Racing games cause most aggression

By Ellie Gibson Published 1 April, 2009

More than shooters or ping pong.

A pair of scientists from Huddersfield University have discovered that racing games cause more agitation and aggression in players than shooters.

Rather than using their time to find a cure for cancer or an alternative source of renewable energy, Dr Simon Goodson and Sarah Pearson monitored 30 people as they played three Xbox 360 games - Project Gotham Racing, an unnamed first-person shooter and "a 3D table tennis game".

Physical changes to the players' heart rate, breathing and so on were monitored, along with their mental responses such as aggresssion before and after the gaming session.

The scientists found that PGR caused the greatest change in heart rate and brain activity, while the FPS caused the smallest change.

"Previous researchers have made sweeping generalisations about the nature of videogames. This study is one of the first to use one of the latest games consoles that have a much higher level of realism," said the boffins.

"Surprisingly the results showed that the driving game made participants more agitated and aggressive than the game with graphic violence. Given the high levels of realism in modern games a re-evaluation of the relationship between videogames and violence is needed."

Goodson and Pearson's findings will be revealed at the British Psychological Society Annual Conference, which begins today at Brighton's Holiday Inn. Might pop down.

Check out the conference programme for the full rundown. We're particularly looking forward to the talk by P. Chassy of the University of Toulouse: "The purpose of the study was to quantify the mistakes that chess players of various levels of expertise make in ecological situations. The quality of 311,722 moves made by 8,000 chess players was assessed."

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (29) 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • LHH #1 3 years ago

    April fools?

  • seasidebaz #2 3 years ago

    So it was joy at playing PGR, indifference at playing Table Tennis, and downright boredom at playing Halo?

    Good work Huddersfield! Always knew having Picard on board was good. * Disclaimer: May be wrong university.

  • bad09 #3 3 years ago

    True I get so fustrated with driving games, I'm either in the zone playing well or driving like blind person having an epileptic fit.

    Mind you Sheva is fustrating the hell out of me, my swearing is throught the roof...

  • seasidebaz #4 3 years ago

    It's also a very unfair study, now if they'd used Street Fighter 4 in there (arcade mode) then that would win hands down.

    Seth is such an annoying bastard he's like a digital version of Ray Quinn.

  • LazyDan #5 3 years ago

    Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

    No I think got more frustrated and rage filled playing Halo multiplayer than with Mario Kart, but goddamn they're close and way up there.

  • AgentCool #6 3 years ago

    In 20 years of video gaming, the only game that has ever caused me to break a controller is 'Braid' on the 360. On one level, I knew exactly what I had to do but the slightly slippery controls made it a lot more difficult than it should have been. Cue controller hitting the wall, knackering the LB button.
    Edited by 1 at 01/04/09 @ 09:34

  • Kyledanutmeg #7 3 years ago

    Bollocks COD4 made me go nuts at times and halo
    lol :) April fools init haha
    Edited by 1 at 01/04/09 @ 10:12

  • LiveForever #8 3 years ago

    The only game that angers me is Gears of War 2 multiplayer so i don't play it anymore. New update does nothing to fix lag.
    Epic Games have become Epic Fail. Charging extortionate amounts for 3 maps.

  • optimusprym8 #9 3 years ago

    +1 Street Fighter IV. I have never sworn so much at the TV before playing this.

  • Jamo777 #10 3 years ago

    Were they doing the cone challenges on PGR? It's not suprising they got aggressive. Those things used to irritate the bejeesus out of me.

  • The-Builder #11 3 years ago

    They should have them playing Mario Kart, if they want to see some real aggression. Blue shell madness!

  • Haggar #12 3 years ago

    @ optimusprym8

    I'm with you, the fist clenching, vein popping anger at getting KO'd by Ken online never gets old...

  • El-Dev #13 3 years ago

    Fifa 09 online has caused me to break 2 sixaxis.

  • menage #14 3 years ago

    +1 SFIV

    Fucking spammers.

  • Rodster #15 3 years ago

    They must've been racing against the AI in Gran Turismo. :p

  • Transcendent #16 3 years ago

    I thought this was obvious.

  • Thunderbolt #17 3 years ago

    But then some of my best gaming moments have also come from racing games, the joy a just making a corner, narrowly escaping a crash (esp Burnout) and winning by a nose hair. No other type of game comes close to these euphoric moments.

    The one thing I hate hate hate is game that penalise through no fault of your own, like the old Tomb Raider games that demanded perfection but the controls themselves weren't perfect. RE5 and Ninja Gaiden 2 are more recent examples.

  • neonxaos #18 3 years ago

    April fools or not, I have never, EVER received as many threats and obscenities as I did when playing PGR 3 for "driving aggressively". Almost all of my negative rep stems from that game, and honestly, I really tried my best not to be a bully. How can you NOT hit anyone in the first corner of just about every track of that game? I got rather good at avoiding it in the end, but I eventually stopped playing, simply because everyone was just so angry all the time. Sure, I could have turned communications off, but where's the fun in that in a racing game?

    It was ace against my friends, though. Many, many good hours.

  • gelf #19 3 years ago

    Racing games probably do make me more angry..but only because I'm embarrassingly bad at most of them..

  • jhs8swd #20 3 years ago

    There's nothing quite like the anger generated by the unfairness of the AI drivers in Mario Kart and their ability to throw a banana directly in front of your car from halfway across the track. RAGE!!!!!!!

  • nick_f Verified Senior Producer, Microsoft #21 3 years ago

    I think you'll find the final chapter of Resident Evil 5 causes more aggression than any other videogame in the history of the world. What WERE they thinking?

  • HuggyAtHome #22 3 years ago

    +100 on Mario Kart Wii rage.

    Just
    So
    Damn
    Unfair

    Broke a wheel and nearly a TV as a result.

  • brappbrap #23 3 years ago

    I'd say out of that lot Table Tennis has caused me the most grief.

    I've still not completed it on the harest mode because I can't play more than 2 games without frustration getting the better of me. "I pressed left, dammit! Why did you hop right first?!! ARGHH!! FUCK YOU JESPER, FUCK YOOUUUUUU!!!!"

  • mkreku #24 3 years ago

    http://pi xelatedgeek.com/wp-content/uplo...

  • metalangel #25 3 years ago

    I broke a controller playing Top Spin 2 after losing for the 50th time to the cheaty "rival" in career mode. Hurled it against the floor with such force it bounced three feet in the air. Knackered both sticks.

  • Rusty_M #26 3 years ago

    Ban these sick driving games!

  • Rodchenko #27 3 years ago

    PES and it's cheating AI has consistently infuriated me over the years plus cost me a few controllers. KZ2's last boss fight was pretty bad too.

  • nasanu #28 3 years ago

    It is quite simple really. Others games are more forgiving than racers. One health pack and your back in the game in a FPS, and its never over till its over in a sports match. In a racer however there is a point where no matter what you do you dont have a chance to win.

  • gelf #29 3 years ago

    @nasanu

    Thats my problem with most racers, just one crash can be fatal and makes the rest of the race pointless. And if your racing catchup AI its even worse when you run a near perfect race and then lose because of one bump near the end.