson, 2014; Kneer et al., 2016)","plainCitation":"(Elson and Ferguson, 2014; Kneer et al., 2016)"},"citationItems":[{"id":375,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":375,"type":"article-journal","title":"Twenty-five years of research on violence in digital games and aggression","container-title":"European Psychologist","source":"Google Scholar","URL":"","author":[{"family":"Elson","given":"Malte"},{"family":"Ferguson","given":"Christopher J."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2014"]]},"accessed":{"date-parts":[["2016",7,20]]}}},{"id":336,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":336,"type":"article-journal","title":"Fight fire with rainbows: The effects of displayed violence, difficulty, and performance in digital games on affect, aggression, and physiological arousal","container-title":"Computers in Human Behavior","page":"142–148","volume":"54","source":"Google Scholar","shortTitle":"Fight fire with rainbows","author":[{"family":"Kneer","given":"Julia"},{"family":"Elson","given":"Malte"},{"family":"Knapp","given":"Florian"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2016"]]}}}],"schema":""} (Elson and Ferguson, 2014; Kneer et al., 2016)). The most prominent explanation of why playing VVGs might lead to antisocial behaviour is the GAM, or General Aggression Model. As its name suggests, the General Aggression Model (GAM) specifies how a variety of factors lead to “relatively automatic” ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"2c2iat6msm","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Anderson and Carnagey, 2004)","plainCitation":"(Anderson and Carnagey, 2004)"},"citationItems":[{"id":389,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":389,"type":"article-journal","title":"Violent evil and the general aggression model","container-title":"The social psychology of good and evil","page":"168–192","source":"Google Scholar","author":[{"family":"Anderson","given":"Craig A."},{"family":"Carnagey","given":"Nicholas L."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2004"]]}}}],"schema":""} (Anderson and Carnagey, 2004) aggressive behaviour, both in the short-term and also over longer periods of time. The idea of “priming effects” ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"1hkg9tlm4h","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Bushman and Anderson, 2001)","plainCitation":"(Bushman and Anderson, 2001)"},"citationItems":[{"id":261,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":261,"type":"article-journal","title":"Is it time to pull the plug on hostile versus instrumental aggression dichotomy?","container-title":"Psychological review","page":"273","volume":"108","issue":"1","source":"Google Scholar","author":[{"family":"Bushman","given":"Brad J."},{"family":"Anderson","given":"Craig A."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2001"]]}}}],"schema":""} (Bushman and Anderson, 2001) are integral to this model. Under the GAM, when players are exposed to depictions of aggression in video games, concepts which are related to aggression are activated in players’ memories. This activation also spreads to associated violence-related “knowledge structures” ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"tj2spg7b4","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Anderson and Carnagey, 2004)","plainCitation":"(Anderson and Carnagey, 2004)"},"citationItems":[{"id":389,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":389,"type":"article-journal","title":"Violent evil and the general aggression model","container-title":"The social psychology of good and evil","page":"168–192","source":"Google Scholar","author":[{"family":"Anderson","given":"Craig A."},{"family":"Carnagey","given":"Nicholas L."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2004"]]}}}],"schema":""} (Anderson and Carnagey, 2004) such as scripts, schema, and beliefs. This leads to players being temporarily more likely to commit acts of violence themselves ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"aGTpHQmY","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Anderson and Bushman, 2002)","plainCitation":"(Anderson and Bushman, 2002)"},"citationItems":[{"id":473,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":473,"type":"article-journal","title":"Human aggression","container-title":"Psychology","page":"27","volume":"53","issue":"1","source":"Google Scholar","author":[{"family":"Anderson","given":"Craig A."},{"family":"Bushman","given":"Brad J."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2002"]]}}}],"schema":""} (Anderson and Bushman, 2002). Additionally, the authors of the GAM argue that activation of aggressive concepts can lead to long-term changes in personality through processes of reinforcement. Reinforcement refers to the idea that repeatedly activating a concept or knowledge structure will lead to that same concept or knowledge structure becoming easier to activate again, not over short periods of time, but over long periods of time. In fact, the GAM predicts that this effect will occur to the point where these knowledge structures “eventually become part of the person’s personality” ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"d13Clrbp","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Anderson et al., 2010)","plainCitation":"(Anderson et al., 2010)"},"citationItems":[{"id":192,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":192,"type":"article-journal","title":"Violent video game effects on aggression, empathy, and prosocial behavior in eastern and western countries: a meta-analytic review.","container-title":"Psychological bulletin","page":"151","volume":"136","issue":"2","source":"Google Scholar","shortTitle":"Violent video game effects on aggression, empathy, and prosocial behavior in eastern and western countries","author":[{"family":"Anderson","given":"Craig A."},{"family":"Shibuya","given":"Akiko"},{"family":"Ihori","given":"Nobuko"},{"family":"Swing","given":"Edward L."},{"family":"Bushman","given":"Brad J."},{"family":"Sakamoto","given":"Akira"},{"family":"Rothstein","given":"Hannah R."},{"family":"Saleem","given":"Muniba"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2010"]]}}}],"schema":""} (Anderson et al., 2010). Knowledge structures which may become reinforced under the GAM include aggressive beliefs and attitudes, perceptual and expectation schemata, and behavioural scripts ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"2ev954mccg","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Anderson and Bushman, 2002)","plainCitation":"(Anderson and Bushman, 2002)"},"citationItems":[{"id":473,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":473,"type":"article-journal","title":"Human aggression","container-title":"Psychology","page":"27","volume":"53","issue":"1","source":"Google Scholar","author":[{"family":"Anderson","given":"Craig A."},{"family":"Bushman","given":"Brad J."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2002"]]}}}],"schema":""} (Anderson and Bushman, 2002).Debate over the validity of VVG effectsNumerous studies have seemingly demonstrated that playing VVGs, indeed, leads to the activation of aggression-related concepts. For instance, in ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"1a2ircuvg2","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Anderson et al., 2004)","plainCitation":"(Anderson et al., 2004)"},"citationItems":[{"id":223,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":223,"type":"article-journal","title":"Violent video games: Specific effects of violent content on aggressive thoughts and behavior","container-title":"Advances in experimental social psychology","page":"199–249","volume":"36","source":"Google Scholar","shortTitle":"Violent video games","author":[{"family":"Anderson","given":"Craig A."},{"family":"Carnagey","given":"Nicholas L."},{"family":"Flanagan","given":"Mindy"},{"family":"Benjamin","given":"Arlin J."},{"family":"Eubanks","given":"Janie"},{"family":"Valentine","given":"Jeffery C."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2004"]]}}}],"schema":""} (Anderson et al., 2004) participants were exposed to either a violent game or a non-violent game. Players of non-violent games completed a subsequent word fragment completion task with significantly fewer aggression-related words. Similarly, in ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"294ae7dqnd","properties":{"formattedCitation":"{\\rtf (B\\uc0\\u246{}sche, 2010)}","plainCitation":"(B?sche, 2010)"},"citationItems":[{"id":20,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":20,"type":"article-journal","title":"Violent video games prime both aggressive and positive cognitions","container-title":"Journal of Media Psychology","source":"Google Scholar","URL":"","author":[{"family":"B?sche","given":"Wolfgang"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2010"]]},"accessed":{"date-parts":[["2016",3,10]]}}}],"schema":""} (B?sche, 2010), participants who had played a violent video game recognised aggression-related words more quickly in a LDT than those who had played a non-violent video game.However, recent scholarship has challenged both the validity of experiments like these and the generalizability of the effects which they demonstrate. As noted in ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"lRYcfBy4","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Adachi and Willoughby, 2011)","plainCitation":"(Adachi and Willoughby, 2011)"},"citationItems":[{"id":449,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":449,"type":"article-journal","title":"The effect of violent video games on aggression: Is it more than just the violence?","container-title":"Aggression and Violent Behavior","page":"55–62","volume":"16","issue":"1","source":"Google Scholar","shortTitle":"The effect of violent video games on aggression","author":[{"family":"Adachi","given":"Paul JC"},{"family":"Willoughby","given":"Teena"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2011"]]}}}],"schema":""} (Adachi and Willoughby, 2011), experimental research into the effects of VVGs is often conducted using a setup in which each experimental condition is represented by a different commercial off the shelf (COTS) video game, without any attempt to “equate the violent and non-violent games on other dimensions that may be related to aggression”. An issue with this methodology, in which experiments are conducted “between video games” ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"28e8o9fr7p","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Barlett et al., 2007)","plainCitation":"(Barlett et al., 2007)"},"citationItems":[{"id":344,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":344,"type":"article-journal","title":"Longer you play, the more hostile you feel: Examination of first person shooter video games and aggression during video game play","container-title":"Aggressive Behavior","page":"486–497","volume":"33","issue":"6","source":"Google Scholar","shortTitle":"Longer you play, the more hostile you feel","author":[{"family":"Barlett","given":"Christopher P."