Is it More Than Just a Game

1
Is it More Than Just a Game?

• discovering the danger in playing video games

By Joey Lawhorn Chris Riding Jason
Scherrer and Natalie Wade
2
Statement of the Problem

• In the 1970s Atari introduced a video game
  called Pong, which was a simple video version of
  the game Ping Pong. In the 1980s, arcade video
  games became dominant. Then, in the 1990s, the
  face of video games changed dramatically. The
  most popular game in 1993 was Mortal Kombat,
  which featured realistically human
• characters engaging in battle. Such violent
  games now dominate the market.
• In 1998 a study was done that sampled 33 popular
  Sega and Nintendo games. The study found that
  nearly 80 of the games were violent in nature.
  And, 21 portrayed violence toward women (Dietz,
  1998).

3
Statement of the Problem

• A study done by psychology researchers Karen Dill
  and Craig Anderson showed that exposure to
  violent video games will increase aggressive
  behavior in both the short term and the long
  term.
• The American Psychological Associations
• Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
  reported
• that violent video games may be more harmful
  than violent television and movies because they
  are interactive, very engrossing and require the
  player
• to identify with the aggressor (APA, 2000).

4
Hypotheses

• Hypothesis I There is a relationship between
  playing video games and violent and/or aggressive
  behavior.
• Hypothesis II There is a relationship between
  the number of players who play and arguments
  stemmed from playing video games.

5
Research Questions

• Is there a relationship between violent and/or
  aggressive behavior and playing video games?
• Is violent and/or aggressive behavior dependent
  on the type of game that is being played?
• Is there a relationship between aggressive
  tendencies and the number of people who play at
  the same time?
• Is there a relationship between the type of game
  that is played and altercations stemmed from
  playing?

6
Methods

• A convenience sample was collected in the form of
  40 questionnaires, which were handed out to both
  male and females.
• Two, seven person focus groups were conducted.
• The demographic college students
• that play video games ages 18-24.

7
Method for discovering if video games had a
positive relationship to violent and/or
aggressive behavior

• On our questionnaires, participants were asked to
  report their levels of aggression in the last 6
  months. They were asked to say how many times
  when they were angry they had
• 1) shouted, screamed, or insulted someone.
• 2) Done something physical that was not designed
  to hurt someone, such as slamming a door,
  throwing something, or kicking or punching a
  wall.
• 3)Done something physical that was designed to
  hurt someone, such as pushing, punching, or
  shaking.
• Through a likhert scale, participants had to
  choose a category that best suited them for
  verbal or physical activity. They were given the
  option of 1-5 times, 6-10 times, 11-15 times, or
  16-20 times.

8
Operational Definition of Violent and/or
Aggressive Behavior

• We decided that in order to prove that video
  games had created a person to be violent/and or
  aggressive, they must fall into the 6-10, 11-15,
  or 16-20 range.
• The percentage of respondents that fell into this
  range after playing a session of video games was
• 52.5 for shouting at least 6 times or more
• 47.5 for screaming at least 6 times or more
• 32.5 for insulting someone at least 6 times or
  more
• 5 for slamming a door at least 6 times or more
• 40 for throwing something at least 6 times or
  more
• 2.5 for kicking or punching a wall (reported 11
  times or more)
• 12.5 for pushing at least 6 times or more
• 7.5 for punching at least 6 times or more
• 5 for shaking at least 6 times or more

9
Respondent Age
10
Respondent Gender
11
Respondent State of Mind After Playing a Session
of Video Games
12
Arguments Stemmed From Playing
13
Respondents Favorite Type of Video Game
14
Respondent Verbal Aggressiveness After Playing a
Session of Video Games
15
Respondent Physical Aggressiveness After Playing
a Session of Video Games
16
P.01
P Value