Racing games cause most aggression
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."
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Comments (29) 3 years ago
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Good work Huddersfield! Always knew having Picard on board was good. * Disclaimer: May be wrong university.
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Mind you Sheva is fustrating the hell out of me, my swearing is throught the roof...
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Seth is such an annoying bastard he's like a digital version of Ray Quinn.
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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.
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lol
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Epic Games have become Epic Fail. Charging extortionate amounts for 3 maps.
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I'm with you, the fist clenching, vein popping anger at getting KO'd by Ken online never gets old...
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Fucking spammers.
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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.
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It was ace against my friends, though. Many, many good hours.
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Just
So
Damn
Unfair
Broke a wheel and nearly a TV as a result.
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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!!!!"
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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.