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Murder Simulators: Violent Video Games Turning Gamers Into Deadly Shooters

Monday, May 21, 2012 19:21

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Playing violent shooting video games can improve firing accuracy and influence players to aim for the head when using a real gun finds a new study in Communication Research, published by SAGE. According to the paper's abstract: "Video games are excellent training tools. Some writers have called violent video games “murder simulators.” Can violent games “train” a person to shoot a gun?

"There are theoretical reasons to believe they can. 151 participants played a violent shooting game with humanoid targets that rewarded headshots, a nonviolent shooting game with bull’s-eye targets, or a nonviolent nonshooting game. Those who played a shooting game used either a pistol-shaped or a standard controller. Next, participants shot a realistic gun at a mannequin. Participants who played a violent shooting game using a pistol-shaped controller had 99% more headshots and 33% more other shots than did other participants. These results remained significant even after controlling for firearm experience, gun attitudes, habitual exposure to violent shooting games, and trait aggressiveness. Habitual exposure to violent shooting games also predicted shooting accuracy. Thus, playing violent shooting video games can improve firing accuracy and can influence players to aim for the head."

Credit: Wikipedia

Authors Jodi L. Whitaker and Brad J. Bushman tested 151 college students by having them play different types of violent and non-violent video games, including games with human targets in which players are rewarded for hitting the targets' heads. After playing the game for only 20 minutes, participants shot 16 bullets from a realistic gun at a life-size, human-shaped mannequin. Participants who played a violent shooting game using a pistol-shaped controller hit the mannequin 33% more than did other participants and hit the mannequins' head 99% more often.

"In the violent shooting game, participants were rewarded for accurately aiming and firing at humanoid enemies who were instantly killed if shot in the head," wrote the authors. "Players were therefore more likely to repeat this behavior outside of the video game context."

Credit: Wikipedia

The researcher's findings remained significant even after controlling for firearm experience, attitudes about gun use, amount of exposure to violent shooting games, and overall level of aggressiveness of the player.

"Just as a person might train how to use a sword by first practicing with a wooden replica, the pistol-shaped controller served as a more realistic implement with which to hone skills that more easily transferred to aiming and firing a gun in the real world," the authors wrote. "These results indicate the powerful potential of video games to teach or increase skills, including potentially lethal weapon use."

Contacts and sources:
Camille Gamboa
SAGE Publications

Find out more by reading the article, "Boom, Headshot!": Effect of Video Game Play and Controller Type on Firing Aim and Accuracy" by Jodi L. Whitaker and Brad J. Bushman inCommunication Research. The article is available free for a limited time at:http://crx.sagepub.com/content/early/2012/04/27/0093650212446622.full.pdf+html.

Communication Research (CR), peer-reviewed and published bi-monthly, has provided researchers and practitioners with the most up-to-date, comprehensive and important research on communication and its related fields. It publishes articles that explore the processes, antecedents, and consequences of communication in a broad range of societalsystems.crx.sagepub.com
Impact Factor: 1.819
Ranked: 6 out of 67 in Communication
Source: 2010 Journal Citation Reports® (Thomson Reuters, 2011)

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