},{"family":"Harris","given":"Richard J."},{"family":"Baldassaro","given":"Ross"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2007"]]}}}],"schema":""} (Barlett et al., 2007), is that it may lead to false positives. As ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"1347sjlehh","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Valadez and Ferguson, 2012)","plainCitation":"(Valadez and Ferguson, 2012)"},"citationItems":[{"id":71,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":71,"type":"article-journal","title":"Just a game after all: Violent video game exposure and time spent playing effects on hostile feelings, depression, and visuospatial cognition","container-title":"Computers in Human Behavior","page":"608–616","volume":"28","issue":"2","source":"Google Scholar","shortTitle":"Just a game after all","author":[{"family":"Valadez","given":"Jose J."},{"family":"Ferguson","given":"Christopher J."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2012"]]}}}],"schema":""} (Valadez and Ferguson, 2012) put it, “the first limitation with experimental research [into the effects of VVGs] is the failure of many studies to adequately equate video game conditions on confounding variables such as competitiveness, difficulty, and pace of action”. Recent findings seem to support the severity of this issue. In recent years, null results have repeatedly been found by researchers seeking to test the theory that playing VVGs leads to aggressive behaviour using more controlled experimental settings than the ones outlined above (e.g. ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"cT4lpXBD","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Kneer et al., 2016; Przybylski et al., 2014; Zendle et al., 2018)","plainCitation":"(Kneer et al., 2016; Przybylski et al., 2014; Zendle et al., 2018)"},"citationItems":[{"id":336,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":336,"type":"article-journal","title":"Fight fire with rainbows: The effects of displayed violence, difficulty, and performance in digital games on affect, aggression, and physiological arousal","container-title":"Computers in Human Behavior","page":"142–148","volume":"54","source":"Google Scholar","shortTitle":"Fight fire with rainbows","author":[{"family":"Kneer","given":"Julia"},{"family":"Elson","given":"Malte"},{"family":"Knapp","given":"Florian"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2016"]]}}},{"id":203,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":203,"type":"article-journal","title":"Competence-impeding electronic games and players’ aggressive feelings, thoughts, and behaviors.","container-title":"Journal of personality and social psychology","page":"441","volume":"106","issue":"3","source":"Google Scholar","author":[{"family":"Przybylski","given":"Andrew K."},{"family":"Deci","given":"Edward L."},{"family":"Rigby","given":"C. Scott"},{"family":"Ryan","given":"Richard M."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2014"]]}}},{"id":1679,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":1679,"type":"article-journal","title":"No priming in video games","container-title":"Computers in Human Behavior","page":"113-125","volume":"78","issue":"Supplement C","source":"ScienceDirect","abstract":"Video games depict a variety of different concepts. Models of learning in games like the GLM (General Learning Model) and GAM (General Aggression Model) predict that exposing players to these in-game concepts can lead to important changes in player behaviour. Priming effects are thought to be key to determining these changes in behaviour. However, recent research has suggested problems with the priming effects that have previously been observed in the video game literature. Indeed, widespread methodological issues with this body of research make it unclear whether priming effects occur at all in video games. Two experiments (total N?=?532) investigated whether priming effects still occurred in video games when known confounds in the literature were accounted for. Priming was observed in neither study. However, in both studies a novel negative priming effect was observed instead, in which exposure to a specific concept inhibited players’ reactions to things that were related to that concept. These studies support previous research which indicates there may be serious confounding in the video game literature. They also suggest that the priming-related effects of video games may be overestimated. Finally, they highlight the potential existence of negative priming as an effect of video game play.","DOI":"10.1016/j.chb.2017.09.021","ISSN":"0747-5632","journalAbbreviation":"Computers in Human Behavior","author":[{"family":"Zendle","given":"David"},{"family":"Cairns","given":"Paul"},{"family":"Kudenko","given":"Daniel"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2018",1,1]]}}}],"schema":""} (Kneer et al., 2016; Przybylski et al., 2014; Zendle et al., 2018)). This has led to dispute over the size, the significance, and the importance of the effects of playing VVGs. This picture is further muddied by the results of recent meta-analyses. Some meta-analyses estimate the size of the effect of playing VVGs on aggression as a size which “warrant[s] serious concern” ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"a2j9go1eu9r","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Bushman and Huesmann, 2014)","plainCitation":"(Bushman and Huesmann, 2014)"},"citationItems":[{"id":190,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":190,"type":"article-journal","title":"Twenty-Five Years of Research on Violence in Digital Games and Aggression Revisited: A Reply to Elson and Ferguson (2013)","container-title":"European Psychologist","page":"47-55","volume":"19","issue":"1","source":"CrossRef","DOI":"10.1027/1016-9040/a000164","ISSN":"1016-9040, 1878-531X","shortTitle":"Twenty-Five Years of Research on Violence in Digital Games and Aggression Revisited","language":"en","author":[{"family":"Bushman","given":"Brad J."},{"family":"Huesmann","given":"L. Rowell"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2014",1]]}}}],"schema":""} (Bushman and Huesmann, 2014) at around r+=0.20 (e.g. ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"1jt39f3j3","properties":{"formattedCitation":"{\\rtf (Greitemeyer and M\\uc0\\u252{}gge, 2014)}","plainCitation":"(Greitemeyer and Mügge, 2014)"},"citationItems":[{"id":323,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":323,"type":"article-journal","title":"Video Games Do Affect Social Outcomes A Meta-Analytic Review of the Effects of Violent and Prosocial Video Game Play","container-title":"Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin","page":"578-589","volume":"40","issue":"5","source":"psp.","abstract":"Whether video game play affects social behavior is a topic of debate. Many argue that aggression and helping are affected by video game play, whereas this stance is disputed by others. The present research provides a meta-analytical test of the idea that depending on their content, video games do affect social outcomes. Data from 98 independent studies with 36,965 participants revealed that for both violent video games and prosocial video games, there was a significant association with social outcomes. Whereas violent video games increase aggression and aggression-related variables and decrease prosocial outcomes, prosocial video games have the opposite effects. These effects were reliable across experimental, correlational, and longitudinal studies, indicating that video game exposure causally affects social outcomes and that there are both short- and long-term effects.","DOI":"10.1177/0146167213520459","ISSN":"0146-1672, 1552-7433","note":"PMID: 24458215","journalAbbreviation":"Pers Soc Psychol Bull","language":"en","author":[{"family":"Greitemeyer","given":"Tobias"},{"family":"Mügge","given":"Dirk O."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2014",5,1]]}}}],"schema":""} (Greitemeyer and Mügge, 2014): r+=0.18; ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"8mp3iear8","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Anderson et al., 2010)","plainCitation":"(Anderson et al., 2010)"},"citationItems":[{"id":192,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":192,"type":"article-journal","title":"Violent video game effects on aggression, empathy, and prosocial behavior in eastern and western countries: a meta-analytic review.","container-title":"Psychological bulletin","page":"151","volume":"136","issue":"2","source":"Google Scholar","shortTitle":"Violent video game effects on aggression, empathy, and prosocial behavior in eastern and western countries","author":[{"family":"Anderson","given":"Craig A."},{"family":"Shibuya","given":"Akiko"},{"family":"Ihori","given":"Nobuko"},{"family":"Swing","given":"Edward L."},{"family":"Bushman","given":"Brad J."},{"family":"Sakamoto","given":"Akira"},{"family":"Rothstein","given":"Hannah R."},{"family":"Saleem","given":"Muniba"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2010"]]}}}],"schema":""} (Anderson et al., 2010): r+=0.21; ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"us31rmH3","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Anderson et al., 2004)","plainCitation":"(Anderson et al., 2004)"},"citationItems":[{"id":223,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":223,"type":"article-journal","title":"Violent video games: Specific effects of violent content on aggressive thoughts and behavior","container-title":"Advances in experimental social psychology","page":"199–249","volume":"36","source":"Google Scholar","shortTitle":"Violent video games","author":[{"family":"Anderson","given":"Craig A."},{"family":"Carnagey","given":"Nicholas L."