When newbies and veterans play together: The effect of video game content, context and experience on cooperation

Abstract This paper explores the effect of video game content, context and experience on cooperative behavior over three research studies. Study 1 is a cross-sectional correlation study exploring the relationship between the video game team-play frequency and pro-social behavior, Study 2 is a 2 (game content: violent video game and neutral video game) × 2 (game context: single-play and team-play) design with the dependent variable being cooperative behavior and Study 3 is a single factor design experiment which examines the effect of the gaming experience on cooperative behavior under a collaborative context. The main findings were that the team-play frequency had a positive correlation with pro-social behavior, and pro-social video game exposure significantly predicted pro-social behavior. Collaborative play was found to significantly increase cooperation in both violent and neutral video games. However, the level of gaming experience tended to moderate the relationship between collaborative play and the level of cooperation.

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