Immersive Virtual Environments Versus Traditional Platforms: Effects of Violent and Nonviolent Video Game Play

An experiment focused on the effects of platform (desktop computer, immersive virtual environment; IVE), content (violent, nonviolent), and player gender on video game play outcomes. Results revealed an interaction such that participants reported higher levels of aggressive feelings when playing a violent video game in an IVE compared to violent game play on a desktop platform or nonviolent game play on either platform. Physiological results supported these findings. No gender effects were found, nor did platform intensify any effects for nonviolent game play. The findings suggest that the intensifying effects of IVEs for game play and aggression are content specific and provide further evidence that attention to playing platform is crucial in understanding violent video game effects.

[1]  Cristina Botella,et al.  Internet and Virtual Reality as Assessment and Rehabilitation Tools for Clinical Psychology and Neuroscience 3 Virtual Reality and Psychotherapy , 2022 .

[2]  Craig A. Anderson,et al.  From Antecedent Conditions to Violent Actions: A General Affective Aggression Model , 2000 .

[3]  J. Singer,et al.  Cognitive, social, and physiological determinants of emotional state. , 1962 .

[4]  Jim Blascovich,et al.  Challenge and threat appraisals: The role of affective cues. , 2000 .

[5]  J. Freedman,et al.  Evaluating the Research on Violent Video Games , 2022 .

[6]  F. Biocca,et al.  Communication in the age of virtual reality , 1995 .

[7]  J. Forgas.  Feeling and thinking : the role of affect in social cognition , 2000 .

[8]  J. Loomis,et al.  Immersive virtual environment technology as a basic research tool in psychology , 1999, Behavior research methods, instruments, & computers : a journal of the Psychonomic Society, Inc.

[9]  Jussi Holopainen,et al.  The Psychophysiology of Video Gaming: Phasic Emotional Responses to Game Events , 2005, DiGRA Conference.

[10]  G. Riva,et al.  Sense of Presence in Virtual Training : Enhancing Skills Acquisition and Transfer of Knowledge through Learning Experience in Virtual Environments , 2002 .

[11]  Jim Blascovich,et al.  The Biopsychosocial Model of Arousal Regulation , 1996 .

[12]  C. Anderson,et al.  The Effects of Reward and Punishment in Violent Video Games on Aggressive Affect, Cognition, and Behavior , 2005, Psychological science.

[13]  M. Griffiths.  Violent video games and aggression: A review of the literature , 1999 .

[14]  Craig A. Anderson,et al.  Video games and aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behavior in the laboratory and in life. , 2000 .

[15]  Sandra L. Calvert,et al.  Impact of Virtual Reality on Young Adults' Physiological Arousal and Aggressive Thoughts: Interaction versus Observation. , 1994 .

[16]  G. Pfurtscheller,et al.  Presence Research and EEG , 2002 .

[17]  D. Gentile,et al.  The effects of violent video game habits on adolescent hostility, aggressive behaviors, and school performance. , 2004, Journal of adolescence.

[18]  Jeremy N. Bailenson,et al.  Equilibrium Theory Revisited: Mutual Gaze and Personal Space in Virtual Environments , 2001, Presence: Teleoperators & Virtual Environments.

[19]  Matthew Lombard,et al.  At the Heart of It All: The Concept of Presence , 2006 .

[20]  T. Ward,et al.  Video games and aggressive behaviour , 2001 .

[21]  C. Anderson,et al.  Violent video game exposure and aggression A literature review , 2004 .

[22]  E. Uhlmann,et al.  Exposure to violent video games increases automatic aggressiveness. , 2004, Journal of adolescence.

[23]  Gianluca Castelnuovo,et al.  The Sense of Presence in Virtual Training: Enhancing Skills Acquisition and Transfer of Knowledge through Learning Experience in Virtual Environments , 2003 .

[24]  L. Bensley,et al.  Video games and real-life aggression: review of the literature. , 2001, The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine.

[25]  C. Heeter.  Communication research on consumer VR , 1995 .

[26]  Karen E. Dill,et al.  Video games and aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behavior in the laboratory and in life. , 2000, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[27]  Crystal L. Hoyt,et al.  Immersive Virtual Environment Technology as a Methodological Tool for Social Psychology , 2002 .

[28]  Susan Persky,et al.  Immersive Virtual Video Game Play and Presence: Influences on Aggressive Feelings and Behavior , 2008, PRESENCE: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments.

[29]  Mindy E. Flanagan,et al.  Violent video games: Specific effects of violent content on aggressive thoughts and behavior , 2004 .

[30]  C. Anderson,et al.  Effects of violent video games on aggressive behavior: Potential sex differences. , 2002 .

[31]  C. Anderson,et al.  Violent Video Games and Aggressive Behavior in Young Women. , 2003 .

[32]  J. Bailenson,et al.  Virtual Humans and Persuasion: The Effects of Agency and Behavioral Realism , 2007 .

[33]  Jeffrey R. W. Mounts,et al.  Violent Video Games Induce an Affect Processing Bias , 2005 .

[34]  M. Ballard,et al.  Mortal Kombat (tm): The Effects of Violent Videogame Play on Males' Hostility and Cardiovascular Responding , 1996 .

[35]  John L. Sherry,et al.  Sex Differences in Video Game Play: , 2004, Commun. Res..

[36]  J. Loomis,et al.  Interpersonal Distance in Immersive Virtual Environments , 2003, Personality & social psychology bulletin.

[37]  J. Freeman,et al.  Aroused and Immersed: The Psychophysiology of Presence , 2000 .

[38]  Bruce D. Bartholow,et al.  Correlates and Consequences of Exposure to Video Game Violence: Hostile Personality, Empathy, and Aggressive Behavior , 2005, Personality & social psychology bulletin.

[39]  M. Winkel,et al.  Personality factors, subject gender, and the effects of aggressive video games on aggression in adolescents ☆ , 1987 .

[40]  John L. Sherry.  The effects of violent video games on aggression a meta-analysis , 2001 .

[41]  C. Anderson,et al.  Human Aggression , 1989, Annual review of psychology.

[42]  C. Anderson,et al.  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 , 2001, Psychological science.

[43]  J. C. Dill,et al.  VIDEO GAME VIOLENCE: A REVIEW OF THE EMPIRICAL LITERATURE , 1998 .

[44]  J. Cooper,et al.  Video Games and Aggression in Children , 1986 .