},{"family":"Flanagan","given":"Mindy"},{"family":"Benjamin","given":"Arlin J."},{"family":"Eubanks","given":"Janie"},{"family":"Valentine","given":"Jeffery C."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2004"]]}}}],"schema":""} (Anderson et al., 2004): r+=0.20). However, critics of these effects claim that the literature is subject to widespread publication bias in which null results are suppressed ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"1f4u8jc41c","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Ferguson, 2007)","plainCitation":"(Ferguson, 2007)"},"citationItems":[{"id":307,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":307,"type":"article-journal","title":"Evidence for publication bias in video game violence effects literature: A meta-analytic review","container-title":"Aggression and Violent behavior","page":"470–482","volume":"12","issue":"4","source":"Google Scholar","shortTitle":"Evidence for publication bias in video game violence effects literature","author":[{"family":"Ferguson","given":"Christopher J."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2007"]]}}}],"schema":""} (Ferguson, 2007). They claim that when this bias is taken into account, effect sizes sink as low as r+=0.04, with a 95% confidence interval which crosses 0 - in other words, an insignificant effect ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"qbvc92695","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Ferguson, 2007)","plainCitation":"(Ferguson, 2007)"},"citationItems":[{"id":307,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":307,"type":"article-journal","title":"Evidence for publication bias in video game violence effects literature: A meta-analytic review","container-title":"Aggression and Violent behavior","page":"470–482","volume":"12","issue":"4","source":"Google Scholar","shortTitle":"Evidence for publication bias in video game violence effects literature","author":[{"family":"Ferguson","given":"Christopher J."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2007"]]}}}],"schema":""} (Ferguson, 2007). Similarly, the meta-analysis contained within ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"a2e71uvr340","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Ferguson, 2015)","plainCitation":"(Ferguson, 2015)"},"citationItems":[{"id":1686,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":1686,"type":"article-journal","title":"Do Angry Birds Make for Angry Children? A Meta-Analysis of Video Game Influences on Children’s and Adolescents’ Aggression, Mental Health, Prosocial Behavior, and Academic Performance","container-title":"Perspectives on Psychological Science","page":"646-666","volume":"10","issue":"5","source":"SAGE Journals","abstract":"The issue of whether video games—violent or nonviolent—“harm” children and adolescents continues to be hotly contested in the scientific community, among politicians, and in the general public. To date, researchers have focused on college student samples in most studies on video games, often with poorly standardized outcome measures. To answer questions about harm to minors, these studies are arguably not very illuminating. In the current analysis, I sought to address this gap by focusing on studies of video game influences on child and adolescent samples. The effects of overall video game use and exposure to violent video games specifically were considered, although this was not an analysis of pathological game use. Overall, results from 101 studies suggest that video game influences on increased aggression (r = .06), reduced prosocial behavior (r = .04), reduced academic performance (r = ?.01), depressive symptoms (r = .04), and attention deficit symptoms (r = .03) are minimal. Issues related to researchers’ degrees of freedom and citation bias also continue to be common problems for the field. Publication bias remains a problem for studies of aggression. Recommendations are given on how research may be improved and how the psychological community should address video games from a public health perspective.","DOI":"10.1177/1745691615592234","ISSN":"1745-6916","shortTitle":"Do Angry Birds Make for Angry Children?","journalAbbreviation":"Perspectives on Psychological Science","language":"en","author":[{"family":"Ferguson","given":"Christopher J."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2015",9,1]]}}}],"schema":""} (Ferguson, 2015) places the effects of VVGs on aggression at r+=0.06, whilst the analysis present in ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"a24ulacme5f","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Furuya-Kanamori and Doi, 2016)","plainCitation":"(Furuya-Kanamori and Doi, 2016)"},"citationItems":[{"id":1688,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":1688,"type":"article-journal","title":"Angry Birds, Angry Children, and Angry Meta-Analysts: A Reanalysis","container-title":"Perspectives on Psychological Science","page":"408-414","volume":"11","issue":"3","source":"SAGE Journals","abstract":"Ferguson’s (2015a) meta-analysis assessed a very important and controversial topic about children’s mental health and video games. In response to the concerns raised by researchers about the appropriateness of the meta-analytical methods used by Ferguson; we decided to reanalyze the data and discuss two major misconceptions about meta-analysis. We argue that partial correlations can (and should) be meta-analyzed instead of zero-order bivariate correlations if the predictors included in the partial correlation represent a similar construct. We also discuss the fallacy by which the conventional meta-analytical model assumes that the studies’ effect sizes came into being according to the same random effect construct used by the analysis. Our replication results using partial correlations, standardized (valid and reliable) outcomes, and an improved meta-analytical model (that does not assume a random effect is the mechanism of data generation) confirmed the main results of Ferguson’s meta-analysis. There was a significant yet very small effect on aggressive behavior of exposure to both general, rp = 0.062, 95% CI [0.012, 0.112], and violent, rp = 0.055, 95% CI [0.019, 0.091], video games. A very small effect was seen on reduced prosocial behavior, but this was only in the general video game exposure category, rp = 0.072, 95% CI [0.045, 0.100].","DOI":"10.1177/1745691616635599","ISSN":"1745-6916","shortTitle":"Angry Birds, Angry Children, and Angry Meta-Analysts","journalAbbreviation":"Perspectives on Psychological Science","language":"en","author":[{"family":"Furuya-Kanamori","given":"Luis"},{"family":"Doi","given":"Suhail A. R."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2016",5,1]]}}}],"schema":""} (Furuya-Kanamori and Doi, 2016) places the effect’s size at r+=0.055. Indeed, a recent re-analysis of the database used in Anderson’s 2010 meta-analysis has suggested both that the literature is subject to extensive publication bias, and that effect sizes associated with VVG play may be smaller than initially estimated ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"a1g0uqfgd5i","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Hilgard et al., 2017)","plainCitation":"(Hilgard et al., 2017)"},"citationItems":[{"id":1684,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":1684,"type":"article-journal","title":"Overstated evidence for short-term effects of violent games on affect and behavior: A reanalysis of Anderson et al. (2010)","container-title":"Psychological Bulletin","page":"757-774","volume":"143","issue":"7","source":"PubMed","abstract":"Violent video games are theorized to be a significant cause of aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Important evidence for this claim comes from a large meta-analysis by Anderson and colleagues (2010), who found effects of violent games in experimental, cross-sectional, and longitudinal research. In that meta-analysis, the authors argued that there is little publication or analytic bias in the literature, an argument supported by their use of the trim-and-fill procedure. In the present manuscript, we reexamine their meta-analysis using a wider array of techniques for detecting bias and adjusting effect sizes. Our conclusions differ from those of Anderson and colleagues in 3 salient ways. First, we detect substantial publication bias in experimental research on the effects of violent games on aggressive affect and aggressive behavior. Second, after adjustment for bias, the effects of violent games on aggressive behavior in experimental research are estimated as being very small, and estimates of effects on aggressive affect are much reduced. In contrast, the cross-sectional literature finds correlations that appear largely unbiased. Third, experiments meeting the original authors' criteria for methodological quality do not yield larger adjusted effects than other experiments, but instead yield larger indications of bias, indicating that perhaps they were selected for significance. We outline future directions for stronger experimental research. The results indicate the need for an open, transparent, and preregistered research process to test the existence of the basic phenomenon. (PsycINFO Database Record","DOI":"10.1037/bul0000074","ISSN":"1939-1455","note":"PMID: 28639810","shortTitle":"Overstated evidence for short-term effects of violent games on affect and behavior","journalAbbreviation":"Psychol Bull","language":"eng","author":[{"family":"Hilgard","given":"Joseph"},{"family":"Engelhardt","given":"Christopher R."},{"family":"Rouder","given":"Jeffrey N."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2017",7]]}}}],"schema":""} (Hilgard et al., 2017).It is also worthwhile to point out that in additional to the problems with the VVG literature outlined above, there may also be deeper-rooted issues with the GAM itself. Whilst fiercely defended by its proponents, researchers have begun to question the validity of several of the assumptions that underlie this model. For instance, under the GAM, “violent video games, by their nature, require the activation of aggressive thoughts, whereas nonviolent games do not require it” ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"IRhWqmyQ","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Anderson et al., 2010)","plainCitation":"(Anderson et al., 2010)"},"citationItems":[{"id":192,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":192,"type":"article-journal","title":"Violent video game effects on aggression, empathy, and prosocial behavior in eastern and western countries: a meta-analytic review.","container-title":"Psychological bulletin","page":"151","volume":"136","issue":"2","source":"Google Scholar","shortTitle":"Violent video game effects on aggression, empathy, and prosocial behavior in eastern and western countries","author":[{"family":"Anderson","given":"Craig A."},{"family":"Shibuya","given":"Akiko"},{"family":"Ihori","given":"Nobuko"},{"family":"Swing","given":"Edward L."},{"family":"Bushman","given":"Brad J."},{"family":"Sakamoto","given":"Akira"},{"family":"Rothstein","given":"Hannah R."},{"family":"Saleem","given":"Muniba"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2010"]]}}}],"schema":""} (Anderson et al., 2010), which in turn leads to aggressive behaviour on the behalf of gamers. However, as noted in ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"a29bgfeekjj","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Elson and Ferguson, 2014)","plainCitation":"(Elson and Ferguson, 2014)"},"citationItems":[{"id":375,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":375,"type":"article-journal","title":"Twenty-five years of research on violence in digital games and aggression","container-title":"European Psychologist","source":"Google Scholar","URL":"","author":[{"family":"Elson","given":"Malte"},{"family":"Ferguson","given":"Christopher J."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2014"]]},"accessed":{"date-parts":[["2016",7,20]]}}}],"schema":""} (Elson and Ferguson, 2014), the link between a player’s aggressive concepts being activated and that player committing an actual act of violence is far from clear. Criticisms of the GAM are diverse, and range from concerns such as the one outlined above, to the model’s focus on the idea that aggression is mainly cognitive and automatic, to its implicit assumption that ‘the human brain does not distinguish reality from fiction’ ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"a2n9g0qnrt4","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Ferguson and Dyck, 2012)","plainCitation":"(Ferguson and Dyck, 2012)"},"citationItems":[{"id":278,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":278,"type":"article-journal","title":"Paradigm change in aggression research: The time has come to retire the General Aggression Model","container-title":"Aggression and Violent Behavior","page":"220–228","volume":"17","issue":"3","source":"Google Scholar","shortTitle":"Paradigm change in aggression research","author":[{"family":"Ferguson","given":"Christopher J."},{"family":"Dyck","given":"Dominic"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2012"]]}}}],"schema":""} (Ferguson and Dyck, 2012).Realism and the effects of VVGsAs described above, a complex debate is currently taking place over whether playing violent video games leads to antisocial outcomes. However, in recent years a rich body of literature has emerged which does not just investigate whether VVGs lead to antisocial outcomes – but also investigates how the features of VVGs play a role in determining the antisocial outcomes of playing these games (or lack thereof). Features whose effects have been tested are diverse. They range from in-game profanity ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"ts5g2ck9n","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Ivory and Kaestle, 2013)","plainCitation":"(Ivory and Kaestle, 2013)"},"citationItems":[{"id":282,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":282,"type":"article-journal","title":"The Effects of Profanity in Violent Video Games on Players' Hostile Expectations, Aggressive Thoughts and Feelings, and Other Responses","container-title":"Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media","page":"224-241","volume":"57","issue":"2","source":"Taylor and Francis+NEJM","abstract":"Although effects of violence in video games have been researched extensively, no empirical studies have examined effects of profanity, a form of verbal aggression, in video games. An experiment (N = 321) investigated effects of profanity used by protagonist and antagonist characters in a “first-person shooter” game on players' hostile expectations, accessibility of aggressive thoughts, aggressive feelings, and other responses. Profanity used by both protagonist and antagonist characters increased hostile expectations, a direct precursor to aggressive behaviors. Findings suggest that profanity in video games may affect aggressive outcomes, emphasizing the need for more research investigating effects of profanity in media.","DOI":"10.1080/08838151.2013.787078","ISSN":"0883-8151","author":[{"family":"Ivory","given":"Adrienne Holz"},{"family":"Kaestle","given":"Christine E."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2013",4,1]]}}}],"schema":""} (Ivory and Kaestle, 2013), to the gender of the player’s avatar ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"BL99Ahjz","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Eastin, 2006)","plainCitation":"(Eastin, 2006)"},"citationItems":[{"id":373,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":373,"type":"article-journal","title":"Video game violence and the female game player: self-and opponent gender effects on presence and aggressive thoughts","container-title":"Human Communication Research","page":"351–372","volume":"32","issue":"3","source":"Google Scholar","shortTitle":"Video game violence and the female game player","author":[{"family":"Eastin","given":"Matthew S."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2006"]]}}}],"schema":""} (Eastin, 2006), to even the kind of rewards which players are given in a VVG ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"BQsg1dOr","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Carnagey and Anderson, 2005)","plainCitation":"(Carnagey and Anderson, 2005)"},"citationItems":[{"id":300,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":300,"type":"article-journal","title":"The Effects of Reward and Punishment in Violent Video Games on Aggressive Affect, Cognition, and Behavior","container-title":"Psychological Science","page":"882-889","volume":"16","issue":"11","source":"pss.","abstract":"Three experiments examined the effects of rewarding and punishing violent actions in video games on later aggression-related variables. Participants played one of three versions of the same race-car video game: (a) a version in which all violence was rewarded, (b) a version in which all violence was punished, and (c) a nonviolent version. Participants were then measured for aggressive affect (Experiment 1), aggressive cognition (Experiment 2), and aggressive behavior (Experiment 3). Rewarding violent game actions increased hostile emotion, aggressive thinking, and aggressive behavior. Punishing violent actions increased hostile emotion, but did not increase aggressive thinking or aggressive behavior. Results suggest that games that reward violent actions can increase aggressive behavior by increasing aggressive thinking.","DOI":"10.1111/j.1467-9280.2005.01632.x","ISSN":"0956-7976, 1467-9280","note":"PMID: 16262775","journalAbbreviation":"Psychological Science","language":"en","author":[{"family":"Carnagey","given":"Nicholas L."},{"family":"Anderson","given":"Craig A."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2005",11,1]]}}}],"schema":""} (Carnagey and Anderson, 2005). However, one feature of violent video games which frequently tested when discussing their potential effects is realism.For instance, ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"41q45jetd","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Ivory and Kalyanaraman, 2007)","plainCitation":"(Ivory and Kalyanaraman, 2007)"},"citationItems":[{"id":182,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":182,"type":"article-journal","title":"The effects of technological advancement and violent content in video games on players’ feelings of presence, involvement, physiological arousal, and aggression","container-title":"Journal of Communication","page":"532–555","volume":"57","issue":"3","source":"Google Scholar","author":[{"family":"Ivory","given":"James D."},{"family":"Kalyanaraman","given":"Sriram"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2007"]]}}}],"schema":""} (Ivory and Kalyanaraman, 2007) tested the hypothesis increasing the “realism of character images and sounds” in a VVG leads to similar increases in aggression-related effects. In order to investigate this idea, experimenters had participants play one of two different commercial off-the-shelf games: 1995’s Zombie Raid and 2001’s The House of the Dead 2. These games were selected as they featured similar gameplay and content, but the newer game’s graphics were more realistic. However, experimental results indicated that there was no significant difference between these conditions when it came to either the activation of aggressive concepts or increases in aggression-related affect. Indeed, greater realism seemed to lead to slightly less activation of aggressive concepts rather than more.Krcmar et al. ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"TqH0P4Ws","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(2011)","plainCitation":"(2011)"},"citationItems":[{"id":450,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":450,"type":"article-journal","title":"The effects of video game realism on attention, retention and aggressive outcomes","container-title":"Computers in Human Behavior","page":"432–439","volume":"27","issue":"1","source":"Google Scholar","author":[{"family":"Krcmar","given":"Marina"},{"family":"Farrar","given":"Kirstie"},{"family":"McGloin","given":"Rory"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2011"]]}},"suppress-author":true}],"schema":""} (2011) similarly investigated whether increasing the realism of a VVG leads to greater aggression-related effects on players. In this experiment, some participants played the less realistic Doom, whilst others played the newer and more realistic Doom 3. Results indicated that playing a more realistic game led to no significant changes in retaliatory aggression, but that players of the more realistic game (Doom 3) scored significantly higher on a measure of physically aggressive intentions than players of the less realistic Doom.However, as with much of the VVG literature in general, there may be serious problems with the validity of many of these experiments. More specifically, as mentioned above, these experiments commonly use a ‘between games’ approach to experimentation in which different COTS games are used to form different experimental conditions. This may lead to confounding. For instance, ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"56ja2wig","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Krcmar et al., 2011)","plainCitation":"(Krcmar et al., 2011)"},"citationItems":[{"id":450,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":450,"type":"article-journal","title":"The effects of video game realism on attention, retention and aggressive outcomes","container-title":"Computers in Human Behavior","page":"432–439","volume":"27","issue":"1","source":"Google Scholar","author":[{"family":"Krcmar","given":"Marina"},{"family":"Farrar","given":"Kirstie"},{"family":"McGloin","given":"Rory"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2011"]]}}}],"schema":""} (Krcmar et al., 2011) investigated realism by having some participants play Doom, whilst others played Doom 3; ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"aIPLeZjr","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Ivory and Kalyanaraman, 2007)","plainCitation":"(Ivory and Kalyanaraman, 2007)"},"citationItems":[{"id":182,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":182,"type":"article-journal","title":"The effects of technological advancement and violent content in video games on players’ feelings of presence, involvement, physiological arousal, and aggression","container-title":"Journal of Communication","page":"532–555","volume":"57","issue":"3","source":"Google Scholar","author":[{"family":"Ivory","given":"James D."},{"family":"Kalyanaraman","given":"Sriram"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2007"]]}}}],"schema":""} (Ivory and Kalyanaraman, 2007) tested the effects of the ‘realism of character images and sounds’ by having some participants play Zombie Raid whilst others played House of the Dead 2. It is difficult to say whether the results of these studies may be due to several factors besides realism, such as difficulty, varying between these games. However, it is equally important to note that this ‘between games’ approach is not universally used in the realism literature. By contrast, Zendle et al. ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"56BiQhTc","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(2015)","plainCitation":"(2015)"},"citationItems":[{"id":107,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":107,"type":"paper-conference","title":"Higher Graphical Fidelity Decreases Players' Access to Aggressive Concepts in Violent Video Games","container-title":"Proceedings of the 2015 Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play","publisher":"ACM","page":"241–251","source":"Google Scholar","URL":"","author":[{"family":"Zendle","given":"David"},{"family":"Cairns","given":"Paul"},{"family":"Kudenko","given":"Daniel"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2015"]]},"accessed":{"date-parts":[["2016",9,12]]}},"suppress-author":true}],"schema":""} (2015) investigated whether graphical realism increased the effects of VVGs through custom-building bespoke games. In this experiment, participants played one of two specially-made games. In one condition, participants played a violent driving game in which they ran over as many pedestrians as possible. This game featured detailed 3D graphics. In another condition, participants played the same game, with the same gameplay, but less detailed, unrealistic 3D graphics. Results indicated that greater graphical realism in a VVG led to less activation of aggressive concepts, rather than more.Finally, it is important to note that whilst some experiments in the literature test the specific effects of graphical realism (e.g. ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"Hp2iv6YJ","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Jeong et al., 2012; Zendle et al., 2015)","plainCitation":"(Jeong et al., 2012; Zendle et al., 2015)"},"citationItems":[{"id":451,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":451,"type":"article-journal","title":"Sensory realism and mediated aggression in video games","container-title":"Computers in Human Behavior","page":"1840–1848","volume":"28","issue":"5","source":"Google Scholar","author":[{"family":"Jeong","given":"Eui Jun"},{"family":"Biocca","given":"Frank A."},{"family":"Bohil","given":"Corey J."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2012"]]}}},{"id":107,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":107,"type":"paper-conference","title":"Higher Graphical Fidelity Decreases Players' Access to Aggressive Concepts in Violent Video Games","container-title":"Proceedings of the 2015 Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play","publisher":"ACM","page":"241–251","source":"Google Scholar","URL":"","author":[{"family":"Zendle","given":"David"},{"family":"Cairns","given":"Paul"},{"family":"Kudenko","given":"Daniel"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2015"]]},"accessed":{"date-parts":[["2016",9,12]]}}}],"schema":""} (Jeong et al., 2012; Zendle et al., 2015)) and others test the effects of realism in a more general sense (e.g. ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"8SlcE4W1","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Krcmar et al., 2011)","plainCitation":"(Krcmar et al., 2011)"},"citationItems":[{"id":450,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":450,"type":"article-journal","title":"The effects of video game realism on attention, retention and aggressive outcomes","container-title":"Computers in Human Behavior","page":"432–439","volume":"27","issue":"1","source":"Google Scholar","author":[{"family":"Krcmar","given":"Marina"},{"family":"Farrar","given":"Kirstie"},{"family":"McGloin","given":"Rory"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2011"]]}}}],"schema":""} (Krcmar et al., 2011)), no experiment in the literature currently investigates the specific effects of behavioural realism in a VVG. Therefore, whilst the effects of realism on the effects of VVGs may be somewhat unclear in general, the effects of behavioural realism in specific are even less clear. Experiment 1: Ragdoll PhysicsIntroductionVVGs incorporate behaviours and physical processes which are becoming increasingly similar to those found in the real world. A prime example of these increases in behavioural realism is the use of ragdoll physics. Whilst enemies in early VVGs showed that they had died through the use of unrealistic and predetermined animation sequences, games now commonly incorporate dynamic simulations of the movement of dead bodies. This experiment investigates the effects of this kind of realism. In order to do this, it looks at how the presence of ragdoll physics in a VVG influences the activation of aggressive concepts. In this experiment, participants played a bespoke first-person shooter (FPS) game. This game was manipulated so that it formed two different conditions. In one condition, enemies had death animations which dynamically mimicked how the real world behaves through the use of procedurally animated ragdolls. In the other condition, enemy deaths were shown via pre-defined animations. After play, participants had their activation of aggressive concepts measured.MethodAimThis online experiment aimed to investigate whether behavioural realism via ragdoll physics leads to greater activation of aggressive concepts in VVGs.HypothesisH1: The use of realistic ragdoll physics will lead to greater activation of aggressive concepts. Therefore, participants will complete more fragments with aggressive meanings on the Anderson word fragment completion task when ragdoll physics is present.DesignThe experiment had a between-participants design. Participants played a first person shooter game. However, in one condition enemy deaths were shown using ragdoll physics. In the other condition they were shown using predefined death animations. MeasuresThe Anderson word fragment completion task ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"1emt57j4su","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Anderson et al., 2004)","plainCitation":"(Anderson et al., 2004)"},"citationItems":[{"id":223,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":223,"type":"article-journal","title":"Violent video games: Specific effects of violent content on aggressive thoughts and behavior","container-title":"Advances in experimental social psychology","page":"199–249","volume":"36","source":"Google Scholar","shortTitle":"Violent video games","author":[{"family":"Anderson","given":"Craig A."},{"family":"Carnagey","given":"Nicholas L."},{"family":"Flanagan","given":"Mindy"},{"family":"Benjamin","given":"Arlin J."},{"family":"Eubanks","given":"Janie"},{"family":"Valentine","given":"Jeffery C."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2004"]]}}}],"schema":""} (Anderson et al., 2004) was used to measure the activation of aggressive concepts. This task is commonly used to measure the activation of aggressive concepts ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"DEGve8zj","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Anderson et al., 2003; C. P. Barlett et al., 2008)","plainCitation":"(Anderson et al., 2003; C. P. Barlett et al., 2008)"},"citationItems":[{"id":424,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":424,"type":"article-journal","title":"Exposure to violent media: the effects of songs with violent lyrics on aggressive thoughts and feelings.","container-title":"Journal of personality and social psychology","page":"960","volume":"84","issue":"5","source":"Google Scholar","shortTitle":"Exposure to violent media","author":[{"family":"Anderson","given":"Craig A."},{"family":"Carnagey","given":"Nicholas L."},{"family":"Eubanks","given":"Janie"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2003"]]}}},{"id":132,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":132,"type":"article-journal","title":"The effect of the amount of blood in a violent video game on aggression, hostility, and arousal","container-title":"Journal of Experimental Social Psychology","page":"539–546","volume":"44","issue":"3","source":"Google Scholar","author":[{"family":"Barlett","given":"Christopher P."},{"family":"Harris","given":"Richard J."},{"family":"Bruey","given":"Callie"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2008"]]}}}],"schema":""} (e.g. (Anderson et al., 2003; C. P. Barlett et al., 2008)). In this task, a participant is given a series of 98 word fragments (e.g. K I _ _) which can be completed to form a variety of full words. For instance, K I _ _ can be completed to form both ‘KISS’, ‘KING’, ‘KILT’ and ‘KILL’. The overall proportion of word fragments which a participant completes as aggression-related words (e.g. ‘KILL’) rather than aggression-unrelated words (e.g. ‘KILT’) is used to measure the activation of their aggressive concepts.It is important to note that, unlike with questionnaires, there is no widely-used method by which word fragment tasks are created. Whilst ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"Bjgp5Eyz","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Koopman et al., 2013)","plainCitation":"(Koopman et al., 2013)"},"citationItems":[{"id":349,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":349,"type":"article-journal","title":"A framework for developing word fragment completion tasks","container-title":"Human Resource Management Review","page":"242–253","volume":"23","issue":"3","source":"Google Scholar","author":[{"family":"Koopman","given":"Joel"},{"family":"Howe","given":"Michael"},{"family":"Johnson","given":"Russell E."},{"family":"Tan","given":"James A."},{"family":"Chang","given":"Chu-Hsiang"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2013"]]}}}],"schema":""} (Koopman et al., 2013) lays out a cohesive methodology for developing word fragment completion tasks involving iterative steps of item creation, piloting, item reduction, and reliability and validity analyses, this methodology does not yet enjoy wide uptake. Instead, the creators of word-fragment completion tasks typically work in an ad-hoc manner. In many cases, authors do not mention how their word fragments are generated (e.g. ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"R9dyw1cv","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Choi et al., 2013; Kim et al., 2014)","plainCitation":"(Choi et al., 2013; Kim et al., 2014)"},"citationItems":[{"id":286,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":286,"type":"article-journal","title":"Audio and Visual Distractions and Implicit Brand Memory: A Study of Video Game Players","container-title":"Journal of Advertising","page":"219-227","volume":"42","issue":"2-3","source":"Taylor and Francis+NEJM","abstract":"Utilizing a computerized racing game, the experiment investigates the influence of sensory distractions on implicit brand memory. The results suggest that auditory distraction inhibits retrieval of implicit brand memory, but visual distraction causes no significant effect. The effects of the character's sensory distractions appear only for familiar brands, probably because relatively less attention enhances the interference on implicit memory. Comparatively, novel unfamiliar brands attract more attention, which nulls the character's sensory distraction. Therefore, relatively higher distraction effects on implicit memory occur for familiar brands.","DOI":"10.1080/00913367.2013.775798","ISSN":"0091-3367","shortTitle":"Audio and Visual Distractions and Implicit Brand Memory","author":[{"family":"Choi","given":"Yung Kyun"},{"family":"Lee","given":"Sung","dropping-particle":"mi"},{"family":"Li","given":"Hairong"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2013",4,3]]}}},{"id":160,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":160,"type":"article-journal","title":"An alcohol message beneath the surface of ER: How implicit memory influences viewers’ health attitudes and intentions using entertainment-education","container-title":"Journal of health communication","page":"876–892","volume":"19","issue":"8","source":"Google Scholar","shortTitle":"An alcohol message beneath the surface of ER","author":[{"family":"Kim","given":"Kyongseok"},{"family":"Lee","given":"Mina"},{"family":"Macias","given":"Wendy"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2014"]]}}}],"schema":""} (Choi et al., 2013; Kim et al., 2014)). This is the case with the Anderson word fragment completion task.GamesIn this experiment, participants play an FPS. This genre of games revolves around the action of a player shooting at enemy characters from a first person perspective. Examples of games from this genre are Call of Duty, Doom, and Halo.A custom first-person shooter game was built in Unity3D for this experiment so that we could ensure that we were changing only our planned manipulation of ragdoll physics between experimental conditions. In this game the player took on the role of a character with an assault rifle. The player was placed in a rooftop scene, and was under continual attack from waves of enemy soldiers. (See REF _Ref460342613 \h Figure 31). This game was played by each participant for 4 minutes. The player’s task was to kill as many enemies as possible before the time ran out. In order to do this, the player moved their character with the keyboard and aimed and shot their weapon with the mouse. Figure STYLEREF 1 \s 3 SEQ Figure \* ARABIC \s 1 1: Gameplay in the FPS gameThe number of player kills was displayed in the corner of the screen, as was the amount of time left in the game. If a player was hit too many times by enemies, they would ‘die’, the screen would fade to white, and after a brief pause the player would respawn. Conversely, if the player hit an enemy twice or more, that enemy character would die. If ragdoll physics was present in the game that was being played, this would cause the enemy’s body to ‘crumple’ realistically, given the location and direction of the kill-shot which the player had made. Conversely, if ragdoll physics was absent in the game, this would cause a pre-defined animation sequence to play in which the enemy character fell over.Participants and SettingThis experiment took place online. The game was placed online on popular video game portal websites (e.g. , ). Participants were recruited both through these portals and via social media.898 participants took part in the experiment. 642 participants were aged 18-24, 201 were 25-29 years old, 43 were 30-34 years old, 12 were 35 or older. 444 described themselves as playing games at least once a day, 216 played up to once a week, 49 played up to once a month, and 151 preferred not to answer the question.Participants were randomly assigned to experimental conditions, with 446 playing a game where ragdoll physics was absent and 452 playing a game where it was present. Participant IP addresses were recorded at the beginning of the experiment and only the first set of data from each unique IP was used in this experiment.ProcedurePlayers first completed an informed consent and demographics screen, and indicated that they were ready to begin the experiment. Following this, they played the game outlined above for four minutes. After this, they completed the Anderson word fragment completion task. They were then debriefed via a short video.ResultsMeans and standard deviations for each treatment are presented below. Ragdoll PhysicsProportion of fragments completed with aggression-related meaningsNumber of killsN.Absent0.24 (SD = 0.14)14.99 (SD = 7.62)446Present0.24 (SD = 0.15)15.39 (SD = 7.97)452Total0.24 (SD = 0.15)15.19 (SD = 7.80)898Table STYLEREF 1 \s 3 SEQ Table \* ARABIC \s 1 1: Summary statistics for players of the first person shooterFigure STYLEREF 1 \s 3 SEQ Figure \* ARABIC \s 1 2: Box-plot showing responses to the Anderson word fragment completion task, split by presence or absence of ragdoll physicsFigure STYLEREF 1 \s 3 SEQ Figure \* ARABIC \s 1 3: Box-plot showing number of kills, split by presence or absence of ragdoll physicsThe effects of ragdoll physics on the activation of aggressive concepts was tested via an ANOVA, with ragdoll physics (absent, present) as a between-subjects factor. There was no significant effect, F(1,896) = 0.312, p=0.577, η2 = 0.0003. The data was further explored to see if playing the game with more realistic death animations might lead to players killing fewer enemies, and the null result reported above might be a product of this change in behaviour between conditions. Therefore, the effects of ragdoll physics on the number of kills which players made was also tested via ANOVA. This analysis revealed no significant effect of ragdoll physics on number of kills, F(1,896) = 0.593, p=0.441, η2 = 0.0006.DiscussionThis experiment suggests that the presence of ragdoll physics in a VVG has little effect on the activation of aggression-related concepts. A large sample size was used here (n=898). However, the effect size between conditions was so small (η2 = 0.0003) that no significant difference between people who played the game with ragdoll physics and people who played the game without ragdoll physics was detectable. There are several possible explanations for this result. Firstly, it might simply be the case that behavioural realism in general has little effect on the activation of aggression-related concepts in VVGs. On the one hand, this perspective clashes strongly with theoretical explanations of how realism might help to determine the effects of VVGs. On the other hand, this explanation is in keeping with at least some of the literature. After all, even though it is widely hypothesised that increased realism might lead to greater effects in VVGs, results in the literature testing this hypothesis have frequently returned null results themselves.Another explanation for this null result might be that players were not exposed to sufficiently different conditions in each version of the game. More specifically, it may be the case here that the presence of either ragdoll physics or pre-defined animations has an effect on the activation of aggressive concepts, but as this feature of the game was not on screen for very long, there was not enough exposure to this manipulation for the effect to be measured. However, this explanation of the results does not seem likely. In this game, players were exposed to the manipulation not once, but each time they killed an enemy. Since players killed, on average, 15.2 enemies it seems likely that the manipulation was shown enough times to players for it to have an impact. Furthermore, it also seems unlikely that this null result is the product of players in one condition being exposed to the manipulation more than in the other, as players killed very similar numbers of enemies in each condition. Indeed, a follow-up ANOVA showed that there was no significant difference in number of kills between conditions.One final explanation for the null effect observed here relates to the specific manipulation which was used in this experiment. Just as there are several ways that the graphical realism of a game may be altered and increased, so too are there several different ways that behavioural realism may be boosted. Adding realistic ragdoll physics to a game is only one of these. It may therefore be premature to draw strong conclusions about the general influence of behavioural realism on the activation of aggressive concepts from this experiment alone.Experiment 2: Realistic NPC TacticsIntroductionThe previous experiment suggests that ragdoll physics has little effect on the activation of aggressive concepts in VVGs. However, using ragdoll physics is not the only way that a VVG’s behavioural realism can be increased. In this experiment we therefore investigated whether a different manipulation of behavioural realism might have an effect on the activation of aggressive concepts in VVGs. We looked into this by manipulating the realism of the tactics which in-game NPCs used.In this experiment, participants played an FPS game for 3 minutes. This game was manipulated so that it formed two different conditions. In one condition, participants played against a group of AI-controlled soldiers who did not behave like ‘real’ soldiers. In the other condition, participants played against a group of AI-controlled soldiers who used realistic squad-based behaviours, such as flanking and laying down suppressing fire. Following play, activation of aggressive concepts was again tested via the word fragment completion task. There is a key difference between the manipulation of behavioural realism used in this experiment, and the manipulation used in the previous experiment. In Experiment 1, the difference between conditions was how enemies’ deaths were animated. There was therefore no possible difference between conditions in gameplay-related factors such as challenge, frustration, and difficulty. However, this is not the case here. The behaviours which enemies’ exhibit in one condition may not just be more realistic than the behaviours which enemies in the other condition use. They may also be more challenging. Because the difficulty of gameplay may differ between conditions, players may also feel less competent in one condition than another. Feeling incompetent has been linked in the VVG literature to aggression-related effects (e.g. ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"2e035pkc6g","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Przybylski et al., 2014)","plainCitation":"(Przybylski et al., 2014)"},"citationItems":[{"id":203,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":203,"type":"article-journal","title":"Competence-impeding electronic games and players’ aggressive feelings, thoughts, and behaviors.","container-title":"Journal of personality and social psychology","page":"441","volume":"106","issue":"3","source":"Google Scholar","author":[{"family":"Przybylski","given":"Andrew K."},{"family":"Deci","given":"Edward L."},{"family":"Rigby","given":"C. Scott"},{"family":"Ryan","given":"Richard M."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2014"]]}}}],"schema":""} (Przybylski et al., 2014)). In order to be as rigorous as possible, statistical analysis of the results of this experiment took into account players’ feelings of incompetence. More specifically, players’ perceptions of their own incompetence was measured using the Player Experience of Need Satisfaction (PENS) questionnaire ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"2guioaccj6","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Ryan et al., 2006)","plainCitation":"(Ryan et al., 2006)"},"citationItems":[{"id":181,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":181,"type":"article-journal","title":"The motivational pull of video games: A self-determination theory approach","container-title":"Motivation and emotion","page":"344–360","volume":"30","issue":"4","source":"Google Scholar","shortTitle":"The motivational pull of video games","author":[{"family":"Ryan","given":"Richard M."},{"family":"Rigby","given":"C. Scott"},{"family":"Przybylski","given":"Andrew"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2006"]]}}}],"schema":""} (Ryan et al., 2006). This variable was then entered into a mediation analysis as a potential mediator of the effect of realistic NPC tactics on the activation of aggressive concepts. Mediation analysis was conducted according to ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"10nf7ruif3","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Hayes, 2013)","plainCitation":"(Hayes, 2013)"},"citationItems":[{"id":438,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":438,"type":"book","title":"Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach","publisher":"Guilford Press","source":"Google Scholar","URL":"","shortTitle":"Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis","author":[{"family":"Hayes","given":"Andrew F."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2013"]]},"accessed":{"date-parts":[["2016",7,6]]}}}],"schema":""} (Hayes, 2013).MethodAimThis online experiment aimed to investigate whether increasing behavioural realism via realistic NPC tactics leads to greater activation of aggressive concepts in VVGsHypothesisH1: Realistic tactics will lead to greater activation of aggressive concepts. Therefore, participants will complete more fragments with aggressive meanings on the Anderson word fragment completion task when realistic tactics are used by NPCs.H2: The effect of realistic NPC tactics will be mediated by player perceptions of competence, with perceptions of lower competence leading to greater activation of aggressive concepts.DesignThe experiment had a between-participants design. Participants played either a first person shooter (FPS) which featured realistic NPC tactics, or the same game but with less realistic NPC tactics. In addition to this, competence was measured as a potential mediating variable.MeasuresThe Anderson word fragment completion task was again used to measure the activation of aggressive concepts. In addition to this, competence was measured via the corresponding subscale of the Player Experience of Need Satisfaction (PENS) scale ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"1sbYqF3y","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Ryan et al., 2006)","plainCitation":"(Ryan et al., 2006)"},"citationItems":[{"id":181,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":181,"type":"article-journal","title":"The motivational pull of video games: A self-determination theory approach","container-title":"Motivation and emotion","page":"344–360","volume":"30","issue":"4","source":"Google Scholar","shortTitle":"The motivational pull of video games","author":[{"family":"Ryan","given":"Richard M."},{"family":"Rigby","given":"C. Scott"},{"family":"Przybylski","given":"Andrew"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2006"]]}}}],"schema":""} (Ryan et al., 2006). This instrument is designed specifically to measure player feelings of competence. GamesThe FPS game used in the previous experiment was again used here. However, instead of manipulating this game so that there were two conditions with different death animations, it was instead manipulated so that there were different levels of realism for the tactics of the NPCs in the game.In one condition, the tactics used by NPC soldiers were more representative of the behaviours of actual soldiers. Instead of moving along the shortest path towards the player, NPCs would attempt to ‘flank’ them by finding the shortest path through blind spots in the player’s field of vision. If an NPC needed to reload their weapon, they would use cover and move to a location where they were safe from the player’s line of sight when doing so. NPCs would also attempt to use cover when attacking the player, instead of standing in the open. Additionally, NPCs collaborated with other members of their squad by picking behaviours which were likely to work well together. For instance, if one NPC was flanking the player, another would lay down suppressing fire from cover in order to distract them. All of these features of NPC behaviour mirror common enemy AI implementations which are designed to mimic the way real soldiers act.In the other condition, the tactics used by NPCs were less representative of the behaviours of actual soldiers. They did not use cover, either when reloading or when attacking the player. They did not use squad-based tactics, and they did not take advantage of the player’s line of sight in order to flank them. Instead, these enemies were programmed to either advance towards the player along the shortest available path whilst firing continuous bursts from their assault rifles, or stay at a distance and fire less frequently but more accurately at the player. This behaviour is representative of less realistic NPC tactics used in some FPS games.Participants and SettingAs with the previous experiment, this experiment took place online. The game was placed online on popular video game portal websites (e.g. , ). Participants were recruited both through these portals and via social media.1880 participants took part in the experiment. 1497 participants were aged 18-24, 366 were 25-29 years old, 3 were 30-34 years old, 10 were 35 or older. 747 described themselves as playing games at least once a day, 419 played between this amount and once a week, 315 played between this amount and once a month, and 399 preferred not to answer the question.Participants were randomly assigned to experimental conditions, with 919 playing a game where the realism of NPC tactics was high and 961 playing a game where the realism of NPC tactics was low. Participant IP addresses were recorded at the beginning of the experiment and only the first set of data from each unique IP was used in this experiment.ProcedurePlayers first completed an informed consent and demographics screen, and indicated that they were ready to begin the experiment. Following this, they played the game outlined above for 3 minutes. After this, they completed the Anderson word fragment completion task and the PENS competence sub-scale. They were then debriefed via a short video.ResultsMeans and standard deviations for each treatment are presented below. Realism of NPC TacticsProportion of fragments completed with aggression-related meaningsCompetenceNumber of killsN.Low0.23 (SD = 0.135)3.68 (SD = 1.54)20.12 (SD = 10.59)961High0.22 (SD = 0.124)3.53 (SD = 1.55)14.47 (SD = 9.13)919Total0.23 (SD = 0.130)3.61 (SD = 1.55)17.36 (SD = 9.87)1880Table STYLEREF 1 \s 4 SEQ Table \* ARABIC \s 1 1: Summary statistics for players of the first person shooterFigure STYLEREF 1 \s 4 SEQ Figure \* ARABIC \s 1 1: Box-plot showing responses to the Anderson word fragment completion task, split by realism of NPC tacticsFigure STYLEREF 1 \s 4 SEQ Figure \* ARABIC \s 1 2: Box-plot showing player competence, split by realism of NPC tacticsFigure STYLEREF 1 \s 4 SEQ Figure \* ARABIC \s 1 3: conceptual mediation model for the NPC realism experimentThe effects of the realism of NPC behaviours on the activation of aggressive concepts were tested for following the regression-based approach described in ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"1ppqe74hq4","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Hayes, 2013)","plainCitation":"(Hayes, 2013)"},"citationItems":[{"id":438,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":438,"type":"book","title":"Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach","publisher":"Guilford Press","source":"Google Scholar","URL":"","shortTitle":"Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis","author":[{"family":"Hayes","given":"Andrew F."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2013"]]},"accessed":{"date-parts":[["2016",7,6]]}}}],"schema":""} (Hayes, 2013). The conceptual mediation model for this analysis is shown above. Initial simple linear regression revealed that realism of NPC behaviours had a marginally significant total effect on the activation of aggressive concepts, t(1878) = -1.934, p=0.053, β = -0.089, r2 = 0.002, with greater realism of NPC behaviours leading to the lessened activation of aggressive concepts. The indirect effects of the realism of NPC behaviours on the activation of aggressive concepts were tested using simple linear regression. Greater realism of NPC behaviours led to lessened feelings of competence, t(1878) = -2.041, p=0.041, β = -0.09, r2 = 0.002. Greater feelings of competence led to greater activation of aggressive concepts, t(1878) = 2.092, p=0.036, β = 0.048, r2 = 0.003. Bootstrap confidence intervals were calculated for the indirect effect of the realism of NPC behaviours on the activation of aggressive concepts via competence. Under ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"1kmojas488","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Hayes, 2013)","plainCitation":"(Hayes, 2013)"},"citationItems":[{"id":438,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":438,"type":"book","title":"Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach","publisher":"Guilford Press","source":"Google Scholar","URL":"","shortTitle":"Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis","author":[{"family":"Hayes","given":"Andrew F."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2013"]]},"accessed":{"date-parts":[["2016",7,6]]}}}],"schema":""} (Hayes, 2013) the indirect effect was calculated in this case by taking the product of the effect of realism on competence, and competence on activation. Based on 10,000 bootstrap samples, the confidence interval for this effect was entirely below zero (-0.0018 to -0.0001), indicating that greater realism of NPC behaviours indirectly led to significantly lessened activation of aggressive concepts. However, this indirect effect appears to be very small. The effect size of the indirect effect was calculated as R2med = 0.0002. This statistic is conceptually similar to the η2 statistic used in the previous experiment, and represents the proportion of variance in the activation of aggressive concepts explained by the indirect effect ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"13k6qh5g25","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Fairchild et al., 2009)","plainCitation":"(Fairchild et al., 2009)"},"citationItems":[{"id":461,"uris":[""],"uri":[""],"itemData":{"id":461,"type":"article-journal","title":"R 2 effect-size measures for mediation analysis","container-title":"Behavior research methods","page":"486–498","volume":"41","issue":"2","source":"Google Scholar","author":[{"family":"Fairchild","given":"Amanda J."},{"family":"MacKinnon","given":"David P."},{"family":"Taborga","given":"Marcia P."},{"family":"Taylor","given":"Aaron B."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2009"]]}}}],"schema":""} (Fairchild et al., 2009).When indirect effects of realism of NPC behaviours on the activation of aggressive concepts via competence were taken into account, the direct effect of the realism of NPC behaviours on the activation of aggressive concepts remained marginally significant, t(1878) = -1.83, p=0.066, β = -0.084, r2 = 0.002.Following this analysis, the data was further explored by calculating the correlation between the number of kills that a player made and their competence. These variables had a moderate positive correlation when participants were pooled between conditions, r(1878)=0.52, p<0.0001. This relationship remained the same when participants were split between conditions, with moderate positive correlations occurring both for participants in the high realism condition, r(919)=0.54, p<0.0001 and participants in the low realism condition, r(961)=0.528, p<0.0001.General DiscussionThe results of both experiments described above strongly conflict with the idea that increasing the behavioural realism of VVGs leads to similar increases in their aggression-related effects. In Experiment 1, increasing the behavioural realism of a VVG through ragdoll physics had little effect on the activation of aggressive concepts. A large sample size was used here (n=898). However, the effect of behavioural realism between conditions was so small (η2 = 0.0003) that no significant difference between participants who played the game with ragdoll physics and people who played the game without ragdoll physics was detectable. Similarly, the results of Experiment 2 also do not fit well with the idea that greater behavioural realism in a VVG leads to greater activation of aggressive concepts. Overall, the manipulation of behavioural realism in this experiment led to marginally significant differences in the activation of aggressive concepts. However, this marginal direct effect ran in the opposite direction to the experimental hypothesis. Participants who played the FPS with realistic NPC tactics showed less activation of aggressive concepts (M=0.216) than those who played the game without realistic NPC behaviours (M=0.228). The counter-intuitive result of Experiment 2 might initially seem to reflect the indirect effect of a difference in competence between experimental conditions. After all, feeling incompetent is thought to increase the activation of aggressive concepts. However, mediation analysis strongly suggests that this is not the case. Whilst part of the marginally significant total effect of realism on the activation of aggressive concepts was due to a significant indirect effect via competence, this indirect effect was very small (R2med = 0.0002). Because of its small size, even when the effect of competence on activation was taken into account the direct effect of behavioural realism on activation described above remained marginally significant (p=0.066). It therefore seems unlikely that the effect observed here is due to changes in competence between conditions. When taken together, the results of these two experiments seem to suggest that greater behavioural realism simply does not seem to lead to greater activation of aggressive concepts in VVGs. The strength of this conclusion is further bolstered by the methodology used in these experiments. Bespoke games were used in each of the experiments in this chapter. This process ensured that only the specific kind of realism which was under test varied between conditions, and thereby minimised the risk of confounds caused by multiple features varying between experimental conditions. Furthermore, not only were these experiments conducted online, and therefore involved video game players in an ecologically valid environment, but they were also conducted across samples of an unprecedented size for the VVG effects literature. A total of 2778 participants took part in these experiments, and the majority of these participants (n=1826) played video games at least once a week. This use of a large and representative sample suggests that if behavioural realism really did lead to effects amongst the players of VVGs, it would be reflected by a measurable positive effect in at least one of these experiments. This, however, was not the case.These results are consonant with other recent findings related to the effects of VVGs. Whilst early studies in this field may have suggested a strong relationship between VVG play and antisocial effects, recent scholarship seems to imply that this effect is in fact a phantom. Similarly, early research into the effects of realism in VVGs predicted the presence of an important link between realism and VVG effects. This effect, too, now appears to be failing to materialise – both in this study and elsewhere in the literature.Despite the points outlined above, general inferences about the effects of behavioural realism that are drawn from these experiments must be tempered with caution. The experiments outlined above test the effects of behavioural realism in two different ways. Furthermore, the specific manipulations made in these experiments are diverse. However, the fact remains that they do only test two specific ways that VVGs can have their realism increased. Therefore, it may well be the case that another way of making VVGs ‘behave like’ the real world does lead to increases in their aggression-related effects. For instance, it may be the case that the inclusion of bystander characters who behave like their real-world counterparts (as in Grand Theft Auto V) leads to increases in these games effects. Contrastingly, the detailed the simulation of how bullets affect different internal organs (as in Sniper Elite 3) may lead to changes in aggression-related variables. 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